The Buzz’ Little Black Book: What is it and how does it work?
The Buzz was set up in 2020 on the back of two rising requirements. The real estate sector seeking more flexibility in sector-experienced marketing resource, and sector experienced marketing resource seeking more flexibility for themselves.
Recognising these two trends led to a light bulb moment. Why not bring together real estate companies looking for stress-free access to flexible marketing resources, and match them with experienced, motivated marketing professionals who can offer the right skills for their needs. With this concept in mind, over the last few years we’ve built up a little black book of trusted marketers, a collective of vetted people all with different skillsets and, crucially, all with property marketing expertise, which means they really understand the industry and the way it works.
Nearly four years on, The Buzz’ black book model feels – dare we say it! – almost like a perfect marriage system. From real estate start-ups to large corporates such as JLL, Knight Frank and Lendlease, we work brief-by-brief to help us fully understand what each company is seeking. If a client needs a short or long-term single placement to support their team, or has more complex requirements involving multiple stakeholders and a wider team approach, The Buzz works alongside them to develop the best solution and bring in the right skills. Whether your business needs content managers, brand consultants, graphic designers, SEO specialists, videographers, social media experts or any other type of marketing specialist, we link you with the resources and levels of expertise that you need to meet your business challenges.
How does The Buzz collective work? We’re not a recruitment company, and we don’t bring just anyone on board. We work with people who have honed their marketing skills across a wide range of property companies. Our team have worked for the likes of JLL, British Land, Colliers, Lendlease, Brookfield Properties, Landsec, the Silvertown Partnership and St Pancras International. Sometimes we approach marketers who we think have the right abilities and experience for the companies we work with, and sometimes marketers come to us as they’re interested in our approach. We always meet people first to get to know them, find out what they’re looking for and what they can do. This gives us a clear view of where best to match them on projects and companies we work with.
Our approach means precise scopes of work are pre-agreed, with no hidden costs that brings together property related businesses with marketing experts who have the abilities, personality and drive to be the right fit for a client’s business and who will become an extension of their teams.
The success of this approach is reflected in feedback from both sides. European furniture subscription company, NORNORM, started working with The Buzz when they launched in the UK market last year. They were looking for a marketing agency (and a team of experts) who knew and understood the UK’s real estate industry and had connections with London’s landlords and coworking spaces. NORNORM’s Head of Growth, Filip Johannesson said: “Thanks to The Buzz’s meticulous market research and customer landscape mapping and strategic recommendations, we’ve successfully tailored our service offering to the UK market, enhancing our competitive edge and customer satisfaction.”
Knight Frank’s independent search arm, The Buying Solution, has day-to-day access to a Buzz marketing manager and uses a Buzz blog copywriter and graphic designer monthly. They highly value the access we offer to a full marketing team that they don’t have to employ full time but who understand their culture, provide strategic thinking, successful campaign delivery and act as an extended part of their team.
For the real estate marketers within The Buzz, the benefits are also clear. Content Marketing Manager, Ben has worked for a variety of real estate companies, including Head of Brand for the Silvertown Partnership. He was delighted to join The Buzz as it was “a smarter use of my time” and he could see that it offered significant efficiencies for clients. Ben values The Buzz’ way of putting people forward for roles that match their skillsets. “When I need an architectural photographer, an SEO specialist, or an animator to work up a short video for me, I can seamlessly tap into the wider expertise of The Buzz and use the skills of the team to ensure clients get a super flexible, hassle-free and fast service that they can trust.”
Ben also enjoys embedding into the culture of the companies he works for, aligning with their values, seeing himself as “both objective and productive in dealing with a client’s business challenges and not distracted by wider issues and admin that internal employees inevitably face.” This allows him to be “laser focused” on what he does for his clients.
Marketing Manager, and Creative Designer, Katie, echoes Ben’s comments. With 10 years in the real estate industry under her belt, having worked for the likes of Colliers, British Land and St. Pancras International, she was seeking a change when she joined The Buzz collective in 2021. “I really enjoy having the freedom to work for a range of businesses within the property industry, but also leaning on a collective of like-minded marketers to share ideas. From working with different real estate companies across London (big and small), I can use this industry knowledge and understanding to inform my advice and the work I do to support my clients.”
Being able to work flexibly and choose the projects she works on ensures she’s fully energised to help achieve her clients’ goals and deliver the best results. “I think it makes a real difference not only to yourself, but to clients too when you can choose how you work, and who you want to work with, because you’re able to consistently bring energy and passion to projects.”
Could your business benefit from a little black book of marketers? Whether it’s for a one-off project or for something longer term, we have every type of marketing skillset ready for when you need it. So why not give us a buzz and find out more about our little black book of talent.
