Marketing Luxury Real Estate: The Difference between Marketing and Selling - Part 3

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Marketing Luxury Real Estate: The Difference between Marketing and Selling - Part 2

October 8, 2012

Make Your Competition Irrelevant

In Part 1 of this article series, we stated that luxury real estate marketing professionals often fall into the trap of selling instead of marketing. Marketing requires concisely communicating the essence of your distinct promise of value to your ideal target market as you address their most pressing needs. Selling is trying to convince those prospects that are not really a match to you that they should work with you or buy from you anyway.

Great marketing necessitates great strategy. Selling requires tactics, scheming and maneuvering. When marketing is done right selling is unnecessary and your competition becomes irrelevant.

In recent years it seems that too many politicians have capitulated to the use of selling rather than marketing themselves. Instead of focusing on issues and how they intend to solve problems, they spend their campaign funds smearing their opponents. This is more an assault on the intelligence of the voters than on their opponents.

Here is an example of a politician who understood the difference between marketing and selling and contributed mightily to the lives of her constituency by encouraging participation in the political process and fighting for equal opportunity for all.

Marge Fong Eu, a third generation Californian, was elected California secretary of state in 1974, making her the first Asian American woman ever elected to a state constitutional office in the United States. She became famous for smashing a toilet bowl on the state Capitol's steps during her successful campaign to ban pay toilets. She argued they discriminated against women because men could use urinals for free whereas women always had to pay a dime for a toilet stall in places where payment was mandatory.

Marge Fong Eu concentrated on one issue, banning paid toilets. She took a stance, which what we call a brand position, and represented one core value, equal opportunity, a value that Marge Fong Eu felt passionate about. This struck a deep emotional chord with an entire gender. Getting her marketing message across in a nanosecond, through a news-starved media, Marge Fong Eu won by a landslide. That is marketing strategy at its best!

In fact, Marge Fong Eu won by a record-breaking three million votes. She did not need to resort to smear tactics. Her brand position was articulated with laser-sharp focus. She did not need to out-spend her competition. Moreover, she simply made her competition irrelevant.

In our strategic branding practice we work only with incumbent market leaders or their challengers in the field of luxury real estate marketing. Our job is to help our clients identify what they are most passionate about, what they stand for personally or as a company, and then develop a strategy based on their authentic nature that helps them to gain or sustain top-of-mind status in their marketplace or niche therein.

If market leadership is your quest, the right brand strategy can take the effort out of besting your competition. It can make your competition irrelevant.

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Marketing Luxury Real Estate: The Difference Between Marketing and Selling

October 3, 2012

In marketing luxury real estate, many agents and brokers often fall into the trap of selling instead of marketing. Marketing is matchmaking. It requires concisely communicating the essence of your distinct promise of value to your ideal target market as you address their most pressing needs. If your communication is clear your ideal prospects should instantly recognize that you, not your competition, are the right match.

Selling is trying to convince those prospects that are not really a match to you that they should work with you or buy from you anyway. The need to sell comes from the false notion that there is a scarcity of ideal clients out there. But, the truth is that the time you waste trying to win over non-ideal clients and slogging your way through difficult transactions distracts you from opportunities to meet and work with perfect matches,

As discouragement and feelings of powerlessness set in, you begin to lower your standards and expectations. You find yourself on the “chain of pain” attracting more non-ideal clients and more problematic transactions.

What is important to keep in mind is that people like to do business with people like themselves. Your ideal client is looking for you just as much as you are looking for them. And, they hang out with others who are like-minded. It is only natural for them to refer you to their friends. It gives them personal satisfaction and also social currency to facilitate a successful referral. When this occurs you find yourself on the “chain of gain” instead of the chain of pain.

Marketing done right is effortless because you are achieving an alignment of self-interests yours and your ideal client’s. Selling may give you the immediate gratification of momentary wins, but it will burn you out in the long run.

The most successful luxury real estate agents and brokers are passionate marketing professionals not selling professionals. When you sell a home, the sale itself is the very last thing that occurs in the process of meeting the needs of your ideal clients. There is actually one more step. And, that is getting paid for doing something that you love to do.

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Luxury Real Estate Website Design: Capturing Attention Leads to Leads

October 2, 2012

With all the time and expense that goes into driving quality traffic to your website, you better make sure your first- time web visitors instantly have a great first impression when they get there. Successful luxury real estate website design instantly captures attention. Original quality content holds their attention, which increases your chances of actually capturing their lead.

Capturing attention leads to leads. This fundamental is universal. Here is an example of how this plays out in purchasing wine without first getting a recommendation. Recently, we were attracted to a bottle of wine (out of hundreds on the selves in the store). The label simply was a question mark (?). There was no name or description on the front of the bottle.

The label instantly attracted our attention and the original story about it prompted us to buy it. It was a fluke at the winery. They combined two wines by mistake, admitted it and this was the very pleasant result. (see our previous post about (?).

Had we not been attracted to the label we most likely would never have heard about the winery, Oreana. The wine was very reasonably priced and delicious. The way they handled this error with complete transparency commanded our respect and made a very strong first impression. It also prompted us to later explore the Oreana Pinot Noir on a subsequent visit to the store.

Oreana’s (?) label captured our attention. Their story was original and compelling. The “content” was terrific. And, the Pinot, our second Oreana experience exceeded the first. Now, we are raving fans!

This is exactly what you are trying to achieve with your luxury real estate website design and your original website content. Capturing attention, leads to leads. Does your site achieve this?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Revisiting the Definition of Luxury

September 27, 2012

Galileo

Through our journey in writing the Language of Luxury for luxury real estate marketing professionals we have, from time to time, revisited the definition of luxury itself. The more we study this subject and write about it the more we conclude that luxury is one of the most misunderstood words in the English language. It is not just for the super rich! Sometimes the best things in life really are free.

Luxury does not necessarily mean expensive things. We have said that true luxury can be as simple as a great belly laugh (hence LOL) or taking the time to do personal things that you have not made time for due to other pressing matters. You can have tons of money, but if you cannot enjoy it, is it a luxury?

This year we were introduced to the Kahn Academy, a revolutionary free educational website where you can learn many subjects including mathematics from basic addition to calculus via free video tutorials. Bill Gates has his kids studying math here. You may have heard about this on 60 Minutes.

Over 1 million students worldwide are on the site. Schools across the country are using this study method to free up teachers to become “study coaches”. With this method traditional classrooms are transformed into labs where students progress at their own pace, become more independent and self-taught. It is simply brilliant!

With a passion for education, I (Ron here) decided to refresh my math skills and experience this revolutionary learning method first hand. I started at the very beginning (literally addition and subtraction). Now, I am working my way though Algebra with the goal to go all the way through Calculus, a subject I did not take in high school or college.

As luxury real estate brand strategist, market leaders, or their challengers, hire Alexandra and me to help them capture or secure the lion’s share of their marketplace. This requires creative problem solving skills to help our clients out-smart not out-spend their competition.

Studying mathematics again has definitely helped to sharpen these skills. But, it has also been a pure luxury to learn just for the joy of learning. It was this quote by Galileo that inspired me to “go back to school”.

“Philosophy is written in that great book that ever lies before our eyes—I mean the universe—but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols in which it is written. This book is written in the mathematical language…without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth” --Galileo

Galileo’s quote also resonated with what we have been sharing with our LOL audience:

To be successful as a luxury real estate marketing professional and continuously expand your referral base of high net-worth individuals, you must learn to speak their language, the Language of Luxury. You will continue to appreciate in value, as a professional, if you do so.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Differentiate Yourself with Substance

September 24, 2012

If you are going to take the trouble to brand yourself as the “go-to” luxury real estate marketing professional in your area, make sure that your marketing message clearly and sharply differentiates you form your competition. Your marketing message must have substance and leave no room for guessing about what you are trying to convey. That is, if you want gain more market share.

Your substance is the essential nature that makes you stand out. It is what we call the DNA of your personal brand. Most importantly, it is that which is inimitable about you in a business context, expressed in such a way that it instantly addresses your target market’s most pressing needs better than your competitor does. Here are some examples of marketing messages that are devoid in substance and effective brand messaging.

As we were perusing our menu at the Cheesecake Factory, we noticed this Diet Coke ad, which in our opinion says absolutely nothing about how Coke is different from Pepsi or other competitors (see the image above). What is the message here? Is a bottle of Diet Coke a liquid asset (in financial speak)? Does drinking Coke assure that you will “stay extraordinary”? We can only guesstimate the huge amount of money that went into this campaign and completely missed its target.

A VW commercial opens with people of all ages laughing, which is always a delight. It ends with the VW logo and the slogan, “It’s not the miles; it is how you live them.” A great thought, but does it compel you to purchase one of their cars vs. a competing model? They want you go to a website called, whyvw.com, and read about VW values: quality, safety, value (for the price), environment and performance. These values should be every car manufacturer’s values. It still leaves the question, “Why VW?

A large institution recently purchased one of the local banks in Santa Barbara. Their ads are everywhere in town attempting to promote how they are different. Each ad focuses on a single word that is supposed to communicate this. Here are the words: integrity, friendliness, trustworthiness and teamwork. Is that not what banks are supposed to have? Would this campaign get you to switch banks?

Luxury real estate marketing professionals often try to differentiate themselves by touting their integrity or their friendliness. Isn’t that the price of admission for any professional? Dig deeper and identify what is substantive about you, and how that can meet the needs of your target market. That is what branding is all about.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Beyond Popcorn to Tasty Marketing

September 19, 2012

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is important to keep up with luxury marketing ideas that are outside the real estate field, as they can inspire and refresh your marketing approaches. Here is an ingenious idea to lure the movie going public engaged in actually going to movie theatres, rather than waiting for Netflix or other on-demand channels to release the film.

This year at the New York City Food Film Festival, popcorn will not be served. At the movie “Whiskey: The Islay Edition,” a story about the importance of single malt scotch to the island of Islay, scotch will be served along with a bacon wrapped steak. At the Chicago Food Film Festival there will be a presentation of “Mozzarella, Inc.,” a documentary about two young Italian Mozzarella salesmen in London, and fresh mozzarella will be served.

Not to be outdone, at the first annual Minneapolis, Feast for the Eyes Film Festival they plan to feature local food and micro brews with their film lineup. This will include new movies such as “Now Forager,” a story set in the New York restaurant milieu that features mushroom hunting (foraging) as a setting for falling in love. No doubt wild mushrooms with be part of the goodies served.

How can this translate to luxury real estate marketing? One of our clients in the wine country has new wine tasting at her office by invitation only. She serves an array of hors d’oeuvres made by one of the celebrity chefs in town. This has created great buzz for her business as well as listings and sales. Now that is a tasty marketing strategy!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Dominate Your Niche & Not Go Buggy!

September 17, 2012

In marketing luxury real estate, being a generalist is the surest path to mediocrity. The fastest route to market leadership is to identify an uncontested or underserved market niche that you can dominate. However, you must find a niche that you can serve better than anyone else and you must be genuinely passionate about it. To understand this vital principle, here is an example of how this plays out in a completely different field.

Did you happen to catch the season premiere of Shark Tank, the reality show where 5 wealthy entrepreneurs (including Barbara Corcoran, the New York real estate maven) compete to invest in promising start-up companies? The two women who invented BuggyBeds, the early detection system for bed bugs, made a presentation that wowed all five Sharks, and us too! They had turned down a buy-out of $5 million dollars prior to appearing on the show.

Apparently, there is a significant increase in the reported cases of bed bug infestation in the last few years. Females lay up to 500 eggs! Their patented early detection bed bug glue trap slips under a mattress and sells for $8.98 for a package of four. Now, here is an uncontested market niche! With the Shark’s help, every major hotel chain, every mattress company, every home improvement store chain and more will soon carry this product.

BuggyBeds is a need that consumers did not even know they had. Now, “over-night” it will become a necessity. They got their branding spot on! The brand name itself identifies the new product category they created.

When you identify an uncontested market niche you create news. By promoting the new category to a news-hungry media you can promote your brand in the process. By leveraging the media (including social media) you can maximize public relations and word-of-mouth advertising and minimize your marketing expense.

When you take on an uncontested market niche in this way, your competition, if any, becomes inconsequential. If they attempt to copy you they are perceived as a “me-too” (think Zune vs. iPod). Once you break the news about the category, their chance of getting substantial media coverage is very slim. They will have to out-spend you in marketing to try to keep up with you.

If you have selected a niche that is not new, but is underserved, you still have the opportunity to create news because you or your company becomes the viable alternative to your competition that heretofore was not challenged. You can still spark word-of-mouth advertising that can lead to dominating your niche.

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Luxury Real Estate Website Design: The Winning Formula--Eye Catching Design + Original Content

September 13, 2012

Courtesy of Apple

In recent posts we have been focused on the importance of capturing attention with superior luxury real estate website design and holding attention with original content. We rarely include You Tube videos in our posts. But, this one is so astonishing because it so clearly illustrates both of these concepts.

Human beings tend to make snap judgments and pigeonhole people based on outward appearance. That is why great web design is vital for capturing attention. Apple, the most highly valued company in the world, certainly understood the value of excellence in design. Without it you may be ignored, despite your talent, not to mention the time, energy and money you have spent getting people to your site in the first place.

But, once you have captured their attention with eye-catching design, holding it is an entirely different challenge. That is where continuously providing fresh, follow-worthy and share-worthy ORIGINAL content comes into play. It can spark and accelerate word-of-mouth advertising for you or your company. This video has been viewed over 20 million times. We hope it inspires you as much as it did the two of us. If the video does not appear on your screen, here is the link.

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Luxury Real Estate Website Design: Does Your Website Stir Emotions?

September 12, 2012

Great luxury real estate marketing begins with eye catching website design and emotional branding because, for many consumers, your site is their first impression of you or your company. Does your webstie stir emotions?

You may be familiar with Ferrari and Lamborghini, two of Italy’s most famous sports cars. But, unless you are a motorcycle enthusiast you may not have heard of Ducati, perhaps the most attractive motorcycles in the world.

Ducati is committed to racing competitions and excellence in performance. Yet, their unmistakable style is a pure expression of their passion for world-class design. Each bike Is built by hand not by robots. Ducati designs stirs emotions!

Ducati understands emotional branding and their marketing message is communicated loud and clear. In their collateral material, they describe their design as having “sinuous, seductive, flexible lines with a permanent, timeless quality that sets an unsurpassable standard”. They know that their bikes dominate the dreams of the most discriminating motorcycle enthusiasts in over 60 countries where their bikes are sold.

Before they ever discuss the unique mechanical features of their bikes or their impressive track record for winning 15 out of 18 World Superbike Championships they entice potential buyers with the opportunity to own a piece of kinetic art. Ducati’s impeccable design creates an immediate emotion sale.

Pay close attention to your luxury real estate website design. Favorable first impressions are so important. Before you start boasting about your top performance, let your superior website design be your silent salesperson.

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Does Your Website Home Page Capture Attention and Draw Traffic?

September 11, 2012

The design of the home page of a luxury real estate marketing website should have a wow factor. The best global luxury retail brands understand this principle when they design their store front windows. The goal:capture attention-draw traffic into the store!

Whenever we are in Beverly Hills, we take the time to study the store front windows. In the window display depicted above, the handbag appears to be hung on a branch. However, the tree is actually a photograph that creates this optical illusion in the window of the Louis Vuitton store.

You can spin your wheels and waste valuable time in social media in blogging and in search engine marketing that drives traffic to your website if your website does not capture their attention immediately. Take a lesson from the top luxury brands and make sure that your website visitors feel compelled to enter your store and shop. Does Your Website Home Page Capture Attention and Draw Traffic?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Are You Suffering from Bloggers Block?

September 10, 2012

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, consistently adding fresh, new, original content to your website by blogging is good for your ranking in Google. More importantly, it can help expand your sphere of influence. That is, if you are writing original content that is buzz-worthy, share-worthy, newsworthy and follow-worthy. But, how do the best bloggers avoid getting stale? How do they prevent Bloggers Block?

The antidote to Bloggers Block can be summed up in this way:BE CURIOUS When you are passionate about your subject matter, you naturally become interested and open to new, fresh information that others do not even bother to perceive. You become a magnet for news!

One of our favorite pastimes is strolling along the beach in Santa Barbara. We discovered early on that the beach is never the same from day to day. The tides continuously change. They bring new creatures and sea treasures to our attention every time. The people are new. Even their dogs are new. We have learned about so many breeds of dogs that we did not know existed. And, we are cat people!

Recently, we passed by a couple of young girls who were squealing about some discovered treasure that was clinging to the base of a garland of kelp. It was a bunch of sea urchins. We had not seen one up close before that day. Yet, sea urchins are known as “Santa Barbara gold” because they grow in great abundance right off our coast where they are harvested, then exported to far off places like Japan.

Had those girls not been so excited we probably would have passed that kelp plant right by. Instead, we were enriched by their discovery and our research on the subject.

As a journalist, blogging can introduce you to new worlds and new people who can become potential referral sources for your luxury real estate marketing practice. So, if you are suffering from Bloggers Block, just be curious. That will get you right back into the flow of following your passion.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Why Google Keeps Changing Its Algorithms

September 7, 2012

This week, we were reviewing the Google ranking of a luxury real estate marketing professional who is the top producing agent in her marketplace, but ranks 7^th in natural search results on her primary keyword phrase. Of the two agents who were ranked higher on the same page, one sold just a single property over the last 12 months and the other did not sell even a single property!

Are consumers being served by placing mediocre agents ahead of market leaders? Google doesn’t think so. That is why they are constantly trying to fine-tune their algorithms to achieve more satisfying results.

In the context of finding qualified local service professionals on the Internet, Google’s ideal job is simply to match the consumer’s search query with the most authoritative experts in a given marketplace. For Google, customer satisfaction with this “matchmaking” service is paramount because they are able to place revenue-generating ads on these popular pages.

Prior to the Internet and search engines, it was statistically proven that whoever got the first buyer or seller call had the best chance of winning the business. While this may still be true with telephone contact, we question that it is true online when it comes to search engine ranking, especially in luxury real estate marketing. One glance at a cluttered site that is difficult to navigate can send a web visitor back to the search result page in a single click.

In another instance one of our local business organizations was looking for a speaker on social media. They hired the #1 ranked “authority” on Google to speak and the group was horrified by the presentation. It was obvious to every businessperson in attendance that this guy barely knew what he was talking about. When confronted his response was, “I know how to rank #1”.

In addition to strong basic SEO architectural structure on your site itself, Google is looking for current, fresh, relevant, authoritative, ORIGINAL CONTENT more so now than ever. And, they are adjusting their algorithms accordingly.

Consistently publishing and distributing new content (through social media channels) via your blog is the best vehicle to achieve this. Getting other authoritative websites to establish links to your newsworthy, follow worthy, original content is also very helpful. But, the days of just publishing unoriginal content, that has even become boring to the Google robots, is over!

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Marketing Luxury Real Estate: Beverly Hills Branded Barricades

September 6, 2012

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is important to immerse oneself in all aspects of luxury marketing, not just real estate. By observing the top global luxury brands one can learn volumes about communicating to high net worth clients.

Today on an early morning jaunt to Beverly Hills for a meeting, we had time to spare. After fueling ourselves with a warm bagel from St. Urbain, we took a walk on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Dior had moved up the street to a larger location. They had an innovative branded barricade to mask the remodeling and construction in the store.

Dior created a façade that looks like a quilted leather bag. It was so realistic that we were compelled to feel the paper to make sure it was not leather. Every detail was present including the handle and the Dior bauble that hangs on it. The strategy here was promoting their unique handbags as well as their innovative, creative designs.

The Christian Dior brand, which is part of the LVMH family (Louis Vuitton Moet & Hennessy), is beautifully and harmoniously represented here. Christian Dior, the designer, revolutionized the fashion industry in 1946, departing from the then popular boxy look to more feminine lines. He said, “I have designed flower women," emphasizing the curvaceous form of women. His innovative thinking provided a legacy that lives on as you can see,

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: The Luxury of Disconnecting

August 31, 2012

As luxury real estate marketing professionals, many feel that being available on a 24/7 basis will insure success. It seems like everyone is connected via every possible device, software and social media platform. You may feel that it is admirable or even heroic. However, there is a time for being inaccessible and completely disconnected.

Traveling earlier this week on business brought about an unexpected event. At one of the locations we did not have cell or internet access. We had to use a “land line” (an endangered species) to call those who were expecting to hear from us. Everyone understood. We took advantage of the lack of digital connection to connect with our surroundings and each other. That day gave us time to refresh and enjoy what was remarkable about our client’s marketplace.

As we approach the Labor Day Weekend, it is important to re-evaluate the notion of being accessible 24/7 and seek moderation. You may discover the strength that comes from setting limits. When you are rested you magnify your power to attract and perceive more opportunities. Plus, your quality of life naturally improves. Wishing you all a happy Labor Day!

Cheers, Ron & Alexandra

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Marketing Luxury Real Estate Tip: Cost of Living vs. Cost of Not Living

August 27, 2012

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is essential that you understand the value of “living it up” because this is, more often than not, the mindset of your high net worth target market. It seems like there is far too much concern about increases in the cost of living. Have you ever considered the high cost of not living?

Those who truly enjoy their wealth offer clues to those who aspire to acquire their own. They are typically the most generous of human beings in that respect.

“Living it up” does not necessarily mean extravagance. Small indulgences and simple pleasures can send you into a mental state of abundance, a perspective that allows you see the world from an affluent vantage point—a world of possibilities and opportunities.

Sure, there are those who are entrapped by their wealth. They are so worried about losing what they have or comparing their net worth to others that they are not really living at all.

Recently, we visited friends who adopted “Buddy”, the rescue Golden Retriever, as a surprise present for their 6-year-old son. One look at Buddy and you were transported into state of sheer delight and appreciation for the abundance of goodness in nature. Such loving eyes, such playfulness! Buddy’s message to the world: “Forget your troubles, come on, get happy!” He cajoled anyone who came into his presence to play with him and live it up. He was impossible to resist.

The more frequently you can live it up, the more opportunities you will perceive to connect with others who share your abundant mindset. And, the more business you will attract as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Do you have a "Buddy"?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Turning a Mistake into a Success with Transparency

August 23, 2012

As with any business or professional practice, luxury real estate marketing professionals sometimes make mistakes. For some, it is hard to admit for fear of being judged unfavorably. We believe it is best to be transparent about mistakes and do your best to turn them into opportunities to build trust.

Recently, Apple made some missteps in staffing their stores. They announced their mistake, corrected it and moved on. That is transparency.

As we were passing the wine aisle at the market, the label (depicted above), with a big orange question mark, caught our attention. It really stood out from the others. It was priced at $5.99, so we could not resist our curiosity. Soon, we discovered the story of this particular bottle from Oreana Winery. It is simply labeled as red table wine and we enjoyed it very much.

Here is their story as seen on their label,

“Mistake or Fate? I pondered this as I removed the hose from the stainless steel tank. The wrong tank lot 1203 and lot 419 were now one. Once destined to be bottled individually, now and forever fused. A phone call to a mentor elicited a quick response, ‘varietal wine? Blend it man and blend it well!’ I reached for a glass to decide what blue rain had been created from this mishap. This is a soft, satiny, sexy wine, with voluptuous black cherry and blackberry fruit, plus layers of chocolate and spices suggestive of cinnamon, mint and more. It is powerful and complex, yet open and accessible."

WOW! It fully lived up to its description. It was the perfect accompaniment to our Margarita, heirloom tomato and fresh basil pizza.

What impressed us was the transparency in admitting a mistake and turning it into a success. The label fits perfectly as no varietal grape is listed.

Turn your mistakes into successes! Be transparent. Keep building trust. Your reputation is the core component of your personal or company brand. This is an iconic example of branding that is remarkable and memorable. Oreana as a winery was not even on our radar screen, and with this branding coup we will never forget it. It made an indelible impression.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: The Economics of Aligned Self Interests

August 21, 2012

In marketing luxury real estate it is important to understand how to create and execute the economics of aligned self interest. This strategy is one that takes all parties into account by understanding their points of views i.e. their self motivated interests. By understanding others' points of views (walking in their shoes) you can connect with them and create a new paradigm resulting in a viable and harmonious outcome for everyone involved. Here is an example of the economics of aligned self interests from the retail world.

If you have been in a large mall lately, you may have noticed an interesting kiosk/booth called “me’ality” with a slogan below it, “measured reality ™”. This booth as described by their literature is “a size matching station because one size fits nobody”. The technology in this booth is a safe scanning device that takes 200,000 measurements of an individual’s body (women in this instance). These measurements are translated into a list of stores (Gap, Levi, DKNY, and Ralph Lauren to name a few) which carry jeans that will fit your body and specifies the size and the cut which is perfect for you.

Whose bottom lines benefit here? The malls have experienced additional traffic because of this kiosk. Additional traffic translates into more sales for all the tenants in the mall and that means fewer empty stores. (One of the tenants in the Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks, California, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf had a notice on the booth giving away a $5.00 gift card for signing up with me’ality.) The retailers are subscribing by the droves with me’ality, and their list is growing daily. Me’ality has had national positive media coverage. Retailers are reporting more sales and less returns and exchanges. Customers are finding the perfect fit in jeans and are telling friends about this time saving device.

Here is a real estate example. In our commercial real estate practice, we were approached by an architectural firm wanting to lease a building they would design in a particular geographic area. We put out feelers in the brokerage community looking for land that could be developed into a 3 story office building. One of our favorite teams responded. They had a piece of land in escrow contingent on the buyer (developer) finding a sizable tenant willing to sign a long term lease for a 3 story office building. The fact that our clients were a noted firm was a bonus to the developer. Everyone’s economic self interest was served. Our architectural firm fulfilled their desire to create the perfect building for themselves. The developer had a piece of land that increased in value because of the building and the income generated. And the brokers made a very nice commission.

So next time you are negotiating or trying to fulfill wishes for a buyer/seller in marketing luxury real estate take a moment to examine their self motivated interest, and find out what is in it for them. Find a way to align all interests geared to the same goal…a successful transaction

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Does Your Brand Command a Premium?

August 15, 2012

When you are passionate about what you do and you have aligned your passion with a career path that can deliver the economic benefits that you desire, opportunities seek you out. And, you can perceive opportunities quicker than your competition. In fact you can find the trail to opportunities in even the most mundane non-obvious places.

As passionate brand strategists in luxury real estate marketing we find the opportunity to expound upon the principles of branding everywhere we look. Here is an example of the value of achieving top of mind status. Recently, we had a minor overnight invasion of ants that attacked the cat food. We were fortunate to nip this problem in the bud. But, we decided to take preventative measures for potential midnight raids. We sought out ant bait/traps. Two brands were prominently displayed: Combat and Raid. Both boxes were the same price. We assumed they were equally efficient.

Raid is the brand that comes to mind first for us and Combat is not even on our radar screen. Combat had 6 traps in the box and Raid had four. Raid, obviously commanded a 50% premium based on their brand recognition. In a time starved world the majority of people would select to brand that comes to mind first, underlines the value of brand recognition. There is no inherent value of the actual ingredients of the product. Trust in the brand is the added value.

We selected Combat overriding our natural proclivity to the brand that came to mind first. This is a mega trend in luxury marketing today: luxury brands can no longer get away with a 50% plus premium on their name alone, they have to demonstrate actual value.

Sellers and buyers are getting smarter when it comes to luxury real estate. One of the interesting outcomes of the global economic upheaval, luxury real estate consumers are looking for intrinsic value and are unwilling to pay a premium for a home or any other goods, if the intrinsic added value is non-existent. As a luxury real estate marketing profession, it is now imperative to define your added value and it better be substantive, so that you can achieve top of mind status. Does your brand command a premium?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Do You Speak Bespoke?

August 13, 2012

DNA STRAND

The word “bespoke” is what every luxury real estate marketing professional needs to know. The term "bespoke" comes from England where it originally referred to custom or tailor-made clothing. “In recent years, however, the term has been applied to information technology and also refers to custom services or products.” (from techterms.com)

In our former lives as commercial real estate broker owners in Beverly Hills and environs, we practiced bespoke service. Each buyer, seller, investor, lessor and lessee were treated and taken care of in a unique way based on their preferences. At the very beginning of our relationship we sat down with each person found out what they needed and wanted from our services as well as their expectations. We also clarified how they liked to be communicated with. Some of our clients preferred weekly meetings and phone calls as well as a written report. Buyers had other criteria, and our developer clients wanted an immediate call and offer written for their fax signature, when some gem came on the market.

Today as branding and marketing strategists, we practice bespoke service. We fly out to each client’s marketplace. We spend time getting to know their marketplace and see the business of their luxury real estate through their eyes. We establish our relationship and specify their preferred ways of communication and adhere to that.

By thoroughly studying our client’s competition, we help our clients identify and pioneer hidden, untapped market opportunities where they can passionately provide extraordinary value. By establishing and dominating an uncontested market niche their profit margins increase and their competition becomes inconsequential. We also help our clients define their goals and their preferences.

With that knowledge in hand, we work on developing an over arching strategy. From that strategy we develop a brand, brand graphics and subsequently a web site geared to fulfilling the strategy. We also assist our clients in creating a work-style and lifestyle that’s in-sync, so that they can experience a profound sense of control over their personal and professional life.

Bespoke is our style of communication and is reflected in the brands and strategies we come up with. We know that “one size does not fit all”, every market is unique, and every individual or company is unique and they deserve to be treated that way. Do you speak bespoke?

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