The National Association of Relators is entering a new era, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Bennett Richardson is helping lead the charge. In this episode of Ten Minute Talks, Richardson shares how NAR’s latest campaign was designed to showcase the real work Realtors do behind the scenes and why professionalism has become central to the organization’s message.
The discussion covers first-time homebuyers, strategic communication, media relations, member-first leadership and the growing role of AI in delivering a more personalized Realtor experience. Richardson also shares NAR’s focus to create a more transparent, accountable and modern association for the future of housing.
#RealtorProfessionalism #NARMarketing #RealEstateMarketing
The discussion covers first-time homebuyers, strategic communication, media relations, member-first leadership and the growing role of AI in delivering a more personalized Realtor experience. Richardson also shares NAR’s focus to create a more transparent, accountable and modern association for the future of housing.
#RealtorProfessionalism #NARMarketing #RealEstateMarketing
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NewsTranscript
00:10I'm Allison LaForgia, and I am sitting here with Bennett Richardson, who is the Chief Marketing
00:15and Communications Officer at the National Association of Realtors. Bennett, thank you
00:20for carving out time to sit with me today. Thank you so much for having me, Allison,
00:24and congrats on a great conference here at The Gathering. So I want to jump right into
00:29you. You're a busy man. You got a lot going on. NAR recently launched a new campaign.
00:35What sets the Right by You campaign apart? Yeah, great question. We just launched More Than
00:42Opening Doors, which is our second year of this new Right by You platform, but an entirely different
00:48direction. And the direction for this year was really focused on a couple of things. One, how do
00:53we break through with consumers and very specifically with those first-time homebuyers who are actively
01:00considering how they want to purchase a home and the kind of representation they want in
01:05that process? So we did a lot of consumer research to try and really pinpoint what breaks through
01:11with that audience of consumers. And what we learned from a series of focus groups was really
01:16that going behind the scenes, deepening the appreciation for all the hard work that can go
01:22into navigating what can be a really harrowing and anxious process of buying a home, really
01:28understanding that hard work, that professionalism, that expertise that goes into the campaign.
01:33That's where we can unlock some preference among consumers. And so that's what we focused the
01:39campaign on this year was really taking consumers and homebuyers who are seeing those ads behind the
01:45scenes using some fun camera tricks, sort of inspired by some of our favorite movies over
01:50the years, but really through a series of doors within a normal home listing, seeing those realtors
01:56kind of go into super realtor mode and activate their network, work with inspectors, work with
02:01lenders to help that client land their dream home and get to where they want to be. So it's been
02:09really fun to take on and gotten great feedback from both consumers and realtors so far.
02:15I mean, realtors touch every part of the transaction and be it professionalism with the buyer,
02:24with any of the other several professionals that you touch to actually close a transaction.
02:31It's something that I do think sets them apart. And I saw that on the website describing the
02:37campaign, you have it positioned as a celebration of professionalism.
02:42Tell me a little bit more about how this new campaign is a celebration of the professionalism
02:49that really distinguishes realtor agents apart.
02:52Yeah, I think it's really important to showcase that professionalism for a few reasons. I think one,
02:59you know, we're trying to combat some of the characterizations of real estate agents that exist
03:04in popular culture, exist in reality TV, to really demonstrate to consumers, especially consumers
03:10new to these transactions, that the realtor that they're going to work with is a professional. There's
03:15nothing amateurish about how they're approaching their career. They're coming to that with great
03:20expertise, with ethics, and in really bringing that to bear in a way that they can both support and
03:26protect their clients. And so putting that professionalism at its core was really important to us.
03:31When we think about elevating the realtor brand, cultivating trust in the realtor brand,
03:37it's really about creating that connection and reminding folks that those members of NAR who sign
03:42up, who take that code of ethics, who, you know, sign up to be realtors, it's really about that
03:47professional kind of gold standard of professionalism. So that's what we tried to go
03:52through with the campaign. And the feedback has been great, I think, because members do see
03:57themselves as really committed professionals. And it's really hard to showcase all that work that
04:03goes behind the scenes if you don't go straight at it. So the feedback we've gotten from members is
04:07really, thank you for the first time showing all the hard work that goes into these transactions and
04:13goes into showing up for my clients.
04:14I don't think until you're in it, until you're in a transaction, you realize how much you really
04:22need them, and how critical the professional that you have by your side can be to make a really good
04:30income and good, a really good outcome, a good experience. And I want to go back to something you
04:36said a little bit earlier about this being a clear shift. How is NAR taking a new approach to the
04:43realtor brand? And why is it so important that you're doing this now?
04:47Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, we are, the why now, I think, is, you know, clear for us.
04:53I
04:53mean, we're amidst this transformation of the association, you know, since the, you know,
04:59since the Burnett lawsuit and settlement a few years ago, and bringing in an entirely new leadership
05:03team with Nakia Wright, our CEO, my boss, and then myself and a lot of my colleagues coming in.
05:08We just kicked off our 2026 through 2028 strategic plan. And a big part of that is recommitting to
05:15professionalism, both in the industry and at the association. But it's really about modernizing the
05:21association, building this future member experience. Both of those really mean authenticity
05:27and transparency and accountability. And so the way that I think about this campaign,
05:33both the creative direction, as well as the media strategy, as well as the target audience.
05:38So I want to be able to go back to any realtor around the country and make sure they feel
05:43100% great about how every penny of their dues dollars are being spent on this campaign. And so
05:48from the creative direction back through everything else, that's really what informs it, is that
05:52accountability and that transparency and that authenticity back to members.
05:56That seems to be such an intentional shift. And you have deep experience in communications
06:04and public relations prior to your role at NAR. How has this or how have you approached this shift in
06:14communication strategy? And why are you doing it now to better serve the industry?
06:23Yeah, great question. I mean, for me now was such a great opportunity to join NAR. Really just loved
06:31getting to know Nakia, fellow media veteran. I spent about 10 years at Politico. She was most recently
06:36before NAR, the CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times. And so I think we bonded over that sort of fast
06:42-paced,
06:42no-nonsense, result-driven culture and perspective that we were both coming from. And I got really excited
06:49about the opportunity to join the association, join the industry. One, really because of the members.
06:54You know, I married into a family of realtors. I'm really close personal friends with my realtor back in
06:59Washington, D.C. And as a former entrepreneur myself as well, showing up for an industry for millions of
07:06entrepreneurs every day who, you know, as some of our colleagues like to say, you know, realtors start every day
07:11unemployed, right? And they have to re-earn that business for that next transaction. So really easy
07:17to show up for that group of people and to fight for them and to try and tell their story
07:21more
07:22authentically. And, you know, so that's what brought me here kind of at this point in my career. And in
07:27terms of how we communicate differently, again, I think it goes back to that authenticity and
07:32transparency. I think that for too long, NAR had been perceived as almost this like ivory tower within
07:40the industry where it was sort of either you were inside or you were on the outside, you were involved
07:45or you were sort of more at arm's length. And that's quite the opposite of what we want to be
07:49now that we're going through this transformation and entering in the strategic plan. We want the
07:53doors to be wide open. We're happy to have a conversation with anyone about everything that
07:58we're doing. We're making a lot of great progress, but that progress only matters if we can educate our
08:03members on that progress in a way that helps them and it helps their business. So that's really how we're
08:08thinking about this communications transformation. So before we started recording, I mentioned that
08:13I was digging around your website. There are so many new initiatives that you've made that NAR has
08:19made and undergone to better serve the members. One of them that stood out was the Influencer Program.
08:27What role do members themselves play in shaping how NAR is approaching new initiatives like that example?
08:35Yeah, no, great question. This opportunity for us and we can call it now the NAR Influencer Program
08:41is really to do a couple of things. One piece is education and the other piece is just getting more
08:46authentic voices out into the national conversation. So we now have more than 1,200 members who have
08:53signed up to be NAR influencers. Really all that means is two things. One, we share with them an extra
09:00level of information of talking points and data points and research, just updates on everything
09:05that we're doing so that they can be prepared if we hear that a national or local news outlet
09:12or event is interested in getting a realtor's perspective. But we can say, hey, there's a story
09:19happening in Las Vegas. We'd love to connect you with an amazing seasoned Las Vegas realtor to speak
09:25about the housing market in that area. Or there's an event coming up maybe here in Austin. We're able
09:30to have a realtor and a longtime member of that community speak and engage. And I think that that's
09:37so important because the thing that makes NAR different from really every other trade association
09:43in the world is the fact that it's made up of million and a half individual realtors, right? This
09:49isn't an association of just a dozen big companies like you see in a lot of other industries. So to
09:54get
09:54those members out in front of the press, out talking to their communities and talking about
10:00the industry to the entire country has been a really exciting opportunity. It's been great to
10:05see more members raise their hand and say, hey, I love talking about housing. I love talking about
10:12what my clients are facing and be a part of that conversation. It's been really, been really great.
10:17Now, Bennett, if you look into your crystal ball, what does success look like in this new era
10:24for NAR? Oh, it's a great, great question. A tough question. I hesitate to ever have a total
10:30crystal ball. But I think for us, our North Star is really putting the member first. And what that
10:36means is a few different things. One is how do we get better every day at understanding our members,
10:44understanding where they are and understanding what they want. And so that is a simple goal with a
10:49really complex path because it means a lot more data. It means using new AI tools and using new
10:56sort of, you know, big data tools more efficiently, creating custom audiences so that if there's
11:01something we're doing that you don't care about, that doesn't really affect your business, we don't
11:05need to bother you with that, right? We don't need to send you emails that you're never going to open
11:10because they don't apply to you. And so doing that kind of work to really make sure that all the
11:16progress that we're making, all the tools that we have are going to the right members at the right
11:21time. I think we have an opportunity to help our members succeed in their business more effectively
11:27and more efficiently than we ever have before by just using some of these tools that exist. And so I
11:32think that that's my hope for the future of the member experience. And I think the role that we play
11:37on the communication side is just really helping folks understand for you and your part of the
11:42country and the kind of business that you have and the things that you care about, we can deliver more
11:47of that more effectively. And hopefully that'll just, you know, make that member association
11:52experience a little more positive and a little more productive. Well, Bennett, thank you so much for
11:57walking me through what NAR is up to, the new campaign and how NAR is really serving its members.
12:04I appreciate having you on 10 Minute Talks. Awesome. Thanks so much for having me, Allison. I appreciate it.
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