A Platform of Trust

November 11, 2024

How Real Estate Agent Ken Pozek’s YouTube Channel Helps His Team Succeed

It would be an understatement to say that YouTube has had an impact on Ken Pozek’s career.

With a successful real estate business running in Detroit, Mich., Ken and his wife, Holly, began thinking about opening a second location in Orlando, Fla., and making the Sunshine State their full-time home. Confident in their decision, the couple put a deposit down on a new construction house in 2016, giving themselves an eight-month window to get the new business up and running before officially making their move. Their plan was in play, but there was one big problem: Recreating what they had in Michigan was proving harder than they thought.

Back in Detroit, Ken had found success using postcard farming to build his brand. The approach took a lot of hands-on work, but it was highly effective, and it allowed him to scale back on call-based lead generation, which wasn’t his favorite way to connect with clients. Assuming he could take a similar approach In Orlando, Ken focused on paid advertising, including radio spots and Zillow leads, but he wasn’t getting the same results.

“We started spending like crazy to catch up to what we were doing in Michigan – and it failed miserably,” Ken recalled. “I was trying to build a brand overnight,” he said, which he soon realized just wasn’t possible. Ken pulled back on paid ads and went back to the basics while figuring out another way to establish his newfound brand in the Orlando market.

Before first joining Keller Williams in 2010, Ken had been working among agents who were averaging 10 to 20 home sales a year. “That was all I knew at the time, and I thought it was a huge deal,” Ken remembered. “Then somebody introduced me to Keller Williams, where it was all about leverage and teams.” He credits KW with teaching him to think bigger – and putting him on track to an average of 100 homes sales a year. His initial goal was to hit a similar number in Orlando.

Scaling Up Through Video

Ken’s pivot back to the basics worked. He turned a profit in his first year as an agent in Florida, and while he didn’t hit his Michigan numbers, he still sold around 75 homes – and that’s when he decided to get serious about scaling his business.

Having already tried the paid advertising route, Ken knew he had to find another way to build brand recognition. It was a conversation with another agent – a friend in Jacksonville, Fla. – that changed everything. His friend had found success filming himself giving model home tours and posting them on YouTube. Given all of the new construction in Orlando, he suggested Ken try it, too.

With video, there was no barrier to entry. Ken could keep his production costs low and do everything he needed to with just his phone. “I grabbed my cell phone and shot 100 videos in 100 days. And it was cool because I got to learn Orlando while I was doing it,” he explained. His YouTube posts started bringing in leads, and Ken realized that video could be a major market differentiator. “That was when I was like, wait a minute, I think I can lean in really hard to build a much, much bigger brand and a much, much bigger company,” Ken said.

The way Ken saw it, traditional marketing made him a commodity – just one of multiple agents a client might consider working with. “The difference with video marketing for us was that people were coming warmed up already. They felt like they already knew me, and they weren’t interviewing other agents,” Ken said.

Because he was providing content viewers found useful, while also learning more about his new home city, his followers had trust in his ability to help them. Ken realized, “If I have a really strong brand and I’m able to give a ton of value, I don’t have to then go compete with the market. I’m a market of one.”

Leveraging a Brand

Ken’s video content has done more than just build his credibility; it’s had a major impact on the growth of his team. In just seven years, The Pozek Group has grown to include more than 30 agents. He says the vast majority of their closings originate with leads that come through his social media and digital marketing channels, which include YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, a newsletter, and the company website. By virtue of video marketing, Ken’s agents are able to position themselves as his trusted partner.

Senior Agent Partner Bree Tucker first started following Ken on social media after seeing him speak at a Keller Williams® Ignite event; she joined The Pozek Group in 2019, when it was only four agents strong. Now as a mentor, she encourages team members to optimize Ken’s videos, so they can train their focus on providing great service to clients.

On her own social media accounts, Bree leverages Ken’s content, while mixing in posts about real estate listings and her life as a mom and wife. “That brand has opened so many doors for us,” she said, “because now [when] people reach out to us, they immediately trust us, and then it’s just on me to uphold that standard and make sure that we deliver exceptional experiences for our clients.”

While expanding his business, Ken started working with outside talent to film and edit his videos, and The Pozek Group now has a full-time videographer and a short-form editor on staff. He’s also established a sub-brand, The Orlando Real, that serves as a source for all things Orlando, including theme parks, local events, sports, politics, and more.

When it comes to brand-building, Ken says there’s no way to fast-track the process. Whether you’re generating leads through video, postcards, radio, or other means , the formula for growth is consistency over time. More than 650 videos and 50,000 YouTube subscribers later, Ken is still thinking at scale: He said he and Holly plan to stay in Orlando and grow a big, iconic company – alongside his follower count. Ken explained, “Video, by far, has made everything else easier or unnecessary. It’s really become my one thing.”

Watch the full KW Real Estate Role Models Pozek Group profile @kellerwiliams on YouTube.

Share This:

>