Real Estate Life: Class Versus Crass

Regardless of where your focus is in your real estate practice, developing class is of paramount importance if you intend to be a market leader or the first to come to mind in your marketplace.  Being friendly, generous and considerate will reap big benefits in that you will be known as someone with class: decent, gracious, respectable, and noble.   Just being focused on getting what you want will label you as crass: lacking sensitivity, mindless, ignorant, coarse, and tactless.  Here are examples of both class and crass:

When the brother of our client passed away, we took a half a day off to attend the memorial service and the reception thereafter.  Our assistant was instructed to tell our clients who called in where we were and at what time to expect the return call.  Everyone understood and respected our choice. Here is a contrasting example:

One of our friends had a different experience. His mother had passed away and he took the first flight out to be with his family.  His partner was left in charge. When their mutual client called in, the client could not understand why the mother was more important than she was.  The client proceeded to insult and belittle the firm. 

On a recent trip, we met with a luxury residential developer.  He went on a five-minute tirade about agents who called him on Sundays, leaving him 8 messages, when he was in the pool playing with his children.  He labeled them as crass, and as someone he would not ever do business again.

How do we define class in terms of real estate?

It is the agent who sits down with their clients and asks them: “how and when would you like me to communicate with you?  And then, follows through.  

It is the agent who kindly tells their competitor that they have a spelling mistake on their site, or their listing brochure, or a listing photo is out of whack.

It is the agent that returns calls, and shows up on time.  

It is the agent that listens and understands their clients’ woes and stories, and does not repeat them. 

It is the agent that other agents respect and go out of their way to work with them.

Class is not limited to real estate only.  It encompasses life and how you treat everyone around you. Class is being kind to everyone you meet, regardless of their stature in life.  It is also having the courage to drop out of your life and business those who enjoy berating others and acting crass.

Brand Design: Is Your Brand A Foghorn in A Sea of Sameness?

“Design is a funny word.  Some people think design means how it looks.  But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.”  Steve Jobs

We are in the process of creating a logo.  Everything about that logo has to work for our client.  The fonts, the colors, the spacing between letters have to attract the target market.

It has to stand out and be the foghorn in the sea of sameness.  It has to resonate with our client and fit them perfectly, or as we like to say, “it has to be a hell, yes!”

We travel to each marketplace in order to identify the psycho-graphic of the people who live and work there. We take time to get to know our client’s core values, personality, preferences and goals. 

We come home and begin to distill what we learned into a strategy. That strategy defines the brand.  A definition is a concise form of communication.  It is concise because it is easy to understand and to communicate it to someone else. This brings about the best marketing results known as “word of mouth and referrals.”

For us, designing each brand is a labor of love. Our clients have to love it, and their marketplace has to love it.  Is your brand a foghorn in a sea of sameness?

Discovering The Uncontested Market Niche: A Wild Goose Chase!

Niche is the name of the game in luxury real estate marketing and branding today.   Identifying and dominating an uncontested market niche is the fastest route to market leadership and top-of-mind status.

We saw this van (depicted above) as we were heading to our hotel in Newark, New Jersey.  This company found a way to humanely discourage the Canada geese from taking up residence on homeowners lawns and public parks.   They are considered a nuisance by many because of their droppings and the bacteria within, the noise of they call and their confrontational behavior. 

The need was obvious.  And thus a niche was born without competitors!

Geese Chasers have trained border collies that will herd and chase all the geese away.   They are a professional geese management company with great accolades from the Discovery Channel, the major media outlets, and Animal Planet.  According to their website, they have a great track record in having worked "with commercial, residential, corporate, municipal, city and state clients."

Can you find your wild goose chase?

Branding With A Story of A Pig In Boots, Holding A Hammer & Cleaver !

The majority of established, global luxury brands have simple logos. Most simply use a serif font for the brand name without a symbol. It is the name itself and the company’s reputation that differentiate one luxury brand from the other.  But, for new brands, using a symbol along with the company name or using a clever font treatment can help you tell the brand story. It can also accelerate brand recognition and retention.

While it is true that there are some exquisite serif fonts that have subtle differences, most consumers cannot distinguish one serif font from the other. Test your own recognition of luxury brand fonts that are incorporated in the company logos.

Which version is the real Tiffany Logo?  One of them is simulated using Times New Roman, a common font found on most computers.  But, once you add the famous robin’s egg blue bag or box the brand is unmistakable.

Brand symbols, like pictures, are worth 1000 words. They help people remember you and recognize your logo at a glance.

The image at the top of this post captured our attention as we were enjoying lunch at Sides Hardware & Shoes (yes a restaurant name) in the wine country near our home in Santa Barbara.  The shadow was cast on a photo on the wall by a cutout of the symbol used in their logo. The cutout is used as the “Open/Shut” sign to alert customers of restaurant hours.

The pig, wearing boots, holds a cleaver in one paw and a hammer in the other to tell the story of the brand.  They kept the original name of the business that was housed in the building but added the pig because many of the recipes on their menu includes their famous, delicious hammered pork (bacon) that they cure themselves.

Once you make the connection between the symbol and the brand story distilled to its essence, it makes it hard to forget and easy for customers to pass the story along to others.

If you are re-branding, refreshing your current brand, or starting fresh, consider the use of a symbol along with your company or personal brand name. It can help you trigger word-of-mouth advertising.

P.S. If you guessed that the second Tiffany & Co. logo was the real one you would be correct.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Branding Moments: The Curse Of The Cursive Font Illustrated!

Script or Cursive fonts are often thought to be fonts that express luxury.  However, less that 20%  of the premier luxury brands logos have cursive fonts.  If they do, they are usually simple, easy to read on a business card, a billboard, or in mobile form.

Recently when we drove by a shopping center monument sign depicted below,  both Ron and I read it as "Swille", and we wondered at the choice of the name.  The definition of "swill" is a large mouthful of a drink, or kitchen refuse and scraps of waste food mixed with water for feeding pigs.

The next day on our lunch break, we pulled in and parked so we could take a closer look.  The "ev" of the sign transformed into a "w" in certain light!  No doubt this font was chosen with luxury in mind, as there are several high end retailers in this shopping center.
 
When choosing a font, we pay close attention to every letter of the alphabet (caps and lower case) to make sure it can easily be read on a sign, card, letterhead and all the brand iterations,  It also has to be aesthetically pleasing and in harmony with the brand.  Character spacing can make or break a brand name in a logo. In this case the spacing was too close between the "e" and the "v".

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Avoiding The High Cost of Mindlessness: Part 2

To avoid the high cost of Mindlessness in your real estate practice here is the place to start:  1) Deliberately set up the conditions of your “game” so that the odds are in favor of your winning, and; 2) Consistently reach for a state of relaxed concentration in your daily activities and stay focused. That state is also known as Mindfulness.

Stack The Odds In Your Favor

Our primary job as strategic branding consultants in the luxury real estate arena is helping our clients stack the odds in their favor to consistently win at their game. We use the word game here on purpose because we believe that you should have fun doing what you love most.

We help our clients to identify under served or uncontested niches that they can dominate and do so with passion. Selecting a particular niche that has the potential to realize their financial goals also stacks the odds in their favor.

The exciting thing about stacking the odds in your favor is that it allows you to concentrate all of your attention and energy on a singular goal and not feel like you are being torn in many directions. This is how you set the stage for mindfulness.

Consistently Reach For A State of Relaxed Concentration

Once you are CERTAIN that your game conditions are stacked in your favor the key is to TRUST YOURSELF and not to second-guess yourself, which is one of the primary sources of mindlessness.  Then, all you need is the right message to reach your target market, a message that communicates your unique promise of value.

Imagine that you are an archer. You place an arrow in your bow, aim at your target and you pull back the string. Suddenly, you wonder if you forgot to lock your car door. Your attention then drifts off to a conversation that you had with a client that did not go well. You think of all of the things you need to do before your return home.  What are your chances now of achieving a bulls eye with this degree of mindlessness?

It is the same with any sport. You need a quiet mind; you need relaxed concentration to win.  The same applies to your real estate practice. 

In Part 3 of this article series we will cover some techniques that you can practice to quiet your mind and achieve this state of relaxed concentration more frequently.  That way you can avoid the high cost of mindlessness-the waste of time, the waste of money, the waste of life-your life!

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

How to Avoid The High Cost of Mindlessness In Your Real Estate Practice - PART 1

Mindlessness is the opposite of Mindfulness. When we are Mindful we are in a state of relaxed concentration, in present time. When we are Mindless we allow our thoughts to drift. We become distracted by negative emotions and put our motions on autopilot. Essentially, when we are unfocused we evade the here and now and we become automatons.  But, rarely, do we calculate the high cost of mindlessness in our lives.

This is Part 1 of our series on Mindfulness, called “How to Avoid The High Cost of Mindlessness In Your Real Estate Practice”.

Recently, we were driving on Highway 101 along the Santa Barbara coast heading to town to do some errands. Alexandra had two important letters in her hand, a reminder that we needed to stop at the post office in time for the 11 am pickup.

We began talking about something controversial in the news and mindlessly missed the exit to the post office.  This distraction cost us an additional 10 minutes of driving time, which may seem inconsequential.  But, it made us wonder how many 10-minute units of wasted time we accumulate in a week, a month or a year of our lives, due to Mindlessness.

This time could have been spent in Mindfulness.   We could have used it to enjoy, savor and discuss the magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean, the beautiful Channel Islands just beyond our coastline and all of the lush greenery in our mountains that resulted from our much-needed recent rainstorms.

Later that morning, I (Ron, here) purchased some dental floss that Alexandra needed from a pharmacy that I vowed never to patronize again due to its unpardonable customer service.  I was again mindlessly on autopilot; my thoughts were elsewhere. I ignored my vow because it was more “conveniently located” than the alternative pharmacy, which meant an extra stop.

I wound up buying the wrong product because I was too much in a hurry to ask Alexandra which one she wanted (she was next door and that would have taken two extra minutes to do).  I used Apple Pay and did not bother with a paper receipt. 

In the car on the way home, Alexandra informed me that I bought the wrong floss. So we stopped at the location of that pharmacy closer to our house to return it and get the right product that was less expensive.  But, without a paper receipt they could only give me a partial credit for the wrong product. This policy was more proof of that I would never step foot again in one of their stores. This additional incident of Mindlessness (I was fuming) happened literally within15 minutes of the original purchase and cost me $6.17.

These experiences and others like them were wake-up calls for the urgent need for more Mindfulness in our lives! Suddenly, Mindlessness had a price tag in wasted minutes of our wonderful life and actually represented quantifiable lost dollars.

Please join us for Part 2 of this article series as we shine the spotlight on what we have identified as the most important topic of our lives, today: Mindfulness!

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Are You Marketing To Labels Or Core Values?

Many luxury real estate marketing professionals are often trapped into directing their marketing efforts to labels and concepts. Here are some examples of labels: millennials, baby boomers, generation X, Y, Z, and so on and so forth.  These labels are indicative of trends only. Some marketing pundits feel that marketing to different labels is what attracts them to buy from you.

We wholeheartedly disagree. We find that many core values apply to all those labels. The photo above states the core values of Green Star coffee roasters, where we buy our coffee beans.   These core values are true for many, regardless of their generation label.  Core values are the guiding principles that dictate our paths in life and in business .  It explains why we choose one product over another, or one real estate professional over another.

Marketing to a label is the lazy solution, however, it is not as effective as marketing to core values.   Marketing to core values involves research of the target market.  That research will determine the marketing effort needed to attract the right buyers and the right sellers in your real estate target market.

Are You Marketing To Labels Or Core Values?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Branding Moments: Unforgettable Advertising

We were enchanted by this sculpture of a sewing machine on one of the avenue sidewalks in Milan leading to the new cool Brera neighborhood where the store is located. Camicissima is a hip luxury men's clothing store with locations in Italy, Asia as well as on Madison Avenue in New York.  What a great way to make an unforgettable impression!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Branding Moments: Who Is Virginia Dare?

You have a nanosecond to communicate your brand name and what it means. Make sure that the name communicates your essence and is easily understood by your marketplace.  Unless you are in the brand strategy business, your audience would not embark on the journey we took in order to understand the Virginia Dare brand.

We learned that Virginia Dare was the first English child born in the Virginia Colony (present day Roanoke, North Carolina).  She was born to British colonizers on August 18th, 1567. The only reason her existence was documented is that her grandfather, the governor of the Colony, left for Great Britain to bring back supplies. When he returned three years later, the whole colony had disappeared. No one knew what happened.

Photo in Public Domain/Bureau of Engraving and Printing

To explain the disappearance of the colony, all kinds of theories were offered, from magical deer spiriting her away, to Indians capturing the colony. She became part of American folklore. She was featured as a character in books, songs and films. Towns, counties and streets were named after her in North Carolina. In marketing, her image appeared on a tobacco label, flavoring extracts, a stamp, and Virginia Dare Winery Company (recently acquired by the Family Coppola). 

What was the Coppola family thinking?  What does Virginia Dare mean as a wine brand? What we have here is a "failure to communicate"!

In naming your business or your company, be sure that what you choose for a name can be understood in a nanosecond and attracts your intended target market.  

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Branding Moments: What Is the Core of Your Brand?

Photo by © Thinglass | Dreamstime.com

In a previous post we asked the question, “Does Your Unique Promise of Value Have An Expiration Date?” We indicated that features such as using drone photography in your luxury real estate marketing basically have a shelf life because it can be imitated, but your core, your uniqueness is inimitable.  That is, if you continue to innovate around your core.

We recently were awestruck by an interview with Angela Ahrendts, who is currently the Senior VP of Retail at Apple (previously the highest paid CEO in the UK at Burberry-$26.3M).  In 2014 she earned $70M at Apple as the highest paid executive in the company!  Basically, she said that every great brand has a core.

Rediscovering, revivifying and reinvigorating Burberry’s core, enabled her to increase the value of Burberry from £2 billion to over £7 during her tenure there.  She shifted the company from 75% wholesale to 75% retail by opening Burberry stores worldwide and developing a strong online presence.

The waterproof gabardine trench coat, which was originally created in 1856 for the military, is at the core of the brand. Angela was able to rally the troops (over 10,000 employees) around her vision of making the Burberry trench coat “cool” again.  She empowered them to passionately communicate the company’s core values (“to protect, to explore and to inspire”) directly to the consumer instead of relying on resellers to represent them.

What is the core of YOUR brand? What are you doing to continuously innovate around your core?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Gazing At The Future In A Crystal Ball Or Thinking Like A Futurist?

We have little faith in crystal balls when it comes to predicting the future.  We prefer thinking like a futurist even though the intent is not to predict the future.  It is about observing the clues under your nose, and conjuring conditions and events as possible outcomes. The old adage, “when you want to hide something, the best place to hide it is in plain view”, is applicable. 

What is in plain sight is often ignored such as gut feelings, anecdotal evidence, and trends.  To be a futurist you have to develop the skill of observing the obvious, and let your imagination soar. You also have to be willing to destroy your construct, let go of it, and begin again. And, it helps to have a mastermind of similar minded individuals to explore with. So here are our thoughts on 2017.

Based on our observations and experiences, we think that psychographic branding and marketing is finally making sense to more marketing professionals.  Some of the top Madison Avenue agencies are realizing that one size does not fit all and are opening satellite offices in smaller markets.  

Print marketing is alive and well in the right marketplaces.  Net-A-Porter. one of the most successful online luxury retailers, now publishes a glossy magazine. Even though this seemed like a “backward” move to some, the magazine premiered in 2014. It includes relevant articles on travel, fashion, and advice of what to buy.  They understood that “women prefer to read about fashion on glossy pages as they shop online”. See WSJ. The magazine sells on newsstands for $9.99 per issue or $48 annually for 6 issues.  

Social media will continue to wane as a primary marketing influence in some areas of the country.  People have pitch fatigue from online ads, and are tired of spending time in a virtual world. The majority of people we talk to do not spend significant time or energy on social media.  At most, they may have a business page that one of their assistants monitors.  Instead, they are re-discovering the joy of being present with others and the business benefits of meeting someone for coffee or lunch. 

For some it is definitely easier to gaze at a crystal ball when it comes to predicting the future, However, the rewards of futurist thinking are much greater.

Wishing you all a great 2017!

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Are You Being Blurred By Your Competition?

Those who are looking to compete with successful real estate professionals will often imitate the leaders in every way, shape and form.  It is visibly prevalent in every industry, especially in real estate. The competition will study what the competitor is doing, with the intent to blur the differences. Blurring is a method of nullifying your competitor’s strategic differentiators, and saying “we are just as good, if not better!”

This explains why we often see the exact same website, and even the same messaging on these sites, and why logos often resemble each other so that they are a blur in the eyes of sellers and buyers.

Photo by Silviya Avsova

Here is a clear-cut example: Coach (a maker of handbags and accessories) since 1941, was the first to notice the under served market of luxury handbags at affordable prices. In 1981, Michael Kors also went into the same space. The new company copied the Coach store designs and even used the same manufacturers to produce their bags. 

When Coach woke up, two years ago, they asked their employees to look at a slide show of storefronts and bags asking them to identify the brand.  Like the majority of consumers, they could not differentiate Coach from Kors. 

Photo by Rajan Singh

Coach’s chief operating officer, Victor Luis, stated, “We were slow to evolve, “We did not innovate quickly enough, did not invest enough in differentiating ourselves from the new competition that was in some ways taking our playbook.”

Blurring is a valid method of creating a level playing field with your competition.  However, if you do not amplify your own inimitable strategic differentiator you will face the same consequences.

Are you being blurred by Your Competition?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Brand of the Year 2016: The Brave New World of Internet of Things

Each year we feature one consumer brand that is truly outstanding. This year the company is HP and the product actually a service, our first foray into the brave new world of THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT).

HP’s Instant Ink service allows you to automatically re-order ink via the mail for your desktop printer only as needed, on a subscription basis. Our new printer (HP Envy) is connected to HP via the Internet and lets the company know when we are running low on ink.

For$2.99/month we get up to 50 printed pages each month (way more than we ever use in a given quarter-year).  Unused pages roll over into the next month (up to 50 pages). We do not pay the monthly fee if we have credits from the roll over.  $36 per year (maximum) is still far less than we have been paying for ink.  The first 3 months are free. Apparently, this cuts out the middleman (Staples, Office Depot, etc) and they pass along the savings to us, the consumers! 

The best feature is that we never run out of ink when we actually need it because our needs are anticipated and it arrives by mail BEFORE we run out.  Yes, this seems a bit spooky and we are still wrapping our brains around the idea of the Internet of Things.  But, this level of convenience and cost savings is brilliant. 

Bravo HP! 

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International specializes in the art of local niche marketing in affluent communities and they are the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  Working exclusively with entrepreneurs and professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership, they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Does Your Marketing Tell A Compelling Story About Your Brand?

Great websites, marketing materials and ads tell a compelling brand story at first glance. With millions of dollars riding on the outcome pay attention to the effectiveness of global brand marketing and advertising. You will glean insights that can improve your own local marketing initiatives and help you stand out in a crowded field.  

Here is our test for effective ads:

1. Does the ad capture your attention, immediately?

2. Does it hold your attention?

3. Do you instantly understand the marketing message?

4. Are you able to easily grasp the extraordinary promise of value the product or service offers?

5. Does it use emotions to make an indelible impression?

6. Does it spark the impulse to share the ad with others, i.e., is it remarkable?

7. Does it tell a compelling story about the brand?

Perfume and cosmetics are among the highest profit margin products in the world. There is fierce competition in this field. Check out the ad for Homme Idéal (Ideal Man). The French cologne by Guerlain gets an A+ from us for its print ad display that we found when visiting La Rinascente, the famous department store in Italy. We were able to answer YES to all 7 test questions.

In a Nano-second you get the entire brand story. It is one of the best illustrations that we have ever seen of how branding works through story telling. The scent of the cologne itself may not be anything special. But, give it the right name, wrap it in a fun story, which gives the brand a personality, and voilà, it sells!

The target market (single men) will reach for this brand over others because of its EXTRAORDINARY PROMISE OF VALUE. They are enticed to believe that it is the answer to their prayers, and remedies their most pressing needs: to be the ideal man and attract more women.

Does your marketing tell a compelling story about your brand?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International is the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  They work exclusively with professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership. With an expertise in personal branding, company branding, luxury real estate website design and social media marketing they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Brands Have A Personality: What Is In This Box?

What is in this box?  A ticket to London?  If you put the words, "fly London" in Google, you get British Airways in the first few lines.  

Here is another clue.  This is the inside of the box.  There are illustrations of London Landmarks.  No, this does not contain a First Class Ticket to London on Virgin Airlines!  There is a fun loving brand personality here!

Fly London is a United Kingdom based shoe company.  They manfacture shoes for both men and women. Here is their mission and personality statement from their web site, 

"A refreshingly balanced collection, different from the rest of the high street, having all and no trend at all, letting creativity do its work, following the motto again: always progressive, never conventional! We have created an upbeat joyous collection full of colour, innovation and humour”. 

And it is true, if you take time to check out their website.  They are proud to have given their designers this instruction, "Go where the inspiration takes you!  Don't Walk, Fly!"

They carved out a perfect niche and a great personality in the comfortable shoes arena without compromising style, fashion and fun.   We loved the branding, we loved the humour, and I (A) love the shoes!  I am looking forward to long walks or Flights in my new shoes!

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International is the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  They work exclusively with professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership. With an expertise in personal branding, company branding, luxury real estate website design and social media marketing they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Wonderful Breakfast at Carpinteria's Worker Bee Cafe

When our friends Debb James and Bernie Stea introduced us to a small local eatery in Camas, Washington, we enjoyed one the best breakfast experiences in our lifetime. And, we wished that someone would open a comparable restaurant in our own neighborhood in Santa Barbara.

Our wish came true! The funny thing was that The Worker Bee Café has been here for decades and is literally walking distance from our home, in our sleepy beach town of Carpinteria. We learned four years ago that it was one of the best-kept secrets in town. But, we thought we were too late because it sold four years ago, and heard it “just wasn’t the same”.

As a fluke, we decided to check it out and discovered that, under the new management of a father and son team (Chef Rick & Rick Sr.) it is now even BETTER!

The free-range farm-fresh eggs come from their family-owned “ranchette” in nearby Ojai Valley. They feature jalapeno infused bacon, corn beef hash that rivals the best New York delis, and bake their own gluten-free breads and muffins. Customers say that once you try their gluten-free cinnamon French toast you will never go back to gluten-rich breads again. Our eyes popped when we saw their waffle served at the next table.

We love The Worker Bee Café and cannot wait to go back to sample more items on their innovative menu. Sometimes locals want things to stay the same for iconic landmarks like these local restaurants. But, we just learned that giving new owners a try just added to the quality of our life, here in town. As, John Lennon would say, "Give Bees a Chance"!

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International is the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  They work exclusively with professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership. With an expertise in personal branding, company branding, luxury real estate website design and social media marketing they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

A Brand Is A Trustmark: Does Samsung Have Your Back?

Photo by @webitect-Ray Shu

An abundance of high-trust relationships is the name of the game for successful luxury real estate marketing professionals and all businesses. Whether you have a personal brand or a company brand, one of your most important jobs must be “brand manager”.  As such, your job description is to continuously maintain a high level of trust because your brand is your TRUSTMARK.

Samsung is facing a massive brand crisis! Call it a crisis of trust.  The key issue with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 debacle, in which they are permanently discontinuing production of this smartphone model due to faulty batteries and other parts, is not the $17 billion loss in valuation.  It is the potential loss of loyal customers. They will regain their valuation if they can regain the trust of their valued customers.

To get trust back they have to answer, YES, to the question most pressing in the minds of their customers: “Does Samsung have my back?”

Damage control of mistrust is priority one. Re-establishing trust will be a test of Samsung’s leadership. It will require Herculean strength of character to rebuild the brand’s reputation.

Trust is the foundation of a brand’s value. That is why you cannot cut corners in your quest to surpass your competition. As the Samsung ordeal demonstrates, trust can literally be destroyed overnight.

Is your brand your trustmark?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-
ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International is the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  They work exclusively with professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership. With an expertise in personal branding, company branding, luxury real estate website design and social media marketing they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Are You Comfortable In Your Own Skin?

Marketing is essentially matchmaking. You just need to make it easy for your ideal clients to quickly recognize that you and the service that you offer is the right match for their most pressing needs. You must also make it easy for people in general to facilitate the matchmaking process on your behalf via referrals.

The key is to fully understand and precisely articulate who you are and then, get comfortable in your own skin. The comfort comes from knowing your intrinsic value both personally and in a business context. If you have done your market research properly, the comfort also comes from a ground of being that there is an abundance of people or businesses that need what you have to offer.

When you are certain of who you are and also of your marketability it is next to impossible for others to minimize you or immobilize you. You become unstoppable!

Do you think elephants think much about the blotches of colors on giraffe’s hides? Do giraffes care that some elephants have big ears and are riddled with wrinkle lines? Do zebras debate among themselves about whether they are white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

If these questions seem absurd, it is not because animals are thick-skinned. They simply to not think about what other animals think of them. They are comfortable in their own skin!

One of the biggest challenges us humans face in life is our tendency to give other people way too much power to adversely affect our self-esteem. As a result we dis-empower ourselves. In a sense, we let others brand us as unworthy or less desirable. Then, we start to believe their hype!

The antidote to this dilemma is to, once and for all, let yourself off the hook, put down the club that YOU have crafted out of their erroneous judgments and stop beating yourself up with it! Then, take control of your own public relations and deliberately define how you want to be perceived by others. Take command of your personal or company brand.

Give yourself a break! Get comfortable in your own skin and watch how many potential clients will find out that you are a match to what they need.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International is the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  They work exclusively with professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership. With an expertise in personal branding, company branding, luxury real estate website design and social media marketing they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

The Virtue of Single-Mindedness: A Case of "Cat & Chipmunk"

We have often stated that focusing on an underserved or uncontested market niche, and doing so better than anyone else in your marketplace, is the key to successful marketing.  But, to pull this off you need to also have a particular mindset that we refer to as SINGLE-MINDEDNESS.

Before you even begin to embark upon the journey of niche marketing, you need to achieve a level of certainty that you have selected the right niche in the first place. You need to do your homework to assess the viability of the niche because it needs to have the potential to meet your financial goals. You also need to know if it is something for which you are personally best suited, that it plays to your personal strengths and passion. Only then should you take action.

But, once you are clear that you are heading in the right direction, you need to be absolutely single-minded about your endeavors.  The opposite of single-mindedness is being plagued with self-doubt or second-guessing yourself.

The single-mindedness mindset is what makes the difference between winners and losers.  Losers tend to forget that staying focused within the niche is essential. They think that they may miss out on business outside of their niche. Thus, they get distracted and dilute their concentration.

Recently, we were reminded of the importance of single-mindedness when a chipmunk (of all creatures) ventured into our garage.  It was game-on for our cat, Qunicy!  He became absolutely single-minded about his goal to capture the chipmunk.

At first, we had no idea what had captivated the attention of our intrepid hunter. He spent the entire night in the garage, hot in pursuit.  He was missing in action--a no-show for dinner and his favorite activity of the day, going on walks with his parents.

The next day the mystery prey was in the house and under our couch in the living room.  Quincy did not leave his post for hours, monitoring the situation. Only after lifting the couch, and seeing a bushy-tailed creature make a hasty retreat for our front hall closet did we recognize what it was. At that point we sequestered Quincy, opened the front door and managed to orchestrate the chipmunk's escape.

Take a lesson from Quincy. Nothing deterred him from his Chief Aim.  He had no second-thoughts or self-doubts. Nothing else seemed to exist for him during this game of cat & chipmunk. He was fully engaged in the here and now. The joy was obviously in his journey, more so than the end result.

Find a niche that you can dominate and stay focused. Become single-minded in the unabashed pursuit of market leadership in your marketplace.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International is the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  They work exclusively with professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership. With an expertise in personal branding, company branding, luxury real estate website design and social media marketing they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.