It can sometimes feel like everyone is doing the same thing in the real estate industry, or at least like it's impossible to stand out. Everyone sends newsletters. Agent websites or blogs often have the same look and feel, with similar content: Mortgage rates, market trends, featured listings, etc.

From "Now is the Time to Buy" to "Price Just Reduced!", the same messages get pushed out into the internet space from agents across the country. So how do you, as real estate agents, get local or even national attention?

In today's online world, we have to either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about. Sometimes that involves getting a little "weird" or just being yourself (and not being afraid of doing so)!

Rosemary Beck Watercolored Listing Photo

In January, Rosemary shared a watercolor painting of one of her real estate listings on her blog. To create the watercolor photo she used an app, which she's been using to bring out her "inner artist" lately. The fantastic part of this story is that Rosemary posted it as the primary photo on the listing!

I'm not sure if this is "brilliant marketing" by any means, but it's nice to see an agent putting their personality into their business like this. It's certainly a unique way to market a listing. After reading her blog, checking out her website, and seeing this listing, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of who Rosemary is. When it comes to building a reputation and generating leads, that can go a long way.

Which bids the question, what does your online presence say about you?

Selling a Home from a Dog's Perspective

Usually property videos have a consistent format: a beautiful slideshow of images set to classical music, text with too much drop shadow, and they're usually going a little slower than the viewer would like. Similar to Rosemary Beck's idea to spice up a listing, Brian Murray decided to create a special video for his listing on 353 Pine Brook Rd. And if you're a dog lover, you'll really appreciate it.

He allowed Sadie and Madison, two Golden Retrievers, to sell you on the property themselves. From jumping in the pool and running around the lawn, the video is definitely more unique than the average listing video!

According to an interview with Inman News, "Murray hasn't sold the home featured in the video yet, but he says that it's at least helped generate some leads, with more than one buyer referencing it."

Meanwhile, in Australia, they have a different way of making their videos stand out...but we don't recommend following their lead.

The Rock Star of Real Estate

Ken Deleon was deemed the #1 real estate agent out of millions of agents in 2011. There's no doubt that took hard work. And if you look through his history as an agent, he's done a few things that are unique in terms of marketing.

In an interview on RealEstate.com he said, "In my city there are 700 agents selling 400 to 500 houses. I realized that since I wanted to be distinct, I needed to do something bold. I did some pretty crazy ads, such as a two-page spread in the local newspaper with me dressed as the Village People. Instead of  'Y-M-C-A,' I was singing 'S-O-L–D.' I became so distinctive and memorable that people started calling. Right now, in my town, I'm selling about 12 percent of the available homes."

Apparently, Ken isn't afraid to get dressed up for an ad. In a video entitled his personal story, he talks about calling himself the "Rock Star of Real Estate." He created an ad of himself dressed up as a rock star, stating, "You Want Your Realtor to Be a Rock Star" and "Ken DeLeon Hits All the Right Notes!"

That's one way to grab some attention!

While some of these ideas are just silly and they might not be right for your brand, putting your personality into your marketing is always a great idea.

To view the original article, visit the Enterprise Network blog.