Luxury Real Estate Branding Strategy: Are You Getting the Lion's Share?

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Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding Case Study: Kristi Nelson, Bainbridge Island, WA

May 2, 2011

This is the VIDEO personal branding case study of luxury real estate marketing professional, Kristi Nelson of Buckley & Buckley on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Bainbridge is consistently voted one of the top five communities in the nation for good reason. While the island retains a rural and friendly atmosphere Bainbridge is just a 30 minute ferry ride from cosmopolitan Seattle, a city rich in cultural attractions.

What really sets Kristi apart from her competitors’ is her extensive background and success as a real estate developer, investor and design consultant.

If you are unable to view the video CLICK HERE.

It is with great pleasure that I recommend Ron and Alexandra Seigel of Napa Consultants International. After hearing them speak at the Luxury Real Estate Conference (Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate) in Seattle in the fall of 2010, I hired them to develop a personal brand and brand strategy, plus a new web site for my luxury real estate marketing practice. Ron and Alexandra listened carefully to my needs and desires and came up with a strategy that would set the stage for making me a market leader in luxury real estate on Bainbridge Island in Washington State. The result is an eye catching brand that speaks directly to my target market. Even in its early stages my web site is already garnering rave reviews from the real estate community and even more importantly, my sphere of influence. If you are looking for the best in luxury real estate marketing, look no further than Napa Consultants International!

--Kristi Nelson

VISIT: www.LivingOnBainbridgeIsland.com

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Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: Are You a Non-Conformist?

April 26, 2011

“When you're just like everybody else, you've got nothing to offer other than your conformity”
~ Wayne Dyer
“Stand out or bow out!”
~ Ron & Alexandra Seigel, LOL Authors & Community Founders

Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to what individuals perceive is normal of their society or social group. Many people feel the pressure to conform and have trouble taking the risk of standing out. This is good news if you want to become a market leader. That means fewer bone fide competitors. For market leaders, blending in is not an option.

Can you clearly articulate how you stand out from your competition? If you cannot state this in a few words how do you expect your potential referral sources to do so? One of the most important components of the personal branding process is making it easy for other to convey your unique promise of value. Do so and you will get more referrals. It is just that simple!

Even if you are a not fan of basketball you certainly have heard of Kobe Bryant or LeBron James because they are among the current super stars of the game. But, you may not know Chris Andersen, who plays center for the Denver Nuggets. Chris is also known as the “Bird Man”. He sports a spiked haircut and has extensive tattoos of feathers and birds on his body. You cannot miss him nor can forget him once you have seen him just once.

Andersen is an extreme case of personal branding. Yet, in just one visual impression of his tattoos, hairdo and flying gestures, plus hearing his personal brand name one time, you will most likely remember him for years to come. More importantly, you will instantly be able to tell anyone else about him.

That is the power of personal branding. But, it takesa willingness to be a non-conformist and stand out from the crowd.

Test it for yourself. Who is the most flamboyant basketball center today?

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: Be the Opposite Choice!

April 25, 2011

Blue Frog by Michael Galber

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, if you are interested is leapfrogging over your competitors here is one of the all time best strategies: Be the opposite choice to the No. 1 market leader! You can jump over the pack and become the No. 2 in your marketplace by positioning yourself or your company as embodying the very opposite key attribute that the current market leader in your area stands for in the minds of consumers.

The first step is to analyze the market leader and look for the weakest aspect of their “game”. It is very rare that a market leader can be all things to all people. They often get complacent and their level of service often slacks off.

A classic example is Hertz and Avis. No. 2 Avis positioned itself as the obvious alternative by claiming, “We Try Harder”. Even though they did not surpass No.1 Hertz they summarily dismissed No.3 and other competitors who could not make the same claim without appearing as a “me too” brand. They could not say, "we try harder, too" and expect anyone to take them seriously.

In luxury real estate, the market leader often gets complacent because so many home sellers automatically give their listings to them simply because they are perceived as the best. After all, they sell more homes! But, in truth there may not be a viable, competent alternative.

With this strategy you must become that alternative in the minds of home sellers. You must clearly send out the message that you stand for the opposite key attribute that the market leader claims to have.

For example, one of our clients wanted to be known as the top agent in a series of luxury communities in her marketplace. The incumbent market leader, the volume leader, was a very large team. Many of their clients were not 100% satisfied with the team’s service because they did not work directly with the team leaders, just their underlings.

Our client was able to demonstrate that she could match all of the claims of the big team in terms of marketing savvy, but with total personal service which was just the opposite of No. 1. She was personally present at every showing by buyers’ representatives. She promptly responded to every email and phone call from the home seller and was always immediately available when needed. She did not take on more listings than she could serve in this manner. Her reputation for exemplary personalized service (yet with all the bells and whistles of the team) summarily dismissed other individual agents vying for market share in this marketplace.

When our client was up for a very expensive listing the choice came down to this: No. 1 (the team) or No.2 (our client), the team approach or “extreme” personalized service. No other agents were even interviewed because our client “owned” the brand position of the opposite. The choice of either/or does not leave room for a 3^rd alternative.

When she sold the home it was the highest priced home sold in that year in her marketplace, which proved that she could perform as well as the team in this realm. This cemented her position as the opposite alternative and she now is perceived as being equally as competent as the team.

Those who value the assurance of a large team will stay with or choose the incumbent. But, those who value exemplary personalized service now have a choice—the oppositie choice.

If you want to leapfrog to No.2 be the oppositie choice of No.1 . You will instantly leave the rest of the pack in the dust beginning with a distant No.3.

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: Does It Pay to Be Popular?

April 18, 2011

The advantage to being top of mind, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, in your marketplace is getting the lion’s share of the business. There is also a secret advantage of being the popular choice. Although, Cherry Garcia ice cream, from Ben & Jerry's, has many raving fans vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream are by far the favorite choices with vanilla winning hands down as "most popular".

Ranking top of mind in luxury branding is even more important that ranking #1 on a Google search, because the overwhelming majority of affluent consumers rely on referrals from friends, family and colleagues when choosing products and services. Any real estate agent with enough funds can hire a search engine optimization expert to help him or her secure the #1 position in a Google search query. But, will the website visitor who clicks through the top listing actually hire the top ranking agent on Google at the end of the day if they are not accomplished and competent--or popular?

There is a lesser known factor that influences the choices of high net worth consumers when selecting a luxury real estate marketing professional. That is, taking into consideration what others will think of them based on the agent they select. While some consumers are “inner-referred”, meaning that they rely on their own judgment more so than others, a significant number of people care more about what others think of them. The “outer-referred” consumer will bypass their gut instincts (and taste buds if they prefer Jerry Garcia) just to look good in the eyes of their peers, neighbors or family (who prefer vanillla).

Have you ever been in a restaurant when the server suggests a menu item and adds, “This is a very popular choice”? Studies have shown that when it comes to choosing brands of food to serve at a party the host will purchase the “popular choice”, e.g., Coke vs.. Pepsi even if the host prefers the taste of a generic brand that is cheaper.

To summarize, if you want to gain or sustain market leadership you need to stand out and achieve “top of mind” status for three important reasons: 1) most potential referral sources can only remember a few brand names (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry) when asked for a recommendation for a luxury real estate agent ( see more detail on this); 2) Top of mind generates more leads than qualified search engine leads because affluent consumers rely on personal referrals more than Google, and; 3) The popular choice is a hidden influence in selecting an agent

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: Outpace Your Competition,Get Your Brand Message Right!

April 5, 2011

As a luxury real estate marketing professional getting your brand message right is of paramount importance. First, you must be sure you are communicating to the right target market. Second, you need to make sure you are communicating your extraordinary promise of value in their language, i.e., words that address your target market’s most pressing needs (not yours). When you inaccurately assess both of these factors your chances of success are between slim and none.

Porsche’s new marketing campaign “Engineered for Magic-Everyday” misses its target on both counts. As such, it serves as a great lesson in messaging.

There are plenty of emotional needs that Porsche ownership satisfies. But, “everyday” trips in the big city (where most Porches are sold) are definitely not one of them. This new ad campaign is geared to change the way their target market perceives this expensive sports car. Now it is a “school bus” (to pick up the kids), a "pickup truck" (to haul items in the trunk), and a “pet carrier” (to transport your dog, who enjoys the ride in the convertible).

This is total absurdity! Porsche will waste millions of dollars in this attempt to change its perception of being a “race car”, which is the DNA of its brand and the primary reason people buy it, whether or not they use it as such.

Another new Porsche video ad shows a father brushing snow of his Carrera with his kid sitting in the front seat. The caption is “Snowmobile”.

While visiting friends in Chicago, Alexandra, who has an impeccable driving record, drove her friend’s husband‘s Porsche in the snow with their baby son onboard. It was a white knuckle drive all the way. Even though she had plenty of experience driving in the snow from her days at the University of Minnesota, (in a car equipped with studded tires), it was tough not to do 360 degree turns in the Porsche. She felt helpless several times, praying to every deity she had ever heard about, to make it safely back to her friend’s home in the country. Perhaps, for some this would be considered a thrill. But, that segment of Porsche’s target market must be miniscule.

Getting your brand message right is crucial when marketing luxury real estate. Know your target market inside and out, their psychographics as well as their demographics. Then, speak to them in their language. That is, if you want to increase your sales and outpace your competition.

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How to Make Your Primary Brand Differentiator Your Bread and Butter

April 4, 2011

Contrarian thinking is one of the factors that separate market leaders from the rest of the pack. For luxury real estate marketing professionals who wish to dominate an underserved market niche, here is an example of a billion dollar company that has done just that by thinking differently.

Panera, known for its hearty soups, salads and $7 sandwiches, made with freshly backed artisan breads, served on real dishware in a very comfortable setting, exemplifies such a market leader. With 1420 stores, and a roughly $3 billion market capitalization it has taken a page from Starbucks, and is thriving by providing its customers with a “third place” to gather, apart from home and the work place.

The mark of an effective brand is one that can communicate how it is different from its closest competition in just a few words. For Panera those words are “healthy, tasty &, affordable, yet upscale”.

Subway claims to serve healthy, affordable sandwiches too, but not on artisan bread and not on ceramic dishes. Tasty, is more of a subjective attribute which must be taken out of the equation when comparing the two brands. But, the furnishings in Subway are not upscale like you would find in a well- appointed Starbucks store.

Can you see how the DNA of a brand (the summation of its primary brand attributes) completely changes when one additional factor, “upscale” is added to the “recipe”? Can you see how adding one additional brand attribute can appeal to a specific demographic that was underserved (by Subway for example) and thus create an entirely new brand category? Can you see that an “upscale” version of Subway was an uncontested market niche and now has become a separate brand category in the minds of its target market?

Can you articulate the brand attribute(s) that sets you apart from your competition? Think contrary to the norm and you will stand out in a meaningful way. Your target market will appreciate that you have done so and they will follow you instead of your competition! Only then will your dfferentiating brand attribute become your "bread and butter".

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Luxury Real Estate Personal and Company Branding: I Yam What I Yam

March 28, 2011

If you could identify the most dominant/powerful aspect of your personality and amplify it in such a way that it could be expressed graphically, this would be one of the most important aspects of your personal brand.

Many luxury real estate marketing professionals fall into the trap of trying to be all things to all people. Like Popeye you have to be able to say, I Yam What I Yam and stand unwaveringly behind your brand personality statement. For example, are you?

Conservative or innovative?

Serious or humorous?

Daring or risk avert?

Creative or methodical?

Entertaining or informative?

Marketing is essentially matchmaking. You are marketing to people with similar or compatible personalities. The clearer you represent your dominant personality trait, the faster you will attract the best clients for you; and, the easier you will make it for others to promote you.

Trying to be all things to all people is a recipe for failure. Focusing just on your target market i.e., people like you is a sure way to success. Personality can transcend demographics. So, for those of you who are concerned about which price range to operate in you can focus on attracting compatible personality types.

It cannot be the personality you would like to have, it has to be authentic. You can only do you.

I'm Popeye the sailor man.
I'm Popeye the sailor man.
I yam what I yam
And that's all what I yam.
I'm Popeye the sailor man.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Brand Japan- Beyond Sushi and Bonsai Part 2

March 22, 2011

This is Part 2 of our blog series, Brand Japan-Beyond Sushi and Bonsai, a tribute to the Japanese culture.

Understanding the principles of Japanese garden design, which is rich in symbolism and meaning, offers many lessons for us when designing brand identities for luxury real estate marketing professionals. One design principle of Japanese gardens is the Art of Stone.

“The Art of Stone in a Japanese garden is that of placement. Its ideal does not deviate from Nature.” Isamu Noguchi, Japanese sculptor 1904-1988

The placement of a stone in a garden can communicate volumes of meaning to the observer. How a brand is positioned can do the same. Your personal brand position, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, is what you stand for in the minds of your target market. It is essential, however, that your brand position reflects your authentic , true nature .

Noguchi's placement of his sculpture, the Red Cube at the HSBC building in New York City Photo by Sean Pavlone

The gardens in Japan were closed to the public until the 20^th century. They were designed by the ruling elite and by monasteries as centers for meditation and worship. The purpose was to provide a peaceful venue far from the madness of everyday life. They represented the paradise of Buddha.

The basic elements of a garden are water, stones, and plants. Each stone, each plant had its place in order to express a mood of serenity. If a garden has water (chisen style), it occupies the largest portion of the garden. It is edged with groups of stones representing rocky seashore. Water elements have islands in them because islands represent a sacred remote place or immortal happiness.

In the dry gardens (karensansui style) the presence of water is not necessary. The patterns of the water/the sea are represented in the patterns raked in the sand or gravel, and the island is represented by the perfect stone(s).

The plants are an expression of Japanese spiritual life. Pines are beloved because they are evergreen and thus are symbols of long life and happiness. Other plant material includes dogwood, azalea, moss, bamboo, and junipers.

Simply put, the Japanese garden aesthetic guidelines rely on asymmetry, the imperfect and odd numbers. This mirrors the concepts of Zen Buddhism: naturalness, tranquility, simplicity and austerity.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Brand-Japan Beyond Sushi and Bonsai

March 21, 2011

This week’s blog series is dedicated to achieving a deeper appreciation of the “brand Japan”-Beyond Sushi and Bonsai, and the creative spirit of its people who will be guiding their country's recovery.

Because branding is a shortcut to make it easy for people to remember you, your company or your product can, under certain circumstances, sell you short. In a time-pressed world, we need shortcuts to achieve trust in a relationship with a brand. But, it is easy to get lazy and not override the shortcuts (that can sometimes be the equivalent of prejudices), in order to experience a deeper appreciation. As luxury real estate marketing professionals, we encourage you to take the luxury of time to enrich your soul and discover, along with us, an expanded meaning of what is distinctly Japanese.

What does the “brand Japan” mean to you? What immediate thoughts come instantly to mind when you think of Japan beyond bonsai, sushi and cherry blossoms, etc? These kinds of iconic images, these mental shortcuts that have been branded into our minds are convenient symbols of Japan. But, there is so much richness that this distinct culture has in store when you delve deeper.

Haiku (俳句, is a form of Japanese poetry. It is an expression of a brief thought and has a reference to nature. One of the best known Haiku writers is Basho, here are three examples:

The clouds come and go,
providing a rest for all
the moon viewers

Spring air --
Woven moon
And plum scent.

In this warm spring rain,
tiny leaves are sprouting
from the eggplant seed

The best brand messaging is similar to Haiku: distilled, expressing the nature of itself and unforgettable.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Is Your Brand Current, Fresh and Visible?

March 18, 2011

It is important for luxury real estate marketing professionals to keep their brands current, fresh and visible. Here is an example from Dom Perignon. This photo we shot at our local wine store is the Dom Perignon Andy Warhol edition. This edition of the 2002 vintage features Warhol-like colored labels. Andy Warhol is best known for his portraiture of pop icons/culture like Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minelli, the Eight Elvises as well as Campbell soup cans. He is also known for coining the phrase, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."

In one fell swoop, Dom Perignon has made itself visible, current and fresh! Certainly, Dom Perignon continues to have its moments of fame that have lasted many years and will continue for many years to come. What can you do to be current , fresh and Visible and insure that your moments of fame go beyond 15 minutes?

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Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: There is Room at the Top

March 14, 2011

David Cook

Niche marketing is your sure route to market leadership as a luxury real estate marketing professional. When you are secure within your niche and stay focused there you will discover that other niche leaders are not really your competition. Therefore, there is plenty of room at the top.

Niche market leaders are not in competition with their counterparts. This is a very important concept to grasp. They only compete with others within their niche. See how this plays out in the American Idol competition.

While it is true that the American Idol contestant who survives with the most number of votes wins the big prize at the end of the show they may not be the big winners in the long run. Jennifer Hudson was voted off the show early on, but went on to win the Golden Globe and Academy Award for best supporting actress, plus multiple Grammy Awards. Doughtry and Adam Lambert have sold millions of records, achieving much more than the ones who won the contest in the same year.

In 2008 runner ups, David Archuleta and David Cook (who won the prize) went on to be very successful in their respective niches. Archuleta sold close to 1,000,000 copies of his first album to an adoring younger teenage fan base. The first post-Idol album of Cook, the rock singer/song writer, was certified Platinum. With completely different audiences were these two artists actually competitors outside of the Idol contest?

Historically, the contestants who were most clearly defined in their niches far exceeded their counterparts who were not. This year the niches are already sharply defined for many of the contestants. As a result, they have already won the game in terms of winning over their respective fans. If they stay within their niches and do not try to please everyone they should do very well.

We call this “staying on your brand signal”. For example, the deep voiced Scotty is the genuine country article. James is the unmistakable rocker and Jacob is rhythm & blues.

Sharply define your niche within the luxury real estate marketing arena and stay focused there. You will find that your counterparts in their respective niches are not your competition. They may even make great allies because there is plenty of room at the top.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Buzz Sparked by the Unexpected

March 9, 2011

As a luxury real estate marketing professional you understand the importance of great packaging. One of the ways to upgrade that packaging is to add an unexpected element to your marketing materials. It may seem at first glance incongruous. However, it can trigger word-of-mouth advertising or buzz when you startle people with the unexpected element.

We were in our wine store today, The Carpinteria Wine Company, and we saw the bottle pictured above with a placard stating it had a 90+ rating. That message drew us in, and we took a closer look at the wine. From a distance, it looked like any other bottle of wine. Up close, we noticed that it had a piece of the vine it originated from tied in raffia on the front of the bottle.

Instantly, it became unforgettable. The wine happens to be great! But, the next time we go back to the wine store we can find it in a nano-second without even remembering the name of the wine. That is brilliant marketing and branding!

In a previous post, we mentioned that, given the enormous competition in the wine market, it is understandable why a wine label design can cost up to $80,000. This added unexpected element costs, next to nothing because the vines are trimmed and burned every year after the harvest.

This is one of the best examples of how you can out-think, not out-spend your competition and become the standout in your marketplace.

The name of the wine is Cantina Zaccagnini, Montepulciano d"Abruzzo 2007. That is certainly not an easy name to remember, but the packaging is. Happy Sipping!

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Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: Your Authentic Brand

March 8, 2011

Many agents believe that developing a luxury real estate personal brand is like choosing a new outfit of clothing or redecorating their home. While getting a new polished look can do wonders for you compared to your frumpy competition this is not what personal branding is all about.

The primary aim of crafting your personal brand is to achieve or sustain top-of-mind status in the minds of your target market. For most luxury real estate marketing professionals it comes down to being the first agent that comes to mind when a home owner is ready to sell or when a trusted friend is asked to recommend an agent to list their home. Branding is all about strategizing to secure the ownership of mind share, because market share follows mindshare.

The first thing that we do when we work with a luxury real estate personal branding client is what we call a strategic brand analysis. This is a discover process where we gather a tremendous amount of information about our client, their marketplace and their competition.

The final distillation of this information must represent the essence of the person’s true identity, their authentic self expressed in way that immediately resonates with their ideal clients. Therefore, a brand must be judged solely on the effectiveness its communication with one’s target market and the speed of trust that it establishes.

You may not like a particular style of someone’s personal brand because you have more conservative taste. You might prefer a contemporary look rather than traditional. But, then you would be judging the brand based on your own preferences. Instead judge other's personal brand based on authenticity and on the brand's success at matching the agent with the clientele it is aiming to attract.

Click here to check out the personal brands of the agents or brokers displayed above. Each of these them are either incumbent market leaders or are well on their way to achieve top-of-mind status within their marketplace.

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Luxury Real Estate Personal and Company Branding: Six Brand Idendity Principles

March 3, 2011

We are constantly asked by luxury real estate marketing professionals and others: " What is a Brand Identity?" Here are our 6 principles for a brand.

A Brand Defies Convention

A Brand Has Definition

A Brand does not Compromise

A Brand is Unexpected

A Brand is Unlike Any Other

A Brand Forges New Paths

These principles are the guidelines for all aspects of creating a brand. They are expressed in the design graphics, and the messaging, which reflect the authentic personality of the individual/company as well as the understanding of their marketplace How can you incorporate these principles in your brand?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Quality Content is Buzz-Worthy

March 1, 2011

In our previous post we outlined the 10 Keys to Improve the Quality of Your Content on your web pages and in your blog, as a luxury real estate marketing professional. There is no mistaking quality. Check out this Sapporo beer commercial. If this was played during the Super Bowl it would have been the sure winner. On You Tube, it has been seen over 2.5 million times. This is what we mean when we say make your content comment-worthy, follow-worthy and buzz-worthy, triggering word-of-mouth advertising.

What does this commercial say to you about quality in marketing?With so many beers on the market worldwide to choose from how do you communicate that your brand has superior quality? In the case of Sapporo, they wanted to communicate that their brand represents LEGENDARY QUALITY.

How can you communicate, through quality content, that your brand of service as a luxury real estate marketing professional is worthy of buzz? How can you get people to go out of their way to promote YOU!

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Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: Do You Like My Brand?

February 22, 2011

As consultants in personal branding for luxury real estate marketing professionals we are often asked: What do you think of my brand identity, do you like it? Please critique it! Thinking through these kinds of questions has yielded some very important insights that could very well apply to your own luxury real estate marketing practice.

When we owned our commercial real estate firm in West Los Angeles, a major restaurant chain opened within a couple of blocks from our office building. We had never even heard of the chain so we were open-minded about it. If you know LA you understand that not having to get in your car to drive to a restaurant for lunch was a luxury. After several attempts to find something on the menu that suited our palate we were completely unsuccessful.

Our knee-jerk reaction was to criticize the restaurant. But, then it occurred to us that we were completely off base in our criticism. In a flash, we realized that we simply are not the target market for these restaurants. Thousands of people love them or they would not be in business. Why were we wasting our mental energy with criticism? It seems like criticism and witticism were one and same until we realized that criticism is a dead end for yourself as well as the subject of your critique.

When we applied this to the personal branding question we understood what it takes to be objective in our critique:

1. A luxury real estate personal brand identity must communicate the authentic self of the agent.

2. It must embody the essence of one’s personality and values.

3. It must factor in the target market, i.e., to whom are you communicating

If all of these factors are aligned the brand identity does its job. It becomes a silent salesperson on your behalf. Therefore, you must have access to all of this information to determine if someone is on their brand signal or off their signal. That is the only critique necessary. If you are not part of the target market, your personal opinion is irrelevant. The only question is how successful is the brand in being on signal, like dialing into a radio station, it must be static-free to be on signal.

Think about the home sellers who ask you what you think about the aesthetics of their home when you are in a listing presentation. Now, there is no reason to break into a song and dance about it. It is ok to say that you are not the potential buyer for the home. But, you are an expert at targeting those who are.

P.S. That restaurant went out of business within a couple of years after spending a tremendous amount of money on furniture, fixtures and equipment. It evidently was not resonating with others in that marketplace because their brand signal and the market were not a match.

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Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: The Self-Discovery Process

February 16, 2011

We are often asked this question: What is most exciting and rewarding about working on personal branding with luxury real estate marketing professionals? In every single case it is the process of guiding our clients through a journey of self-discovery and also developing a customized marketing strategy based on these findings that is a perfect fit.

Aesthetic style preferences play a big part in crafting your personal brand. But it requires knowing yourself. That is why the process of personal branding is one of self-discovery. At the very least the process reaffirms and validates what you already know about yourself, which is an important clarifying experience as well.

Which would you prefer and enjoy the most: Living in a log cabin in the mountains or an urban chic, minimalist New York City loft in a high rise? Each of these settings would represent a means of self-expression. Providing that you chose one over the other based on your own genuine opinion and were not just trying to please others, the living space itself would reflect your personal values and your personal preferences.

If your brand identity accurately summarizes and symbolizes your personal values, your personality and your personal preferences and also distinguishes you from your competition, it will attract and resonate with likeminded consumers. It will also accelerate the speed of trust and referrals because people like to do business with and recommend people like themselves. The faster they recognize that you are like them the more likely they are to do business with you. That is what a great personal brand does. But, it all begins with the discovery process.

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Luxury Real Estate Branding Case Study: Ernie MacManus Group

February 15, 2011

This Video Can Also Be Viewed Here

This is the branding case study of Ernie MacManus, a luxury real estate marketing professional in the Northern San Diego County area. Ernie has a unique background as a successful stockbroker and lender. A perennial entrepreneur, he has launched The Ernie MacManus Group, a high performance real estate brokerage company.

Luxury real estate web design is an integral component of the personal and company branding process. Check out www.ErnieMacManus.com and introduce yourself to Ernie!

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Luxury Real Estate Personal and Company Branding: Is it Time to Refresh Your Brand? Part 3

February 14, 2011

Photo by Pod666

Check Out Part 1 & Part 2

Become the Iconic Brand of Your Marketplace

If you have not refreshed your brand in the last seven years, now is the time! Creating a brand identity symbolized by an iconic logo can give you a terrific competitive advantage in your luxury real estate marketing practice.

Think of the iconic logos that have been engrained in your psyche as you have grown up. If you see a silhouette of a large solid black circle with two smaller black circles connected at the top left and top right of the larger one what comes to mind immediately? How about a black and white silhouette of a rabbit with a bow tie or a black “check mark” against a white background or an apple with a bite missing? You did not need details or color to recognize Mickey Mouse, the Playboy Bunny, the Nike Swoosh or the Apple logo. It is this instant brand recognition that makes a logo iconic.

How long did it take you to recognize the museum depicted above? This is the Guggenheim museum in New York, Frank Lloyd Wright’s last major work. Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the shape alone is iconic. It took Wright 700 drawings to create this masterpiece of modern architecture that polarized architectural critics and thus created tremendous buzz.

Although the museum is not a logo, we purposely intensified the contrast in the Guggenheim image to illustrate this extremely important principle: If your logo can communicate the essence of your brand identity in black and white, like a silhouette, without much detail you are heading in the right direction. If it can be remembered quickly, after the passage of time, by your target market, with minimal previous impressions, you have a potential “hit” on our hands.

One glance at the Guggenheim and the impression becomes indelible in your mind. This is the ultimate goal in creating a brand identity, providing that the identity precisely communicates your authentic essence, what you stand for. The better the brand identity the fewer impressions it takes for consumers to achieve brand retention.

Whether you need a complete brand identity make-over or are ready to refresh your brand understand the incredible opportunity to secure the competitive advantage by making an indelible impression. Don’t be afraid to become the iconic brand of your marketplace.

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