ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.
Listen "Photo Marketing Strategies For Your Listings • Devon Higgins"
Episode Synopsis
Devon Higgins the VP of Sales for PhotoUp & FolioWebsites shares his own journey of how he started the business as a digital marketer and how he ended up working with real estate agents. Devon discusses why agents should use professional marketing and invest more money on technology. Next he explains how important making videos for listing is, in order to stay in touch with people and to communicate closer with them. Last, Devon talks about the app (Agent Up) that he and his company have created and how it is becoming more agent central in advertising.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Devon Higgins can be reached here.
This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00Today we're going to show you how to upgrade your photo marketing game. What's a photo marketing game? Stay tuned. This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren't converting? Well real geeks is your solution. Find out why agents across the country choose real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering a sales and marketing solution so that you can easily generate more business. Their agent websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for your visitors. Real geeks also includes an easy to use agent CRM. So once a lead signs up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up conversations. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business again, visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod. And now on to our show.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris. I am your guide and host through this show and in just a moment, we're going to be speaking with digital marketing expert Devonta Higgins, before we get to divan, just one quick reminder, actually two reminders. First, please tell a friend. If you can think of somebody right now that is looking for a podcast like this. Maybe somebody who's newer to the real estate industry struggling to build their business wants to know what the top producers are doing, please send them a link, somebody in your office definitely fits into that category. And if you're a solo practitioner next time or under showing tell the other agent, I would really appreciate it. But anyway, seriously, thank you for telling somebody about our show. We are so grateful. It's been about five or six years. And that's how we have marketed our business. So thanks to you for helping do that. And the last other thing I wanted to mention is we started clipping our episodes we people have been asking us to do this for years. Finally we got around to it. What that means is every weekday, although once in a while I forget but most weekdays, I publish a 62nd clip on all the different social media platforms like a best of from one of our episodes. And usually we find three to five best clips per episodes. We have a lot of these published at any way. They're short, they're bite sized, but they're also really, really actionable. So we cross post them everywhere. You can find us on social, even tick tock Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, probably a few others I can think of but anyway, LinkedIn has already said that anyway, it's everywhere. So please find us you can literally just pull up any social platform search for the keeping it real podcast, you'll find us there. And you could also go to our link tree which is link tree forward slash keeping it real pod. Anyway, we'll have a link to that in the show notes. But guys, thanks so much for keeping our show rolling, telling other people about it and please follow us on on all the various social channels. We love getting to you more often than just through these episodes. So thank you. Anyway, that's enough about me. Let's get to the main event. MY CONVERSATION WITH divan Higgins.
Today on the show we have to Vaughn Higgins, let me tell you more about fun the Divan Higgins is a Michigan native and owner of two businesses. First is photo op, which is a real estate marketing services company and also folio websites which is for website design and development for realtors. He's a seasoned entrepreneur, sports enthusiast husband, father of two beautiful girls and of course a realtor himself. Divan was born in Lansing, Michigan, but lived most of his life in Grand Rapids and we were actually just talking Off mic about how I was just in his neck of the woods watching a comedy show a few weeks ago. I love Grand Rapids. It's a lovely lovely city. But he he has a marketing degree with a minor in entrepreneurship. After college. He did a short stint here in Chicago for a logistics company before moving back up to Michigan and Grand Rapids to begin his career in real estate marketing and eventually opening up his own marketing agency. Today we're going to talk all about real estate real term marketing. Please follow divan on his website photo op. Is it done? I'm so sorry. Photo op.com
Devon Higgins 4:58Yep, photo op.com or Photo op.net Either one will send you our way.
D.J. Paris 5:03Awesome photo op.com or photo op.net to get all of your marketing realtor needs met divan tell us welcome to the show, by the way.
Devon Higgins 5:15Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to to be here and talk a little bit more about real estate marketing.
D.J. Paris 5:21Yeah, me too. I, I'm a marketing guy myself. And this is always these are always the most fun conversations I get to have, because that's my background. My training is in marketing. And I see, you know, it's funny, we oftentimes think location is everything. And of course it is. And there's other things, too, to get into that bucket of everything, which include marketing. So I am excited to help our audience learn from you today about how to better market their properties, and also maybe even find more clientele. So tell us how how'd you get into real estate?
Devon Higgins 6:00Yeah, so for me the journey was kind of serendipitous I almost I would say fell into kind of real estate in the real estate marketing space. And bit on my end, like you said, and your intro, and thank you for leading me up with that. I studied marketing in school at Michigan State and wanted to use that degree, kinda like you said, went to Chicago for a year did the logistics gig didn't love it, and just wanted to do some more marketing. So came back to Grand Rapids where I was born and raised and where I was raised and got into doing some digital marketing on my own, and helping other clients with their digital marketing. Some of the folks that I've been worked for were realtors, help them build websites, do newsletters help with social media. And then eventually came across a couple of guys working out of a co working space that were doing real estate marketing, specifically photo editing. And they had a team that they were working with photo editors, and designers and developers that were actually over in the Philippines. Both these guys were super cool dudes went out for beers with them ended up playing soccer with them. And then they said, Hey, Devin, you know what, I'd love you to come on over and work with us kind of as a part time basis and help us with some sales and marketing. So I said, Yeah, you know what I mean, I've I've obviously done sales and marketing. I've worked with a couple of realtors and agents before, let's go ahead and give it a shot. So part time work and then went on for a while. And I just fell in love with the company who they are, what they stood for the team over in the Philippines, helping them grow and develop as leaders. So I kind of went all in, I said, Hey, guys, like, I want to continue doing this, I want to continue working with you. And they they agreed they were liking what I was doing. And they said definitely we'd love to bring you on full time. And I said I'd love to as well. But I'd have to shut down this other business that I have right that I've grown from scratch and kind of built up this clientele. So I was able to work out a deal with them where they brought me on. Over time as a partner, I was able to shut down everything else. And that led me to become a kind of full time real estate marketing with photo op. And then from there. I've worked with that now since 2014, and not a business and just in the past two years, I got my real estate license. Finally, from being in the real estate marketing space for so long. I've worked with a ton of photographers, media professionals, videographers in the real estate marketing space. And they obviously work with a ton of agents, we then are trying to expand our business and grow a bit and work with more agents directly. And in doing so I thought, hey, you know what, it's a middle of COVID I'm stuck at home already not doing much. I'm gonna go ahead and sign up for this 40 hour course online, get my real estate license and see how that goes. And I did that pass the test and joined a small little brokerage here in my local neighborhood. And I've loved it. It's been able to help me help friends and family with real estate. But also just get to know the industry even better at a more intimate level. Especially for me kind of personally, it's helping me out with business and connecting with agents more and figuring out what their needs are.
D.J. Paris 9:23Yeah, boy, you said a lot. That is so helpful. No, no, no really, really great stuff. That was super,
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Devon Higgins can be reached here.
This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00Today we're going to show you how to upgrade your photo marketing game. What's a photo marketing game? Stay tuned. This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren't converting? Well real geeks is your solution. Find out why agents across the country choose real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering a sales and marketing solution so that you can easily generate more business. Their agent websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for your visitors. Real geeks also includes an easy to use agent CRM. So once a lead signs up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up conversations. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business again, visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod. And now on to our show.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris. I am your guide and host through this show and in just a moment, we're going to be speaking with digital marketing expert Devonta Higgins, before we get to divan, just one quick reminder, actually two reminders. First, please tell a friend. If you can think of somebody right now that is looking for a podcast like this. Maybe somebody who's newer to the real estate industry struggling to build their business wants to know what the top producers are doing, please send them a link, somebody in your office definitely fits into that category. And if you're a solo practitioner next time or under showing tell the other agent, I would really appreciate it. But anyway, seriously, thank you for telling somebody about our show. We are so grateful. It's been about five or six years. And that's how we have marketed our business. So thanks to you for helping do that. And the last other thing I wanted to mention is we started clipping our episodes we people have been asking us to do this for years. Finally we got around to it. What that means is every weekday, although once in a while I forget but most weekdays, I publish a 62nd clip on all the different social media platforms like a best of from one of our episodes. And usually we find three to five best clips per episodes. We have a lot of these published at any way. They're short, they're bite sized, but they're also really, really actionable. So we cross post them everywhere. You can find us on social, even tick tock Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, probably a few others I can think of but anyway, LinkedIn has already said that anyway, it's everywhere. So please find us you can literally just pull up any social platform search for the keeping it real podcast, you'll find us there. And you could also go to our link tree which is link tree forward slash keeping it real pod. Anyway, we'll have a link to that in the show notes. But guys, thanks so much for keeping our show rolling, telling other people about it and please follow us on on all the various social channels. We love getting to you more often than just through these episodes. So thank you. Anyway, that's enough about me. Let's get to the main event. MY CONVERSATION WITH divan Higgins.
Today on the show we have to Vaughn Higgins, let me tell you more about fun the Divan Higgins is a Michigan native and owner of two businesses. First is photo op, which is a real estate marketing services company and also folio websites which is for website design and development for realtors. He's a seasoned entrepreneur, sports enthusiast husband, father of two beautiful girls and of course a realtor himself. Divan was born in Lansing, Michigan, but lived most of his life in Grand Rapids and we were actually just talking Off mic about how I was just in his neck of the woods watching a comedy show a few weeks ago. I love Grand Rapids. It's a lovely lovely city. But he he has a marketing degree with a minor in entrepreneurship. After college. He did a short stint here in Chicago for a logistics company before moving back up to Michigan and Grand Rapids to begin his career in real estate marketing and eventually opening up his own marketing agency. Today we're going to talk all about real estate real term marketing. Please follow divan on his website photo op. Is it done? I'm so sorry. Photo op.com
Devon Higgins 4:58Yep, photo op.com or Photo op.net Either one will send you our way.
D.J. Paris 5:03Awesome photo op.com or photo op.net to get all of your marketing realtor needs met divan tell us welcome to the show, by the way.
Devon Higgins 5:15Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to to be here and talk a little bit more about real estate marketing.
D.J. Paris 5:21Yeah, me too. I, I'm a marketing guy myself. And this is always these are always the most fun conversations I get to have, because that's my background. My training is in marketing. And I see, you know, it's funny, we oftentimes think location is everything. And of course it is. And there's other things, too, to get into that bucket of everything, which include marketing. So I am excited to help our audience learn from you today about how to better market their properties, and also maybe even find more clientele. So tell us how how'd you get into real estate?
Devon Higgins 6:00Yeah, so for me the journey was kind of serendipitous I almost I would say fell into kind of real estate in the real estate marketing space. And bit on my end, like you said, and your intro, and thank you for leading me up with that. I studied marketing in school at Michigan State and wanted to use that degree, kinda like you said, went to Chicago for a year did the logistics gig didn't love it, and just wanted to do some more marketing. So came back to Grand Rapids where I was born and raised and where I was raised and got into doing some digital marketing on my own, and helping other clients with their digital marketing. Some of the folks that I've been worked for were realtors, help them build websites, do newsletters help with social media. And then eventually came across a couple of guys working out of a co working space that were doing real estate marketing, specifically photo editing. And they had a team that they were working with photo editors, and designers and developers that were actually over in the Philippines. Both these guys were super cool dudes went out for beers with them ended up playing soccer with them. And then they said, Hey, Devin, you know what, I'd love you to come on over and work with us kind of as a part time basis and help us with some sales and marketing. So I said, Yeah, you know what I mean, I've I've obviously done sales and marketing. I've worked with a couple of realtors and agents before, let's go ahead and give it a shot. So part time work and then went on for a while. And I just fell in love with the company who they are, what they stood for the team over in the Philippines, helping them grow and develop as leaders. So I kind of went all in, I said, Hey, guys, like, I want to continue doing this, I want to continue working with you. And they they agreed they were liking what I was doing. And they said definitely we'd love to bring you on full time. And I said I'd love to as well. But I'd have to shut down this other business that I have right that I've grown from scratch and kind of built up this clientele. So I was able to work out a deal with them where they brought me on. Over time as a partner, I was able to shut down everything else. And that led me to become a kind of full time real estate marketing with photo op. And then from there. I've worked with that now since 2014, and not a business and just in the past two years, I got my real estate license. Finally, from being in the real estate marketing space for so long. I've worked with a ton of photographers, media professionals, videographers in the real estate marketing space. And they obviously work with a ton of agents, we then are trying to expand our business and grow a bit and work with more agents directly. And in doing so I thought, hey, you know what, it's a middle of COVID I'm stuck at home already not doing much. I'm gonna go ahead and sign up for this 40 hour course online, get my real estate license and see how that goes. And I did that pass the test and joined a small little brokerage here in my local neighborhood. And I've loved it. It's been able to help me help friends and family with real estate. But also just get to know the industry even better at a more intimate level. Especially for me kind of personally, it's helping me out with business and connecting with agents more and figuring out what their needs are.
D.J. Paris 9:23Yeah, boy, you said a lot. That is so helpful. No, no, no really, really great stuff. That was super,
In God we trust