James Rash Marketing. Let’s break that down.

James Rash. That’s me. But please, call me Jim.

Marketing is what I do. It was my favorite part of the real estate business. I did it for my wife’s and my team.

When we started, we lived in a two-bedroom downtown rental. When I left the business, we were in a 3,750 square-foot two-story with a walk-out finished basement on a 1.3-acre lake-front parcel worth about a half-million dollars.

I don’t say this to brag, but we did better than just okay.

Of course, there’s more to the story but I want to give you a snapshot of who I am and why I’m qualified to ask for your business.

Radio

When I think back on when I started learning about how to promote a business it was when I got into radio. I had taken sales and marketing courses in college, but theory only goes so far.

At the first station where I worked, I was the Public Service Director, which meant that when the Bakersfield Kiwanis Club had a bull roast, I had to let the public know about it.

It was a who, what, when, where, and why deal. Just the facts on a 3×5 index card that the jocks would read.

No real selling involved, just letting people know what was going on in town.

At the same time, I started writing (and recording) 30- and 60-second commercials for clients. I’d cover the basics and then I’d add a call-to-action at the end to motivate the listeners to do what the advertiser wanted them to do, which was to come in or call.

While some other DJs would complain about having to write their own copy, I rather liked it. When the salesperson would come back to the station after playing the commercial for their client, I couldn’t wait to hear what the client thought.

If she liked it, cool. If not, I’d work on it until she did.

After several years on the air, I went into advertising sales. Every client I dealt with trusted me with the success of their business. I never shrank from that responsibility.

I worked my way up to sales manager. I even won a Pizazz Award from the Bakersfield Ad Club for a spot I’d written.

Writing was fun, but the idea that I could help a business become successful was what drove me.

Real Estate

My wife and I got into the real estate business over 20 years ago.

I worked two jobs until she got her license. The next year I got mine.

From the time I was licensed we worked as a team. She worked with buyers, me with sellers.

I also handled our marketing, such as it was. And early on it wasn’t much but it was more than most agents were doing at that time.

I knew we needed to have our own website. I found a source for that. For a fee ($25 a month as I recall) we could post a description and pictures of our listings.

The site, while affordable, was severely limited, which I suppose was what made it affordable. I could only post five images and the descriptions were limited by word-count. It didn’t take long to figure out that we needed something more.

I enrolled in a Web Master course at the local community college and learned how websites were built.

I designed a site where I could, and did, post 100 or more images of a house’s exterior and interior. Sometimes I’d show pictures of the neighborhood. Whatever it took to get an appointment to show the property.

It worked. I had the site I wanted.

More than that, I had the site that sellers wanted, and buyers loved.

Now, I must point out the little five-image-maximum website brought us business. It was a time when a prospect would call and one of the first things they would ask was if we had a website. We’d say yes and set the appointment.

But, after building our site from scratch, sellers would call just to be on it.

That wasn’t the only thing we did to set ourselves apart.

We used yard-sign riders that said, “See this home on Rashteam.com.”

We bought flyer boxes and put them next to the yard signs.

I designed flyers to put in the boxes. Other agents who used flyer boxes (and there weren’t many who did) would only put Multiple Listing Service information sheets in them. The MLS sheets were designed for agents so they were filled with jargon and abbreviations that potential buyers either couldn’t read or didn’t understand.

Early on I learned that most agents do no marketing on their own and the brutal reality is that most brokerages only do enough to be able to say they advertise.

This shortcoming doesn’t just apply to real estate … it is reality for business in general.

Sadly, nothing’s changed.

Most businesses don’t have effective marketing. They just do what everybody else is doing, then complain when things don’t get better.

You need to get ahead of your competition. What are you offering of value that others in your business aren’t?

There is something you do better than every competitor you have.

It could be your service. It could be your inventory. Or better pricing. It could even be a better location with better parking.

And whatever it is, you must let the public know what makes you unique.

Why you’re a better choice than Joe, up the road.

Because guess what?

Joe’s not going to tell them. And nobody else will either.

It’s up to you to let them know.

That’s where I come in.

I’d like to put together a marketing campaign for you.

By taking control of our real estate marketing, my wife’s and my team became the brand. It took time and it took effort, but we did it.

Now I’d like to do it for you.

So, if you’re interested in knowing more, fill out the form on the Contact page.

Thank you for your consideration.