Marketing Luxury Real Estate: The Big Reveal in Beverly Hills, Before & After

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Personal & Company Branding: Strategic Partnerships- Pushing the "Skinny" Brand Envelope

November 6, 2012

As a luxury real estate marketing professional if you are thinking of co-marketing with another company, organization or individual be sure to pick partners that have the same demographics and psychographics (values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles). Otherwise, you will dilute your marketing message, and also confound and confuse your target market. Here is an example of how two well-known brands created a PR fiasco because they did not follow this important branding principle.

In an effort to attract foot traffic to its flagship store in on Madison Avenue, Barney’s, the luxury retail store, has partnered with Disney to promote high fashion. There could not be a better example of a co-marketing mismatch both in the demographics and psychographics of their target market.

Disney morphed the bodies of their iconic female characters into size 0 models wearing designer clothes in their Electric Holiday Moving Art exhibit. Minnie Mouse is now elongated like a runway model. (See pictures). What were they thinking?

The skinny Minnie and other Disney characters such as Daisy Duck have infuriated some of the public. Change.org is raising awareness to the negative effects of shrinking Minnie and Daisy. Here is what they shared:

According to sources cited on the non-profit National Association of Anorexia and Associated Eating Disorders website:

•47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures.

• 69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape.

• 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner.

• 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat.

Here is the statement released jointly by Barney’s and Disney:

“They have deliberately ignored previously released information clearly stating this promotion is a three-minute ‘moving art’ video featuring traditional Minnie Mouse in a dreamlike sequence set in Paris where she briefly walks the runway as a model and then happily awakens as her normal self wearing the very same designer dress from the fashion show.”

To this, Change.org replied, “

Girls have enough pressure to be thin; now the beloved Disney mouse of their childhood has to add to the message that the only good body is a tall, size 0 body? Enough already. Let’s give girls a chance to celebrate the actual bodies they have instead hating them for not fitting into a Lanvin dress. Then maybe enough girls will get together and demand dresses that look good on their actual, non-digitally altered bodies and designers will just have to become talented enough to design a dress that looks good on them.”

What do you think about this?

Avoid PR debacles like this at all costs. Be sure to pick your strategic partners wisely. Make sure you are aiming for the same target market both from a demographic and psychographic standpoint.

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Luxury Real Estate Personal and Company Branding: Can a Brand be Saved?

November 1, 2012

Recently, I (Alexandra, here) was reading an article written by the Knowledge@Wharton from the Wharton business school at the University of Pennsylvania. This article discussed the fate of the Lance Armstrong brand as well as his charitable organization, Livestrong founded to support cancer survivors. The discussion was well thought out and made sense. Here is an excerpt, to read more...

“Livestrong was built on the cult of Armstrong’s personality,” Katherina Rosqueta, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy. “That personality has now gone from being an asset to a liability. If Livestrong can show meaningful impact for the funds it has raised, then it can probably survive this. If it can’t, it won’t”

Over time, Americus Reed, a Wharton marketing professor, predicts that Armstrong’s image as the face of the charity will fade. “People will always remember he started it, but it’s not clear to me right now that there will be a long-term negative impact on Livestrong,” he says. “As this goes on for Lance, however, with no statement and continued denial, his brand is going to continue to decay.”

What impressed me most was a comment made by a reader. Christopher Lambert:

If we say Lance is irredeemable aren't we passing the same sentence on the worst parts of our self?

One of the risks of being a celebrity is the fact that the media is just as capable making you an overnight success as it is capable of instantly destroying your reputation. It leaves little room for redemption. What the media is counting on is that their audience does not think for themselves like Christopher Lambert did.

What do you think?

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Luxury Real Estate Personal and Company Branding: Can a Brand be Saved?

November 1, 2012

Recently, I (Alexandra, here) was reading an article written by the Knowledge@Wharton from the Wharton business school at the University of Pennsylvania. This article discussed the fate of the Lance Armstrong brand as well as his charitable organization, Livestrong founded to support cancer survivors. The discussion was well thought out and made sense. Here is an excerpt, to read more...

“Livestrong was built on the cult of Armstrong’s personality,” Katherina Rosqueta, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy. “That personality has now gone from being an asset to a liability. If Livestrong can show meaningful impact for the funds it has raised, then it can probably survive this. If it can’t, it won’t”

Over time, Americus Reed, a Wharton marketing professor, predicts that Armstrong’s image as the face of the charity will fade. “People will always remember he started it, but it’s not clear to me right now that there will be a long-term negative impact on Livestrong,” he says. “As this goes on for Lance, however, with no statement and continued denial, his brand is going to continue to decay.”

What impressed me most was a comment made by a reader. Christopher Lambert:

If we say Lance is irredeemable aren't we passing the same sentence on the worst parts of our self?

One of the risks of being a celebrity is the fact that the media is just as capable making you an overnight success as it is capable of instantly destroying your reputation. It leaves little room for redemption. What the media is counting on is that their audience does not think for themselves like Christopher Lambert did.

What do you think?

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: What's in a Name Brand??

October 31, 2012

Ivanka Trump at LAX, Photo by HotshotsWorldwide

What is in a name brand? Everything is the answer, if your name is Trump. A new luxury brokerage firm opened in New York, the name said it all “Trump International Realty”. The Trump name is synonymous with luxury real estate and luxury real estate development. The name is also associated with success, experience and victory in the face of defeat. As a luxury real estate marketing professional, would you join this brand?

The Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2012, reported that Trump International Realty launched last week with a portfolio of 300 million dollars in listings. The majority of the listings are Trump holdings, and the organization feels that they will have no trouble in increasing their listing inventory. Ivanka Trump is at the helm of this enterprise. Her father, Donald Trump, said “Ivanka has always felt strongly this is something we can do better than anybody else”

In this context Trump is a direct challenger to Sotheby’s, for example, a firm that enjoys instant brand recognition in the luxury real estate brokerage realm. To succeed, Trump must deliver on an extraordinary promise offered to the brokers and agents they recruit. This is equally important to the clients that they serve.

"Quality of service is more important to us than simply filling offices," Ms. Trump said. She also noted that the firm's brokers will be members of the Trump Organization's "corporate family" rather than being "anonymous member of a 5,000-person sales force." Ms. Trump says the brokerage will use a traditional commission model.

According to Mr. Sneddon, managing director of the new brokerage, “The Trump brokerage plans to focus initially on the New York region and then to expand to the rest of the world. Trump already has brought in a number of brokers from other luxury real estate New York companies.

Will there be a personnel shift in the New York luxury real estate scene as a result? We think the idea of being a “member of the Trump corporate family” may offer just the right incentive for some top agents to jump ship. Time will tell if the Trump name will become synonymous with luxury real estate brokerage, in the same way Sotheby’s and Christies has.

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Personal and Company Branding: The Best-of-Class Brand Position

October 29, 2012

Courtesy of Apple

If you want to gain or sustain market leadership, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, pay close attention to market leaders in other luxury product and services fields. They can offer you invaluable clues. We watch Apple like a hawk because it is the most valuable company in the world, and also one of the best international luxury brands.

How is Apple a luxury brand? They build premium products that command premium prices and generate great profit margin.

Most people do not need a $329 iPad Mini. Yet, the white version sold out the same day it came on the market! So, why is it that so many people are willing to pay a premium for the iPad Mini when they can get a Kindle or an Android based smaller tablet for less?

Many pundits were certain that the price was too high for budget-minded consumers. They were right; but not for the right reason. The iPad Mini is NOT for budget-minded consumers because they do not have the psychographic profile (mindset) of Apple’s target market.

Apple is not even trying to win over price-sensitive consumers at the lower end of the market. Instead, they are focused with laser-like sharpness on serving those who appreciate and simply must have best-in-class products. Consumers with this mindset value superior design and engineering. Apple knows how to communicate with and serve consumers with this psychographic profile better than any other technology company on the planet.

Apple also knows that extremely satisfied customers will become evangelistic fans, and these fans will influence some of their budget-conscious friends to switch to the best-in-class mindset. Others will switch when they walk into an Apple store and discover or rekindle their own best-of-class mindset without any sales pressure, whatsoever.

That is why Apple can command a premium for their products and also generate a higher profit margin. By steadfastly claiming, the best-in-class brand position Apple forces their competition (in the cheaper price and lower profit margin spectrum) to battle it out between themselves.

To sell tablets at lower prices competitors have to cut corners. Apple marketing VP, Phil Schiller s summed up their best-in-class brand position in 7 words: “Competitors are making compromises with their products. We don’t.”

If you are engaged in the “unabashed pursuit of market leadership” as a luxury real estate marketing professional, you must assume the best-in-class mindset yourself. Then, focus exclusively on those clients who appreciate this core value. Let your competition fight over everyone else.

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: Escaping the Brand Extension Trap

October 10, 2012

If you are already a successful real estate professional in your marketplace and would like to break into the luxury end of the business heed this warning. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that your current personal or company brand will work to your advantage because it is already well known and well thought of.

You most likely will need a separate luxury real estate brand because your current brand is identified with a different pricing tier in the minds of your target market. This is not about snobbery. It is about one of the most perilous challenges of branding for any type of business large or small: brand extension.

Here is an example of a brand extension misstep made by one of the biggest brands in the world: General Electric.

Recently, we began forwarding our business landline to our iPhone. For me, (Ron here), finding the right headset was quite a challenge. I tried the two best blue tooth models on the market. In each case I got feedback from friends and clients who said I sounded like I was in an echo chamber and my voice broke up in far too many calls.

I went to Staples and tried the leading brands for over the head models with volume control, which worked fine, on my landline, but not with an adaptor for the iPhone.The General Electric model had all of the features that I needed without an adapter. But, I completely dismissed G (general) E as an iPhone headset brand over the leading brands in this category that specialize just in telephony accessories: Plantronics and Jabra.

What does GE stand for in your mind: Appliances, Aviation, Consumer Products, Customer Training, Electrical Distribution, Energy, Finance, Healthcare, Lighting Oil & Gas, Rail, or Software & Services?

Had GE come up with a cool brand name for this category of their business, the brand extension would have been far more successful. I certainly would have discovered it immediately and at least tried it. It was only after the others did not work for my needs that I finally tried GE, which works just fine.

Like GE you could use your current brand name when you extend your brand into the luxury realm. But, your speed of success will be much slower. You or your company may be the best choice. But, you will not be readily identified with your new category of business with your current brand name. Think of the pace of brand acceptance that Toyota would have faced if they did not use the brand name Lexus for their luxury model. The same applies to Accura, which is the luxury car brand of Honda.

Toyota and Honda are both outstanding brands in their price category. But, these brands are very strongly identified with that category. You just need a new brand name that works for your new business category as a luxury real estate marketing professional.

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: The High Cost of Misjudging Your Target Market - Part 2

September 26, 2012

This issue of accurately assessing your target market and communicating with your ideal clients on their wavelength is crucial to your success as a luxury real estate marketing professional. In Part 1 of this article series, we wrote about Louis Vuitton and Ruth Chris closing their doors in Santa Barbara because they misjudged their target market, which cost them both dearly.

In nearby Thousand Oaks, known for its strong community and excellent school system, an “Asian fusion” restaurant opened after an extensive, long term and very expensive build-out in an upscale shopping center there. Located directly across from the family-friendly and extremely popular Cheesecake Factory (over 160 restaurants in the chain) it closed within one year.

Again, the demographics of Thousand Oaks supported the potential success of this restaurant. But, they completely missed their psychographic target. The décor was dark and uninviting. The menu was a mélange of Asian cuisines, which works at their other locations in Los Angeles but not here. The name of the restaurant, Buddha’s Belly, did not help its cause.

Ironically, in the high-end shopping center of Century City, which is adjacent to Beverly Hills, the owner of the Cheesecake Factory opened an Asian fusion restaurant, Rock Sugar, with a magnificent, inviting décor replete with beautiful and exotic Asian furniture and water features. You feel transported to the Far East the moment you approach the front door.

This restaurant is thriving because it hit its mark both in demographics and in psychographics. The shopping center is surrounded by office buildings and is particularly suited for power lunches. The food is fabulous. It is a great date restaurant that is also perfect for special family gatherings.

Take the time to carefully understand both the demographics and the psychographics of your target market. Doing so can save you a considerable amount of time and money!

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: The High Cost of Misjudging Your Target Market – Part 1

September 25, 2012

When crafting your personal or company brand, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, it is crucial to accurately access both the demographics and the psycho graphics - the mindset of your target market. Otherwise your brand can miss the mark and not resonate with your ideal clients. Avoid the high cost of misjudging your target market at all costs!

Year after year Louis Vuitton is recognized as the world’s most valuable luxury brand. It sells its products through standalone boutiques, lease departments in high-end department stores and also online. The brand itself is valued at over $19 billion, and the company is valued in 2012 at $25.9 billion, according to Bloomberg.

In 2012, Louis Vuitton shuttered its boutique in Santa Barbara. In 2011, in the same upscale shopping center, Ruth Chris, the famous steak house chain with over 130 restaurants, also closed its Santa Barbara doors. What happened?

Certainly, the Santa Barbara demographics can support high-end retail stores and upscale restaurants. But, are the psycho graphics, the mindset of the target market, a match? In this neighborhood of large estates owned by"old money" they are not.

Just a few blocks away Chuck's of Hawaii, thrives. It began serving award-winning steaks and seafood over 45 years ago. The inside is romantically lit and is casually furnished with wood tables anound chairs. A bartender in a Hawaiian shirt serves their famous Mai-Thais as well as a wide variety of local wines. Their dinner menu is still hand painted on bottles of Lancers’ wine.

The décor of Ruth Chris restaurants is considerably more formal than Chuck’s and that is where it miscalculated the Santa Barbara psycho graphic. Chuck serves free high end hors d’oeuvres during Happy Hour, which packs people in and creates a buzz that, attracts a strong dinner crowd.

In adjacent Montecito, Lucky’s Steak House also thrives. This is an intimate, smaller neighborhood restaurant that caters to a higher concentration of the upper demographics, than the general population of Santa Barbara.

Accurately judging both the demographics and the psycho graphics of your target market is like fine-tuning a radio. If your brand is not right on the money you will get static instead of a clear signal. And, static can be very costly in terms of wasted marketing dollars.

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Personal & Company Branding: The High Cost of Being Vague About Your Brand

September 5, 2012

Photo by Gerald Bougham

Be explicit about who you are and what you stand for, as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Being vague about your personal or company brand can cost you considerably.

An important aspect of personal and company branding is clearly and consistently articulating how you want to be perceived by others. If you do not explicitly define who you are and what your brand stands for, people will brand you or classify you in their own pigeonholes.

In our commercial real estate practice in West Los Angeles, we were best known for our expertise in leasing high-end retail space and working with the entertainment industry. We had a high profile in this niche because our signs were on buildings from West Hollywood to Beverly Hills to Santa Monica by the ocean.

We also sold many commercial properties (most of which were not actually listed) to a select group of developers and investors. We typically kept a low profile about our sales because we just did not like to boast.

But, when the property manager of one of our leasing listings needed to sell another building that he managed he looked for a buyer on his own instead of giving us the listing. He would have gladly given us the listing, but, he just did not know that we sold buildings too! Ironically, that property fell out of escrow with his buyer and we had it sold within 24 hours to one of our clients.

Here was business right under our noses. Although, we were well branded as leasing experts in the mind of this property manager, he was clueless of our sales expertise. That was a $75,000 opportunity that almost passed us by. This is the value of branding that we will never forget. Nor, should you.

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: How Strong is Your Brand Recognition, Part 4

July 26, 2012

Countdown Olympic Clock/Photo by Alison 14

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, the key to building strong brand recognition is associating you or your company with a category or niche that exists not just in your marketplace but also in the minds of your target market. Studies have shown that most humans typically hold up to 3 brands per category at most in their minds. If you do not come up as top-of-mind in a category your market share or lack thereof, will usually reflect this important branding phenomenon. Try some 15 second categories quizzes to get more of the idea of how this plays out.

How many brands come to your mind in just 15 seconds when you think of:

Smart Phones?
Cellophane adhesive tape?
Singing-only talent competitions on TV?

As we approach the opening day of the Summer Olympics in London, only 3 medals will be given out in each sports category: gold, silver and bronze. The majority of us may remember the name of the Gold medal winner long after the event. But, will we remember the names of the silver and bronze winners?

In the men’s swimming competition what is the first name that comes to mind? Can you think of another? Michael Phelps who has 14 gold medals and two bronze will most likely come to mind first rather than Ryan Lochte who has 3 gold medals, two silvers and one bronze. Can you think of the third swimmer in this category?

Luxury real estate marketing professionals often underestimate the importance of achieving top-of- mind status in a specific category. What is at stake in reaching the top? The lion’s share of the business in your category! Focus on and conquer a single category or niche within your marketplace, then expand from there.

Become identified with that category, and you will experience a significance spike in business. If you already enjoy top-of-mind status, beware! Do not get complacent. A challenger may be right behind you who is bent on increasing its brand recognition strength and market share at your expense.

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: How Strong is Your Brand Recognition, Part 3

July 24, 2012

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Bal du moulin de la Galette), Musée d'Orsay, 1876

To further understand this concept of brand recognition, and just how important it is to your luxury real estate marketing practice, consider the subject of French Impressionists. Who is the first artist in this category that comes to mind? How many French Impressionist painters can you think of QUICKLY? Give yourself only 15 seconds. Then, try this question on a friend and see what names come up in just 15 seconds.

Unless you have studied this subject thoroughly or have visited the Quai D’Orsay museum in Paris and have a photographic memory you most likely do not know the top 12 French Impressionists. Most people who have some exposure to this subject can come up with only 3 at best. That is how our mind works. We think in categories and sub-categories or niches.

Claude Monet is the most prolific artist in this category. For most people, Renoir and Monet are perhaps the two artists who come to mind first. But, there are at least a dozen top French Impressionist artists. Here they are in alphabetical order.

Frédéric Bazille, Gustave Caillebotte, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Armand Guillaumin, Édouard Manet , Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley

Try this question: When you think of French Impressionists who are famous for paintings ballet dancers which one comes to mind first? Edgar Degas is known best for this subject. Can you think of any other artists in general who are known for painting this subject?

Edgar Degas, Stage Rehearsal, 1878–1879, The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City

How about haystacks? Claude Monet is famous for these. But, Armand Guillaumin also painted haystacks. Why does his name not come to mind as readily? Claude Monet “owns” the word ‘haystacks’ like Degas owns ‘ballet dancers’. And, that is exactly what your goal is as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Find a niche or category of luxury real estate in your marketplace that you can own. That is, if top-of-mind-status and instant brand recognition is your quest.

‎ Claude Monet, Haystacks, (sunset), 1890–1891, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

(All photos are in US public domain)

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Personal and Company Branding: How Strong is Your Brand Recognition Part 2

July 23, 2012

Photo by Valentino Vicentini

Instant recognition, of your personal or company brand in marketing luxury real estate, is the ultimate goal of banding. The fastest route to achieve this top-of-mind status is by specializing in a particular category or niche within your market place and becoming identified with that category. An example would be the waterfront property expert.

In part 1 of this article series about brand recognition, we demonstrated the speed at which the mind recognizes an iconic brand. What is not as obvious, however, it the speed at which we categorize, or pigeon hole that which we observe in order to give it a context. The ultimate goal of branding is to become top of mind in a category. James Bond’s 007 enjoys top of mind status in a specific category or genre of films-spy thrillers. Can you think of any other lead characters in this film niche? How about Jason Bourne in the Bourne Identity, or Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible?

Spy thrillers are a sub-category or a niche within the large category of action adventure files. For example there are numerous action adventure heroes such as Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Ironman, X Men and the Incredible Hulk. James Bond is an action hero. But, would James Bond be associated with this same group of characters?

Try another category! When you think of late night talk show hosts, who comes to mind? Did you think of Jay Leno or David Letterman? How about a daytime talk show host? Did Ellen or Oprah come to mind? Notice that Oprah did not come to mind in the late night category.

Our minds think in categories, whether it is products, services, plants, animals or entertainment. That is why it is so important for you as a luxury real estate marketing professional to stand out and become known for some specific niche within the minds of your target market.

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Personal & Company Branding: How Strong is Your Brand Recognition?

July 19, 2012

The branding goal for luxury real estate marketing professionals is instant brand recognition. When you first saw the image above in this post, what thoughts came to mind? First, did you recognize the brand? If so, how long did it take you to recognize it? If you are like most people who are attuned to popular culture you know that this is James Bond’s logo and you recognized it in a Nano-second.

Isn’t it amazing how three numbers and a gun can communicate such a potent message? That message is spy story (suspenseful action-adventure with international intrigue). It conjures images of the main character in the story that has mass appeal. He is an archetypical action hero who is suave, debonair, charismatic, sexually attractive, a lady’s man, with tongue-and-cheek humor, who is bent on protecting mankind from evil.

Likewise, the words, “double 0 seven” have a similar impact. So do the first seven notes in the James Bond sound track (brand perfection in 7 notes). That image, the words and the sounds have made an indelible impression in your mind over the years and will likely be accessible to your recall for life. That is the power of branding!

This is the 50^th anniversary of the famed James Bond franchise. The 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall, is coming out this winter, starring Daniel Craig. The James Bond fan club is global. Are you thinking of seeing it?

Marketing luxury real estate at the level of market leadership requires that you establish an indelible brand in the minds of your target market. It requires instant brand recognition to sustain market leadership. How strong is your brand recognition?

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: Do You Need a Brand?

July 17, 2012

Do you need a brand for your luxury real estate marketing business? You need a brand if you are in pursuit of market leadership in your chosen niche. A clearly articulated brand facilitates referrals and decision-making on both sides (sellers/buyers) of the real estate game.

Like it or not, we are branded from the moment we are born. Brands are labels; they are a shortcut and a time saver for the mind. They are so obvious that we take them for granted. They become invisible.

The moment we look at someone, our mind’s computer begins to assess and pigeonhole. The more we are pressed for time the more we rely on snap judgments.

With products and services, once we pigeonhole a product or service in a category we equate the category and the brand. And, we only have room for a few products or services in each category, at least from the standpoint of being able to readily recall the brand name. The goal of branding is to achieve top-of-mind status in that short list of products or services within any given category.

To stand out and reach the top of the list you have to make it easy for others to communicate about your brand to others. That is the challenge of branding. It is all about making a compelling case to be at the top of the mental list, in your category, for your target market. If they are convinced that you should be at the top of their list, you must empower them to convince others.

Think of a brand that you like. What would you tell someone about it? How did that brand get to the top of your list? Getting to the point where one wants to refer you requires a continuous strategy and marketing plan that secures your brand recognition and your dominance in the marketplace.

Tiffany’s is the quintessential luxurious American brand when it comes to engagement rings. That is an example of equating a brand with a category. In the minds of young women about to be engaged, Tiffany’s is the place to go. It is at the top of the list in the engagement ring category. Tiffany’s has cultivated that top-of-mind status through brilliant strategy on all fronts. Last year, they premiered their now successful interactive site, What Makes Love True, solidifying their position as the premiere place for engagement rings.

Are you on the top of the list in your category for marketing luxury real estate? Or, do you need a brand?

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: What Color is Your Tomato?

July 16, 2012

In order to understand branding in the realm of luxury real estate marketing, it is important to understand brand categories. If market leadership is your quest, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, the key is to select a brand category or sub-category in your marketplace that you can dominate.

Here is a simple illustration of brand categories. The above picture shows a variety of heirloom red tomatoes with yellow stripes. If all of real estate could be classified as a tomato, then the heirlooms could represent luxury real estate. In the kingdom of heirlooms, there are many heirloom varieties.

This photo shows a darker red heirloom with green stripes, and beside it is the yellow heirloom with red striping. These three varieties could be classified as sub-categories in your marketplace. If yellow tomatoes represent luxury condos, the opportunity here is to be the king/queen (the yellow tomato) of the luxury condo market.

The differences in the DNA makeup of these categories are minor, but the characteristics in terms of shape, color and flavor are distinctive. The heirloom tomato’s target market is discerning tomato lovers in general, but each customer has their preferences. The key to branding is to clearly amplify the difference so that the customer looking for sweet, low acidic tomatoes, for instance, can quickly be matched with the right brand, yellow tomatoes.

Buying from or listing with a dedicated specialist gives your client confidence, that they are dealing with an expert. Branding therefore, accelerates the selection process in a sea of choices, and saves time for everyone.

What color is your tomato?

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Personal & Company Branding: What Is Your Unique Promise of Value?

July 10, 2012

In marketing luxury real estate you only have a Nano-second to capture the attention of your ideal clients and communicate your unique promise of value. If your message promises to solve a problem or add significant value you have the best chance of gaining a new client.

When your branding is spot on it is your shortcut in this communication process. Your personal or company brand must send a clear, succinct message to your target through words, symbols and sounds, a message that must encapsulate the distinct benefits that will be derived from doing business with you vs. your competition. Identifying, then distilling your unique promise of value into a concise message is an art. Here is an example of one company has mastered this art.

Coffee is one of the most ubiquitous commodities in the world. As such it poses one of the biggest branding challenges on earth. We give Seattle’s Best very high praise for breaking through the clutter and standing out in this highly competitive food category.

They came up with a suite of 5 different coffees that suit the needs of the majority of coffee drinkers. Their unique promise of value: making it easy to choose the perfect cup of coffee for you. They call it the Level System. From light and bright Level 1 to dark and bold level 5 they claim that they have an expertly blended level for everyone.

Can you see the brilliance behind this brand strategy? The next time you need to buy coffee you do not even need to remember the brand name. Just remember a number between 1 and 5. First they take the guesswork out of selecting the right blend. Then, they make it impossible to forget your preference or the preference of whomever you are buying for. “I’m a #2 and my roommate is a #5”.

For those, who are time-starved they just made life a little bit easier. They solved a common problem How can you distill your luxury real estate marketing message to accomplish the same goal?

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Personal and Company Branding: Is Your Slogan Engaging?

July 9, 2012

As a luxury real estate marketing professional do you have an engaging slogan? We have mentioned in a previous post, that using effective slogans as a personal branding and marketing strategy for real estate agents is an excellent way to differentiate you from the competition. The entire purpose of using a slogan is to engage your target market and get them talking about you.

Here is an example of a brand and a slogan that we noticed while dining in the town of Mathews, Virginia. One glance and you know exactly what type of business this is and who their ideal customers are. It is brief, succinct and to the point. And, it is humorous which captures attention.

Is your slogan engaging?

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Luxury Real Estate Website Design: Are You Unforgettable?

June 4, 2012

More often than not the first impression you make with new prospects, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, occurs the first time they encounter your website. Are you making a lasting first impression or are you forgettable?

It is human nature to rely more on sight than any other mode of sensory perception. That is why excellent graphic design is so important in capturing and holding the attention of your website visitors. Great design is your sure-fire method of making a lasting first impression. It is an integral part of capturing significantly more leads especially when it sparks a positive emotional response and resonates with the values of your website visitors.

In the course of marketing luxury real estate, how can you expect to capture an online lead if you cannot first capture the attention of your prospect? People do “judge a book by its cover” or wine by its label or products by its packaging This is true particularly when a recommendation from a trusted source is not a factor in the buying decision or when choosing a service professional.

We recently found two wineries that exemplified this principle by incorporating metal in their labels, something we have never seen before. These bottles definitely stand out which is exactly what you need to do if you expect to capture and hold the attention of your web visitors.

Keep in mind that your competitors’ sites are just a click away. That is why it is imperative to grab your visitors’ attention with compelling graphic design. But, even more important than a great look, your graphics must communicate the essence of your brand values. Ideally, your graphics should tell the entire story of who you are in a nano-second! That is the true test of great branding!

If you want to be the standout in your marketplace your website must make a strong, positive first impression. Otherwise, you and your website become forgettable.

Are you unforgettable?

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: Identify, Define, Then Dominate Your Market Niche

April 15, 2012

Photo Courtesy of Apple

Most luxury real estate marketing professionals think of branding as a creating a new look for their product or service. But, the realm of branding actually occurs in the minds of your target market. And, it occurs in product or service categories. Whoever comes up “top-of-mind” in a category becomes the market leader.

For every product or service category that is meaningful to us, we have a category. Often there are many sub-categories in our mind. For example, personal computers have a sub-category for desktops, laptops and tablets. Some sub-categories even have their own sub-sub-categories.

For example, when Apple introduced that Mac Air, a very slim and light-weight laptop that runs on a Flash drive (not a hard drive) a new sub-sub-category was born. As Intel and many other companies jumped on the band-wagon to copy the success of the Mac Air, the category was given a name: “Ultrabooks”.

It can also be said that ultrabooks are a niche within the product category of computers. A niche is a specialized but profitable corner of the market Identifying and dominating an uncontested or under served market niche is the fastest route to market leadership in that niche. The operative word in the definition of niche is ‘profitable’. A niche would simply not exist if there was not a market for it that was profitable.

The iPad actually redefined the category of tablet computing, as there were several attempts at creating this new category prior to its launch. Apple has so outdistanced any of its competitors in both quality and quantity of units sold that it is next to impossible for any other company to catch up.

Only Amazon’s Kindle Fire which uses Android as its operating system, has been successful at making a dent. But, the Kindle Fire can only complete on price (not on features and not on the the number of available apps). Because, Amazon sells their tablet at cost or below they have made it very difficult for other Android based competitors to enter this category. And, other tablets using alternative operating systems, such as Windows 8, will have a very tough time entering the market.

We offer this discussion of market categories to get you thinking about potential uncontested or under-served market niches, as luxury real estate marketing professionals. Here is why: What is the first brand to come to mind when you think of the category of tablet computer? For most people tablet and iPad are synonymous. What would it mean to you if your name was synonymous with the profitable niche that you decided to dominate?

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