Personal & Company Branding: Regaining, Obtaining and Retaining Trust

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: Achieving Authenticity in Your Brand Signal

March 1, 2012

Photo Courtesy of Featureflash

Luxury real estate marketing professionals who are bent on gaining or sustaining market leadership should constantly be on the lookout for people and companies in other fields who achieve top-of-mind status in their product or service category. It is a way to stay inspired rather than get complacent or spend too much time focused on your competition.

The British recording artist and songwriter, Adele, is a shining example of achieving top-of-mind status in the recording industry while staying authentic. This week Adele became the first solo female artist to have three singles in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, and the first female artist to have two albums in the top 5 of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.

Adele won awards in all six of the categories in which it was nominated at the Grammy Awards in 2012. Previously, Beyoncé Knowles was the only artist to won six awards in a single night. Adele has also broken the record for the longest number one album on the charts by a woman in Billboard history. She beat Whitney Houston's record for the soundtrack of The Bodyguard.

What is most remarkable about Adele is that she needs no quirky costumes or costume changes for that matter; she needs no gimmicks, or special effects or grand production numbers with dancers to sell-out her concert performances internationally. She does not use her sexuality to beguile her audience. Her voice, her lyrics and the arrangement of her songs are pure. She strikes a raw emotional chord while demonstrating extraordinary artistic expression. This chord reverberates and resonates, like an undeniable truth inside the souls of millions of fans who confirm that she has a fresh, distinct talent that they have not experienced before.

Adele has become a “one-woman-brand”, a brand that stands for authenticity. She does not hide behind her music. She does not have one persona on-stage and another off-stage. She is genuine and her audience knows it.

Now that Adele has declared this brand signal and the media has broadcasted it to all ends of the globe, her biggest challenge is to consistently stay true to her authentic signal. Sustaining market leadership can be even more challenging than achieving it in the first place. That is why it is so important to constantly watch for evidence of excellence in market leadership: to stay inspired and not get complacent.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Say “Audi-os” to Vampires

January 31, 2012

Photo by Garytnt

One of the best ways to understand branding is by watching the Superbowl. The Superbowl reaches over 90 million viewers. In this venue, the advertisers’ intent is to generate “buzz”, and to firmly establish the brand position of their product or service in the mind of their target market. As luxury real estate marketing consultants and brand strategists, we pay close attention to how luxury purveyors are differentiating themselves from their competitors.

Luxury car makers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, and now Audi are competing for the eyeballs of high net worth consumers during the time-outs of the most watched football events of the year. In 2011, Audi clearly wanted to continue establishing itself as the “new” luxury car. Its message was, “escape the confines of luxury.” It showed wealthy people imprisoned (prison with gold bars) by their old standards of a chauffeur driven Mercedes and listening to Kenny G. This commercial translated into measurable post game sales.

This year Audi has turned to vampires. In its new commercial, a vampire driving his Audi S7 on his way to join his vampire friends drinking blood cocktails in the woods around a bonfire. As he approaches the grounds, he eliminates all his buddies because of the powerful LED headlights. These lights are, according to Audi, the closest to daylight.

Here is what Andrew Lipman, communications manager of Audi had to say about this commercial, “Audi’s upcoming spot puts Audi signature LEDs up against the focal point of today’s most ubiquitous pop culture craze: vampires. As the most-viewed television program of the year, the Super Bowl is one of the best platforms to showcase a brand’s creativity and voice. The S7 is the epitome of luxury.”

As viewed by Ron Schott, senior strategist at Spring Creek Group, Seattle. “I think this latest campaign is definitely a way for Audi to actually get a little closer with the average consumer during Super Bowl time, I really don’t think it portrays Audi as luxurious .”

This commercial is humorous and entertaining. However, it does not communicate with the luxury consumer, whose interest in vampires is minimal and who is definitely not the average consumer. Will the luxury buyer buy the epitome of luxury to kill vampires?

This is a clear case of competing on features rather than differentiating from the competition. Mercedes already has LED lights around its headlights. LED lights are not a unique feature, and installing enough of them to mimic daylight is not a differentiator.

As luxury real estate marketing professionals it is important not to lose focus. Stay the course of your brand position by keeping within your niche and by competing on your fundamental difference (not features) in the marketplace.

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Luxury Real Estate Personal and Company Branding: Is Your Slogan on Point?

January 30, 2012

As a luxury real estate marketing professional you can distinguish yourself from the competition with a great slogan. The slogan is effective when you can distill in a few words the essence of your brand. How are you distinct from your competition?

In the highly competitive world of auto insurance, there are many slogans. One company is expressing its unique promise of value using this slogan: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” Here is Mercury Auto Insurance’s slogan: “It takes more than a good neighbor to save you money!”

State Farm is promising neighborly personal service when you have a claim. That is nice. Isn’t that what is expected from any insurance company? Mercury Auto Insurance is saying that they are not just a good neighbor, they also save you money. Being a good neighbor is important, but isn’t it more important to save you money?

In the smaller competitive world of Farmers’ Markets in Central and Southern California, one of the growers has this slogan, “No baloney just vegetables”. In a venue full of organic vegetables, fruit, etc, this has no validity except for expressing a sense of humor.

A slogan has to be so compelling that in an instant it can communicate its value. In women’s shoes Donald Pliner has a slogan which distinguishes his brand from other shoes made in Italy: “Made in the Mountains of Italy”, which evokes an instant emotional response: the notion of craftsmanship and attention to detail in a small town rather than in an industrial city such as Milan.

What is great about all the slogans mentioned here is the brevity of their communication. The key is getting the entire value proposition condensed into just a few words. That is the art of slogan writing which is what we strive in our strategic branding practice.

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Personal & Company Branding: The Benefits of a Single-Word Brand Name

December 26, 2011

STING & SEAL ©Aleksandar Andjic - © Semisatch

Choosing the right name for your personal or company brand can help you achieve a strong competitive advantage. One brand strategy that can help you to reach top-of-mind status in your marketplace, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, is to distill your brand identity to a single word.

Many celebrities have been successful at doing this, including Oprah, Cher, Madonna, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Daughtry, and of course, the Donald. We are not suggesting that you must change your name or the name of your company to a single word. But, the one-name brand reveals three important branding principles that are definitely worth understanding and applying.

SHORT NAMES ARE EASIER TO REMEMBER: A one-name brand makes it very easy for your target market to remember you. Therefore, when you chose or change your brand name keep this principle in mind: Make it as easy as possible for your target market to remember you after their first encounter with your name.

SINGLE-WORD BRAND NAMES ARE INIMITABLE: Once you stake claim to your single word as your brand name, it makes it difficult for someone else in your marketplace to copy you if they want to stand out

CONVERTING A COMMON NOUN INTO A PROPER NAME COMMANDS INSTANT ATTENTION: If your one-word brand can be converted from a common noun to a proper name it can immediately grab the attention of your target market.

A name like Sting or Seal simply cannot be ignored because it is such a departure from the norm. You hear the name once and it sticks in your mind.

Both Sting and Seal were born in England. Sting’s original name was Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner. Seal was born Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola SamuelIt. Both had the good sense to condense their names to a single syllable. If you can do the same, you could have a distinct competitive advantage in your luxury real estate marketplace.

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Making the Non-obvious, Obvious: The Role of a Brand Strategist

December 21, 2011

A brand is the highly focused, abbreviated communication that conveys the essence of what makes you or your company different from and better than your closest competition. It is the distillation of your extraordinary promise of value expressed graphically and in the fewest words possible so that your target market can quickly grasp that you are a match for them. People like to do business with people like themselves, people they feel they can trust. Therefore, a successful brand accelerates the speed of trust and empowers potential referral sources to easily spread the word about YOU.

In our Language of Luxury blog we often offer examples of non-real estate related products and services that clearly illustrate these branding principles. And, we often are asked how this applies to luxury real estate personal and company branding. The fact that this is not obvious is what prompted this post. The principles of excellent branding and brand strategy are the same for all products and services. And, the role of the brand strategist is to make the non-obvious, obvious.

A strong brand makes what is implicit about you or your company, explicit, and does so with an economy of imagery and words. A great brand is like a flawlessly cut diamond that allows the maximum refraction of light. All of the individual facets of a great brand work together to communicate a singular message that creates demand and compels action to buy products or engage service professionals.

The role of a brand strategist is similar to a diamond cutter who knows exactly how to take a diamond in the rough and bring out its utmost brilliance, which is not obvious to the untrained eye. What is truly unique and valuable about you or your company may not even be obvious to YOU. It is often the case that the precise definition of your ideal client is also not obvious to you. These factors must be discovered and articulated first. Only then can you develop a successful brand strategy.

Our case study of Cuties, a brand of California Clementine oranges, illustrates what can happen, from a strategic standpoint, once you fully articulate your unique promise of value and sharply define your target market. They were able to exponentially expand their target market by accentuating and amplifying their distinguishing value proposition. Cuties now targets BOTH parents and kids as their ideal customers because their fruit is not just sweet and seedless like naval oranges, for example. Cuties are small which means they are easier to handle for kids. And, they are easier to peel for small children than other oranges.

Expanding the target market to include kids as a brand strategy was the non-obvious made obvious. The unique combination of Cuties' features lent itself to a flawless brand strategy that cannot readily be imitated, a strategy that is also expressed in the brand's kid-friendly personality.Cuties now "owns" the brand position and the very concept of "kid-friendly orange", a whole new, uncontested sub-category of oranges that they identified, claimed and now dominate.

The ultimate triumph of a brand strategist is to enable a brand to "own" a single word or brief phrase, in the minds of their target market, within a given product or service category. To illustruate this point, Volvo owns the word "safety", FedEx owns "overnight" and Xerox owns "paper copies".

There is a tremendous amount of focus that goes into crafting a strong brand and also into developing a powerful brand strategy. But, it is an exercise in futility if the aim of branding is not fully understood. The purpose of brand strategy is to achieve top-of-mind status and secure the lion’s share of the business. Brand strategy ONLY applies to what we call the “unabashed pursuit of market leadership”. If you are not interested in being #1 or #2 in your marketplace or a niche therein the purpose of brand strategy simply will not be obvious to you.

Please understand this: Making a good living in marketing luxury real estate does not require being a market leader. But, gaining or sustaining market leadership, if that is your choice, requires expert brand strategy.

At Napa Consultants, International, we make gaining and sustaining market leadership through brand strategy accessible to small business owners and local service professionals. As brand strategists in the realm of marketing luxury real estate, we only work with incumbent market leader or their challengers in a given marketplace (or niche therein).

We seek a 360 degree perspective in the “discovery process” through which we ask dozens of questions to identify what is unique about our client. One of the first things we do is meet our clients, in person, in their marketplace. We ask them to take us on a tour of their world. We want to see the homes they represent, the homes they have sold, and the homes they are targeting to list. We want to understand their neighborhoods, the lifestyle, and meet people that live there. We ask them to treat us like someone who has come to buy real estate in their town.

We immerse ourselves in the marketplace, in the buyer’s/seller's point of view and also in the point of view of our client. Then, together, we analyze the competition, which often reveals what we call “an underserved or uncontested market niche”. We look for the vulnerabilities of the competition and determine how best to position our client as distinct. Finally, we develop a brand strategy that can either secure our client’s top-of-mind status, if they are the incumbent, or displace the current market leader, if they are the challenger.

Only when all of this is accomplished is the new brand identity crafted through graphic design and website design. Their brand strategy usually requires an expertly built and optimized website to execute their strategy which we also create for them.

Making the non-obvious, obvious to a clearly defined target market is our role as brand strategists in luxury real estate marketing and also the marketing of all other products and services. It takes precision to craft a strong personal or company brand. And, it takes an energetic entrepreneurial spirit to embark on the unabashed pursuit of market leadership.

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Personal & Company Branding: Clearly Expressing Your Brand Personality

December 20, 2011

Brand personality is a concept that you need to pay close attention to as a luxury real estate marketing professional, especially if you want to stand out from your completion in an instant. You only have a nano-second to make an indelible first impression on your target market. Before, you can present your extraordinary promise of value in words you must first capture their attention, visually. Clearly expressing your authentic brand personality graphically (as a brand identity) can do just that. Here is a flawless brand case study that demonstrates the power of a clearly articulating your brand personality.

Certainly, you have heard the expression that you cannot compare apples with oranges. But, when you are comparing oranges with oranges how can you make your oranges stand out from all others and become the preferred brand? This is the same question that you need to ask yourself about your own luxury real estate marketing brand or your company’s brand.

The Competition:

Standing out is exactly what California Cuties have done. Cuties are actually two varieties of mandarins: Clementine Mandarins and Murcott Mandarins. They are not “little oranges.” They are in a class unto themselves.

However, Cuties has positioned their fruit as small oranges that can be handled equally well by small kids and adults, even though they make it clear right in the logo that they are California Clementines. What is Cuties primary competition? The answer is the large orange that adults have to peel for small children.

Brand Personality

Oranges do not have an intrinsic personality. But, small oranges that are sweet can be “cute”. Other Mandarins have seeds. But, Cuties are seedless, making them even more attractive than other Mandarins.

The Logo & Tag Line (Brand Identity):

L’il Zipper is depicted as an adorable orange that can quickly be peeled or “unzipped”. With vivid colors, it provides an immediate emotional response while conveying its extraordinary promise of value (as distinct from the larger orange) in an instant: sweet, easy to handle, easy to peel.

The tagline further conveys the unique selling proposition: E-Z Peel & Seedless. They know they have successfully branded their product when consumers ask for Cuties vs. oranges or Mandarins. Cuties means small, sweet, seedless organges that are easy to peel. When Cuties are requested instead of the fruit category (seedless Mandarins) the branding process is complete in the same way people ask for a Kleenex instead of a facial tissue.

The Unique Selling Proposition

If you check out their expanded written message you can see that the logo summarizes the essence of the unique selling proposition in a glance:

Cuties have several distinct characteristics that make them the perfect anytime, anywhere snack. Unlike other Mandarins or oranges, they are:

Super Sweet Always 100% natural.
E-Z Peel Kids can do it all by themselves!
Seedless Nothing to spit out or clean up!
Kid-Sized Perfect for little hands.

Can you articulate your unique selling proposition, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, in just a few words, like this? Does your brand identity communicate the essence of your unique selling proposition? Does your brand personality capture the attention of your target market in a nano-second so they will take more time to learn more about your unique selling proposition?

You do not need to be cute to capture attention. But, your own, authentic personality must shine through your brand identity when it is expressed graphically. It must tell the essence of the story about YOU and how you are different from your closest competitors.

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Personal & Company Branding: A Tale of Two Brand Personalities

December 15, 2011

In great branding, the expression of the professional’s personality or the company’s personality shines through the brand identity in everything from the logo and slogan, to the website and the design of a store and the packaging, if it is a retail business. Clearly representing your personality in your own brand, as a luxury real marketing professional is important. You want your target market to grasp the essence of who you are immediately. You also want your potential clients to quickly see how you are distinct from your closest competitors.

In the world of cookware there are two stores that come to mind most readily—Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table. Each has a distinct brand personality. Here is an analysis of the two personalities:

What makes them the same?

1. They both sell cookware and other items relating to dining. Many well known brand items are sold in both stores.

2. They both have stores located in shopping malls or highly trafficked streets

In Santa Barbara, both stores are thriving. Sur La Table is located in our Downtown area, an area frequented by locals and tourists. Williams Sonoma is located in the La Cumbre Shopping Center, known to locals and less to tourists.

What makes them different?

Slogans:

“Serving Serious Cooks since 1959” (Williams-Sonoma)

“The Art & Soul of Cooking” (Sur La Table)

Store Décor and Cookware Display

Williams-Sonoma has wide aisles with wood cabinets and wood floors. In many of their stores they have an open kitchen where they are continuously demonstrating cooking techniques and offer food samples to customers. The merchandise is artfully placed in sections, and those sections are clearly marked. The look here is traditional and elegant; the energy is calm and relaxed.

Sur La Table has a contemporary industrial look with lots of merchandise arranged on “high-tech” tables. They demonstrate some products such as coffee machines. Everywhere you look there are aisles filled from top to bottom with interesting kitchen gadgets and cookware. The energy is fast paced and fun.

Logos

Williams-Sonoma: traditional and welcoming.

Sur La Table: casual, fun, relaxed

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, does your brand identity clearly express your personality or the personality of your company? Does it help to sharply differentiate you from your competition?

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Personal & Company Branding: Commanding the Lion's Share

December 13, 2011

Brand strategy is a concept that is often misunderstood in the realm of marketing luxury real estate. The reason it is not crystal clear to many agents and brokers is because it only applies to the subject of gaining or sustaining market leadership. The purpose of strategic branding is to achieve “top-of-mind status” which enables you to command the lion’s share of your market. It takes a certain entrepreneurial “gene” to embark on what we call “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”. And, it takes strategic thinking to achieve the #1 or the #2 position in the minds of your target market.

Perhaps the company that is most unabashed about its pursuit of market leadership is Google. With a 63% market share of all searches performed on the internet and a 53% penetration in the smart phone market for its Android operating system, the pursuit of market leadership is something that Google takes very seriously.

Recently, Google’s Chrome surpassed Firefox as the #2 most widely used browser behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE). According to the Wall Street Journal IE's market share is down from 56% to 40%. Chrome has 25.7% and Firefox has 25.2%. Can you see that brand strategy is irrelevant to Opera, another browser, unless they want to challenge the incumbent market leader or overtake Chrome and Firefox as #2?

For most consumers, the differences between browsers is negligible. How many consumers could actually tell you the difference between the top three? Yet, one enjoys top-of-mind status over all the rest. It takes a very fine-tuned strategy to win the lion’s share of mind share and thus, market share.

Browsers can be downloaded for free. So what is at stake to be #1? The browser can dictate which search engine the consumer will use and that is where the advertising dollars are made. Google was a major investor in Firefox and Firefox features Google’s search engine. They split the revenue generated by pay-per-click advertising. Google is also the search engine for Apple’s Safari browser, which is why Google is truly the king of the search jungle.

That Firefox investment was an excellent strategy on Google’s part. By dominating search on Firefox in addition to Chrome , Google most likely has eclipsed the revenue generated by Microsoft’s Bing search engine featured on Internet Explorer.

What is at stake for you, as a luxury real estate marketing professional if you were to embark on the unabashed pursuit of market leadership?

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Luxury Real Estate Brand Strategy: The Unabashed Pursuit of Market Leadership

December 6, 2011

Singapore Airport Courtesy of Salvador Manaois Iii

If you have that entrepreneurial “gene” that compels you to be the best in class as a luxury real estate marketing professional then you can understand our slogan, “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”. For, it is only within the context of market leadership that brand strategy has any meaning.

Brand strategy is the route to “top-of-mind status” in any category of business whether it is a product or service. What most luxury real estate marketing professionals do realize (because it may not be obvious) is just how much is at stake when your name or your company name vs. your competitor’s name comes to mind first to the majority of people in your marketplace or niche therein. What is at stake is the lion’s share of business. It is known as “mind share”. And, mind share converts to market share over time. Whoever has the most mind share wins, big time!

When you are ready to approach your luxury real estate marketing practice as an exercise in achieving top- of- mind status the entire “game board” or competitive field takes on an entirely new perspective. The very set of questions that you need to ask yourself is completely different than the questions that the majority of agents or brokers in your marketplace ask themselves. In fact, the questions required to achieve this status most likely do not even enter their minds.

The most important question to ask yourself if you decide to embark on the unabashed pursuit of market leadership is this: What can I (or we, as a team or company) do better than anyone else in the world (or in my marketplace)? To illustrate the importance of this question see how it played out when an entire country asked this question of itself and implement the answer.

Singapore’s Changi airport has been recognized as the best airport in the world winning over 370 ‘best’ awards worldwide. Their airport offers countless amenities to travelers who have deliberately chosen it as their connection hub to other parts of the planet. At Changi airport you can take a shower for $6. You can go swimming in the airport pool for $11. There are touch screens next to the sinks in the restrooms where you can rate your experience or get an immediate response if there is an issue.

Soothing music is piped in to reduce stress throughout the airport. There is over 750,000 square feet of shopping, concessions and entertainment facilities. 50% of revenues pays for amenities and also keeps costs down for the airlines. There are activities galore for travelers with time on their hands including movies and bus tours of the city if you have 5 hours in between flights.

Some travelers appreciate the quick baggage handling. Others find terrific entertainment for their kids who can be challenging to deal with on long flights plus stopovers. And, there are people who choose Singapore just because they can swim in between flights!

Ultimately, Singapore has created an international buzz-worthy news story by identifying what the country can do better than anyone else in the world and delivering on that claim. In the unabashed pursuit of market leadership Singapore not only generates over $1 billion dollars in annual revenue from its airport, it has proven that the economic development of an entire country can benefit by becoming known as the best in class in a specific market niche.

Oddly, the cost of adding most of these amenities is relatively low. Other airports could easily imitate this strategy. However, just like with the tablet computer, first to market earns instant top-of-mind status in an underserved or uncontested market niche rendering others simply as “me too” copycats. This is the power of great brand strategy!

What can you do better than anyone else in your luxury real estate marketplace? Is it time you became known for doing that and triggering positive buzz about you or company?

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Personal & Company Branding: Co-Branding, Italian Style with Sparkle

November 30, 2011

Co-branding is a marketing arrangement between one or more brands. The idea is to act in cooperation in a way that combines the strength of the brands. It is also a way to differentiate products and services in a highly competitive marketplace. It is an excellent strategy that is underutilized by luxury real estate marketing professionals.

At lunch we ordered one of our favorite sparkling waters, San Pellegrino from Italy. As we were waiting for our order, we noticed that the bottle had a new label and featured Bulgari one of Italy’s premier jewelers. The label as seen above has a photo of a beautiful Bulgari necklace and the caption reads “Pellegrino Sparkles with Bulgari.”

This special edition bottle was conceived by both companies to promote the Italian style internationally, and according to Stefano Agostini, the CEO of San Pellegrino, “Our brand is an international symbol of the Italian art of living and partnering with Bulgari adds power to our efforts to export the finest side of Italy.”

This is the second limited edition series that S.Pellegrino has launched to celebrate Italian Style. The first was with famous Italian clothing designer Missoni, who created four different versions of their signature patchwork chevron design combined with the San Pellegrino brand.

For both firms this is a win-win situation. They came together to promote the Italian lifestyle, and their great luxury brands that have become international Italian icons. This co-branding endeavor promotes their commitment to their country, and also leverages their marketing dollars, which can potentially increase their overall market share.

How can you co brand with luxury services and products and do the same for your luxury marketplace?

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: All You Need Is Love & Chocolate!

November 29, 2011

“All You Need is Love”-- Lennon-McCartney

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt--Charles M. Schultz, Creator of “Peanuts”

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, emotional branding can sharply differentiate you from your competitors. First you need to romanticize your marketplace. Then, you need to create the perfect personal branding message so that potential clients experience “love at first sight” or on their first encounter with you.

People like to do business with people they trust. Excellent branding is all about accelerating the speed of trust. The faster you can attract and convert potential clients into and an ever-increasing base of raving fans the more money you will make through referrals.

Emotions compel people to act faster than logic. That is why emotional branding is so important. Luxury real estate marketing professionals who are passionate about their marketplace and their job have a greater chance of attracting more clients. Passionate people are like natural magnets. They draw like-minded people toward themselves. If you can capture that passion in your branding and on your website your website can become a silent salesperson for you.

Think of branding like packaging. People who do not know a product will more than likely buy the product based on its packaging. This is true of books, of wine labels and believe it or not, it is true when it comes to selecting a real estate agent. Prospects searching for homes on the web from outside of your geographic area do not know one agent from another. Agents’ websites are basically seen as a commodity. You usually can get the same basic information on any half-way decent agent website. In this scenario, you have a nano-second to make a first impression, to stand out and engage your prospect.

Today there is a glut of wine on the market. Competition is extremely stiff in this industry. As a consumer, if you are not a connoisseur how can you tell one from the other? Fine chocolate has also become commoditized. Chocolate growers have followed in the footsteps of wine growers creating appellations for differentiation purposes, based on the “terroir” or earth in which it is grown.

But, when it comes to the point of sale, how does a consumer who is not a connoisseur know one brand from the other? Trader Joe's markets has built a brand that commands a very high level of trust among its loyal customers. When they put their brand name on a product it usually is worth at least a try.

Trader Joe's understands the value of emotional branding. They did not just call their dark chocolate bar “Trader Joe’s Chocolate”. They named it, “The Dark Chocolate Lovers' Bar”. For the connoisseur they also added this to their packaging: “smooth & fruity from the Tumaco Region of Columbia." The chocolate connoisseur may appreciate these “chocolate notes” (like wine descriptions), recognize this appellation and make a buying decision based on logic. But, average consumers (we are talking about the masses now) who love dark chocolate will grab the package for the first time just based on the name and the festive South American graphic design.

When you are reaching for market leadership your branding must appeal both to logic and to emotions. But, you will find that emotions are the fastest way to the heart of the majority of new prospects when they are in the process of selecting a agent to represent them.

PS. One of our favorite brands is Valhona pictured above with the purple arrow made from the finest African chocolate. As unabashed chocolate lovers and self appointed experts of dark chocolate, we also tried TJ's Dark Chocolate Lover's Bar and enjoyed the "fruity taste." Now we have added another favorite to our list. We educated our palate in the process but that was secondary. -Ron & Alexandra Seigel

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Brand In Alignment with Beauty

November 28, 2011

Here is a quick personal branding quiz:

What is most important when crafting your personal brand?

Self expression
Designing to meet the aesthetic expectations of your target market
Capturing attention with the WOW factor!
Standing out from your competition
All of the above

If you answered (5), all of the above, you are correct. Creating a personal brand is truly a balancing act!

Capturing attention and standing out from your competition are both very important when crafting your personal brand as a luxury real estate marketing professional. However, the two most treacherous traps that luxury real estate marketing professionals fall into when attempting to brand themselves are these:

Factoring out the aesthetic expectations of their target market thinking that self expression is all that is needed
Factoring out their personality, values and personal aesthetic preferences to please their target market.

Either one of these extremes is a recipe for failure in personal branding.

Certainly, you have heard the expression “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. There is no question that aesthetics is a subjective value judgment. To some contemporary art design and architecture is the ultimate expression of the human spirit, while traditionalists see no value in it at all. But, when it comes to branding, the entire exercise is to make the subjective, objective. Brand comes first and then in alignment with beauty.

If you work in a conservative marketplace this objective fact must be respected if market leadership is your quest. Too much shock value may keep you out of the winners circle. The objective measurement is whether or not you are attracting the number of clients that you need to reach your goal. There are ways to express yourself to a conservative audience without offending them and still feel that you have not compromised your sense of self expression. Find a way to express yourself in your personal life if outrageousness is your “thing”, like the owners of these luxury cars (Mercedes and Jaguar) depicted in this article.

But, trying to please everyone is impossible. Trying to be all things to all people is likewise futile. Leaving YOU out of the branding equation eliminates perhaps the most important key to branding success: authenticity.

When we conduct a strategic brand analysis in our consulting practice, we dial into all of these factors in the quiz above to establish our client’s “brand signal”. It is like finding the right combination when all of the tumblers click into place and the brand “unlocks”.

Once you amplify your authentic brand signal and reach your target market through focused communication, those who resonate with that signal with naturally gravitate to it. Therefore, it is essential to place brand before beauty. You must sharply differentiate yourself from your competitor and you must do so with a wow factor. But, with aesthetics, you must also strike the perfect balance between your personal tastes and the values of your target market.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: What is Your Luxury Brand Personality?

November 9, 2011

As a luxury real estate marketing professional you have to identify the luxury brand personality of your marketplace and make sure it is harmonious with your personality. If it is a match, then it will be a match made in heaven as those with similar likes will be attracted to you. Here are three examples of luxury personalities.

Sophisticated

The Louis Vuitton store pictured above defines a sophisticated luxury brand personality. This is reflected in the look of the store, with fine leather furniture, beautifully crafted wood and glass counters and display cases, and top of the line accessories. The merchandise is traditional and elegant.

Hip

All Saints Company is an example of a hip brand luxury personality. The windows are filled with antique sewing machines emphasizing their quality manufacturing and tradition. The lighting is industrial reminding one of a factory, and the clothes are chic, edgy and hip. The clothing tags are handwritten and some of the beaded garments sport an additional “manually embellished.”

Photo by Pietro Cruciatti, Dreamstime

Fun

Moschino, an Italian designer is known for the fun brand personality in luxury, as seen in the helmet above. His tagline is “A Stylish Attitude”. The motorcycle helmet definitely screams attitude. The clothes are quirky and fun. The jewelry is one of a kind. The picture of the brooch below shows three dangling enameled and articulated fish hanging. The inscription on the top of the circle, says in Italian, “If you sleep, you don’t catch."

What is your luxury brand personality and what is the brand personality of your marketplace? Is it a match made in heaven?

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: New Trends in the Brand Naming Game

November 8, 2011

All Saints Store in Santa Monica

In luxury real estate marketing, it is of paramount importance to come up with the right name for your business. One of the traditional rules of branding has been to keep a name short because they are easy to remember, and easy to spell! As the new century dawned the rules have been challenged and some of the new the names became descriptive of their mission statement, their marketplace or who they are.

Some of the pioneers in the longer version name game can be found in the fashion industry. Here are some of our favorite brand names and the story behind them.

Not Your Daughter’s Jeans: This is a brand of women’s clothing including chic jeans designed to flatter every woman’s figure.

Citizens of Humanity: This is a Luxury Denim & Apparel for Women & Men. A portion of proceeds are given charity.

Band of Outsiders: This is a clothing company for “geek chic”, hence outsiders.

All Saints Spittafield: This is a manufacturer and retailer of quality garments. Their stores are decorated with assorted antique sewing machines. All Saints donates to “Not For Sale” a worldwide movement to stop human trafficking.

Rag & Bones: Fashion for men and women, the name is a British phrase for junk dealers of old with a pushcart who bought and sold and recycled discarded items.

Is it time for you to play the brand naming game?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Keys for Personal Branding: Part #5 Refinement

November 1, 2011

In Part 3 of this series, we used pottery as a metaphor for the three keys of luxury real estate marketing for personal branding: Define. Align. Refine! We recommend Self-definition (Part1) and Personal Alignment (Part 2) as preparation for defining Your Unique Selling Proposition (Part 4). This is akin to wedging or kneading the clay prior to throwing a vase. It insures structural integrity by aligning the molecules and removing troublesome air bubbles.

We continued the pottery metaphor for the personal branding process by introducing the principle of centering which is required throughout the entire process of throwing a vase using a pottery wheel. The successful process of transforming a lump of clay into a vase requires one’s full concentration while keeping the clay centered on the wheel.

Tom Collins trimming

The trimming process, involves cutting away the excess clay of the partially dry vase. Trimming is also done on the wheel. It requires the same mental concentration to keep the vase centered while reducing the thickness of the sides and bottom. It is a balancing process of cutting away the excess without compromising the architecture of vase.

In personal branding, the goal is to reduce or refine the marketing message of one’s unique selling proposition or the unique promise of value, as we like to refer to it, to just a few words. What emerges from this process is a laser sharp marketing message that sharply differentiates you from your competition.

The true test of the trimming or refinement process is whether or not you can communicate the essence of your brand, your unique promise of value, in a single image, a symbol and/or a slogan. Nike is the Greek goddess of victory. In three very refined words their slogan communicates their entire promise of value (personal victory), “Just Do It!”

In four refined words, The Language of Luxury communicates our own promise of value: “Get Fluent. Get Affluent! “ We hope you enjoyed our series on the three keys of luxury real estate marketing for personal branding. Define. Align. Refine! Now, that says it all in just three words.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Brand Keys: Part 4,Your Unique Selling Proposition

October 31, 2011

Your Unique Selling Proposition

This is Part #4 of our blog series on the Three Luxury Real Estate Marketing Keys for Personal Branding. Define. Align. Refine!

In Part 1 we covered self-definition as the starting point for creating a personal brand. In Part 2 we explained the importance of personal alignment. In Part 3 we demonstrated that the result of self-definition and personal alignment is feeling centered. Here we discuss the importance of articulating your unique selling proposition which is part of the refinement process that allows you to stand out from your competition.

In Beverly Hills, on the famed Rodeo Drive there resides several high profile competing jewelry stores including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany, Bulgari and Harry Winston. Rodeo Drive is only a couple of blocks long. They have much in conmon. Yet, they are all thriving.

1. Each has a beautiful, inviting store front well-positioned on the street for walking traffic. Each is located on the right street (in the high rent district) given their price points.

2. Each is famous for their jewels and their integrity

3. Each is a reputable global luxury brand.

The unique factor is that each appeals to a different clientele.

For instance, if you are looking for rare stones (pink or canary diamonds), Harry Winston is your store. This is the primary reason to shop there. In a couple of words they sharply differentiate themselves from the others: rare stones.

Cartier is known for their intricate design of their necklaces and pendants and for having been a favorite of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Van Cleef & Arpels is known for their "mysterious diamond setting," because the prongs holding the diamonds are invisible.

You are a luxury real estate agent, and your may be a well known luxury brand, or may have a luxury division. Now, what are YOU famous for? What is your appeal to sellers and buyers that is unique and distinct?

Once you have identified your unique selling proposition you must refine the way in which you communicate it so that your target market can understand it in a nano-second and can tell other how you are different from your competition.

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The Three Luxury Real Estate Marketing Keys for Personal Branding, Part 3

October 27, 2011

CENTERING

This is Part #3 of a new blog series on The Three Luxury Real Estate Marketing Keys for Personal Branding. Define. Align. Refine!

Pottery, as an art form, clearly illustrates the principle of feeling centered which is the by-product of the process of self definition and personal alignment covered in previous posts. As students of pottery, we highly recommend that luxury real estate marketing professionals take a pottery class to gain a visceral, hands-on experience of centering. Like the personal alignment process pottery is also a meditative experience because you have to concentrate and focus to keep the clay centered on the wheel as you transform it into something both beautiful and useful.

When you prepare the clay for throwing a vase using a potter’s wheel all these steps need to come into alignment in order to achieve your end result:

You cut a piece of clay from a large block and wedge the clay. That is, you knead the clay until all the molecules are literally aligned and no air bubbles remain in it. This will add to the structural integrity of the finished bowl.
You shape this clay into a ball and place it on the middle of the wheel
You start the wheel, flatten the ball, and center the weight of the mass on the wheel.

If the clay is not kneaded or wedged properly air bubbles will remain. Air bubbles will create holes or cracks when you fire it in the kiln. The personal alignment process is similar to wedging clay. It is essential that you rid yourself of the air bubbles of doubt and self contradiction.

You center the clay mass on the wheel in order to open the very center of the vase and evenly pull the sides up. Suddenly, from a lump of clay you give it definition and a shape. Centering yourself through the process of self-definition and personal alignment quiets your mind, so that you can focus on shaping, crafting the vase of your unique selling proposition (which we cover in Part 4).

The last step prior to firing is called trimming. Once you have let the newly formed vase dry (partially) overnight, you bring it back on the wheel, center it again and trim away any excess clay. This trimming process is akin to what we call refining your marketing message which is covered in Part 5.

We find that so many luxury real estate marketing professional do not take the time to establish their personal alignment and get centered. They simply are unable to clearly articulate how they are distinct from their closest competition. And, their results are usually not consistent.

Personal alignment gives you a sense of balance, confidence and a sense of being centered.. Only then can you be authentic and create a genuine personal brand..

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tips for Personal Branding: Part 2

October 26, 2011

Personal Alignment

This is part #2 of our blog series on The Three Luxury Real Estate Marketing Keys for Personal Branding. Define. Align. Refine!

The second key of successful luxury real estate marketing after Self-Definition is personal alignment. Alignment as defined by Webster’s Dictionary is “the proper positioning or state of adjustment of parts in relation to each other.” What then, is personal alignment? It is the clarification and the formulation of your thoughts in such a way that you eliminate self-contradictions. It is also the convergence that occurs when these mental gears are in sync:

•    Your values and beliefs (what matters to you the most and what you stand for)
•    Your passions and personality (what you personally love doing the most)
•    Your unique talents and abilities (What you can do better than anyone else in your marketplace)

The process of personal alignment is taking the time to formulate and reformulate your success formula by trying out different ideas in your imagination until all these gears click into place. Only then can you send a clear, non-contradicted signal to your target market. Anything less is like tuning in a radio and hearing static.

Without alignment your target market is getting mixed signals from you or cannot even hear your broadcast. And, you wonder why all of your hard work isn’t paying off as you had hoped it would. It’s not for lack of effort on your part. It is lack of alignment!

Most professionals are too eager to rush into action before achieving personal alignment. Then they wonder why they are getting mixed results. Do not underestimate the importance of this vital step in building your luxury real estate marketing practice. Any time you notice that you are not getting consistent results, take more time out for personal alignment or realignment.

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Personal & Company Branding: When You' re Hot, You' re Hot !

October 11, 2011

Photo by Wellesenterprises

When you're hot you're hot. When you're not, you're not! So is the the world of personal branding as a public figure. But, when you are not hot, how do you make a comeback? Your reputation is at the core of your brand value as a luxury real estate marketing professional. And, the importance of managing the perception of your personal brand in the minds of your target market cannot be underestimated. The story of Tiger Woods is a case in point.

Rolex, the Swiss watch company just signed Tiger as its newest brand ambassador. It has been two years since his public relations debacle occurred, a fiasco that cost him dearly in terms of lucrative company endorsements. Most of his sponsors dropped Tiger or did not renew his endorsement contracts. But, with a well crafted co-branded marketing message, “Partnership for a New Challenge”, Rolex has committed to help him redeem his well deserved reputation as one of the greatest athletes in the world.

This story illustrates just how much is at stake when it comes to public opinion and how much the media can amplify your reputation. The same media that helped to build Wood’s reputation tore him down. It will be also be instrumental in building him right back up again. But, what is behind the story is even more important.

People are very quick to judge others. Often, those who have the most secrets to hide are the ones who are the most critical of public figures. But, what about the inner conflicts that Tiger Woods has had to deal with? The opportunity for personal transformation under intense, self-induced circumstances like Mr. Woods created for himself, can be nothing short of life changing and life giving.

No one can truly put themselves in Tiger Woods’ golf shoes. He was famous beginning at a very young age. Could it be that he needed to deconstruct his life, a life that may have been built to a large extent on admiration from others? We need to be less critical and more allowing of others, giving them the room to find themselves, to reinvent themselves.

Branding can be a mental shortcut. We get lazy and forget to give people and companies a fresh chance to demonstrate who they are today, each day. What does it say about Rolex, who was willing to stake its international reputation on giving Tiger Woods a fresh start as a partner in a new challenge?

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, your reputation is built with each transaction you complete. Your personal brand is not only your trademark it is your “trust mark”.

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