Branding Moments: What Makes You Buy?

Ever wonder why your competitor was given a listing you would have loved to have.  Why did the seller choose them over you?  If you want to know the answer, a good place to start is to observe your own buying habits.  What makes you buy one product over another?  Here is an example:

When we were in Oregon, we were asked to select a wine at the local Albertson’s.  Our friends selected an Oregon Cabernet Sauvignon, and as we looked over the wine section, at the California selection.  This California wine stood out from the usual choices.  Here are the reasons we bought.

1.    The winemaker, Marc Mondavi, comes from a great winemaking family.  His uncle, Robert Mondavi, put the Napa Valley on the global wine map.  This heritage gave this bottle credibility and trust. 

We also knew that unlike some Napa and Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignons, this would not be a fruit forward wine what is known as a “fruit bomb”.  The Mondavi family is known for their Bordeaux style cabs.

2.    The region where the wine is grown, the Alexander Valley, has the ideal hot weather that Cabernet Sauvignon grapes love.

These two factors influenced our 2 minute decision to buy the wine.  We were delighted that we all liked the wine and it exceeded our expectations.  We took a picture of the label to remember it by.

At home, we did further research and expanded our understanding by taking an additional look at the label. Two more factors supported our initial decision for buying this wine.

3.    The red trademark, EX AQUA VINUM, Latin for from water comes wine. We liked the description, “Winemaker and Water Witch Extraordinaire.

4.    The brand story is compelling, winemaker and water witch extraordinaire.  We liked the illustration of the divining rods of a water witch.  Unlike geologists who charge thousand of dollars to dig for water, Marc Mondavi is often hired to use his rods and find water in vineyards for $500. He has built a stellar reputation in both California and Oregon vineyards, and his success rate is 95%.

Analyze your own buying habits, and the decisions and reasons you buy.  You may uncover some interesting factors that will improve your presentation and packaging.  What makes you buy?

Market To The Right People And They Will Beat a Path To Your Door

To market effectively take the time to research your target market thoroughly. Learn about their lifestyles and their values. Focus your undivided attention and marketing dollars on these people, the right people for you.  Then watch them beat a path to your door.

Research takes time and critical thinking (the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment). It may take longer to find the exact sweet spot, the right people.  However, once you do your research your success rate will increase significantly. 

Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo know that people are searching in specific terms.  They want specific answers for their query: “homes with wine cellars”, or “home with vineyards”.  The search terms are becoming even more granular: “home with 5000 square foot wine cellar” or “home with 3-5 acre vineyards” (aka gentleman’s vineyard). Like search engines, you have to know how each market segment differs in the same city, or even in the community around the bend.

Demographics in California may be similar to those in Colorado. However, the lifestyles, tastes, values and attitudes are vastly different. What ranks high on someone values list may be utterly unimportant to another person with the same demographics in another state.

Understanding the lifestyles and values of your target market and speaking their language leads to effective marketing that produces real results.  Market to the right people and they will beat a path to your door. 

A Curious Branding Moment In Beverly Hills: The Purple People Have Arrived!

Bright and early this morning as the streets of Beverly Hills were deserted, your intrepid branding and strategic marketing duo, Ron and Alexandra Seigel, were stunned.  In Gucci’s windows they saw that the Purple People have landed in Beverly Hills. 

What was remarkable according to the Gucci press is that they come from a galaxy called, Gucci, in another universe, far, far away…

It has also been reported that Alessandro Michele, newly appointed (2016) creative director of Gucci and responsible for all its collections and global brand image was inspired by classic sci-fi movies of the 1950’s and 1960”s.  He was also inspired by Gene Rodenberry ‘s brilliant creation of Star Trek.

We are wondering if the One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater has heard the news?  

This is definitely a creative campaign, and we are pondering will this collection sell or just spark viral marketing?  What do you think?

Branding Moments With Print: Enchantment Realized-Objects Come Alive!

In yesterday’s post we discussed the windows of Hermes in Beverly Hills.  And the picture above is part of their print campaign.  It suggests enchantment, magical moments, and dreams realized.

We marveled at the concept and the genius it took to create this fantasy world on a piece of paper.  There are so many subtle details: the orange brand color featured in the horse mounting aid (pictured on the left), and the stirrup shaped perfume bottle Galop d’Hermes, galloping away with an invisible rider.  This is no doubt a salute to the brand’s origin as saddle makers to royalty!

With this play on magic, they are reaffirming their luxury standards, and why they rank as one of the best global luxury brands.  When objects are well made, they have a pleasurable quality as you touch them or wear them.  You can feel the craftsmanship and revel in it.  And that is enchantment realized!

Branding Moments: Selling With Breakfast at Hermes In Beverly Hills

We are always intrigued by the window displays of the big brands. It is the expression of how a brand maintains its visibility with the public.  Hermes always captures our attention with their creative approach to displaying their merchandise.

As with everything Hermes does, they hire the best people for every aspect of their merchandise, as well as their marketing.  We have watched how they hand sew their purses stitch by stitch, and admired the workmanship on ties and scarves with their hand rolled edges that are also fastened by someone’s skillful hands.

We study brands like Hermes, because they inspire us with their creativity and attention to detail.   Whether or not this display is appealing, it certainly gets your attention.

Are You Maintaining Your Visibility In Your Marketplace?

If you are interested in achieving market leadership in your local marketplace think of yourself more like a celebrity and think of your luxury or other real estate marketing business more like a media.  It may seem like a big stretch, but those who make this shift in thinking will be the big winners for years to come.

Create a plan to parlay your reputation and personal brand into celebrity status. Here are the three keys to the plan:

1. Develop a celebrity/media mindset
2. Build your audience, consistently
3. Gain and maintain visibility

Your Mindset: You need to think of your business not only as luxury or other real estate marketing practice, but also as a media with your brand as the star. This is not about pretentiousness; it is about becoming a savvy marketing expert.  How can you expect to win trophy and otherwise listings if you cannot demonstrate to the sellers, through your personal marketing, that you are the superior choice over your competition?

Instead of being what we call a “transaction engineer”, you must become a marketing company who also processes transactions professionally. This is the metamorphosis that most agents are unwilling to do, which is why it represents such an outstanding opportunity for you, if you do it right.  High net worth clients expect you to have integrity, local market knowledge and excellent negotiating skills, just like your closest competitors. But, how will you stand out from the pack?  How will you gain top of mind/celebrity status?  Those are the questions!

Your Audience: The best way we have found to quickly increase your sphere of influence and leverage your personal brand is through a buzz-worthy blog. Blogging is a vehicle for self-publishing. As your own media, you do not need to answer to an editor. It puts you in control and enables you to capitalize on the primary promise of social media: rapidly amassing a sizable audience of raving fans.   

Do not forget to include print marketing, postcards as part of your visibility. When your sellers insist on print advertising look at it as an opportunity to promote your brand.   One of our clients bought the cover page of a magazine, and her seller was so delighted that she took magazines to other sellers in her community to show what “her” agent had done…The return on investment to our client was 5 new listings in the community.

Your Visibility:  Managing your reputation, maintaining your star power, and staying visible in your marketplace are essentials. When you achieve high visibility you put yourself in position to parlay your celebrity status into additional revenue streams

2017 Brand of the Year: Wagner Family of Wine – Part 2

Recently, we visited our local wine store, here in Santa Barbara to select an Argentinian Malbec from the Mendoza region. A bottle of Red Schooner (pictured above) captured our attention solely because of its stunning old world label. Upon closer inspection we saw the red banner in the sky containing the words “Wagner Family” from Napa Valley.  We were so impressed by how well the label told the brand story that we chose Wagner Family of Wine as The Language of Luxury 2017 Brand of the Year. Here is why:

Credibility & Heritage:

We already know and love Caymus, owned by the Wagner Family of Wine in Napa Valley. Caymus is the only winery in the world to have received the prestigious “Wine of the Year” award twice by Wine Spectator for its legendary Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon.

As a four-generation family-owned wine business, the Wagners have successfully created several other sub-brands such as Conundrum, the popular fruit-forward blend of white wines. The choice of the brand name, Red Schooner and the vintage graphics amplified this brand dimension of “heritage”.

Transparent Use of Technology

Red Schooner is made from grapes grown in the Andes Mountains, but shipped chilled to Napa Valley and produced with the same techniques as their Caymus Cabernet.  Delicately handled and kept in cold stasis the grapes arrive in California in pristine condition.  The use of this technology is completely transparent to the consumer.

Turning Labeling Constraints Into a Brand Story

Most of the world best Malbecs are produced in Argentina. But, Red Schooner is not a Malbec produced in Argentina. Nor, is it a Napa Malbec because it is produced with grapes from Argentina. Falling outside standard labeling rules, it does not include a vintage date but is known by the voyage from which it was produced (Voyage 3 is the 2012 vintage). Hence, these labeling constraints were turned into the core of the brand story. Brilliant!!!

Winemaker’s Notes: A Malbec with a California twist. Floral, Chocolate and creamy rich like the Caymus Cabs! We loved it!

What are the branding lessons you can apply here in your luxury real estate marketing practice?

2017 Brand of the Year: Wagner Family of Wine – Part 1

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, standing out from your competition is of paramount importance. Done right, your personal or company branding accelerates the decision making process for home sellers to consistently choose YOU to list their home. 

But, what if you are the current market leader known as the expert in a specific niche, how do you expand into another niches where you have not yet achieved top-of-mind status? Studying how the world’s best brands, in other industries, have successfully created sub-brands, can offer tremendous insights that can help propel your expansion into additional luxury real estate market niches.

In the very crowded wine industry it is extremely challenging to introduce a new brand that stands out from the crowd.  Without a recommendation from a trusted friend, or from a trusted purveyor of fine wines, or from an article written by a trusted source, how do you choose a wine that is just right for you, without first tasting it?

While it is true that you cannot judge a book by its cover, the same applies to judging a wine by its label. However, with so many bottles of wine vying for your attention a stunning label or a distinctive bottle can be the first step in standing out from the crowd.  To hold the attention of the consumer you first have to capture the consumer’s attention. 

And, that is what great packaging, labeling, graphics and a compelling brand story can do. Just check out the photo above of wine bottles without labels. Do you have any clue whatsoever that can help you decide to purchase one of them?

In this article series, we feature Wagner Family of Wine, who became famous for Caymus, one of Napa Valley’s finest Cabernet Sauvignons. As a four-generation family-owned wine business, the Wagners have successfully created several other sub-brands.  For this reason we have chosen Wagner Family of Wine as The Language of Luxury 2017 Brand of the Year.

Watch for Part 2 and learn how to expand into a new market niche.

Do Clothes Make Brokers & Agents? Fall Fashion Windows In Beverly Hills

Not long ago Hella M. Rothwell, Broker/Realtor® asked this question in the Q&A Section of Active Rain: "Clothes make the real estate person?"  

In the spirit of research and desire to share the latest and greatest fashion for Fall 2017, we took time to acquaint ourselves with the latest and greatest fashions.  These photos are from the Gucci windows.

Floral prints are in for women, which in our humble opinion replicates a Victorian room.

And this photo illustrates what the well-dressed man will wear this autumn in 2017. We can attest to the fact that we know several successful male agents who do wear this type of garb which includes short pants, white socks and slim fitting jackets.  This fits their image in their marketplace.  It does not in other marketplaces.

If you are wondering what the heck was the designer thinking?  We can answer that. This is the "new" street chic look" aimed to grab the attention of the millennial generation!  Yes, some of them have money to spend on these looks which includes paying $95.00 for the right white socks to wear with these shrunken pants.

What do you think? Do Clothes Make Brokers and Agents?

Branding Moments: Does Your Ad Communicate, Or Is It Just Ho-hum?

If you are going to spend the money on a print ad, make sure that it is not just another ad for a home.  Don’t leave the onlooker wonder or just turn the page.  Unlike the public at large, we pay attention to ads because it is part of what we do for our clients.  We want to make sure that the message is communicated clearly and succinctly.

As we look at this Richard Mille ad, at first glance, we see a tube of lipstick holding up a watch. Or is it a red bullet based on the “caliber RM 037” notation.  After some research we discovered that it is the name of the watch, “Red Bullet Caliber RM037.  Leaving room for misunderstanding creates friction and barriers in the purchasing process. Worst of all, it leaves a ho-hum impression.

What Is Missing In This Picture?

In England and other Commonwealth countries judges and barristers (lawyers) still wear powdered wigs, as part of their formal attire, to bring a sense of formality and solemnity to proceedings. In French there is a saying that perfectly describes people who copy or parrot others without a foundation of knowledge or research, just to impress others: It’s “wearing the wig without the brain”. 

In this day of fake news and faux journalism, jaded opinions and paid social influencers, it has never been more important to get your facts accurate when blogging or conversing with your luxury real estate clients. Otherwise, they will begin to ask themselves, “What is missing in this picture” and the answer will be YOUR BRAINS!

Recently, we heard about a listing of mansion owned by a very famous American family. Three agents were interviewed. Only one knew the difference between the Monet and Manet (two renowned, original impressionist artists). The other two agents relied on their respective company’s brand and affiliations with British auction houses to impress the seller; they personally had no clue about the famous Impressionist paintings in this home. They had the wig without the brain.

Had the other two agents taken the time to research the coffee table book published about the art and furnishings within this mansion they would have had a better chance to win the listing.  But, alas they were dismissed on the basis of lack of research alone!

The moral of the story is ask yourself what is missing in your knowledge base whether you are selling a luxury home or anything else.  Your value as an agent will continue to appreciate over time if you do.

How Differentiating Yourself With Features Becomes So 5 Minutes Ago

Using features to differentiate yourself from your competition is an invitation to be imitated. Dig deeper to discover what makes YOU inimitable.

Features like drone photography that add drama to listing videos or 3D photography of interiors can be copied immediately. What initially helps you to stand out and impress your target market becomes old news, fast.  We say these kinds of features have a shelf life of 5 minutes before everyone who loves to copy and hop on your bandwagon, jumps in.

The picture above is of two pairs of sneakers designed by Valentino named the Rockstud Genuine Mink Fur Sneaker.  It is priced at $1245.  Not to be outdone by Valentino, Givenchy, another luxury brand has a similar shoes with genuine mink for $950.  Moncler, the luxury ski clothing brand, has genuine fox-covered sneakers for $670. 

For those who prefer “faux” fur for a fraction of the price, designers such as Sam Edelman and Steve Madden have come up with sneakers with faux fur priced at $55.00 to $90.00.  You can also buy an assortment of faux fur shoe clips for $15.00 each or real mink fur balls for $22.50.

Do not pin your hopes on just using features to distinguish yourself from your competition.  Work on expressing your unique promise of value in a way that cannot be imitated.

How To Find The Under-Served Market Niche!

We are often asked how does one find the under-served market niche in order to dominate in your chosen marketplace?

First, you need to identify what category your competitor is. Here is an example of how we found an under-served niche for one of our clients. At first glance, it looked like her three competitors dominated the luxury marketplace, and all three had stellar reputations.

The first competitor was working with historically established “old wealth” families like her own.  They all belonged to the same country club, lived in the same neighborhoods, shopped in the same stores, and went to the same private schools.

The second competitor was politically connected through her work in raising funds for politicians as well as her husband’s legal firm.  This group of people lived in the same neighborhoods, and they were connected through similar interests and business ventures.

The third competitor had a background in international business. Her clientele was international buyers. She was known for only taking listings that were priced at $4million and above. 

All three had what is known in marketing speak “an unfair advantage” based on established connections. Unless we could give our client a personality and background transplant, she did not have a chance to compete in these luxury segments of this marketplace.

Second you need to thoroughly research your marketplace to locate the under-served niche.  It can be based on psycho graphics as illustrated above by the competitors.  This is just one way to identify an under served market niche.

The under-served niche was the emerging entrepreneurial wealth.  They were creators, innovators, iconoclasts (those who challenge established beliefs), and hip nerds looking for luxury homes in areas that were different.  Her personality, core values and love of modern art fit like a glove with these new path blazers.  We called this category, “hip luxury.”

The third step is to develop a strategy. From this a brand statement emerges.  Now you are ready for a logo, which encompasses images, fonts, colors that are all in harmony with the brand statement and strategy. 

The first day her marketing materials came out, our client gave a brochure to her dermatologist.  That afternoon, the dermatologist’s friends called.  They wanted to sell their home and move up.  Fifteen years later, she is still prospering in this niche.

How To Identify & Cultivate Common Ground

If you want to be the market leader in your area or a niche therein you must become an expert at identifying and cultivating common ground with as many potential clients and referral sources as possible. All too often, we hear people say, “I have nothing in common with certain people”, and by that very statement, they dismiss a cornucopia of business opportunities.

Identifying and cultivating common ground is a two-step process.  Each step requires a specific skill.

Step One: Identification

To identify what you do have in common with others you need to notice more about them and their personal environment. You also need encourage people to tell you about what interests them.  Then, keep an open mind instead of shutting down after your automatic critiques and knee jerk reactions. By doing so you no doubt will see others in a new light. 

Rather than letting your critique become front and center in your mind, we would suggest that, when you meet someone for the first time, you immediately zero in on what is pleasing about them to you, or their environment.  This creates an opportunity to identify common ground.

With practice you will find that an open mind becomes your new automatic response. That is the skill that separates the good agents from the best agents. Here is an example:

We wanted to meet an influential individual in the real estate industry, and somehow he eluded us with the usual excuses: time constraints and being ultra busy.  At a NAR meeting, we noticed him trotting down the hall heading somewhere. We started trotting with him.  Our first remark other than hello was: 

“You need a new picture for your profile, you are so much better looking than your present photo!”   This was the start of a great mutually beneficial long-term relationship. He soon had a new photo taken, and thanked us for the suggestion.

Step Two:  Cultivation

In order to be fluent in the art of cultivating common ground, you have to keep educating yourself, and not just in Continuing Education Units for Real Estate.  Become savvy in a variety of subjects to cultivate a connection. Life-long learning is the other skill worth embracing.

An agent friend used her knowledge of gardening as a means to cultivate a common ground with potential sellers.  She listed the home of a couple whose pride and joy was their Japanese garden. Although, Zen gardens are not her personal preference she was fluent on the topic. The listing required no pitch whatsoever, because none of the other competing agents appreciated what was so important to the couple!

Become a master at identifying and cultivating common ground. Go forth and meet as many influential people as possible. Then, watch your garden of business grow.

Do Not Imitate Your Competition: Become Inimitable

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

Imitating your competitor is a declaration to anyone observing that you have no imagination whatsoever.  You look like a “me too!” And what is worse than that is that their way of doing things may not suit your personality or your way of doing business, or the marketplace that you are seeking to gain. 

One of our clients is known for her incredible system of staying in touch with her clients.  People love to hear from her and look forward to her distinctive mailings as well as her annual calendar.  A competitor decided to challenge her with a similar campaign, and the headline of her marketing promo read:  “I am not Valerie, I am Suzie!” (fictitious names).  Her campaign produced no results whatsoever!  What she did is strengthen our client’s hold on this community.

Beware of the temptation to imitate the market leader. It is the sure path to failure. Find out what you stand for and don’t be afraid to be inimitable!

Are You Standing Out In An Ocean of Me Too?

We often talk about the imperative of personal branding, in the highly competitive world of luxury real estate marketing. Now, with social media leveling the playing field your website is accessible more than ever before, and the need to stand out is mission critical.

Having the best “packaging” is often the determining factor in selecting an agent online because consumers are pressed for time and they have the power to quickly move on to check out your competitors in a single click. Even those who are referred to you by trusted sources will check out your website.  They want to be assured that you know how to market yourself.  If you do that well, they are assured that you will market their home well also.  Furthermore, this will indicate to a buyer that you know the marketplace and will take time to understand therm.

Recently we were in a bookstore. Alexandra was looking for a book and I snapped this picture of the “Women’s Interests” section in the magazine racks. The layout of the covers on just about every magazine in this category looked almost identical. With the exception of one magazine, every cover had a picture of a model surrounded by words intended to hook buyers. Doesn’t this remind you of the plethora of agent websites with head shots that look so much alike? Like the myriad of magazines, the content is the same.   

Statistics show that most books and magazines are selected solely based on the cover, the graphic imagery and the messaging. It is the same online. Think of your personal brand as your book cover or your magazine cover. Certainly, there is much more to your brand than this. But, if you are looked over because you blend in like the majority of magazines in any given category your shelf life is going to be limited and you will not have a chance to deliver your valuable service as often as you would like.  

It is important to understand that in blending in and looking like everyone else in the luxury real estate arena you are not demonstrating your marketing savvy. More than ever the luxury and other real estate seller/buyer is looking for the individual who understands the importance of standing out in an ocean of me too. Are you standing out in an ocean of me too?

Branding Moments: When Less Is Warmer

Getting your messaging right is perhaps the most challenging step in the personal or company branding process. It is the opportunity to convey to your target market, with brevity, essentially what makes you different and better than your competition. Yet, most luxury real estate marketing professionals pay little or no attention to their messaging.

To get an idea of how brilliantly distilled messaging can help you to quickly win over your target market check out UNIQLO LifeWear, a Japanese apparel company. Their HEATTECH turtlenecks, for example, are relatively inexpensive and come with an extraordinary promise of value stated with an economy of words.

ABBREVIATED MESSAGE:

“Less layers, more freedom”

“One thin Heattech layer gives you warmth without weight”

“HEATTECK: Less is Warm”

Catchy phrases alone cannot help you if they are not congruent with your core values. For branding to be truly successful everything must be aligned. UNIQLO’s Japanese values of “simplicity, quality, longevity” and also “continuous improvement” are their guiding principles in everything they design and manufacture. Here are some examples of their expanded message.

EXPANDED MESSAGE

“We are constantly innovating, bringing more warmth, more lightness, better design and better comfort to your life. It never stops evolving because your life never stops changing. Simple apparel with a not-so-simple purpose: to make your life better. UNIQLO LifeWear. Simple made better.”

If you get your messaging right and communicate it consistently to the right target market you are almost guaranteed a spike in business. If you are truly bent on reaching more ideal clients we can help you to identify and articulate your unique promise of value, then distill it to its essence. 

Just Mind Your Own Business!

Identifying and then dominating an uncontested or under served market niche requires laser sharp focus.  That means systematically minding your own business and eradicating anything from your consciousness that can distract you from your task at hand. 

Minding your own business is a tall order for most luxury real estate marketing professionals.  But, that is the good news, because gaining and sustaining market leadership is not for the faint of heart.  And, that significantly reduces the number of players in your competitive landscape.

Recently, we have noticed quite a bit of chatter online from agents about the “evils” of Zillow,  and others like them, who are syphoning off business.  We even heard rumors that Amazon may get into the real estate fray. 

For those of you who are bent on gaining or sustaining market leadership in your chosen niche, these topics along with the new commission discounters should come under the heading of “big distractions”. Let your competition get distracted while you stay on course. 

Just mind your own business!

Branding Moments: What Is Your Brand Story?

A few weeks ago, we spotted a “new” to us 85% dark chocolate.  The brand’s name is MilkBoy.  The brand and logo did not particularly resonate with us, however what made us buy a bar was the Swiss lineage.  We know how proud and precise the Swiss are when it comes to the art of making chocolate.  We were not disappointed, and would highly recommend this chocolate to any chocolate lover.

We researched the story behind the brand.  The unique value proposition for this brand is that they use milk that comes from the Swiss Alpine meadows.  There is a story here that is part of the brand, with which we were not familiar.

Every spring, the dairy farmers who live in the Swiss Alpine foothills leave their villages and move to the mountains. Prior to their journey, there is a celebratory send-off. Here is an excerpt from the wrapper and the website.

“The young boys and girls wear local costume and accompany the procession as it leaves the village. Some of the boys carry carved milk pails, like the boy of the MilkBoy logo. Once on the Alps, the cows eat their fill of juicy green grass until the onset of autumn, when the farmers descend to their villages.”

Their return is also a cause for celebration.  This story is charming and enchanting and further sold us on the brand.  Click on the website link to hear Swiss cowbells as the cows begin their journey to their spring and summer home.

What Is Your Brand Story?

Romanticize The Lifestyle Of Your Market: It attracts sellers & buyers

Romanticizing the lifestyle of your marketplace sells homes because it provides an emotional context. Romanticizing the lifestyle in your marketplace as part of your blog's content, engages buyers, increases your blog subscribers and propels them to make decisions.

A comprehensive marketing plan should include lifestyle. Real estate and lifestyle go hand in hand.  Adding lifestyle as part of your blog's content will increase your subscription roll.   After someone buys a home, they may be interested in what the home in the neighborhood sold for.  They may also like to know how the market is doing once in a while

The added value of your blog to a new homeowner is to share with them what is happening in your marketplace in terms of lifestyle.  This would include shopping, restaurants, events and entertainment.  As a longtime resident, you no doubt know of special "local" places and various hidden gems that cannot be found in guidebooks.

One of the reasons potential clients and referral sources follow your blog is because it speaks to their interests and values.  The connection and often the referrals happen when they find out that you have the same interests that they do. It is easier to relate to interests as a starting point.  And yes, it is obvious that you know the latest real estate statistics, too.