QR Codes: The Here and Now of Mobile Marketing

RISMEDIA

By Nick Caruso

While more and more consumers are turning to their smartphones for information, brokers and REALTORS® everywhere are adapting in order to properly serve their mobile, forward-thinking clientele. The latest trend in the world of mobile marketing is not only dominating the mobile world, but also changing the way agents are promoting their listings and printing their signage.

Over the last couple of years, QR codes, short for quick response codes, have been popping up almost everywhere you look. Advertisements in magazines and newspapers, posters, billboards, and even real estate for-sale signs have all been sporting these small, square codes. When scanned with a smartphone, these quirky and efficient little codes have proven to be powerhouses for marketing strategies, driving users to any type of content a company desires, from a robust, mobile-enabled website to a page with a single, simple message. The possibilities are endless with QR codes, however, for REALTORS®, to be without them could be a fatal (and costly) mistake in judgment.

Spice Up Your Home This Winter with These Mini Projects

The holidays are over and hopefully your home is free from holiday decoration and debris. With temperatures dropping outdoors, now is the perfect time to pick up some mini projects to brighten the inside of your home and create a new feel for the new year.

Explore your crafting side: If you're snowed in with nothing to do, pick up that arts and crafts project you've been procrastinating on forever. Make a collage for your bedroom or living room, or maybe paint an old lamp or vase. Artistic expression gives your home a unique look and provides you with a fun activity that will also be quite productive.

Home Staging Secrets

As seen in January's issue of RE/MAX Alliance's Economic Outlook. Click here to view issue.

Highlight your home’s strengths and appeal to the greatest possible group of prospective buyers with these home staging tips. Start with saying bye bye to clutter and depersonalizing your home. Of course your home reflects your personality, style and taste, however it is about creating a blank canvas that is ready for a new home buyer to visualize their dream space. One of the major contributors to home clutter is too much furniture. When I am staging a home to be prepared for market I often whisk away half of the owner’s furniture. This way the home looks much larger. So take a hard look at your furniture groupings. Is everything pushed against the walls? Try to furnish your space by floating furniture away from walls. Reposition sofas and chairs into cozy conversational groups, and place pieces so that the traffic flow in a room is obvious. Not only will this make the space more user friendly, but it will open up the room and make it seem larger.

Do-It-Yourself Interior Painting Is Like Money in the Bank

Trying to decide whether to do some home remodeling this year or leave your money in the bank? You can do both if you remodel with paint.

“The cost of do-it-yourself interior painting is so low, it’s almost like remodeling without touching your bank account,” says Debbie Zimmer, spokesperson for the Paint Quality Institute.

The key, of course, is investing some sweat equity.

“While a professional painter might charge up to $500 or more to paint a room, if you’re willing to provide the labor, you can complete the job for a small fraction of that amount,” says Zimmer.