Personal & Company Branding: A Surefire Way to Challenge the Market Leader

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Is it Time to Re-invent Yourself?

August 9, 2011

Photo Courtesy of Dimrus1917

Brand distinctiveness, the way you stand out from your competition is equally important in personal branding as it is in company or product branding. When you cannot clearly, sharply and quickly articulate how you are different, how can you expect your referral sources to do so when they are asked to recommend a luxury real estate marketing professional?

Sometimes you have to completely reinvent yourself or your company to surpass your closest competitors. That is definitely the case of the Maybach as this brand faces the biggest challenge of its 90 plus year life.

Photo Courtesy of nstinia Photography

If you are in the market for a super-luxury car, and you think of the hood ornament of a Rolls Royce, (known as the “Spirit of Ecstasy”) it is hard not to get ecstatic. For some this symbol conveys the entire experience of owning the car. Others get a rush when they think of Bentley’s hood ornament or badge.

Heritage can play an important role in endearing fans to a brand. For example, the Rolls Royce is deeply associated with the Queen of England. The towns that assemble and customize the Rolls and the Bentley have an allure unto themselves. All of these kinds of factors, apart from the design and features of the cars add up to a story that the owners can tell their friends

But, what associations are made about the Maybach, manufactured by Daimler (Mercedes Benz). It was very popular in Germany in the 1920 and 1930s, but not very well known in the rest of the world. It is now manufactured at the same facility as the Mercedes S Class, not in its original town.

What does Maybach stand for today in the minds of the ultra-rich that can afford a starting price tag of $375,000 or pay $1.3M for the top of the line? How is this brand distinct from its competitors in the super-luxury car category?

Many feel that the car is too similar to the Mercedes S Class model, even though it sports many features and amenities that are not included in the lesser priced car. This lack of distinctiveness has resulted in mediocre sales and has caused Daimler to completely rethink its brand strategy. In fact, the fate of the car, its very existence, will be determined by the end of the year.

But, what a fabulous opportunity to reinvent a brand and emerge as the market leader! You have heard of the fable of the Phoenix, the firebird that re-emerges from the ashes, right? If Daimler would take a hard look at the current vulnerabilities of the Rolls and the Bentley, and zero in on providing extraordinary value, a classic brand could be reborn that could trounce the other two.

Being at the doorway of extinction can spark remarkable inventiveness. It will be interesting to see if the Maybach makes it through the threshold. Is it time for you to re-invent your brand?

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Personal & Company Branding: Imitation Is the Worst Way to Challenge a Market Leader

July 26, 2011

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, if you want to challenge the market leader in your area the last thing you want to do is imitate the incumbent. This is one of those branding traps that even some of the biggest brands fall into and get nowhere as a result. Originality and distinctiveness is the route to market leadership. As a challenger, your best best is to take the opposite position as the market leader or else "own" (excel at) the attribute that represents your competitor's greatest weakness.

In a previous post we pointed out how Pepsi has slipped to the #3 soft drink and is desperately trying to get back in the race. They went after the strong association that Coke established over years with Santa in their ads. Now they are going after the polar bear, one of Coke's least successful ad campaigns. What is Pepsi thinking?

As we mentioned in that last post, Pepsi has forgotten the brand position that made them a strong number 2 brand: Appealing to the younger generation. We are hoping,for Pepsi's sake, that their sponsorship of the American X Factor realty show, that debuts in the fall, will get them back on track. But, for now they have fallen into the imitation trap.

Check out the older commercial from Coke and the latest Pepsi commercial and judge for yourself. You may like the commercial. But, from a branding standpoint, imitation is by far the worst way to challenge a market leader. Click here if you cannot see the videos.

Coke & Polar Bears

Pepsi & Polar Bears

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Personal & Company Branding: What Is the Soul of Your Brand?

July 25, 2011

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, the fastest way to achieve market leadership is to identify a new category of business and start out as #1 in that category. One way to find a new category is to look for an underserved segment or niche within your marketplace. Then offer an extraordinary promise of value that makes your competition irrelevant.

If you can identify a problem that your competition does not adequately address your original solution can become news! Doing so can leverage the news-hungry media to promote your new category and your new brand in the process. Take Onesole, the “original interchangeable shoe” for example.

Dominique McClain, a pharmacist and frequent traveler, set out to create and patent a shoe that is comfortable, versatile, fun, economical, and easy for travel. The tops of the shoes literally snap off and can be changed! You can virtually have a closet full of different shoes with just a couple of very comfortable soles and a variety of tops.

While she was sports fishing, Dominique had her big “ah-ha” moment. She noticed that the stainless steel snaps that secured canvas on boat (and can withstand 70 mile an hour winds) were the perfect solution to affix interchangeable tops to the soles of shoes.

Voila! A new multi-million dollar category of women’s shoes was born that solved the problem of having to haul many pairs of shoes on business or leisure trips. And, it made it affordable to vastly expand one’s shoe wardrobe in tough economic times. Sometimes the best marketing ideas are the simplest.

Dominique did all of this without having formal business or fashion education. She also intuited the importance of giving her brand a name that would also name the category. She did not fall into the trap of calling it Dominique, for example. The value of this is that once you hear the name Onesole and understand the new category it makes it easy to remember and also tell others about the new category. The name readily communicates the soul of the brand, the thoughts behind it that solve the problem. People like to help promote effective solutions.

What is the soul of our brand?

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: What Is the Recipe for Your Personal Point of View?

July 20, 2011

Articulating your personal point of view is the essence of personal branding. The process of personal branding involves zeroing in on what is distinct about your personality and also your unique promise of value. Then it is a question of expressing the sum total of what your target market can expect when they work with you both graphically and in just a few words. If branding is done right your ideal clients will quickly know that you are exactly the right match for them and it should accelerate the speed of trust.

Personal branding must also quickly express your expertness and your authority in your chosen category of business. The more sharply you define your niche the faster those who specifically seek your advice or service can find you. Let’s take the example of TV cooking show hosts to illustrate how this works.

Rachael Ray is the “girl next door”. That is her brand. Quick easy meals or meals on a budget when you travel, that is Rachel. If you want to learn how to cook Southwest style Bobby Flay is your man. If you want to learn about great comfort food that can be found in diners and dives, Guy Fieri is the guy for you. His barbeque sauce is available in the supermarket and it is terrific. Rachel and Bobby would be off their personal brand signal to market this product.

Here are some questions that are included in the application if you want to audition for the Next Network Food Star and compete for the prize of getting your own show.

What is your favorite genre of food?
What is your least favorite cooking style and why?
How do you put your own personal twist on recipes?

f I were an ingredient, I would be ______________. Why would you be that ingredient?
What is your all time favorite ingredient and why?
What ingredients and/or foods do you absolutely hate and why?
Clearly describe 3 of your “signature dishes” that best represent you and/or are most popular with your friends/family/clients. Tell us WHY they represent you so well.
What are your top 5 ORIGINAL cooking/food/ingredients tips that demonstrate your food knowledge?
What is your unique “Culinary Point of View”?
Why do you want your own food show?
What about your background would make you a unique finalist on the show?

By far the most important question here is about your personal point of view. This is your slant-the essence of what makes you stand out from your competition. It is essential when crafting your personal brand that it expresses who you are, authentically. You cannot be all things to all people and you cannot really please those who are not a truly a match to you.

What is your personal brand recipe? What is your personal point of view?

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: The Line Extension Trap Part 2

July 6, 2011

As a luxury real estate marketing professional if it is your desire to challenge a formidable incumbent market leader in your marketplace keep an eye on Google as they take on Facebook with their new strategy, Google +. The key to challenging the incumbent is to identify where they are most vulnerable, concentrate all of your strengths with laser sharp focus and then take aim at that vulnerability.

Google has determined that contact management (particularly the way you group your contacts) is one of Facebook’s weakest links. Google+ offers a superior contact management method that enables you to easily group your friends into “circles” that more closely mirror how you actually socialize. This is not easy to do on Facebook. Google is also in the process of tying together the various components that they have already developed (and are currently in use by billions of people) into a cohesive social strategy.

For example, when you are planning a family event you will be able to send a Google map of the event location to everyone in your family circle plus your extended family circle with a couple of clicks. You will be able to “hang out” with your circle of scuba diving buddies via their video conferencing answer to Skype or “huddle” for a chat with your circle of team members on a project at work via Google’s instant messaging software.

However, to take on Facebook the challenger must come up with a strategy that is a true social networking game changer. The first clue that Google+ may not be a game changer is in the brand name itself, which was the subject of Part 1 of this series. Including Google within the new brand name is very risky. From a branding standpoint if you have indeed created a new category of social networking, a fundamental paradigm shift, you must first name your new category. Then, you must create a brand name that stands for the category.

If social circles, indeed represents a fundamental new way to organize social networking Google needs to create a distinct brand name for this product/service that will potentially stands for the category. Calling it something like “Circles”, for example, would have made it easy for both the press and consumers to spread the word about the new category and its extraordinary promise of value. That is how Google can still avoid the Line Extension Trap we refer to in Part 1 before general release (Google+ is in beta testing now).

When Steve Jobs introduced a new category of computers (touch screen tablet with apps) it trumped the categories of net books and e-book readers. It sparked a tsunami of news coverage, triggered a massive demand for the category and also for the first and only product in the category. Overnight, iPad stood for “tablet”.

Google stands for “search engine”, not a new, superior category of social networking. Google+ could stand for “social search”, but supposedly it is much more than a new category of search. Conversely, Android, Google’s brand of smart phone and tablet operating systems, successfully stands for the most viable alternative to the iPad and iPhone.

If social circles is not a game changing new category of social networking, but is instead just a feature that can easily be imitated by Facebook, Google has fallen into another trap of trying to compete on features. Facebook just announced that Microsoft-owned Skype will be incorporated into its entire platform, which will match the same feature offered by Google+. Additionally, Facebook just announced that it now has 750 million users. Competing on features alone, with a Juggernaut like Facebook, is futile.

To take on a formidable incumbent in your luxury real estate marketplace, you must become a game changer and create a thoroughly compelling, newsworthy business model. And, you must brand yourself in such a way that your name stands for your unique promise of value. That way you make it very easy for others to spread the word about you and how you stand out from your competition.

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Personal and Company Branding: The Line Extension Trap – Part 1

June 29, 2011

Russian Nested Dolls

In marketing luxury real estate, one of the traps that market leading agents fall into is attempting to be all things to all people. They figure, for example, that since they are the expert in selling single family homes in a particular geographic farm they certainly can extend their line of work to another category of business and become the expert at selling condos throughout multiple areas. Never mind that they will have to face off with an incumbent market leader in this separate niche who is known as the “condo queen or king”, an agent who is currently enjoying top-of-mind status based on an indelible personal brand that was developed over years.

Off they go, believing that their reputation as the expert in single family homes plus their unique brand of doing business in that one area will automatically apply and extend to another, and another arena. Instead, they will need to successfully develop a second distinct brand that resonates with their new target market. Keeping the same brand name for the new category is what is known as the “line extension trap”.

Think of those Russian nested dolls that look identical but in different sizes. Using the same brand name for different lines of business diminishes the stature of the original brand. Let us take a look at how Google is about to fall into the line extension trap as they take on Facebook once again.

Do we really need another major social network? At a time when News Corp. is selling off MySpace for $30-40 Million (less than 10 cents on the dollar based on their original purchase price of $580M), Google seems to think so. Facebook, with its alliance with Microsoft, is Google’s fiercest competitor not only in social media but in search, where Google dominates. But, from a strategic branding standpoint, with the name, “Google +”, they are heading in the same direction as MySpace on a very slippery slide. Here is why.

While Google is one of the world’s most widely recognized brand names, they were wise in keeping the name, Android, for their smart phone operating system (OS) when they acquired Android Inc. in 2005. With Android they avoided this very common brand extension trap. That is, the trap of using the primary brand name as an integral part of the new brand name in the new product/service category they are entering. But, it looks like they did fall into this trap with Google +1 in the category of social networking.

It would have been suicide to use Google instead of Android for their mobile device OS because it would dilute and diminish Google’s top-of-mind status in its primary product category. Google stands for SEARCH, period. It cannot also stand for social media, like Facebook does, or anything else without diminishing the power of the brand in its primary category.

Android doesn’t just stand for the “other” mobile device operating system. It stands for an “open source” operating system that allows unlimited number of developers to contribute to the evolution of its source code. It freely licenses its OS for use by any qualified manufacturer of mobile devices.

In contrast, Android’s closest competitor, Apple, has a strictly proprietary “closed source”. This is a classic case of a challenger taking on the opposite brand position as that of the incumbent. Google created a contest between the #1 and #2 brands who, together, own the lion’s share of the marketplace. When price is equal, the majority of mobile devise consumers make a clear choice between the two opposing brands based on their personal values and the opportunity for self-expression that each of them offers.

Google brilliantly framed this two-way contest as Open (Android) vs. Closed (Apple) and summarily dismissed the #3 and #4 operating systems. This is brand positioning at its best. So far, Google has not been as brilliant about positioning itself as the #2 contender to Facebook. What does + stand for and how is it the opposite of what Facebook stands for?

Every new product or service category that a company or a service professional enters must have its own unique brand name, a name that stands for the category or niche. Google’s streaming video service, You Tube, is a direct competitor of Hulu which is owned by a consortium of companies You Tube currently stands for streaming video with free user generated content. Competitor, Hulu, is comprised exclusively of the content that is produced by its owners and is available partially for free, mostly for a fee. Free vs. Fee, user generated content vs. proprietary content. This is brand positioning.

Google means search. It does not mean TV (Google TV), nor does it mean instant messenger (Google Talk). These are examples that illustrate Google’s tendency to fall into the line extension trap. Google definitely does not mean social network. Why is this branding principle of the line extension trap so difficult to apply consistently?

Orkut, Google’s first faceoff with Facebook, means social network to 100,000,000 users primarily in India and Brazil. It is one of the most highly trafficked websites in these countries and the 96^th most highly-trafficked website in the world. It is not at all popular in the United States. But, they stayed out of the line extension trap on this one becasue the name does not include the word Google.

But, Google had a disastrous misstep when they launched Google Buzz, their second attempt to surpass Facebook. A technical glitch resulted in revealing users' address books to the public. Why on earth would they tarnish their good name in the realm of search again? What were they thinking? Trapped!

In your luxury real estate marketing practice did you ever feel the tendency to branch out into other categories of business? Did you fall into the line extension trap? Or, did you rebrand yourself for the new category?

In Part 2 of this blog series on the line extension trap, we will see how Google is compounding their troubles by falling into another trap. That is the trap of competing on features vs. leveraging the art of brand positioning.

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Personal & Company Branding: What Is Your X Factor?

June 28, 2011

Courtesy of Coca Cola

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, what does your personal brand stand for in the minds of your target market and how is that distinct from your closest competitor? What is your X Factor? This is a question that baffles even the most seasoned consumer brands. If you cannot articulate in a word or a very brief phrase how you stand out from your competition you are going to swiftly lose market share to those who can. Take head from one of the most well known brands in the world.

Simon Cowell will not be drinking Coke this fall on his new (to America) show, X Factor, like he did on American Idol. Pepsi has become a $60 million sponsor of the show as they beef up their advertising to help regain lost market share to Coke. Pepsi is now #3 (9.5%) in the beverage contest for market leadership behind #2 (9.9%) Diet Coke and #1 (17%) Coke- Classic. Pepsi is not that far ahead of #4 Mountain Dew and # 5 Dr. Pepper.

What happened to Pepsi? Pundits are blaming the shift in focus from soft drinks to PepsiCo’s healthy foods in terms of ad spending. The resulting neglect of their most important brand in the entire company has cost them plenty. The experts are basically saying, “When you snooze. You Lose”!

But, we say, Pepsi was losing way before they began snoozing on ad spending! They were losing mind share before they began losing marketing share. What does Pepsi stand for in the minds of their target market and who is their target market, today?

It used to be the brand of choice for the younger generation. At one point Pepsi’s brand strategy was spot on, the perfect strategy for the challenger. Pepsi framed a two-brand contest between young (Pepsi) and old (Coke) because they knew more young people were buying their product. Pepsi OWNED the ‘younger generation” as their brand position and they spoke their target market’s language.

Pepsi’s new ads are anything but cool or youthful. The slogan is “summertime is Pepsi time”. Does that mean anything to you? Summertime may be the biggest selling time of the year for soft drinks in general. But, why choose Pepsi over Coke?

Their new ad has Santa (an old man with a white beard) in a Hawaiian shirt drinking Pepsi instead of Coke, saying “I’m on vacation”, intimating that he drinks Pepsi in the summer (but don’t tell Coke about his secret summer passion). Pepsi is attempting to disrupt, dislodge or shatter Coke’s archetypical branding imagery, the marriage of Santa & Coke (depicted above) from the 1950s. Coke spent millions of dollars over many years to deeply imbed this notion into the minds their target market. The problem is that most of these minds are 50 years old or more. This is the very opposite strategy that Pepsi should be taking to regain market share.

Contrast this to Pepsi in their brilliant branding heyday when they had Michael Jackson singing “you are a whole new generation” (to the tune of Billy Jean) in a commercial in which he also made a personal appearance. Kids where moon dancing in the street, imitating the “gloved one” and drinking Pepsi, when Jackson himself appears in the commercial. What could possibly be cooler than that? Check out the commercial below which has been seen over 31, 500,000 times on You Tube. Click Here or view the video below.

Pepsi needs to get back to its roots and reassert its unique promise of value. It needs to amplify it’s X Factor! Otherwise, all of the advertising dollars that they are spending are going to become, as Simon Cowell would say, an “utter waste”.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, have you lost touch with your unique promise of value? What makes you stand out from your competition? What is your X Factor?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Secret of "Pull" vs. "Push" Marketing

June 27, 2011

Identifying and serving an underserved market niche better than anyone else can take the notion of sales out of your business equation, all together. In your luxury real estate marketing practice a niche may be a geographic area or a category of properties or a group of consumers with the same values such as environmentalists. The key to marketing to a group of consumers with the same mindset is to fully understand how they think. Most importantly, this includes knowing their deepest concerns or pain points. If you can clearly and quickly communicate that your service can relieve their pain you literally will not have to sell them on working with you. They will sell themselves on you.

Crafting the right marketing messaging is the art of precisely communicating your extraordinary promise of value (through all facets of your brand identity) in such a way that your target market can instantly recognize that you are the one who can best meet their needs. Essentially, you need to know their mindset or psychographics so you can speak to them in their language.

In the realm of luxury real estate you are dealing with achievers of wealth, those aspiring to achieve wealth or those who just want to emulate the wealthy. Your message to achievers will be entirely different from your message to emulators because their needs are distinct. To understand how important the right messaging can be let us take L’Oréal hair coloring products as an example.

Headquartered just outside of Paris, L’Oréal is the world’s largest cosmetic and beauty company. For a while Sex in the City star, Sarah Jessica Parker, was the spokesperson for their hair color line, which usually sells at somewhat of a premium. Ms. Parker’s character in the show is the quintessential emulator.

The question of self-worth is often a pain point for emulators. L’Oréal’s classic advertising slogan, “Because I’m worth it” spoke directly to emulating consumers. The “it” word in the slogan presumes that the product is superior and worth the premium price. Since its first use in the mid 2000s the slogan has evolved to “Because we’re worth it” because research proved that ‘we’ evoked an even higher level of consumer involvement in the L’Oréal philosophy and lifestyle. Plus, it elicited more “perceived” consumer satisfaction with the products themselves. The new slogan was further extended for the kid’s line of hair and body products with, “Because we’re worth it, too”!

Are the ingredients in the product that much better than the competitor’s product line? That is debatable. But, the perception that L’Oréal has created is one of superiority. With just four words L’Oréal has created what is known as “pull marketing” vs. “push marketing”. They are not selling hair color ingredients here. They are offering self-worth as their unique promise of value and their target market is reaching for the relief that represents.

With this “pull marketing” strategy L’Oréal does not need to compete on features that any competent competitor can copy like “foam” or “mousse” versions of the product. L’Oréal has also come out with a “mousse” version of their hair color product just to match the competition. But, competing on features alone is futile.

With one brilliant preemptive move, L’Oréal OWNED the word “self-worth” in the minds of their target market. No other competitor can stake claim to it without looking like a copycat. Test it for yourself. Just ask any woman what brand comes to mind when you say “Because I’m worth it”. This is brand strategy at its best. L’Oréal has achieved and has sustained top-of-mind status.

Pull marketing is what happens when you get your branding and messaging spot on. Instead of going fishing for prospects, the fish jump into your boat. That is because you are communicating your extraordinary promise of value to your target market with precision, in their language. You are not selling. You are solving their problem and you are relieving their pain.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, do you know the pain points of your target market? If you have not taken the time to articulate your unique promise of value in such a way that you are solving problems and relieving pain, you are working way too hard at selling. And, you are probably annoying your target market in the process.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: What Is Your Brand Worth?

June 20, 2011

Choosing the right brand name is extremely important for luxury real estate marketing professionals. Some of the best brand names deliver an emotional impact that makes it easy to remember and also propels sales. Striking just the right chord with your target market is the key. What emotions are summoned with the name Shark Tank?

Have you ever watched Shark Tank, the TV reality show on ABC? It stars Barbara Corcoran, the luxury real estate marketing professional who sold her highly successful brokerage firm in New York several years ago, and other successful venture capital superstars including billionaire Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. The premise of the show is that entrepreneurs seeking venture capital give their pitch to a panel of investors who fight, like sharks, over who will offer the best deal.

On a recent episode, a couple of guys pitched the idea of investing $50,000 in their clothing business in exchange for a 25% interest in the company which is called Hill Billy™. Comedian Jeff Foxworthy (one of the sharks) immediately recognized the value of the Hill Billy brand name because he has made a fortune with his “red neck” humor and Blue Color TV.

The entrepreneurs, who trademarked the name, proved that there is a market for Hill Billy™ brand clothes by selling them at country music concerts and often outselling the performers T-shirts and concert paraphernalia. But, none of the sharks took the bait. Instead, they all insisted that the true value of the company was in the trademarked brand itself, asserting that the clothing business is extremely risky. They did see value in the brand name, but only in its limitless licensing potential.

Three of the sharks agreed to offer $25,000 each to buy the Hill Billy™ brand name for licensing purposes and not to invest in the manufacturing of the clothing line. They also offered to give the entrepreneurs a 7% royalty on all licensing fees. The deal was accepted.

The term Hill Billy refers to people in the United States who dwell in remote, rural mountainous areas, such as Appalachia, or the Ozarks. It sometimes has a derogatory connotation depending on the context of its use or the attitude of person using of the word. But, all of this meaning plus the values that are inferred are wrapped up in the brand name. The brand obviously offers a form of self-expression for certain consumers who can identify with it whether or not it is taken seriously.

The Hill Billy™ brand clearly strikes the right emotional chord with its target market that drives sales. That is exactly what makes it a valuable brand. How much is your brand name worth?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: So, You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 7

June 14, 2011

Today, in marketing luxury real estate, being tech-savvy involves much more than just optimizing your website to rank highly on search engines. It encompasses the art of building an audience of raving fans not just through blogging or having a Facebook page, but also through the latest social media practice of creating a “curated” online experience. In this final post in our series, So You Want to Be a Market Leader, we discuss how Tiffany & Company, the leading American luxury jewelry brand, has preempted their domestic and European competitors with this cutting edge, indirect or “peripheral” marketing and branding strategy.

We understand that building an audience was never part of the job description of a real estate agent. We understand that it is time consuming, not to mention a long term strategy. But, it is swiftly becoming a requirement if you want to gain or sustain market leadership. Every incumbent luxury real estate market leader who does not fully embrace the new media is potentially vulnerable to local challengers who are willing to do so.

Leveraging social media and mobile apps was certainly not an aspect of the jewelry marketing play-book either. But, Tiffany & Company is intent on attracting a younger audience and they know that they cannot rely solely on the tradition of their blue gift boxes or the half-century old Breakfast at Tiffany’s movie to win this new business. They are also intent on keeping ahead of their European counterparts, such as Cartier, who is challenging Tiffany’s dominance in the US when it comes to purchasing engagement rings by young affluent customers.

Tiffany has an iPhone and iPad mobile app where you can customize your own engagement ring and design and change the carat size of the diamond. When you place one of the rings that you already own on the screen it will tell you your ring size. But, soon every major jeweler will have their own app and this “feature” will no longer be unique. That is why we say that you cannot count on features as a way to differentiate your brand from your competitors’. Competing on features is not a brand strategy because brand strategy is all about seizing and holding on to top-of-mind status.

Recently, Tiffany & Company launched a new “curated” website called What Makes Love True. Their brand strategy is to “own” the word LOVE in the minds of their target market. If you want to sell engagement rings as your core product that would be an excellent word to own.

Tiffany takes on the role of “curator” of this online exhibition listing romantic places and restaurants to “pop the question”, lists of love songs and romantic movies that you can buy via iTunes, and also videos of customers of all ages who discuss the romantic courtships that lead to their engagements. You can also interact with the site by placing your initials (and your mate’s initials) on a map with your own story of why this location is romantic.

Staking a claim on “true love” as their brand position preempts any other competing jeweler to do so without looking ridiculous as a copycat. Can you imagine Cartier saying, “We stand for true love, too”? Provided that Tiffany continues to develop this site in interesting ways, we believe that this peripheral branding strategy is nothing less than brilliant! It is emotional branding at its best.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional who is bent on gaining or sustaining market leadership, what can you stand for, what word can you own? And, how do you go about executing a strategy to successfully achieve top-of-mind status with this brand position?

In our luxury real estate marketing consulting practice we work exclusively with incumbent market leaders or their challengers. We do not work with direct competitors within the same marketplace. Our ideal clients are those who realize just how much is at stake in terms of market share and revenue at this level, when you achieve top-of-mind status. If you have the heart of a champion and are keen on “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”, give us a call for a complimentary consultation! 805.684.8180

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: So, You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 6

June 8, 2011

The Latest iCloud Technology- Courtesy of Apple

In our previous post (Part 5) of our series entitled, So You Want to Be a Market Leader, we covered one of the key vulnerabilities that luxury real estate market leaders tend to exhibit: losing focus. In this post we cover the other key vulnerabilities: Being complacent and being “tech-challenged”. If you want to overtake the incumbent market leader, rather than identifying an uncontested market niche that you can dominate, you need to assess your opponent’s weakest link and wage an all-out battle that is 100% concentrated on one of these three specific vulnerabilities.

Complacency, a common vulnerability of market leaders in luxury real estate, usually manifests in the form of neglect of the relationships that got them to the #1 position in the first place. Lack of consistent personal communication with their sphere of influence can create a very compelling reason to switch if the challenger excels at this and offers a remarkably distinct value proposition.

The consistent use of superior technology (especially methods for attracting a high volume of buyers) aimed directly at a market leader who is not tech-savvy, can be an excellent plan to challenge an incumbent. Incumbents who take on over-priced listings that languish on the market may look impressive to luxury home sellers in the short run. But, eventually, the agent who can demonstrate the ability to bring buyers to the table through superior technology will win the listings, too.

If you want to challenge the incumbent who is “tech-challenged” preempt this powerful attribute of being the most tech-savvy. That means, be the first challenger to seize this brand position by “owning” the very words "tech-savvy" as a brand position. Be the first to brand yourself as the tech expert in the competitive landscape that exists, not in your computer or in your office or in some other physical location in your marketplace, but in the minds of your target market.

When you are the first to take on the opposite attribute of the incumbent market leader as your brand position you stand a great chance of at least being #2. That is because you have framed the race for market leadership as a two person or two-company contest: “Tech-savvy” vs. “tech-challenged”. Creating an either/or contest summarily dismisses the rest of the would-be challengers for market leadership who may try to own this attribute in the minds of the target market. Saying "I am tech-savvy, too" is a very weak competitive position. It is like another rental car company besides Avis saying " We try harder (than Hertz), too".

Today, being tech-savvy is much more than just generating leads specifically for properties. It encompasses the art of building an audience of raving fans through social media and engaging in peripheral or indirect marketing. Tiffany & Company has just launched a social media website that we will review in Part 7 of this blog series that positions the jeweler to own the word “love” in the minds of its target market. If you want to sell engagement rings as your core product that would be an excellent word to own.

In our luxury real estate marketing consulting practice we work exclusively with incumbent market leaders or their challengers. We do not work with direct competitors within the same marketplace. Our ideal clients are those who realize just how much is at stake in terms of market share and revenue at this level, when you achieve top-of-mind status. If you have the heart of a champion and are keen on “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”, give us a call for a complimentary consultation! 805.684.8180

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: So, You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 4

June 6, 2011

One of the best ways to become a market leader in your luxury real estate marketing practice is to carve out a new niche or create an entirely new market category. Why not start out as #1?

There is a huge competitive advantage in being the first in a freshly defined market segment. For example, have you ever tried or heard of 5-Hour Energy, the caffeine and vitamin liquid concentrate that comes in a small plastic bottle and is sold over the counter?

Seven years ago there was no such niche or sub-category of beverages. This energy shot trend was started by 5-Hour Energy. They dominate the category with an 80% market share, according to trade publication, Beverage Digest. Their annual sales are about $1 billion. The next closest competitor, NVE Pharmaceuticals has a paltry 5% market share. 5-Hour Energy, as a brand, has achieved the status of “category killer”.

Some of the best niches are not obvious. In our recent blog series, So You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 3, we used the example of becoming the expert in ski-in/ski-out properties within the larger marketplace of the entire ski resort town. This is a very narrow market niche, but a potentially lucrative one as these kinds of properties tend to be the most expensive.

Let’s take this example a few steps further. Before you declare yourself the expert, you need to have some ski-in/ski-out property sales (at least one) under your belt to have some credibility. Then, when you take it upon yourself to define or carve out a niche where heretofore the niche was not perceived as a separate area of specialization amazing things happen.

Suddenly, you are perceived differently and so is the competitive landscape. Because you are the first, you literally cause your name to be identified with the new category that previously did not exist. Once this takes place it is very difficult for your competition to dislodge the #1 position that you have secured in the minds of your target market.

When people indentify you as the ski-in/ski-out maven, they will refer you to other owners of such properties (who they probably know very well) as the expert. If you were the owner of a ski-in/ski out property, wouldn’t you want to be referred to the leading expert in this field to list your home, instead of the generalist? That is what branding is all about.

In your luxury real estate practice, the sharper your focus the more you become an expert and the more likely you are to succeed. Concentration in your chosen area gives you a command not only of the nuances of the market segment itself, but also of the mindset of your target market. The depth of your knowledge and your certainty about your niche becomes palpable to potential clients. The sharpness of your focus also enables you to discover opportunities that completely elude your competition. If you are passionate about your niche, you will not need energy shots to keep you awake, lift your spirits or stay motivated .

You may think that it is scary to be so focused within a niche because you have to sacrifice other general business if you give your niche your undivided attention. But, in time your name can become extremely well-known and, ideally, synonymous with the category itself. That is when you become the undisputed category killer. If you sustain your focus, you can become so formidable as the market leader that your would-be competition will not even bother to challenge you.

In our luxury real estate marketing consulting practice we work exclusively with incumbent market leaders or their challengers. We do not work with direct competitors within the same marketplace. Our ideal clients are those who realize just how much is at stake in terms of market share and revenue at this level, when you achieve top-of-mind status. If you have the heart of a champion and are keen on “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”, give us a call for a complimentary consultation! 805.684.8180

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: So, You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 3

June 1, 2011

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog series, So You Want to Be a Market Leader

When you think of the word strategy what comes to mind? In the context of marketing luxury real estate, or any product or service, strategy ONLY applies to gaining or sustaining market leadership. It is just for incumbent market leaders who want to hold on to the #1 position and those who want to challenge the incumbent. More succinctly, it is only about being #1 or #2 in mindshare and in market share within any given marketplace or niche therein.

In the majority of cases the combined market share of #1 &#2 represents the lion’s share of the entire “pie”. These two contenders understand just how much is at stake. Very often, there is a vast crevasse between the market share of #1 and #2. For example, #1 search engine, Google, enjoys about 65% of the market. Yahoo, #2 owns 17% and #3 Microsoft Bing has about 11%.

Bing is trying valiantly to whittle down Google’s market share. Its most recent strategy has been to align with and own a piece of Facebook in order to make search more social (getting recommendations from friends when delivering search results). In a Wall Street Journal interview Google Inc. executive chairman, Eric Schmidt said that one of his biggest failures as CEO over the last decade was grappling with the rise of social identity services such as Facebook. Microsoft seized a potentially threatening strategic advantage with their social search strategy.

The marketing activity of an unmotivated #3 or any of those that are lower on the totem pole is actually not strategy. If you are not striving to be #1 or #2 you are merely engaged in tactics to fight over the crumbs, which may be plenty for some but not for those with the heart of a champion.

When it comes to marketing luxury real estate, keep in mind that you get to define the size of your marketplace if it is based on geography or just how narrow you want to slice your niche within a general category. For, example you can be the market leader in selling sky-in/ski-out properties in Vail Colorado, or in Deer Valley, Utah. The price point of these properties is typically very high and you do not need to sell many homes to earn sizable commissions.

We live in a time-pressed world where the majority of human minds can only remember up to 3 brands in any given category of product or service. Some people can only think of one brand in some categories. That is why being #1 or #2 is the only game in town for those of you who have embraced the unabashed pursuit of market leadership. For you, strategy is the name of the game and the jackpot is achieving top-of-mind status.

In our luxury real estate marketing consulting practice we work exclusively with incumbent market leaders or their challengers. We do not work with direct competitors within the same marketplace. Our ideal clients are those who realize just how much is at stake in terms of market share and revenue at this level, when you achieve top-of-mind status. If you have the heart of a champion and are keen on “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”, give us a call for a complimentary consultation! 805.684.8180

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Personal & Company Branding: Are You Looking for Your Soul Mates?

May 25, 2011

Luxury real estate marketing professionals should spend zero time selling and much more time looking for soul mates. If this sounds odd to you take a lesson from one of the greatest retail brands in the world, IKEA—a brand with a soul.

Are you a Frikadellers fan? Frikadellers are flat pan-fried dumplings of minced meat--the Danish version of meatballs. If you do not have a Danish restaurant nearby you can find Frikadellers most of the 300 IKEA stores in 38 countries. IKEA is a privately held international home products company that originated in Sweden. It designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world’s largest furniture retailer.

What does the IKEA brand stand for? Or, put another way, what is the soul of IKEA’s brand?

IKEA has taken the lead in adopting environmentally friendly manufacturing processes which extends to the unassembled product solution in shipping and packaging. They are a pioneering force in taking a sustainable approach to the “mass consumer culture”. An example is their extensive use of particle board. On February 17, 2011, IKEA announced its plans for a wind farm in Sweden, furthering the furniture giant's goal of running on 100 percent renewable energy.

IKEA’s charitable foundation is officially dedicated to promoting “innovation in architecture and interior design”. With a net worth of approximately $36 billion, the foundation is unofficially the world’s largest charitable organization. It eclipses the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that is worth approximately $33 billion, although the Gates donate much more in charitable gifts.

If the soul of IKEA’s brand is: 1) environmental sustainability in manufacturing, and; 2) innovation in architecture and design, who are IKEA’s ideal customers? An even better question is who are IKEA’s soul mates?

The answer is customers who have identical values! Are you an IKEA soul mate? If you prefer not to assemble your own furniture, or if you object to the idea that investing in innovation in architecture and design vs. giving to world health causes (like the Gates often do) you might not be a soul mate for IKEA.

When you understand that effective branding and marketing is really the art of matchmaking, and a member of your ideal target market is actually a soul mate, then the subject takes on a completely new and fresh perspective. The discipline of branding then becomes one of sharply defining who you are and clearly expressing it in such a way that your soul mates can quickly recognize that you are a match made in heaven.

When marketing and branding is done right it takes sales completely out of the equation! Trying to convince someone that they are a soul mate when they truly are not a match annoys the prospect and is a complete waste of your time. The hard sell is only used when a professional or a company does not know exactly who they are and also when they are "clueless" as to whom their ideal match is.

Are you looking for your soul mates? You should be. The biggest secret of marketing is this: Your soul mates are also looking for you! All you have to do is help them find you.

By the way, if you are a carnivore vs. a vegan or a vegetarian, you ought to try IKEA’s Frikadellers sometime.

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Personal & Company Branding: The Futility of Competing on Features-Soul vs. Sole

May 24, 2011

The essence of a personal or company brand in luxury real estate marketing could be considered the soul of your brand. It is the meaning and the emotion that the brand evokes in the minds of your target market. A feature can be imitated. Searching the MLS on your website is a feature that your competition can easily duplicate. But, they cannot duplicate the soul of your brand.

Christian Loubotin whose trademarked red soled shoes made its mark in the popular show, “Sex and the City”, is now suing two other companies who have had the audacity to color their soles red. The red sole is a just a feature it is not the soul of the brand.

The first is Yves Saint Laurent whose 2011 spring shoe collection has suede shoes with matching soles,( red shoes with red soles, green shoes with green soles, etc.). Yves St Laurent responded with its own lawsuit claiming, "Red outsoles are a commonly used ornamental design feature in footwear, dating as far back as the red shoes worn by King Louis XIV in the 1600s and the ruby red shoes that carried Dorothy home in The Wizard of Oz. YSL also alleges that Mr. Louboutin was fraudulent in his trademark application claim that he had 'exclusive' use of the red sole."

The second is a Brazilian shoe company, Carmen Steffens, who is willing to provide evidence that their shoes had red soles before 1992, when Louboutin filed for the trademark. The company finds it "surprising that another brand is trying to reserve the rights to any color."

What this example clearly illustrates is the futility of competing “solely” on features. In this case, competing on color alone is ridiculous.

An authentic market leading brand cannot be copied or imitated. It has an unfaircompetitive advantage by virtue of the fact that it occupies the top-of-mind position in the mind of the buyer. A great brand possesses an emotional differentiator which creates an added value that often escapes the confines of logic. Do you remember, the famous long-running cigarette brand slogan for Tareyton, “I would rather fight than switch”?

Tiffany & Company as a brand has very strong added emotional value. Tiffany sells diamonds as do many other retailers, such as Macy’s, Costco and a myriad of jewelry stores. We can assume that all the stores buy from a reputable dealer, and we know that all diamonds are graded by the standards of the Gemological Institute. Upon sale, a certificate is issued to validate the diamond’s quality. Logically, any retailer can sell the same size stone, with the same clarity (features). However, some recipient will feel that a diamond from Tiffany’s inherently has more value than a diamond from Costco or Macy’s. Is it the Tiffany blue box?

The famous robin’s egg blue color has been copyrighted by Tiffany. In our travels, we have seen many imitators, but no lawsuits, to the best of our knowledge have involved the imitation of the use of their signature color. Although, Tiffany’s blue gift box is just a feature that can be imitated, it has tremendous meaning to the recipient. And, that meaning is the soul of the brand not the box itself.

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Personal & Company Branding: Is Your Brand a Conundrum?

May 23, 2011

Selecting the right brand name as a luxury real estate marketing professional is extremely important. Here are the criteria for excellent brand names:

It should be easy to remember
It should be easy to spell
It should be easy to communicate for referral sources when they tell their friends about you or your company
Ideally, it should summarize the experience of doing business with you.
It should be inimitable.

Here is an example of a brand that meets all of these criteria: Conundrum—a extraordinary white table wine which is a product of the Wagner family who also produce one of the finest Cabernets in the Napa Valley.

A conundrum is a puzzle, a mystery, a challenge, a riddle or a dilemma. The word is fairly easy to spell. Once you taste this wine it is very unlikely that you will ever forget the experience; it is that outstanding. It is such an amazing value right now (Costco sells it for a remarkable low price of $16.95 per bottle). The wine is indeed a mystery because it is difficult to decipher the exact blend of grapes and flavors that make up its wonderfully robust, floral and bright tropical taste.

As they say on the Conundrum website: “Is it green apple, tangerine or honeysuckle? Could it possibly be apricot, melon, pear or light vanilla? That’s the Conundrum!" It is inimitable. Their proprietarily, secretive blend of California white grapes create a lush, creamy texture that leads to the mouth-watering question, “Mmmm, what’s in there?”

If you drill their site you can find the tasting notes by Jon Bolta, the Winemaker and Production Director:

"Floral bouquet nose with a dominance of honeysuckle. Muscat is the defining/alluring factor in the aroma of this wine. Enters round with a Chardonnay weight to it then quickly lightens up to reveal the additional varietals. Sauvignon Blanc adds an herbal element while the Viognier adds a spicy character. The Chardonnay brings weight mid palate and Muscat adds an undeniable honey character to finish things off."

When a product or service is truly remarkable you naturally want to tell others about it. If you take the time to get your brand name right you actually make it easier for your raving fans to promote you. And, that can translate mightily to your bottom line. If you don’t pay attention to this important principle of marketing and branding you will have a conundrum on your hands as you try to figure out why people are not spreading the word about you.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Five Principles of Successful Branding and Marketing

May 19, 2011

Ride the Wave

Last year Apple rolled out the iPad, an entirely new computer category, and they created a tidal wave of change in many industries. We have been following this story closely because it speaks volumes about the principles of successful branding and marketing that can be applied to your luxury real estate marketing practice. Here is a summary of these principles:

1. Spot the Trends-Ride the Wave: Prior to the iPad a couple of companies came out with tablet computers. But, none were successful. Apple saw two important trends emerge in other categories of consumer electronics: The “net book” (small laptops) and e-book readers (Kindle, Nook) were taking off in popularity. The principle--Spot the trends, ride the wave.

2. Be the First in a New Category: Apple asked itself this key question, “What could it do better than anyone else in the world in this field?” Their answer: Touch screens, apps and awesome user graphic interfaces! By incorporating these wildly successful features of their iPhone to the tablet computer, and “hitching their wagon” to the net book/e-book reader trends, they defined a “must have” new computer category. The principle--Be the first in new category. It is the surest way to become the dominant player, a.k.a., the “category killer”.

3. Capitalize on Your Unfair Competitive Advantage: Apple’s other highly competitive advantage was their vast customer base from iTunes. It did not take much heavy lifting to include the purchase of apps in their iTunes store where consumers already had their credit cards on file. Google and Microsoft did not have consumer stores. The principle--capitalizes on your “unfair” competitive advantage.

4. Be the Opposite of Your Competition: Apple’s most significant challenger is Google who took a completely opposite tack in marketing strategy. They creating an operating system, Android, and made it available to an unlimited number of other would be Apple challengers like HTC who develops smart phones and tablets. The aggregate number of devices on the Android operating system far surpasses Apple’s. Google wisely backed off from being device manufacturers. Google’s aim is to broaden their advertizing reach. Whereas, Apple’s main focus is creating products that people love. The principle—to challenge the market leader take the opposite brand position and pursue the opposite marketing strategy.

5. Take a Distinctive Stance that Resonates with your Ideal Clients: You can walk into any Apple store and have a uniform high energy experience from knowledgeable staffers and also take one-on-one classes to answer any of your to your tech question. All of their products are integrated which reduces the learning curve. Once you have “joined the brand”, why even think of switching brands?

Apple has become a “luxury” brand that offers consumers a means of self-expression. With a very sharply focused brand identity, Apple stands for fun, knowledge and innovation. What does HTC stand for? What is a Xoom? How can one Android phone or tablet computer distinguish itself from another, other than on specific features that can eventually be copied? The principle—to be a market leader your brand must stand for something distinctive that your ideal customer or clients can instantly recognize as a perfect match to their personal values.

Spot the trends, ride the wave. Be the first in a new brand category. Capitalize on your “unfair” competitive advantage. Be the opposite of your closest competition. Take a stance that distinguishes you from your competition and resonates with the core values of your ideal clients. Apply these five principles and you will be well on your way to gaining or sustaining market leadership in your area.

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Luxury Real Estate Brand Strategy: The Perils of Monkey See, Monkey Do!

May 18, 2011

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, imitation of the market leader is definitely not a viable brand strategy for the challenger. It becomes a case of “Monkey see, Monkey do”. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it will not result in increased market share.

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, we stopped by our favorite shopping center in Century City adjacent to Beverly Hills. This is an outdoor mall with movie theaters, restaurants, department stores, boutique stores, and electronic equipment stores. The mall is situated between several high rise office buildings with walkways and bridges over the streets that bring a constant flow of people to the center. As we were walking along checking out the latest and greatest we passed the Apple store that was packed with customers, many who were coming out with purchases. Then, several doors down, we noticed the new Sony Store that was not crowded at all.

In Japan, Sony has slipped to #2 with Apple becoming the #1 “luxury” electronic brand. Now, with lost market share, Sony is trying to play catch-up. But, how are they different? What does Sony stand for? Why was Sony not as busy as the Apple store?

In the Sony storefront was a large billboard of leaping young people (pictured above) with the slogan, “Connect/Compete/Conquer”. In front of the billboard are three colorful balls. This message was our first encounter with the brand as a store. What does this message mean in terms of a unique promise of value as distinct from Apple? We are still scratching our heads in wonderment.

If you do not immediately offer a compelling reason to switch brands on first encounter your chances of gaining market share from the incumbent market leader are next to none. The same holds true for marketing luxury real estate.

The Sony store is beautifully designed, and fun to walk through. We donned glasses to view the newest 3D screens, we saw holographic image technology, and we played with their new touch screens. The sales people were very knowledgeable and very helpful. They wore colorful T shirts with Sony logos (just like the Apple staffers). One of the fun things that caught our eye was colorful keyboard covers that would transform an ordinary white keyboard into lime green, hot pink, or orange. But, it was Apple that introduced the concept of multiple bright colors to their product line.

The Sony laptop computers uses the Windows 7 operating system. So do other brands. How are Sony’s laptops different from those brands? Certainly, the feature of applying a colorful plastic cover to your keyboard is unique. But, any other brand could replicate this feature for pennies and render Sony’s keyboards indistinguishable.

A handful of people walked in and out admiring and testing the displays. But, we did not see any products purchased in the Sony store while we were there.

Luxury real estate marketing professionals, take heed! Imitation of incumbent market leaders will get you nowhere as a brand strategy. Think different. That is what Apple has done.

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Personal & Company Branding: The Top 25 Ad Slogans of All Time

May 16, 2011

Brevity of communication when it comes to conveying your unique promise of value is of paramount importance for luxury real estate marketing professionals who seek market leadership. Millions of dollars are paid to advertising companies to achieve this for products and services. Why not learn from the best when crafting your own marketing message?

The top 25 ad slogans of all time is a great place to start. See how many of these slogans you recognize. If you score more than 50% you are certain to understand the core concept of branding. These brands are forever imprinted on your brain with these slogans. The advertisers want their brand to come up first whenever you think of the corresponding product category. Coming up "Top-of-Mind" is what branding is all about.

Jingles are slogans put to music. Numbers 1, 4, 6, 18 & 19 are jingles. Can you remember the tune?

The answers are at the bottom of the list.

Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is
You're in good hands with _______.
Don´t leave home without it
Reach out and touch someone
A little dab'll do ya
M'm! M'm! Good!
Please don't squeeze the ________.
The pause that refreshes
Look, Ma, no cavities
When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight
Snap! Crackle! Pop!
Finger lickin' good.
Betcha can't eat just one.
Because I'm worth it
The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
Good to the last drop.
Just do it!
You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with ________.
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.
The Uncola.
Think Small.
Where's the beef?
Let your fingers do the walking.
When you care enough to give the very best
The Breakfast of champions

1. Alka Selzer,2. Allstate, 3. American Express, 4. AT&T, 5. Brylcreem, 6, Campbell’s Soup, 7. Charmin, 8. Pepsi, 9. Crest, 10. Fed Ex, 11. Rice Crispies, 12. Kentucky Fried Chicken, 13. Lay's potato chips, 14. Clairol, 15. M&Ms, 16. Maxwell House Coffee, 17. Nike, 18. Pepsodent, 19. Almond Joy, 20. 7UP, 21. VW, 22. Wendy's, 23. Yellow Pages, 24. Hallmark, 25. Wheaties

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