3 min read December 2021 — “Know your niche; know your market; and know your audience,” Jackie Larkin, partner and director of operations and marketing for NAI Miami, told Invest: when speaking about keeping marketing efforts competitive. She also discussed never being complacent and consistently looking for ways to push the brand and company to the next level, as well as embracing the challenge of every assignment.
What program that you’ve been a part of are you most proud of and why?
About eight years ago we launched the NAI Florida Forum, a 24-hour, 5-event series that is part private education for our brokers and part public facing economic forum. The first year we put everything together in about six weeks, and boy was it a learning experience.
Since then, we have grown the public facing Economic Forum Portion to approximately 400 guests with 18 sponsors; keynote speakers have included Mayor Francis Suarez, Karen Gilmore from the Federal Reserve, and the Governor of the Virgin Islands.
Every year our guests and sponsors enjoy it more and more; everyone involved learns not only about the commercial real estate market locally (South Florida) but with our previous keynote speakers we’ve learned about the national economy, hidden gems for investing and so much more. I learn something about our clients and our referral sources each time as well. I am very much looking forward to 2022 when we can produce the event again.
How should businesses be more engaged in their own business development and better connect with clients and customers?
The biggest takeaway I’ve learned is to genuinely listen to clients and other brokers in the market. You very rarely complete a deal on your own, so you need to have your competitors value you just as much as your clients do. The best business development technique is referrals from happy clients.
In the age of influencers, what is the key to keeping traditional marketing competitive?
First and foremost, know your niche; know your market; and know your audience. Our clients are not going to invest millions of dollars with a company because of their TikTok or Instagram page. Traditional marketing is just as important as the new trendy marketing approaches. Our niche is $1-$10 million investors and small to medium businesses. We know which newspapers they read, what information they want to know about the market, and what avenues they really trust.
What is the biggest challenge you face in accomplishing your day to day?
Every assignment we work on is so different, and that it is challenging but extremely exciting. We always want to present the best work for our clients. It would be great to have an additional 24 hours every day!
What do you believe has made you successful as the Director of Operations and Marketing for NAI Miami?
I know every day I have to prove to myself and my partners that I am pushing our brand and our company to the next level. I have been with the company for almost nine years. I started as a Marketing Coordinator, never dreaming that by 33 years old I would own a piece of the company and run Operations. I always aspired and could see how NAI Miami could grow, and luckily for me, through determination and patience we are really pushing NAI to grow leaps and bounds.
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