8 marketing & Business lessons we can learn from Kobe Bryant

"Never get bored with the basics."
 
Those are words of wisdom from the late, great Kobe Bryant. Of course, the NBA Los Angeles Lakers champion tragically perished in a helicopter crash last year, but his legacy lives on. In fact, Kobe’s posthumous contributions go far beyond just basketball, as his philosophies and quotes on hard work, sacrifice, and the “Mamba Mentality” are frequently applied to business. 
 
Kobe was also notorious for his legendary training, starting to hone his craft at 4 am every morning and displaying a consistent work ethic that few have ever matched. 
 
The result was 5 NBA championships and countless records, including scoring 60 points at 38 years old in his very last game.
 
The secret to his success? As Kobe shared with younger players he started coaching and mentoring later in his career, the Mamba alchemy was to do the fundamentals exceptionally well. 
 
“Why do you think I’m the best player in the world? Because I never ever get bored with the basics.”
 
So, as a Realtor, mortgage broker, or any small business owner or entrepreneur, how you can apply Kobe Bryant’s advice to your marketing?
 
If Kobe was your marketing coach, what advice would he give you about the basics and fundamentals of growing your brand and connecting with your audience? 
 
1. Slam dunk your social media. 
Make sure you have a noticeable, fun, and personal social media presence. In today’s business climate, it not just an add-on, but essential. 
 
And it’s not enough to post a few random articles or sporadic photos (that come from someone else). You need to post interesting, unique, custom, fun, engaging, and helpful social media content every day.
 
You need to create your own images, graphs, memes, infographics, blogs, podcasts, etc. – don’t just share other people’s “stuff.”
 
2. Your email marketing should be an all-star. 
Email is still one of the most effective ways to reach people with direct and personal messages, and yield some of the best results and highest ROI for lead generation. But after all of these years (and decades), 70% of Realtors and loan officers still don’t even have a weekly or monthly email campaign! 
 
Or, they send out “canned” or generic content, which is even worse. If you’re sending out “10 Spring cleaning tips” or “5 July 4th Recipes, etc.” then your email campaign sucks.
 
Trust me - that’s just leaving a lot of money on the table. Get unique and personal with your emails, and your audience will love you for it.
 
3. Shoot plenty of videos for your highlight reel. 
Video definitely needs to be a big part of your marketing these days.
 
Why? Remember that YouTube is actually the second-largest search engine in the world (behind only its owner, Google), Instagram is exploding and will surpass Facebook soon, and about 70% of consumers are looking for video content – especially on their mobile devices!
 
They don’t have to be professionally shot or edited – people will actually appreciate the authenticity as you documented your life on-the-go.
 
4. Give back to your fans all the time - or someone else will. 
Your sole job is to be of service to your audience and clients, and that means touching base with them regularly, building relationships and forming friendships, answering their questions, and providing helpful information. 
 
Your competition sure is reaching out to the public, investing robustly in their marketing and outreach. Every week, month, and year that you still don’t have a rock-solid marketing system, you’re falling behind – and your competition is trying to recruit your clients to their team! 
 
5. To build synergy, use the power of leverage. 
Are you really running a business? Or just trying to do everything yourself, essentially trading time and energy for money?
 
The folks who are wildly successful in real estate, mortgage, or any industry understand that they need to build a real business to be successful. Only then can their success be sustainable and predictable AND they won’t completely burn out.
 
The only way to do that is to leverage other people’s time, work, and skills. Once you build a team and put people in position to do what they do best, it all works like a well-oiled machine (of course, with time, training, set-up, upkeep, etc.).
 
You’ll achieve synergy – where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In our industry, synergy and team building = massive profit growth, as well as freed-up time for you.
 
Once you have this system that leverage’s other people, you can also grow and scale-up as much as you’d like, which is where the fun starts!
 
6. You need to build a great team to be a champion! 
You’d probably do a great job of being your own marketing department, but you definitely shouldn’t. Why? 
 
At your highest and best use (talking to clients, taking listings or loan apps, networking, etc.) you should easily be making about $250-$400 per hour these days. 
 
So, every time you take a few hours or the whole afternoon to wrestling with your marketing, you just gave yourself a demotion to about $20 to $25 per hour. Why on earth would you want to give yourself a pay cut?
 
And although your ego tells you that you’ll do it better, the truth is that you’ll probably be really inconsistent, turning the marketing spigot on when business is slow and forgetting about it when you’re busy. Your marketing will be sporadic and inconsistent, and you’ll probably start skilling
 
Every hour you spend doing these basic admin tasks instead of hiring someone, you’re missing bigger opportunities and paying a high opportunity cost! 
 
7. Be the first in the gym and outwork them all.
No one outworked Kobe, even when he ruptured his Achilles late in his career and chose to put in the torturous work to come back in his late 30s. 
 
However, too many Realtors, loan officers, or business owners don’t want to put in the time, work, or discipline to do it correctly. They may try to skip steps, hoping to fast forward through the process. They look for the next shortcut or million-dollar hack (and usually fall victim to those selling those fallacies).
 
To do so means they’re missing the fundamentals and aren’t building your brand. Instead, Kobe would preach mastering the basics to get the most out of your marketing and lead generation.
 
8. Take the winning shot by investing in yourself! 
Learning and gaining new skills should be a lifelong endeavor. You should be setting aside time to read, study, research, grow, develop, and network with others who are doing the same. Doing so will bring tangible gains in your professional life (and income). 
 
Study the greats. Emulate them. Strategize. Hold yourself and your team accountable. And never settle for less than greatness!
 
Not only will you see continuous growth in your career, but you’ll also gain personal fulfillment and enjoy the journey, because Kobe Bryant also taught us that we have to be our best right now, since tomorrow it’s guaranteed. 
 
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Master these marketing fundamentals and watch your business thrive as you become one of the all-time greats, too. You’d make Kobe proud!

-Norm  :-)

P.S. I actually hate the Lakers (I'm a Celtics fan), but respect the hell out of Kobe's work ethic and mental approach to success!