What’s In a Brand Name

One of the ultimate coups in branding is creating a name that helps you stand out from the crowd and sticks in people’s heads. For example Mr. Waterfront is the number one volume agent in Annapolis specializes in, guess what niche market in Maryland? The Downtown Crowns are a mother-daughter team (Sharyn and Victoria Crown) who specialize in luxury condos in downtown San Diego.

Check out www.DowntownCrowns.com.

Federal Express (now FedEx) invented the “overnight delivery” business category. In fact, the brand name itself has become a verb. To FedEx a parcel means to overnight it. To Google is now a verb meaning to perform an internet search. To Xerox something is to copy it. Kleenex is a noun that means facial tissue.

Is there a brand name that can make you stand out and be easily remembered?

This is part of an ongoing series about luxury real estate personal branding. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: What Does Your Brand Stand For?

If you know how you differ from the pack, then it is time to build your brand. A brand is multifaceted, it has a personality, it has core values, and it stands out by not being afraid to stand for something that it considers important. One of the ways to build a brand is to declare what you stand for. What do you care about? What are the values your clients can align to, identify with?

Here is an example. As we drove past Nordstrom’s this week, we noticed a sign declaring that they believe in celebrating one holiday at a time. They wished their customers a “Happy Thanksgiving!”, and stated that the Christmas décor would be seen in the store on the 28^th of November. In that simple message came the declaration that they differ from the rest of the retailers who are eager to jump start the holiday season. We appreciate their restraint, because we too enjoy savoring the holidays one at a time. This is congruent with Nordstrom’s brand of making shopping a wonderful experience.

Here is Rule #1 from the original Nordstrom handbook: Use good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

What can you declare? What do you stand for?

This is part of an ongoing series about luxury real estate personal branding. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Your Personal Brand or What Sets You Apart?

Photo by Dennis Makarenko

When developing your personal brand, one of the first things to identify is what sets you apart from everyone else in the same business. Everyone has an opportunity to stand out or blend in. Anyone who is a success in any endeavor is stands out.

The music business has many talented people working in it in every genre: pop, classical, rock and roll, etc.. Studio musicians, although given credit on albums, are not necessarily household names to listeners, even though they may be as talented as or more talented than the star of the album. What sets the stars apart is:

• · They are daring
• · They draw attention, love to interact with their audiences
• · They have opinions They take a stand and dress outrageously
• · They are worth paying attention to

You know their names: Madonna, Sting, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Beonce, Prince and Cher. These superstars have all created outstanding personal brands.

They market themselves boldly and openly. They make sure to stand out and promote themselves as different from the pack. They don’t follow the trends, they create the trends. People follow them! They consistently deliver to their audience. They clearly communicate their essence and their value. And, so can you!

As a luxury real estate professional, what makes you different? How can you capitalize on that? How can you market that? What sets you apart?

This is part of an ongoing series about luxury real estate personal branding. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Know Your Brand

While attending the National Association of Realtors conference in Orlando Florida, we tried a new restaurant for dinner. The waitress told us with great pride that Oceanaire Seafood Restaurant is a small gourmet boutique restaurant chain. They do not advertise. Instead, they spend their money flying in the freshest fish possible. What is served for dinner was caught no more than 24 hours prior. The fish is refrigerated, but never placed on ice. They use Federal Express to insure overnight delivery in special coolers. Any fish caught in the 200 mile range of the restaurant is delivered and served that day. They also have their own crab boat in Alaska, and lobster boats in Maine to control the quality of these crustaceans.

In a few minutes, the waitress expressed the brand clearly and succinctly. We knew exactly what we were in for. It precisely met our needs and person preferences, as we are quite fond of very fresh seafood. It reminded us of a beachfront restaurant in Portofino, Italy where the fishermen bring in the catch and it is grilled within minutes of leaving the boat.

We ordered a fish that was new to us which was Carolina Grouper. It was absolutely delicious! On our way out we decided to come back the next evening and bring another couple. The second evening was equally perfect

We have told everyone who will listen about this restaurant and now are writing about it. This spontaneous, enthusiastic support of the Oceanaire Seafood brand comes naturally because it feels good to share great finds with friends. Word-of-mouth promotion is better than any advertisement, and it costs the company nothing.

This illustrates the power of a brand. Know who you are and tell your clients in such a way that it makes it easy from them to promote you. Then, live up to your brand.

This is part of an ongoing series about luxury real estate personal branding. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column

Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: The Unique Selling Propsotion #5

The secret for successful luxury real estate personal branding is to find something that you can do better than anyone else in your marketplace, something that you are passionalte about. Then, deliver extraordinary value for your ideal clients who can appreciate that distinctive value. Our client, Rick Teed in San Francisco, is passionate about helping his clients to buy and sell their homes like a professional investor. This is his Unique Selling Proposition.

We hope you have enjoyed this blog series.

This is part of an ongoing series about luxury real estate personal branding. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Get Your Own Show! A Marketing Tip For Luxury Real Estate Professionals

We are all subject to prejudicial branding. We are expected to stay within the norm, that standard that someone sold us. When we stray it can create a revolution. That is what happens when you carve out your own brand.

Martin Luther publicly disagreed with the Catholic Church resulting in his excommunication. Undaunted he created a new religion, Lutheran. People had to examine their beliefs again. Others merely dismissed him as evil and bad. His namesake, Martin Luther King, disagreed with the status quo. He did not want to blend in and accept the brand that was he was given. We are still feeling the positive effects of his movement. Leonardo Da Vinci did not fare well with the church authorities either, nor did Michelangelo.

Emeril Lagasse, the popular chef, often debunks some of the cooking rules as he learned them, and always exclaims, “If you don’t like this, get your own show”. He dares us to reexamine the sacred rules of cooking. He made cooking fun and easy. We have to thank these people for carving out their own brands.

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed.

Comments? Please use form in left column.