About Kevin Hawkins

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So far Kevin Hawkins has created 338 blog entries.

Florida Realtors Tech Helpline: Sleeper Success Story

It’s real estate tech’s best sleeper story of super success. Tech Helpline, created and owned by Florida Realtors, is the real estate industry’s number one tech support service. By a county mile. I will bet you can’t even name who is ranked number two. Or three, or four, or any of their direct competitors for that matter. I can’t, and I am a consultant for them. Where else in real estate tech or proptech can you make that claim?  Where does a real estate related tech firm dominates a category so profoundly? Tech Helpline is currently available to nearly half [...]

By |2018-05-11T09:38:58-07:00May 11th, 2018|Broker-Agent Information, Business Intelligence, Clients, NAR, Technology|3 Comments
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Registration Marks Do Not Belong In News Releases

Allow me to share a professional rant. We have to stop listening to the lawyers on this one. Companies are habitually adding registration marks to their news releases. I confess. I have more than one client that requires them. But I have to stop, raise my hand and ask one question. Why?

By |2025-04-22T10:10:52-07:00May 7th, 2018|Main category|3 Comments
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Innovation Winners, 30 Industry Leaders Honored by RESO in Denver

RESO sold out its Spring Tech Summit in Denver last week three times, organizers said. Demand by industry tech and business leaders wanting to attend within the last two weeks forced the nonprofit to re-open registration twice until it pushed to capacity. The Real Estate Standards Organization filled the main ballroom to the brim, with just short of 300 people, at the hip Curtis Hotel in downtown Denver. Art Carter, RESO Chair and head of the largest MLS in the nation CRMLS, noted how far the organization had come in the last five years. One of the most vital breakthroughs: [...]

By |2018-05-02T09:25:39-07:00May 2nd, 2018|Main category, Press Releases, RESO, Technology|Comments Off on Innovation Winners, 30 Industry Leaders Honored by RESO in Denver
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Broker Public Portal Adds Four New Members to Board

Redfin. KW. Keyes. Metrolist. Executives with these four real estate industry-leading firms just joined the BPP Board of Managers. It's akin to the automobile industry announcing that representatives from Tesla, GM, Audi and Johnson Controls just joined a Board that's collaborating on their industry's most pressing cutting-edge initiative. This is a blue-chip list of leaders of today and tomorrow by any measure: Bill Miller, CEO of Metrolist Services, Inc. Kathleen Manchin, Director of Industry Relations/Corporate Counsel of Keller Williams Realty International Chelsea Goyer, VP of Recruiting, Partner Programs & MLS Relations of Redfin Christina Pappas, District Sales Manager of The Keyes Company [...]

By |2018-04-30T09:22:24-07:00April 30th, 2018|Main category|Comments Off on Broker Public Portal Adds Four New Members to Board
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What is Public Relations?

I am still stunned by the number of people I meet in the real estate industry, including prospective clients, who really don’t understand what Public Relations is. More importantly, many people often have misconceptions about what PR can do. Most often, PR is confused with activities and outcomes that are entirely in the realm of Advertising.

By |2018-04-30T06:15:26-07:00April 30th, 2018|Main category, Our Company, Our Services|1 Comment
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The Secret to Having the Best PR Program

When I meet the “father of Public Relations,” Edward Bernays, he was in his 90s. I was a USC grad student in the School of Journalism working on my Masters in Public Relations (MPR). A small group of us had gathered at a Public Relations Student Society of America reception at a national conference to meet the living legend. His body may have been feeble, but his brain was still wickedly razor sharp.

By |2018-04-16T08:00:29-07:00April 16th, 2018|Our Company, Our Services, Press Releases|Comments Off on The Secret to Having the Best PR Program
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Flashback Feature 2004: Keller Williams’ Gary Keller Teaches His Way to the Top

This Flashback Features series unearths profiles from the past of real estate and technology leaders. A version of this story was first published in California Real Estate magazine. This profile of Gary Keller, founder of Keller Williams Realty International, is from 2004.

By |2018-04-02T14:00:16-07:00April 2nd, 2018|Main category|1 Comment
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Paid Newswires: Are They Worth It?

One of the tools in the Public Relations’ publicity toolkit to communicate for decades has been a paid newswire. PR Newswire and Business Wire early on dominated the business in the U.S. What people don't realize is that the reason one used a paid newswire has evolved with technology and our times.  Initially, the popularity of newswires was fueled by federal regulations that required public companies to meet specific disclosure laws. With the digitization of news and the expansion of the Internet, firms like Marketwire and PRWeb emerged (and much later, GlobeNewswire), and so did the value proposition of newswires. Technology firms became the client of these more Internet-focused firms, and the value proposition became SEO.

By |2018-03-19T21:00:34-07:00March 19th, 2018|Main category|3 Comments
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RESO Confabs are Real Estate’s Club 33

Denver will be my fourth RESO Spring Tech Summit. Compared to many of the RESO leadership, who, like WAV Group, work for companies that are charter members, I’m still a newbie. Even so, RESO conferences have come a long way from the Chicago spring meeting I attended in 2015 at the NAR HQ.

By |2018-03-10T13:05:08-08:00March 10th, 2018|RESO|Comments Off on RESO Confabs are Real Estate’s Club 33
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Effective PR Means One Message Does Not Fit All Audiences

Too often public relations activities rely on the “spray and pray” method these days. It’s just too easy. First, there’s the availability of cheap digital news wire services to blast out a news release for a few hundred dollars or less. If you want to get some quick online news cover and links to post to social media, it’s just a few clicks away.  Second, creating email lists of reporters and bloggers has never been more accessibility. So much so, I would venture to guess reporters are suffering from unsubscribe fatigue.

By |2018-03-05T07:00:30-08:00March 5th, 2018|Main category|Comments Off on Effective PR Means One Message Does Not Fit All Audiences
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Meet Michael Gabriel: The “East Coast’s Craigslist” Is Now A Luxury Real Estate Leader

When I interviewed Craig Newmark for California Real Estate magazine a dozen years ago, it struck me how down to earth and unassuming he was. After all, he had created one of the most pervasive and influential internet sites in the world. But Craig remained remarkably modest, humble and approachable. I called him the “Reluctant Internet Mogul.” Last year, Forbes wrote how Craig has now become the reluctant internet billionaire.

By |2018-02-20T03:00:37-08:00February 20th, 2018|Main category|Comments Off on Meet Michael Gabriel: The “East Coast’s Craigslist” Is Now A Luxury Real Estate Leader
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Flashback Feature 2006: Craig Newmark is the Internet’s Reluctant Mogul

This Flashback Features series unearths profiles from the past of real estate and technology leaders. A version of this story was first published in California Real Estate magazine. This profile of Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is from 2006. By Kevin Hawkins Craig Newmark, the Internet’s reluctant mogul, makes his daily visit to Café Reverie in the Cole Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. He has dog biscuits in his pockets and a ready smile for the next little child that he encounters.

By |2018-02-19T05:00:31-08:00February 19th, 2018|Broker Technology Research, Main category|Comments Off on Flashback Feature 2006: Craig Newmark is the Internet’s Reluctant Mogul
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