The Studio Wins Big in the ANA B2 Awards

The Studio scored a perfect trifecta with the Association of National Advertiser (ANA) B2 Awards, winning Gold, Silver and Bronze awards recently:

• Gold – Clients for Life (Customer Retention category)
• Silver – The Studio Launch (Agency Promotion)
• Bronze – Listing Concierge (Sales Enablement)

The B2 Awards recognize and honor B2B marketers, agencies and suppliers who exhibit excellence in innovative global brand strategy, customer marketing strategy, integrated internal and external marketing communications strategy, e-business and/or new media strategy, and successful new product and service introductions. Dedicated solely to business marketing and communications, the B2 Awards are open to both internal and external agencies, corporate marketing teams, media firms, and individuals.

Here’s a quick look at these award-winning programs from The Studio.

Clients for Life – Gold in Customer Retention

Real estate agents have always struggled to stay top-of-mind with their ever-growing list of contacts and clients. Often these efforts are random, time-consuming, ineffective and not trackable, resulting in wasted time, energy and money. Our goal was to create a system that would enable agents to stay in touch with their “sphere of influence” consistently, automatically and in a way that gets attention, while taking very little of the agent’s time and money.

We created Clients For Life, a free program for agents that included a series of monthly appreciation promotions to grab the attention of their clients, giving agents a compelling reason to reach out and offer something of value, which in turn, often sparked conversations about real estate and referrals to people who planned to buy or sell a home. Promotions varied by region, but have included giveaways, charitable events, special events and activity guides.

In 2019, Clients for Life sent 20.99 million emails to agent contacts in 12 markets. Our average open rate was 17% and average click-through rate was 22%. (According to britewire.com, the average click-through rate for the real estate industry is 2.03%; Mail Chimp reports 1.77% as the industry average.) By year-end, 32% of agents were opted into the program and were sending the monthly emails to at least 50 contacts. We had a total of 150,261 entries for giveaways.

The Studio Launch – Silver in Agency Promotion

Launching an in-house branded marketing agency, The Studio, catapulted the profile of Coldwell Banker Realty’s in-house marketing team. The success of the agency’s launch almost immediately resulted in new business from groups that were previously not even aware that we existed. We are now considered a valuable resource to not just Coldwell Banker Realty brokerage, but also to the Coldwell Banker brand, its franchises and other Realogy-owned businesses. We have executed numerous major product and program launches since launch, including Listing Concierge, Design Concierge and Desk, which are all being launched this year to Coldwell Banker franchises.

The Studio is now firmly established as the largest in-house marketing agency in the country (300+ members. Results of the launch campaign include:

• Press announcement generated 137 stories that reached a potential audience of 65.7 million.
• Major news articles in influential trade publications including Inman News, RealTrends and Adweek
• Media coverage drove 3,000 website views immediately after launch
• Studio Instagram account attracted 1,000+ followers with 300+ posts
• Posted 75+ blog posts
• By end of 2019, The Studio has completed 8,336 jobs, ranging from an agent postcard to fully integrated marketing campaigns

Listing Concierge – Bronze in Sales Enablement

The Studio won a bronze for Listing Concierge, a product that helps agents win more listings, prove their value and turn one listing into three. Our strategy was to create a client presentation that was so impressive, clients would hire them on the spot, and agents wouldn’t be nickeled and dimed on their commission. The goal was to achieve a 40% capture rate (having 40% of our new residential listings participate in the Listing Concierge program). In 2019:

• 46% of offices surpassed the 40% listing capture rate
• 54% of offices had more than 40% of their agents using Listing Concierge
• 29,679 Listing Concierge orders
• The Studio collected $10.15M from agent orders, which is helping offset the costs

The Listing Concierge program has greatly contributed to Coldwell Banker Realty agents winning more listings and selling their clients’ homes for a higher sales price. As more agents sell more homes, word-of-mouth advertising is reaching both sellers and agents from other brokerages, as well as helping the company retain top talent, resulting in increased market share and brand awareness as a formidable leader in the industry.