Josh’s position as Director of Marketing leads him to do a great deal of writing. He speaks about NAEA, RAMP and shares a few short cuts to get better at writing quickly.
Interview with Josh Ellis, by John White
JW: Good morning, Josh.
JE: Good morning. (Smiles) You seem pretty happy.
JW: Yes, I am, thanks. So I wanted to ask, you’ve been with NAEA for a while now, right? Have you worked in Marketing the entire time?
JE: I have; in September I will have been with NAEA for four years. I’ve been in Marketing the entire time, and am now Director of Marketing.
JW: So you’ve seen NAEA go through a lot of change. How has that been? How have your activities changed as the company changed?
JE: Well, we started out just doing coaching. We were one of the most successful coaching companies, too, but then we decided we wanted to serve the real estate industry better. But to do that, we had to work on quite a lot of innovation; the sum of those innovative strategies resulted in the creation of our Rapid Agent Mastery Program (RAMP). Our core philosophy is to stay on the cutting edge of technological development, and for me especially, the latest marketing trends. I stay involved with professional groups for marketing, and even though I’m not in sales, I try to stay current with sales, too, because it helps me do what I do better.
JW: This brings me to the theme of our current issue, writing MLS listings. You do quite a lot of writing, don’t you? How have you worked on steadily improving the quality of your writing?
JE: Yes, I do a lot of writing. If I were to quantify it, I’d say I do roughly 20,000 words each week, both “direct response” writing and content writing. When I started at NAEA, I was interested in the fictional side of writing. Then I realized that that’s not going to get me very far in life. So I started studying some of the great marketing innovators, people like Dan Kennedy, Frank Kern, and Robert Collier, and Robert Cialdini. I learned the written word is powerful if you use it right. I try to elicit a vision of what could be and place calls to action by writing less and being more to the point.
JW: So let’s consider our RAMP members, who have busy schedules, placing numerous calls, meeting clients and prospective clients, and learning NAEA’s processes. They don’t always have time to read the great marketers. What kind of recommendations would you have to our RAMP members who want to get better at writing listing descriptions?
JE: First, one of the great things about real estate is you get to set your own schedule, but you have to use your time efficiently. So audible books on writing can offer a lot, and our RAMP members can listen to them in the car – they take very little extra time. Next, read home listing descriptions other successful real estate agents in your area are posting. Third, consider getting the Hemingway App, which will check your writing for its efficiency and communicative value.
JW: Alright, thanks so much for talking with me, and communicating a few recommendations for our RAMP members who are out there making it happen.
JE: Sure, John, no problem. Glad to help wherever I can.
