Building Trust at Scale: NAR's Bennett Richardson on Serving 1.5M Realtors

Bennett Richardson came from Google, Politico, and Semaphore to become the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Less than a year into his role, he was promoted to CMO. His job: Market to three stakeholders at once - 1.5 million realtor members, Capitol Hill and policymakers, and the American consumer. And rebuild trust. In this episode, Bennett breaks down his philosophy that "building trust with a brand is just like building trust with a person," how NAR communicates at scale without hitting the unsubscribe button, the NAR Influencer Program (1,200 realtors and growing at nar.realtor/influencers), humanizing the brand by getting real people on camera, Think Again by Adam Grant and the importance of pivoting, and why his X-factor is simply loving people and keeping it human.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS0:00 - Intro: The Real Estate Industry Doesn't Hand Out Easy Moments 1:20 - Bennett Richardson: From Google to NAR 2:26 - Realtors Show Up Every Day Unemployed 3:52 - Three Stakeholders: Members, Capitol Hill, Consumers 5:05 - Putting Members First: Know Your Customer 6:28 - Diverse Communications for Diverse Membership 8:51 - Consumer Ad Campaign Launched a Month Ago 9:08 - If You're Telling Them Everything, You're Sending Too Much 10:38 - Personalization and Diversification Strategy 11:07 - Launching Broker-Specific Newsletter 12:34 - Humanizing NAR: Getting Real People on Camera 13:13 - NAR Influencer Program (nar.realtor/influencers) 15:08 - Building Trust: It's Just Like Building Trust with a Person 16:37 - How Do You Build Trust at Scale? 17:30 - Nikia Wright's Tour and Leadership 19:04 - Promises Made, Promises Kept 20:38 - How Do You Build Trust at Scale? (Deep Dive) 21:04 - Accountability-Focused Communications 22:29 - Kevin Brown Hadn't Been Home in Six Weeks 23:40 - Not Leaving Anyone Out or Anyone Behind 24:54 - Not Being Afraid to Pivot 25:58 - Think Again by Adam Grant 27:17 - Bennett's X-Factor: I Love People 28:39 - Keep It Human and Keep It Friendly🎯 KEY TAKEAWAYS✔️ Bennett came from Google, Politico, Semaphore to NAR as CMO ✔️ Three stakeholders: 1.5M realtor members, Capitol Hill, American consumers ✔️ "Building trust with a brand is just like building trust with a person" ✔️ Show up when you say you will, do what you said, follow through ✔️ Promises made, promises kept = foundation of accountability ✔️ If you're telling them everything, you're sending too much ✔️ Solution: Personalization, diversification, segmentation ✔️ NAR Influencer Program: 1,200 realtors at nar.realtor/influencers ✔️ Humanizing the brand: real people on camera (economists, researchers, advocates) ✔️ Sharing the microphone with membership voices ✔️ Kevin Brown (NAR president) 6 weeks on the road showing up for members ✔️ Think Again by Adam Grant: importance of pivoting mid-strategy ✔️ "Realtors show up every day unemployed - re-earn that business each transaction" ✔️ Bennett's X-factor: loving people, keeping it human