If Your Business or Network Didn’t Grow This Year, Look Inward, Not Outward

In 2025, Bespoke Media was engaged with a clear mandate, to grow a real estate network.

Under that brief, and under my direction, One Agency finished the year as the fastest-growing real estate network in Australia, welcoming 25 new offices in a single year.

That outcome was deliberate. It was not driven by visibility for visibility’s sake, nor by participation in every industry conversation. It was the result of clarity, focus and execution.

Before going further, one point needs to be made plainly. I am a strong advocate for mental health, particularly for men in Australia. This is not a critique of mental health or wellbeing.

It is a critique of leadership teams confusing wellbeing activity with performance, and allowing balance narratives to replace the core responsibility of leadership, which is growth.

Health and wellness matter. They are an important part of a functioning organisation. But they are one piece of the pie, not the entire strategy. From what I observed across the industry in 2025, too many of the other pieces were simply not built.

One of the most common leadership errors I see is mistaking visibility for progress. CEOs and marketing teams attend every wellness conference, every charity event, every webinar, every panel and every opening, assuming that constant presence will translate into momentum. It doesn’t. Exposure doesn’t create growth. Growth creates growth.

That principle formed the foundation of our work.

Bespoke Media was engaged as an external contractor, not as an in-house marketing function. That distinction matters.

As a contractor, my role is not to preserve comfort or manage internal sentiment. Our role is to analyse the market, assess competitive behaviour, understand media cycles and execute with precision against a defined commercial objective.

In this case, the objective was recruitment and growth

The strategy began with analysis, not activity. Market conditions were reviewed. Competitor positioning was monitored. Media narratives were assessed. Leadership signals, momentum indicators and conversion patterns were tracked.

Alongside this sat a framework I have built and refined over years, a working system that filters noise from signal and identifies where growth can realistically be achieved.

From that work came focus.

Australia was treated as a collection of distinct markets, not one homogenous audience. States were treated differently. Regions were treated differently. Suburbs were treated differently.

Every campaign was rebuilt from the ground up to reflect the commercial reality of the audience it was targeting. Generic messaging was deliberately removed.

Just as important was defining who the strategy was not for.

ONE AGENCY is not a listings portal and has no ambition to become one. Buyers and sellers were never the audience.

The audience was business owners, or those ready to become business owners, who wanted autonomy, stronger margins and the ability to scale without unnecessary head office interference.

Once that audience was clearly defined, execution became focused and consistent.

This clarity extended to social media strategy.

Corporate pages promoting listings, featured properties or properties of the week actively undermine network growth. Every listing attracts a different buyer, in a different location, with different behaviours. Over time, this fragments the audience and confuses platform algorithms, making it impossible to build a clear recruitment message.

For that reason, there was a strict no-property policy on ONE AGENCY corporate channels.

Listings were shared internally through the One Place app, where they belong. Corporate channels existed for one purpose only, to build the network, generate enquiries, reinforce leadership and engage the right audience.

That discipline protected message clarity and supported growth.

Social media was used as a growth tool, not a vanity channel. Organic content reinforced authority and leadership. Paid campaigns were tightly targeted and recruitment-focused. There was no attempt to please everyone.

Public relations followed the same discipline. There were no opinion pieces, no interest-rate commentary and no market predictions. Awards were not pursued for thought leadership or personality. Business owners do not make decisions based on sentiment. They make decisions based on performance.

The strategy extended beyond media. Once recruitment targets and geographic priorities were defined, the full outreach framework was mapped. SMS, email marketing, video, selective podcast appearances chosen for reach, written correspondence and direct outreach all worked together as one system.

Innovation was approached pragmatically. Rather than introducing new processes, an app was developed that placed everything the ONE AGENCY network needed within two clicks. Reduced friction led to faster adoption, and faster adoption supported scale.

TikTok Masterclass

A$99.00

Buy Now

Throughout the year, there were constructive discussions. Some initiatives were refined.

Others were removed entirely. That is the reality of executing a serious growth strategy. As results became evident, alignment followed.

By the end of 2025, ONE AGENCY had added 25 new offices, with additional offices already preparing to launch in early 2026 and a pipeline of operators actively planning their move. That is not activity. That is momentum.

I have been building real estate brands for over ten years. I understand how to position a brand, deploy capital effectively and convert attention into measurable outcomes.

I also understand how easily leadership teams can be distracted by visibility when performance is what the market ultimately rewards.

As competition intensifies, the gap between networks that execute and those that simply appear busy will widen.

As a contractor, my responsibility is not to soften that reality. It is to deliver results.

In 2025, ONE AGENCY grew because the strategy was clear, leadership was decisive and execution was disciplined.

That is what Bespoke Media delivered.

Now ask yourself, do you have a strategy to grow your real estate network in 2026.

Would you like to have a chat about your future plans? Let's talk.