You might think that starting your own podcast is something you’d never be able to do, but Dustin Brohm created the Massive Agent Podcast in January 2018, and now he’s a podcast evangelist. “I think my biggest value as a speaker is helping people realize that if this guy can do it, then so can they — it’s not hard,” Brohm explains; he’s now providing a podcast for consumers, too.
Brohm will give a quick overview of how to start your own podcast at Inman Connect New York, January 29 through February 1 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. He shared his thoughts with Inman about how to create a podcast (and marketing in general) that stands out from the crowd and where to find opportunities with low barriers to entry and sky-high results.
Tell us a little more about your session. How will it address how the industry can embrace the shifting market?
I talk about similar concepts until I’m blue in the face on my show, and helping people start their podcast is really the solution to their fears and worries about if they’ll even have a job in a year or two. Most agents and loan officers are doing the same things over and over and over until the wheels fall off, but the ground has shifted underneath our feet. It’s not just the market and iBuyers; what we pay attention to as consumers has completely changed. Stuff that used to work for me three or four years ago doesn’t work anymore, and if you move into what people are consuming and how they’re receptive to you and your brand, you’ll stay on top of whatever happens with Amazon or Zillow or whomever.
Starting your own podcast is a great way to become that local celebrity, local influencer, while at the same time positioning yourself as the local expert. Zillow can’t replace the local expert right now, and I don’t see that changing for a long time. If people want to survive and thrive after what’s coming down the pike, they need to start creating content and becoming that local expert, and podcasting is a great way to do it. And they’re going to have a lot of fun and have some really strong relationships that come from it.
Every single agent can do this; it’s not hard or expensive, and I want to bring them the light at the end of the tunnel. This isn’t that difficult, and there’s not that much to doing a podcast once you set up the feeds. It’s easy, you just have to do that. You can be a local resource for education, humor and news. One of the biggest benefits to doing a local show is the people you meet; you’re networking, and they can connect you with people and refer you. It’s so powerful on so many levels, and I completely underestimated the power of podcasting. I have twice as many downloads as I thought I’d have at the end of the year.
What do you think are the biggest opportunities to focus on in the real estate industry right now?
Overall, focusing on being that local celebrity and local expert — not talking about real estate all the time, just talking about the community and positioning yourself as the local guy that everyone goes to. Naturally, they’re going to learn you’re an agent. That overall is the opportunity — but then you get into the how of it. I think Alexa flash briefings are a huge opportunity that 92-percent of people just pooh pooh. They think, “I don’t listen to Alexa,” and they don’t realize how many tens of millions of people do, especially after Black Friday when Amazon is practically giving them away. Voice podcasting and flash briefings are absolutely huge because there’s a low barrier to entry, they’re easy to keep going, people are looking for that passive content.
The missed opportunity is created by the agents and the brokers because they have it burned into their brains that if they put time into something, they want an immediate return. “If I do a podcast episode, how many leads am I going to get?” It doesn’t really work that way. That concept of an instant ROI is a barrier. They don’t realize the immense ROI if they commit to doing something, do it for a while and then their lives change, their business changes forever. I can’t stress that enough, but that limited thinking and short-term thinking is holding people back from taking advantage of the opportunity.
To stay competitive, agents, brokers and companies need to execute quickly. What do you feel are key areas where quick execution can vastly improve the customer experience?
I think video, just doing a Facebook Live or Instagram Live is a great way to instantly get in front of your audience. With podcasting and even a flash briefing, you may have to edit the audio file and upload it, which doesn’t take a long time, but for an instant response to maybe the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, or the fires in California and how it’s going to affect the local market, you can do that instantly on Facebook and Instagram where people get to know you and your personality, and that connection is where people decide they want to work with you or not.
Ever since I started doing content, it changed my life and my business forever. It’s one of those things that was just theory, and I started with blogging — it changed everything. It’s amazing how short-sighted people are, and they think “I can’t wait six to nine months for it to pay off.”
What are your hopes for the next 12 months, and what will you be working on?
My hopes are that we can help wake up a lot more agents and loan officers. I’ve struggled a lot the first half of my career because I wasn’t doing marketing activities that aligned with me. I was door-knocking, my mentor told me to do it, I hated it and didn’t close any deals and didn’t have any income. I know what it’s like to be starving and because of the ground shifting under my feet and the feedback I get from my podcast audience, it’s really lit a fire to wake up as many agents as possible as to not just what’s coming but what to do about it, how to take charge of their own business and lead generation and empower them, because I’m seeing a lot of agents quit the business already, and loan officers and mortgage executives freaking out about everything.
So I want to do be doing a lot more speaking, continuing to grow my audiences Obviously there are a lot of personal benefits to that, but I really enjoy helping people make a mindset shift that’s going to help them instead of just spiral and circle the drain.
Discover the opportunities in a changing market at Inman Connect New York, January 29 – February 1. Jumpstart 2019 with tactical takeaways, unlimited networking and thought-provoking speakers. Learn more.
Thinking about bringing your team? You may qualify for special group perks! Contact us to learn more.
