When it comes to consumer outreach, National Association of REALTORS ® and its state and local associations have one unifying message: “to inform consumers of the value that REALTORS® offer,” says Kayla Sanders, former marketing director at Baldwin REALTORS®.
“It’s not just about buying or selling homes,” she says. “[Our message] is about the whole idea that if your community is healthy and happy, everything is going to benefit from that. Neighborhoods are going to benefit. We can only create a better place for people to live if everybody’s being cared for.”
With a focus portraying NAR members as partners, supporting and helping to protect property buyers and sellers from the long-lasting consequences of inexperience, NAR launched “Right by you” as its advertising campaign platform to convey the REALTOR® brand difference and value to consumers. Here, three associations share their outreach and member education strategies to remind consumers that now, more than ever, is the time to lean on the expertise and ethics that professionals who are REALTORS® bring to a complex transaction.
Baldwin REALTORS®: ‘The R Means More’
Baldwin County, Ala., has three distinct geographic areas, each with its own lifestyle: residential and family-friendly, coastal and resort-oriented, and rural but fast-growing.
Members of Baldwin REALTORS® can obtain their association’s own certifications for each area, which positions them as specialists in the unique needs of the real estate buyers and sellers in these communities. Website micro pages and search engines also connect members with consumers, “to let them know that if they are looking to buy or sell, these are the people who know the county very well and know its ins and outs,” Sanders says.
But in the current business climate, some members have been getting “a bad taste in their mouths” from recent negative media portrayals of the real estate industry, Sanders says. As she weighed strategies to change the narrative locally, she thought about how members uniquely abide by the REALTOR® Code of Ethics and gain additional expertise through specialized certifications and designations—all of which enhance success for buyers and sellers.
That was the birth of the “The R Means More” campaign. Overlapping with available resources from NAR, Baldwin REALTORS® developed its own consumer campaign to spotlight what it really means to work with an agent who is a REALTOR®.
Through a dedicated “The R Means More” page on the association’s website, consumers can find NAR’s Consumer Guides—co-branded with Baldwin REALTORS® and offered in English and Spanish. These guides detail how members lead with ethics, from their duty to put clients first to communicating offers of compensation.
The webpage also walks through 27 different credentials so buyers and sellers can source professionals with the specific training and education for their unique real estate needs, and it contains guides on the 100-plus ways members serve their clients.
The ability to localize NAR’s wealth of knowledge “is huge,” Sanders says. “Especially in our area in the South, people like to feel that connection with others,” she says. “We are a trusted source locally.” Using the power of artificial intelligence, Baldwin REALTORS® helped promote its campaign through 30- and 60-second commercials on YouTube TV and Google Ads, with an audio version for AudioGo. Leveraging the fact that skipped ads don’t have to be paid for—while still capturing the attention of consumers—the cost-effective videos earned more than 250,000 local impressions.
Plus, with 7,000 followers on social media, Baldwin REALTORS® earned additional free exposure by posting “The R Means More” materials on its platforms.
The association also encouraged members to share the information. “We advised them to use this webpage to continue to tell clients why they should want to work with you,” Sanders says. “We really tried to encourage our members to take this and use it in their businesses.”
Ozark Gateway Association of REALTORS®: Drip Campaigns for the Win
In an overcrowded information age, Ozark Gateway Association of REALTORS® in Missouri relies on drip campaigns, which issue snippets of information in “readable, easy-to- absorb packets,” CEO Kim Cox says. Consumers and members get updates and action steps on news that matters to them, delivered in “small, chewable bites, instead of a full meal.”
The campaigns lean into a need to reinforce the association’s purpose, programs and services—including education on hot-button topics—to members. “If we’re not a resource, that’s a problem,” Cox says.
That strategy develops well-informed members who, in turn, serve as resources for consumers. One ongoing initiative “drips” updates to members about legislation regarding property rights and homeownership, plus news about schools and businesses that impact the local economy and real-estate picture.
Another successful campaign relied on members as conduits to inform consumers about a proposed business tax. An oppositional petition drew 1,800 signatures, and the tax initiative was rejected by 83% of voters.
“REALTORS® have a lot to do with community,” Cox says about association members. “They’re the ones talking to the people who live here, and they all have these fingers out into the community. It’s so easy for us to spread the word.”
Drip campaigns and consumer outreach enhance the image of members, in part, by positioning the association as a community partner. When a local health department needed someone to spread the word about new well testing requirements, it reached out to OGAR, which shared the information with its 838 members, each capable of amplifying the message through their own databases.
“We just want to continue to be a resource both to our association and to the community,” Cox says.
Fresno Association of REALTORS®: Polling Consumer Sentiment
Back in 2023, Fresno Association of REALTORS® in California polled local consumers, seeking a view into their knowledge of housing and property rights. Among other things, the poll revealed that consumers felt good about agents who are REALTORS® but didn’t necessarily understand their roles, responsibilities and distinctions from other licensed agents.
Those results helped FAR shape a media campaign stressing the value that members bring to “the biggest transaction of their lives,” Government Affairs Director Kyle Chaney says. “We look out for the consumer through our agents, so we need to make sure that people know what our agents can do,” he says. “There are a lot of unseen tripwires they can help guide you through, and [they can] help you miss the ones you shouldn’t be stepping on.”
In an advertisement, produced by a local communications agency, FAR presents its members as knowledgeable guides through uncertain times. And in partnership with a Fresno television station, CEO Dezmarie Hedrick sat down for a casual chat on a morning program, where she explained the meaningful difference between an agent who is a REALTOR® and a licensed agent.
Conducted by a professional polling firm, FAR’s poll reached outside the real estate bubble to take a snapshot of broader consumer sentiment. “When you’re in your own industry, you just think that everybody knows what you know, until you start asking the broader population, and they have no idea of what you do or who you are, or they have a misconceived idea of what you do,” Chaney says. “The heart of this poll was trying to understand where our consumer is now and to craft an educational- style message that meets them where they are and isn’t too basic or too detailed.”
Educating members on the intricacies of real estate transactions helps FAR to amplify the message.
In many cases, FAR’s carefully crafted messaging reinforces a sense among property buyers and sellers that agents who are REALTORS® have the know-how to guide them through a fraught time, Chaney says.
“They’re willing to pay for expertise,” he says. “People are looking for educated professionals, and the question of cost really isn’t raised if they feel comfortable and confident that the experts know what they’re doing.”
Don’t Settle for the Ordinary
By connecting buyers and sellers with members through consumer outreach, associations hope to create productive, positive experiences that strengthen communities. “We don’t want the community out there settling for ordinary,” Cox says. “We want to be the go-to, 100%.”
At Baldwin REALTORS®, the underlying message weaving through every campaign says that “this is made possible by our professional ethical members, by what they do,” Sanders says.
“We also want our members to be proud of their association,” she adds. “We want them to know we are here to sing their song, to promote them to their local consumers and their potential clients. We want them to know we’re here fighting for them to get the representation that they’re due.”
