Dutch Richard turned a rescue of a puppy he named Lola into a thriving digital marketing company that’s now helping Realtors attract leads.
Dutch, whose given name is Dylan, is the owner of Digital Reach Media that helps clients with branding and attracting customers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media sites.
Dutch rescued the mixed-breed Lola from a Pasadena, Calif., animal shelter during the pandemic and started posting about her on TikTok. One video went viral with two million views and led to appearances on the news and the Kelly Clarkson show among others. Profiling his experiences with Lola resulted in him gaining one million followers on TikTok in less than two months.
“The posts were about how I rescued her and brought her home,” Dutch said. “What got me all of the followers was that at the end of the video I had to make sure you subscribe and follow me on the journey of the rest of Lola’s rescue that turned into a series. From that video alone, I generated more than 500,000 followers. Ninety percent of videos had more than one million views. My most viral video was 27 million views.”
Dutch said he started doing branding and marketing for companies from there. Many brands and companies approached him and wanted to know how he blew up on social media, and he gave them the formula, how the algorithm works and what catches people’s attention. He has worked with companies like Porsche, Honda, Tesla, PetSmart, Febreze, A&E Network, Pete’s Coffee and many other brands.
Today, he has 1,000 social media creators signed into his marketing company. If a brand wants a campaign for releasing a product, for example, they will seek out creators to help launch it.
When it comes to real estate branding, Dutch started working with his dad’s company, Devone Richard Real Estate, which is based in Pasadena, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
“I will help agencies or Realtors to become visible online and grow their social media page and help them try and sell a home,” Dutch said. “I don’t think some Realtors do enough. Social media is everything these days. If you’re not expanding on social media and taking full advantage of it, you are going to fall behind. Social media blew up even more during the pandemic. It’s the new way to run commercials and ads.”
Dutch said TikTok should be at the top of everyone’s list when it comes to marketing because it’s the main platform that connects everyone. Each platform has a different purpose, he noted.
TikTok is for outreach to grab the most attention. Instagram is more personalized and caters to a fanbase.
“TikTok is a place to expand so you don’t have to tend to your followers as much as you would do for Instagram,” Dutch said. “You can go on TikTok and post many different listings and let that blow up. On Instagram, you would take that one listing and expand on it some more and see all the details.”
YouTube isn’t as strong as the rest of the platforms, but he said he likes it as a place to post longer videos.
Dutch said he helped his dad grow his own TikTok channel and can do the same for others.
“I can help Realtors by getting their page seen,” Dutch said. “I figured out the algorithms for the social media channels. That’s why people hire me today to help grow their page that ultimately will generate more leads because there’s more people watching you.”
Dutch said one example of his work was a young singer named Josefina with zero followers who earlier this year went from no followers to having three million views. She is going on America’s Got Talent and has her own brand deals.
Dutch is also helping his dad with the launch of EMD Real Estate News. He will use his social creators to grab more attention to the site.
“The biggest thing with social media is the fear of missing out,” Dutch said. “Social media is free marketing, free commercials. You have to grab as much attention as you can online. People don’t watch TV anymore. Everything is streaming and social media. If you have a business, the smartest thing you can do is grab all of your leads off social media. It’s up to you to figure out what works and doesn’t work. Whatever works, you have to attack that angle.”
About the author
Buck Wargo
Buck Wargo is a former journalist with the Los Angeles Times. Today, he’s a freelance business writer covering a range of issues from gaming to development and real estate for publications across the country. Born near Chicago, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies. He has worked in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent. He currently lives in Las Vegas.
