The Corcoran Group

Written By Matthew Shadbolt

Director of Interactive Product & Marketing, 2006-2014

The Corcoran Group is Manhattan’s largest luxury real estate brokerage, covering New York, The Hamptons and Palm Beach. During my 8 years there, and working with 2,500 agents, I oversaw all digital strategy, audience growth, user experience, digital training and internal communications, internal and external product development, marketing initiatives and online brand development for Corcoran, and sister brands Corcoran Sunshine and Citi Habitats.

This included the tactical value-build and growth of corcoran.com, the build of several mobile apps across different brands, creating a best-in-class social brand presence across 10+ platforms, as well as the establishment of key initiatives around mobile, video and search. I created over 40 different advertising partner programs, including establishing strategic relationships with Google, Facebook, Zillow, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, where I not only managed budget, but also regular performance optimization and innovation.

Problems worked on:

  • How might we create a digital environment for Corcoran’s agents that allows them to understand, navigate and capitalize on a rapidly changing market?

  • How might we create a culture of strong internal communications with the agent community, give them visibility into timing and decision making, and articulate organizational momentum?

  • How might we reach new digital audiences for Corcoran’s services and connect with them in the right place, at the right time, with the right content?

  • How might we effectively use technology to translate Corcoran’s brand premise across different local markets for different audiences of both agent and customer?

Achievements:

  • Redesign and launch of corcoran.com, including responsive mobile experience, innovative marketing campaign, video advertising, social integration and location-based content.

  • Built a cross-market digital training and communications infrastructure which allowed Corcoran to roll out products more effectively, streamline decision making and user feedback from the agents, and align different markets around brand premise, marketing efforts, and organizational direction.

  • Creation of best-in-class social presence across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Foursquare, Tumblr and many more. Awarded Inman News Innovator of the Year for my work with Foursquare.

  • Built a new digital advertising program across 40+ different media partners, allowing agents to target their activities to the most meaningful audience

  • Designed, built, launched and marketed multiple mobile apps, including Corcoran for iPhone, iPad and Android, and Citi Habitats for iPhone

  • Developed substantial in-house video capabilities, creating innovative apartment tours, neighborhood profiles, and multi-lingual agent guides

The redesign of corcoran.com was predicated on the idea of providing insight and guidance as a competitive brokerage differentiator in an increasingly commoditized climate for listings information. By leveraging the unique knowledge of Corcoran’s agent community, we blended listing information with the agents’ local insight of what it truly felt like to live in that neighborhood. This allows users to not only understand the specifications of the home, but also what it feels like to go beyond the four walls. We then took those localized neighborhood tips, and contextually placed them in the right place, for the right person, at the right time across multiple platforms beyond the website.

The site’s design was optimized around listings pages becoming entry points into the site, rather than the prevailing view at the time of prioritizing the homepage. This led to a large increase in search traffic and recirculation between listings, as users arrived from search, social, email or portals, and subsequently moved between related listings. This approach naturally also prioritized large format photography, video, maps, and the truly unique local insights only available from agents.

To support the launch, we created a short promotional explainer video, which was augmented by our innovative use of Google’s True View advertising platform, generating over 1 million views within the first month of launch. The campaign was also supported by some beautiful print and display advertising campaigns, featuring the work of Swedish illustrator Kari Moden.

Corcoran Video

A small sample of some of my favorite apartment videos made during my time at Corcoran.

We also created hundreds of localized insight interviews with Corcoran agents, which were then placed inside of search results, listings pages, and our mobile apps to continually surface the importance of working with an agent.

The premise of the Corcoran app for iPad was very straightforward: “Simply put, when you browse for real estate in New York, The Hamptons or South Florida, we want you to dream big. So we built an app for you that allows you to do just that, every day.”

The app was built around a ‘home of the day’ experience, which featured the most spectacular Corcoran listing for that day, coupled with nearby information about restaurants, nightlife and shopping, agent videos, and the ability to search for other properties nearby.

Press Coverage: ‘Right on time: The Corcoran iPad app’

One of the first mobile brokerage apps, Corcoran for iPhone and Android took advantage of the device’s GPS feature to pull in as much relevant information as possible around the user, in the moment, answering the key user need - what does it feel like to live here? In addition to being able to browse for homes around you, it also pulled in local restaurant, shopping and nightlife tips from Zagat Survey, localized video insights from Corcoran agents, nearby Foursquare tips and guides from Corcoran, and the latest neighborhood news stories from Curbed, Eater and Racked.

To support the launch of the new Corcoran app for iPhone, we created a beautiful suite of print and display advertising pieces featuring Swedish illustrator Kari Moden (I would continue to work with Kari at The New York Times).

As part of our location-based marketing initiatives, we built a large presence on Foursquare of thousands of localized tips, guides, photos and agent insights. We were fortunate to be featured in the first ever business book on Foursquare, Carmine Gallo’s ‘The Power of Foursquare’. Corcoran is case study number one, in chapter one. Here’s author Carmine Gallo chatting with me as we discuss some of our tips at The Shake Shack, a burger joint in Madison Square Park.

Note to self: I was completely overdressed for this.

Parallel to the digital development of Corcoran’s brand, I also developed a suite of interactive products for sister brand Citi Habitats, New York’s largest rental brokerage. These included the redesign of their website, citihabitats.com, an iPhone app, social growth across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and the establishment of a regular advertising program and training for agents.

I also worked closely with Corcoran’s events team to create all the supporting collateral, video production and design elements for Corcoran and Citi Habitats’ internal events across New York, The Hamptons and Florida over 8 years. This included animated video sequences, slideshows, signage, invitations, websites and more. This was always a tremendous amount of fun.

Metro, Wednesday January 26th 2011

“Matthew thinks better than most people. He not only sees trends and ideas, but understands them at a deep level. Matthew also has a talent for sharing these insights in written and spoken form in a manner that imparts his wisdom into the minds of the readers and/or audience. He is diligent and thorough in every action he takes. His intelligence is experienced in the most refreshing way due to his humble and fun personality. As a thought leader in the real estate and new media fields, it's obvious that he will excel at everything he chooses to be a part of. I'm honored to work with Matthew and happy to call him a friend.”
Brad Nix
COO/Owner at Path & Post Real Estate

“Matthew is unique among interactive directors in his industry. He has an understanding of branding that goes well beyond the superficial. He has a grasp of technology not just in terms of feature/benefit but in terms of how actual human beings behave while using technology. He is a leader that inspires his small team to achieve case-study levels of achievement, inspires his industry to reconsider their approach, and knows how to work within a larger organizational framework to push for growth in emerging technologies. Any organization would be strengthened by having someone with his deep talents, measurable results, and leadership capabilities - regardless of industry. His work and thinking are a treasure.”

Gahlord Dewald
Founder, Thoughtfaucet

”What Matthew Shadbolt has done for The Corcoran Group regarding their online brand is nothing short of spectacular. More importantly, what he has done for the real estate industry at large, his willingness to share and engage with 1,000's who want his advice, is inspiring. In a digital era where many are confused and falling behind, Matthew is razor sharp and leading the way. I envy his IQ and appreciate his perspective daily.”

Chris Smith
Sales and Marketing Expert, USA Today Bestselling Author of The Conversion Code, Keynote Speaker


“It was great having Matthew Shadbolt speak at our office meeting; his knowledge is vast. I speak about 12 times each year at real estate conferences, seminars and masterminds. I get as many people wanting to talk to me about Matthew as they do Barbara (Corcoran). For the technology oriented real estate broker, Matthew is a rock star. Several of my real estate buddies said his content at Inman where he provided a keynote was amazing and the best part of the conference. Two days ago, a broker I refer to in northern Virginia asked me if she should go hear Matthew speak of which I said yes and she later reported how he has changed the way she thinks about her business. I hope our company realizes the incredible asset we have in Matthew, not just for his foresight, but for the amazing good will he brings to Corcoran and NRT.”
Patrick Vernon Lilly
Senior Vice President, Associate Broker, The Corcoran Group

Matthew Shadbolt https://www.matthewshadbolt.com
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