All of us in the real estate industry have warily watched it approach. Quarter by quarter during the past few years, the exploding world of the Internet and social media has been aggressively impacting and eroding the doctrines and concepts of traditional business marketing, including that which we have used to promote brokerages. We have heard and rejected the idea that the newspaper is dying, yet each month we hear of another newspaper leaving the scene. We hear how today’s consumer is rejecting traditional “in your face” marketing and find that, indeed, expenditures for traditional mass media based marketing were down almost 18 percent during the first half of 2009.

Then in August of this year comes Bob Garfield, a 21-year veteran columnist from Advertising Age magazine and one of the most respected journalists in the business world with his new book “The Chaos Scenario.” Garfield’s book chronicles the demise of modern marketing and, of course, those who practice it. It sets out in great detail why traditional marketing is neither effective in the digital age nor responsive to the demands of the social media-empowered consumer. Even Garfield’s most vehement critics, like Jeff Goodby, acknowledge that the book is well researched and extremely well written even if they don’t share its most dire predictions. They delight in pointing out that the Internet and social media are still relatively immature in many ways, including their financial model. They note with tongue in check and fingers crossed that these shortcomings may hold off the dogs for several more years.

Switch now to the first week in October and engage the Forrester Research organization’s latest white paper, “Adaptive Brand Marketing” (2009, Lisa Bradner). If Bob Garfield is the marketing world’s early warning system, then Forrester is its Stanford University. Readers might recall that it was Charlene’s Li’s blockbuster book, “Groundswell,” that finally forced the business community to take the entire social media technology world seriously. Li and co-author Josh Bernoff were senior associates with the Forrester organization when their book was published.

For the princely sum of $499 for the Forrester white paper, real estate brokers can find validation for their beliefs that today’s brand-centric marketing shops are focused on periodic “dynamite” marketing campaigns that create new market spaces and give them a perception of being in control of the marketplace.  

But these firms are simply not equipped to deal with the 24/7 world of social media in which new trends and media events happen virtually every day, all day. Brokers will further learn that in order for marketing campaigns to be relevant to today’s consumer, they must listen to consumer needs expressed through social media and rapidly respond by aligning consumer demands with brand deliverables. This type of marketing program involves respecting and appreciating the power of consumer intellect, the necessity of incorporating consumer input, creating strategic brand platforms and empowering a “federated” organization across its width and breadth (marketing speak for “more than agents have contact with consumers”). Forrester suggests that the power of this “adaptive” approach to marketing will be so powerful that it will single-handedly change the classic four Ps of marketing (product, price, place and promotion) to a whole new set (permission, proximity, perception and participation).

So what does all of this have to do with being a real estate broker in the last half of 2009? The answer can be found in the concept of preparation.

Whether in six months or 12 or even 18, a new real estate marketplace is coming to your community. It will not look like any real estate market you have ever dealt with. Certainly it will not look, act, respond or perform in any manner like the market of 2002 that was the last market with which brokers could say they were comfortable. There will be a new inventory, new price points, a new consumer with new priorities and demands, new financing mechanisms and, yes, a whole new way to market your services.

The last four years have been tough times. Most, if not all, brokerages are struggling to break even and make payroll and other obligations. Unfortunately, survival may not be enough. Surviving the down times is only the first challenge. Preparing for the new era is the second. It is critical that all real estate brokers who hope to succeed and recover in the new market continue the steps that they have been taking to survive. But in the same vain, so is it essential that they study the changing market environment and prepare to succeed in a totally new marketplace.

Create a “new era” action plan. If the new market arrived tomorrow, what new strategies and tactics would you want to have in place? Don’t waste the first 10 months of new opportunity getting ready to perform. That is the sole purpose of the last 10 months of the down market.

Here is something really cool you can do with your “new era” plan. Bob Garfield is in the process of writing a new book entitled “Listenomics.” He is writing it online for all to follow. Here is your change to learn about something that is critical to the success of your business. Register to follow Bob on this new adventure. By the time he has finished the book, you will be an expert on this new approach.

This is not about money that brokers don’t have. It is about time they do have and a rekindling of the passion that makes this the best industry to be in ever. Get started. We can do this.