Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Power of Strategy

Personal Branding Case Studies Company Branding Case Studies

- JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

Broker Agent Social, Proxio, Real Town, & Bigger Pockets

Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Ride the Wave of Change - Part 3

May 12, 2010

Part 3: Get In Touch!

Touch screens on computers have been in development for years. But, they did not reach a critical mass in terms of consumer use until the iPhone, and recently, the iPad was introduced by Apple. Soon touch screens will become ubiquitous on many types of devices. At Napa Consultants, International we anticipated this trend and have been designing our clients' web sites to be "touch-friendly" for luxury real estate marketing.

For example, one tap of the photo icon of a neighborhood can produce instant mapped search results for all available high rise condos in that neighborhood One tap on the map and you can see details of a particular building, plus, those units within the building that are available for sale. This is the kind of instant gratification that users are now expecting.

Riding the touch screen wave of change can give you an immediate competitive advantage as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Get in touch!

Check out this video to see where the revolutionary touch screen wave of change is heading . You will be amazed!

- WATCH MORE VIDEOS -

Personal Branding Case Studies Company Branding Case Studies

- JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

Broker Agent Social, Proxio, Real Town, & Bigger Pockets

Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Ride the Wave of Change - Part 2

May 11, 2010

Part 2: Capitalize On Your "Unfair"Competitive Advantages

The stunning sales velocity that Apple has achieved with the iPad (1 Million iPads in just 28 days) is truly inspiring. As a luxury real estate marketing professional, when you study and stay focused on these kinds of results you will attract more of what you want for yourself.

In part one of this series we looked at how Apple spotted two trends and rode these waves to propel sales of the iPad. Those trends are the popularity of netbooks and e-books. Here in Part 2, we look at a question that Steve Jobs must have asked himself to stage such a stupendous encore to the iPhone: What else can Apple do better than anyone else in the world? If market leadership is your quest, this is a question that you need to ask yourself as well; just rephrase the question to, “What can I (or my company) do better than anyone else in my marketplace? What are your “unfair” competitive advantages?

Apparently, Jobs had been asking himself these questions about the tablet computer for some time. He must have determined that Apple’s “unfair” competitive advantages included:

The feedback received by consumers (of all ages) who rave about the simplicity of user interface experience with other Apple products including the touch screen of the iPhone and iPod Touch
The world’s largest selection of Apps (applications) from other Apple products
The iTunes Store with established accounts of millions of customers already in place, which would make it easy for iPad owners to buy more products and services from Apple.

Prior to the launch iPad, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble had an unfair competitive advantage in the e-book space (as categories or niches are referred to in marketing terms) over other e-book readers. That is their vast databases of customers with established customer accounts, plus established relationships with publishers. But, Apple, who was an unlikely competitor, ALSO has established iTunes accounts with a significant number of Amazon and Barnes and Noble customers. And, for about $150 more someone who is considering buying a Kindle or Nook can get a very powerful computer. Needless to say the other e-book readers’ chances of achieving market leadership are “slim-to-none”.

The real shocker that turned the tables and made the iPad a game changer was the low price. Apple’s purchase of the chip maker that runs the iPad also became an “unfair” competitive advantage.

Capitalize on what you can do better than anyone else in your luxury real estate marketplace. Leverage your “unfair” competitive advantage!

- WATCH VIDEOS -

Personal Branding Case Studies Company Branding Case Studies

- JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

Broker Agent Social, Proxio, Real Town, & Bigger Pockets

Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Ride the Wave of Change - Part 1

May 10, 2010

Part 1: Capitalize on Trends

Apple announced that it sold one million iPads in just 28 days. That is less than one half the time it took to sell 1million iPhones which took 74 days. Over 300,000 iPads were sold in one weekend upon the release of their 3G model (anytime internet access wherever there is 3G coverage vs. the less expensive model that accesses the web in Wi-Fi hotspots only). This phenomenon has very important implications for luxury real estate marketing professionals that we will cover in a three-part blog series.

The speed at which these devices have sold staggers the imagination considering the fact that, prior to 2010, very few consumers were even aware of the category of tablet computers. However, when you assume a broader perspective, an aerial view if you will, there is a logical explanation that helps to make sense of this sales velocity.

Apple astutely spotted and capitalized on two significant consumer trends:

The rapid sales of netbooks (small, inexpensive laptops).
The growing popularity of e-book readers (e.g., Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Nobles’ Nook).

The iPad was positioned, in the mind of consumer, as a superior alternative to both of these devices, at a cost that was less than the two other devices combined.

When you anticipate trends and position yourself in the path of progress it is like catching and surfing a wave. By harnessing the power of trends you leverage energy that is bigger than just your own effort and your success rate dramatically improves.

We often recommend to clients “to go fishing where the fish are biting”. If sales are slow in one price range or one geographic area, concentrate where the movement is happening. It is of vital importance to watch for, tune into and anticipate luxury real estate sales trends in your marketplace.

- WATCH VIDEOS -

Personal Branding Case Studies Company Branding Case Studies

- JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

Broker Agent Social, Proxio, Real Town, & Bigger Pockets

Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Create Your Own Niche

May 4, 2010

As a luxury real estate marketing expert, if you want to be best in class in your market place you must define your class or your niche. Here is an example of niche marketing. If the niche does not exist, you need to create it.

Originally, wine bars were counters that served wine by their generic names, Beaujolais, Sancerre, and other ordinary wines. They did not bother naming the producers or the vintage years, and they served modest appetizers with the wines. The next evolution was L’Ecluse which took the concept to a higher level. They served good Bordeaux with foie gras, carpaccio and other delicacies.

In 1988, an Englishman, Mark Williamson expanded on the idea. After an extensive education in wines, he decided to open his own version Willi’s Wine Bar. His plan was to serve Rhone wines at his wine bar. One of his friends remarked that you can’t serve Rhone wines without food. He opened Willi’s Wine Bar and served food. Mark Williamson remarks, “There was nothing like Willi’s when we opened, we took the idea of a traditional bistro and put a wine list into it. The old days when you got by with a few cold cuts are over; a wine bar is mostly a restaurant where you serve wine by the glass.” Willi’s success started a trend. Everyone started calling their new places wine bars. Someone asked Mark whether Willi’s is a really a restaurant. His answer to this was, “I started the place, I called it a wine bar, I defined the genre. Who is anybody else to say, it’s not?”

- WATCH VIDEOS -

Personal Branding Case Studies Company Branding Case Studies

- JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

Broker Agent Social, Proxio, Real Town, & Bigger Pockets

Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: LOL People Interview with Brad Hanks

May 3, 2010

We are always on the lookout to interview movers and shakers in the realm of luxury real estate marketing, opinion leaders in luxury marketing in general, craftspeople such as interior designers, architects, and architectural photographs, and also experts in social media. We are excited to share with you The Language of Luxury Radio interview series, that we now call LOL PEOPLE. It will be an ongoing feature on the LOL Blog.

Brad Hanks is the CEO (He calls himself the Chief Evangelical Officer) of Connect with Success. He speaks all over the world on social networking and social media, with a particular expertise in applying his success principles to real estate marketing.

Many luxury real estate marketing professionals ask, "what is the best way to start blogging." Brad sheds some light on this important question. He recommends beginning by expanding your network of contacts first before you launch your blog. Then, your likelihood of attracting a larger audience, for your blog will increase dramatically. More on this, plus some excellent advice about managing and maximizing your time on social medial can be heard on Brad's LOL Radio interview. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

- WATCH VIDEOS -

Personal Branding Case Studies Company Branding Case Studies

- JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

Linked In, Facebook, Active Rain

Broker Agent Social, Proxio, Real Town, & Bigger Pockets

Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing

Personal Branding: Witty Slogans That Stick in Your Mind

April 28, 2010

One way to sharply distinguish yourself from your competition, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, is through a witty slogan that reflects your personality. The best slogans succinctly communicate the main benefits of your brand for your target market and trigger demand for your services. Terrific slogans also adhere to your memory.

One of the best ways to come up with a great slogan for your personal brand is to study the most famous slogans of all time. AdAge.com has named the top 10 slogans of the 20th Century.

TOP 10 SLOGANS OF THE 20th CENTURY

Diamonds are forever (DeBeers)
Just do it (Nike)
The pause that refreshes (Coca-Cola)
Tastes great, less filling (Miller Lite)
We try harder (Avis)
Good to the last drop (Maxwell House)
Breakfast of champions (Wheaties)
Does she ... or doesn't she? (Clairol)
When it rains it pours (Morton Salt)
Where's the beef? (Wendy's)

The following slogans were inducted into the Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame by AdSlogans.com. For fun, see if you can name the brand that goes with each of these slogans (see answers at the bottom):

"Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is."
“Reach out and touch someone”
"M'm! M'm! Good!"
"The antidote for civilization."
"Finger lickin' good."
"Because I'm worth it."
“Have it your way.”
"The ultimate driving machine."
"When you care enough to send the very best"
"The Uncola."

1, Alka-Seltzer; 2. AT&T; 3. Campbell Soups; 4. Club Med; 5. KFC; L’Oreal; 6. Clairol; 7. Burger King; 8. BMW; 9. Hallmark;, 10. 7UP

- WATCH VIDEOS -

Personal Branding Case Studies Company Branding Case Studies

- JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

Broker Agent Social, Proxio, Real Town, & Bigger Pockets

Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Power & Luxury of Laughter

April 28, 2010

Having a sense of humor and being able to laugh easily is a must for a luxury real estate marketing professional. Given the nature of the business which often involves a life changing decision and the myriad of emotions that accompany this decision it is important to sometimes bring relief to a tense situation by introducing a lighter side. The importance of laughter cannot be underestimated.

When something is both rare and desirable it becomes a luxury. Laughter is a luxury regardless of economic conditions. Being joyful is the state of abundance. That is why we love the idea of emphasizing LOL (a.k.a. laugh out loud) as the abbreviated version of the Language of Luxury.

“Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.” ~ Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D.

Laughter also creates bonds in teams. Teams who share a familiar joke (“you had to be there, to appreciate how funny it was!”) perform better in stressful situations. Emotional laughter releases beneficial hormones which help you maintain a positive attitude.

“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” Mark Twain

As grownups, we tend to be serious, and even those who feel they have a great sense of humor are not laughing enough. A recent study revealed a startling fact. Children up to pre-school age laugh about 300 times a day. Adults on the average laugh about 15 times a day.

An Indian physician from Mumbai, Dr. Madan Kataria launched Laughter Yoga as an exercise routine,(combining Yoga breath, Pranayama and laughter) because of its benefits both physiological and psychological. Since its launch in 1995, the Laughter Club has grown to 6000 chapters in 65countries.

World laughter day is May 2, achieving peace through laughter. We wish you a week full of laughter!

- WATCH VIDEOS -

Personal Branding Case Studies Company Branding Case Studies

- JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

Listen to the Entire LOL Radio Show Interview

Broker Agent Social, Proxio, Real Town, & Bigger Pockets

Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: LOL Special Video Edition - No.4

April 26, 2010

LOL Special Video Edition - No.4

Announcing the Launch of LOL Equestrian! Plus: LOL interviews Laurie Moore Moore, Founding CEO of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketng.

LOL Equestrian

We are excited to announce the launch of LOL Equestrian, our first subgroup on LOL Linked In and also to announce the appointment of Marsha Himler as the Subgroup Manager. With a tremendous passion for horses and over three decades of experience in the horse industry, Marsha’s expertise is the marketing of horse farms and equestrian estates in Saratoga Springs, NY, and throughout the U.S.

The goal of LOL Equestrian is to bring like-minded real estate professionals and other horse people together, not only to network and create a large equestrian referral database but also to share our knowledge and experience with each other as it relates to selling equestrian properties. To learn more about LOL Eqestrian click here and also Watch the Video!

Laurie Moore Moore Interview

Laurie Moore MooreThe Institute for Luxury Home Marketing exists to help real estate professionals provide high quality service to the buyers and sellers of luxury homes and in so doing, maximize their own success in the upper-tier residential market.The Institute is the premier independent authority in training and certification for real estate agents working in the luxury residential market. Hear what Laurie Moore Moore, Founding CEO, has to say!

Watch the Video!

Luxury Real Estate Marketing at It's Best: The Alignment of Purpose

April 21, 2010

One of the very best luxury real estate marketing secrets is aligning the purpose of your practice with your clients and also your community. Here is an example of how a major luxury department store applied this principle of alignment of purpose in the global community.

Prior to Mother’s Day awhile back, Saks Fifth Avenue came up with a new Mother’s day gift and a great marketing strategy. They joined www.charitywater.org , a non-profit organization that helps bring water, clean water, to the Third World And, they engaged customers to participate in the program in an exciting way.

1.1 billion people on the planet do not have access to safe, clean drinking water. That is one in six of us. Charity Water can give 100% of its donations because big corporations and generous individuals underwrite their expenses. Every dollar raised goes directly to digging wells and purifying water.

Saks understands its clientele. They know that the majority of mothers who are Saks shoppers do not really need a major gift from their family members on Mother’s day. So, they came up with the concept of giving the gift of water. It is inexpensive, and it is innovative. $5.00 gives someone safe drinking water for 5 years! The gift was a black rubber band style bracelet with Charity Water printed on it. For $20.00, you could send an email, in your mother’s name and she could pick the country the water went to for 20 years. For additional dollars you could provide a well, and so on.

This was an elegant strategy. Mothers in the Third World are the ones who walk miles to get the water. Mothers in America were helping mothers on the other side of the planet. The beauty of this strategy is that it exposed people to a worthwhile cause and gave the gift of water, a gift of luxury. It also illustrates that luxury can be defined in many ways given the circumstances of one's life. The idea of making it affordable for anyone to give the luxury of water was ingenius! Thinking strategically, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, can make you feel great, help others and also generate business. When these components all align, that is as good as luxury gets!

Personal Branding: Defining Your Personal Values

April 20, 2010

Define What You Value the Most

By Alexandra Seigel

People like to do business with people like themselves. By making your values explicit graphically and in your messaging of your website and collateral material you will find that you can accelerate the speed of trust. Typically, people hang out with others who have the same basic values. Swiftly, expressing your values also speeds up the rate of referrals, because there is social currency in successfully introducing you to others who appreciate the same things. As a luxury real estate marketing professional, it helps you capitalize on the principle that birds of a feather flock together.

Part of the exercise of articulating your personal brand is defining what you value the most. Think about some of your favorite things and why they are meaningful to you. This can reveal your personal brand values.

Here is a personal example from Alexandra to illustrate how to do it:

I love going to the open air Farmers Market. I appreciate the farmers who grow the food organically. My eyes are wide with anticipation as I look at all the beautiful produce. I feel connected to the food I eat. I enjoy the vendor’s kids who are helping their parents sell as they weigh tomatoes, and tell me which ones are sweeter. I applaud the restaurants who are buying organic and fresh for their patrons. I am overwhelmed by the varieties and the choices and I am thankful to be in their midst. At home, I unpack my goodies and plan our meals. Everything tastes better.

From this, you can surmise that I probably buy organic when possible, as it is my preference and an important value. I am also likely to patronize restaurants who buy direct from the farmers. I talk about it, I write about it, and I look forward to going. I am passionate about fresh food and the care that goes into bringing it to market.

- WATCH VIDEOS -

"Buzz-Worthy" Luxury Website Design

Personal Branding Case Studies and Company Branding Case Studies

- JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

Broker Agent Social, Proxio, Real Town, & Bigger Pockets

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: How Do You Stay In Touch?

April 20, 2010

Are you staying in touch with your clients after the sale? Staying in touch does not mean boring them with articles about recent real estate related court cases, the real estate market report for their area, the current loans rates, or telling them to change the batteries in their smoke alarms. Boring, canned, impersonal e-newsletters just do not cut it anymore with web-savvy clients and friends.

Your communications must be about the things that people value. Moreover, they must be about the things that a particular person values. For instance, if your latest sale was to a golf afficionado, have your assistant cull news items relating to golf. It can be done easily by using Google and subscribing to "golf alert". Periodically, these can be sent to your golfing friends, with a personal message from you. Next time they are asked for an agent by their friends, guess who they will refer to?

Consistent, personalized one-on-one communication is an art form that most time-starved luxury real estate marketing professionals have neglected. Yet, if you could quantify the results of personal communication in terms of referrals and listings you would think twice about doing it more often.

What are some of the methods that you use to stay in touch?

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Tapping Into Your Passion

April 14, 2010

Authenticity in your personal brand is essential when targeting high net worth clients in the realm of luxury real estate marketing. Pretense will not get you very far in the long run. For example, if you are representing that you are an eco-luxury expert, but you are not really passionate about all things “green”, people will eventually see right through you. However, if you are truly passionate about environmental stewardship, your passion will be palpable and your enthusiasm will be contagious to those who are also on your wavelength. Your passion is your natural resource and your greatest asset if you are willing to tap it.

The alignment of your wavelength with the wavelength of your ideal clients takes all of the effort out of marketing because you do not need salesmanship to convince them that you are a match. Precisely communicating your unique, authentic personal brand signal with laser-like clarity to a like-minded audience is the surest way to attract new business, to spontaneously spark word-of-mouth advertising, and also to generate unlimited referrals.

By far, the best channel, system, vehicle or medium of communication to reach other people like you who will like you because you are like them, is through your blog. To be a market leader today, you must gain visibility, you must be seen where your target market shows up, which now is on the internet. It may take some getting used to, but the surest way to achieve top-of-mind status in your marketplace right now is to fully embrace this communication medium.

Here are the three biggest challenges of developing your personal brand as a blogger:

Challenge #1:

The first challenge of creating your personal brand is to identify an uncontested market niche that you can passionately dominant as an expert blogger. The fierce competition for attention on the internet now makes it an imperative to create a personal brand as a blogger, one that enables you to instantly stand out from your competition.

Challenge #2:

The second challenge of personal branding is crafting your marketing message. Your message (expressed through graphics, text, photos and video) must concisely convey your unique, authentic personality and your extraordinary promise of value. Your message must be delivered precisely and swiftly. That is the true measurement of an effective personal brand.

Challenge #3:

The third challenge of personal branding is consistency. You must blog consistently to maintain visibility and sustain top of mind status. You must consistently stay on your brand signal and maintain your authenticity.

To triumph over these challenges you must be passionate about your subject. Otherwise, you will lose interest and bore your audience, who will simply unsubscribe. That is why leveraging your passion, your greatest asset, is so important to your success today, as a luxury real estate marketing professional.

Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: Maintain Your Visibility- Part 3

April 13, 2010

Wolfgang Puck

The Ultimate Goal of Personal Branding: Global Brand Ubiquity

When you think of Coke or Google you think of a brand that is ubiquitous which means ever-present and seen everywhere. Oprah is an example of a celebrity whose personal brand has become globally ubiquitous. Wolfgang Puck is perhaps the best known celebrity chef in the world and he is also a ubiquitous brand.

We first met Wolfgang Puck in the early 1970s in Los Angeles where he was both a rising star as a chef and part owner of Ma Maison restaurant. Since then he has opened countless high end restaurants, casual dining bistros and airport eateries. In the early 80’s he catered and personally served his famous smoked salmon pizza at a special event that we attended at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. He now has catering facilities in twelve major US cities. His high profile catering gig, the Governor’s Ball at the Academy Awards, is now world renown.

With cookbooks, cookware, a frozen food line, TV shows, radio shows, internet programming, plus much more, Wolfgang Puck’s empire exemplifies what a personal brand can become. What is truly remarkable is that he has sustained top of mind status and quality in everything he touches over such a long period of time.

Almost 30 years after our first Puck encounter, we were guest speakers at the Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate event last fall in Vail, Colorado that was held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel (Bachelor Gulch). His restaurant was featured there and so was his organic coffee, which is absolutely one of the best we have ever tasted. When we found his coffee in our local market, here in Santa Barbara, it seemed heaven sent.

Without the Puck brand, the same coffee, could have sat on the shelf and gone unnoticed. After all, coffee is the 2^nd most ubiquitous commodity on the planet, next to oil. But, the trust factor of the Wolfgang Puck brand, his promise of value and quality that has been sustained over a major part of our lifetime has made us loyal customers.

You may not be interested in global brand ubiquity for your personal brand. But, if market leadership is your quest as a luxury real estate marketing professional, becoming a household name and maintaining your visibility over time in your local marketplace, should definitely become your aim.

Maintain Your Visibility Part-1 Maintain Your Visibility-Part 2

Personal Branding: Maintain Your Visibility-Part 2

April 12, 2010

The 3 Keys to Parlay Your Reputation into Celebrity Status

If you are interested in achieving market leadership in your local marketplace think of yourself more like a celebrity and think of your luxury 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:

Develop a celebrity/media mindset
Build your audience, consistently
Gain and maintain visibility

Your Mindset: You need to think of your business not only as luxury 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 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.

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.

In Part 3 of this series, Maintain Your Visibility, we will showcase a professional who has achieved celebrity status and has extended his personal brand to build to become an international conglomerate. Hint: Food for Thought!

Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding:: Maintain Your Visibility-Part 1

April 9, 2010

It has only been a few months since the 2010 Winter Olympics. An American won the gold medal for figure skating. Can you remember his name? Can you picture his face? Achieving top of mind status is quite an accomplishment. Staying top of mind is a whole other matter in our attention-deficient world. Studying how celebrities maintain visibility can reveal personal branding secrets that can give you a competitive edge as a luxury real estate marketing professional.

You might remember Evan Lysacek’s stellar skating performance in Vancouver, BC. But, just in case you forgot his face or name you can find Evan appearing on TV in Dancing with the Stars. Is it a coincidence that he is a featured dancer on the show just after his Olympic triumph? Chances are he has hired a talent agent to keep his name and face in front of your face.

Why is visibility so important and what is at stake? Product endorsements and skating show gigs are some of the ways that Evan can cash in on his celebrity. For luxury real estate agents, being visible and achieving top of mind status in your marketplace means more referrals. The higher your recognition and appeal factors are, the more likely you are to secure the lion’s share of the market.

In media, marketing, advertising and public relations the measurement of your familiarity and appeal is known as your Q Score. The Q stands for quotient, as in recognition quotient (amount, share or percentage) within your target market.

An example of a luxury real estate professional who has achieved a very high Q score is Barbara Corcoran in New York. She certainly stands out as a celebrity real estate expert whose opinion is continuously sought out by the media.

With the advent of social media and self publishing through multiple media channels, the opportunity to build a personal brand and achieve celebrity status in your marketplace has never been better. If market leadership is your quest, seize the opportunity to gain and sustain visibility.

Authoring a follow- worthy blog that is buzz-worthy is one way to get you there. See part two of this series for more details.

WATCH VIDEOS:

Personal Branding Case Studies and Company Branding Case Studies

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

LuxuryMarketing

Click SHARE ARTICLE Below

Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Gleaning Wisdom From Your Site Traffic Stats

April 6, 2010

Once you have amassed a body of blog posts, it is very important to check your site traffic through tools such as Google Analytics, to determine which posts draw the most traffic. There is much wisdom to be gleaned by doing this. After authoring over 300 blog posts on luxury real estate marketing and branding we are excited to share with you the all time winner for most popular post on LOL so far.

This feedback confirms our intention in writing the LOL blog, which is to uplift, inform, empower, and, also to entertain. We hope you enjoy it!

HUMOROUS SLOGANS

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

Here is a good definition of what a slogan is: In his book, Creative Advertising, Charles L. Whittier says a slogan:

“A slogan .should be a statement of such merit about a product or service that it is worthy of continuous repetition in advertising, is worthwhile for the public to remember, and is phrased in such a way that the public is likely to remember it."

For some agents a humorous slogan can be an excellent personal branding strategy. It is not for everyone. But, if you have a good sense of humor you can engage your target market in this manner and really stand out from the pack.

A very successful lender in Santa Rosa, California built a strong personal brand by placing a fresh ad in a popular local magazine each month, usually wearing a funny costume that evoked a movie star role or other pop culture icon. A humorous tagline that tied in the lending theme always was included. It seems like everyone you talked to in her marketplace knew her and looked forward to seeing the next installment.

One brand that exemplifies this approach is Altoids who has successfully sustained visibility over time by repeatedly coming up with new slogans and taglines. Their original slogan was "The Original Celebrated Curiously Strong Mints". To differentiate itself from its competitors in the breath mint category, Altoids has relied extensively on very funny puns. Here is an example:

The latest TV commercial from Altoids introduces their small mints. A nervous woman in an elevator talks about an upcoming “big day, a big opportunity.” To calm herself she stretches, takes deep breaths and consumes an Altoid. The slogan appears, “Are You in Mint Condition?"

WATCH VIDEOS:

Personal Branding Case Studies and Company Branding Case Studies

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: LuxuryMarketing

Click SHARE ARTICLE Below

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Become The Game Changer!

April 6, 2010

Courtesy of Apple

Do people need an iPad? No. Is iPad a must have? Yes! Therefore, iPad is a luxury. What makes iPad a luxury is the user experience. It’s tactically interactive. It is eye candy. It is, above all, simple and fun, with endless possibilities of entertainment via the Apps Store. Apple has raised the bar of EXPECTATION in user experience and has thus changed the game.

If you want to gain the competitive edge as a luxury real estate marketing professional, you must become the game changer. Your own website must create an extraordinary user experience and you must provide a superior promise of value as a professional that is newsworthy.

Two days after iPad launched, we had lunch in downtown Santa Barbara across the street from the Apple Store. People were swarming in and we decided to see what the buzz was all about, up close. Dozens of potential customers were gathered around several large tables testing iPads. One freed up and we swooped in to play with it. The experience was joyous; it was easy and very intuitive to use. For fun, we checked out how our website looked on the screen. It looked great. We turned the iPad sideways (landscape vs. portrait), we made the pictures bigger with gestures. We navigated through pages with a tap of the screen, enlarged images and giggled like kids. It was an awesome experience for us iPhone hold outs.

On the cover of Newsweek magazine a question was posed: What is so great about the iPad? The answer was: Everything! Whether or not you agree with its merits, the iPad is a game changer for the competition. On the back cover was an ad for Amazon’s best selling product, their ebook reader, the Kindle. Fueled by the hurricane of publicity that Apple commanded (which is a story unto itself) leading up to the iPad launch, 300,000 units sold in one weekend. This has put Amazon, the market leader in the ebook product category, on notice. They very well may have to settle for the back seat in this market space. The Nook, Barnes and Noble’s “me-too” ebook reader may never recover from a distant 3^rd place. Other ebook readers are no longer on the radar screen.

If gaining market leadership is your aim, the power and speed of publicity via social media can completely disrupt the competitive playing field and give you the competitive edge “overnight”. That is, if you have identified an uncontested market niche that you can dominate like Apple, create a new category of service, and thus, create a truly newsworthy story.

WATCH VIDEOS:

Personal Branding Case Studies and Company Branding Case Studies

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: LuxuryMarketing

Click SHARE ARTICLE Below

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: What Is Your Slant As a Blogger?

March 31, 2010

The primary purpose of blogging, as a luxury real estate marketing strategy, is to amass an audience of people with whom you can develop a relationship of trust and a reputation as an expert advisor in a particular niche. The ultimate goal as a blogger is to provide extraordinary value to a sizable base of raving fans. But, to accomplish this successfully you must have a distinct slant, an angle, a particular leaning.

Where most luxury real estate marketing professionals run into trouble as bloggers is that they start blogging before they have first discovered or identified their natural talent, their passion, their bent, their preferences, their inclinations, their distinct opinions , their original point of view, i.e., their authentic unique voice. Just reporting the facts about their local market conditions or the real estate statistics that are available to every other agent will not accomplish the primary purpose of blogging.

Facts are facts. How you interpret them is what makes you stand out. Here is an example of some facts that may be of interest to you.

According to NAR’s member profile, 60% of Realtors have a web site aged an average of 5 years.
17% of Realtors regularly use blogs.

These are accurate facts based on surveys conducted by a trusted source. Reporting this to luxury real estate marketing professionals is part of our role as a professional journalist. Getting these facts and conveying them to you accurately is very important. However, this is not original content.

What do these facts mean to YOU in particular? That is the question. Here is our interpretation:

If 60% of Realtors have web sites that are virtually obsolete, investing in building a distinctive new website can give you the opportunity to demonstrate your superior marketing savvy and thus, run circles around your competition!
If only 17% of Realtors blog, the field is wide open for a luxury real estate marketing professional like you to discover an uncontested market niche and dominate it, right now!
There is a fierce competition for attention to build an audience, today. But, blogging with an inimitable slant can be your ticket to success. Whoever builds the most high trust relationships in a sharply focused niche, wins!

Getting accurate facts and interpreting them in a way that answers your target market’s most pressing questions, is what builds trust with your audience. Insightful interpretation of facts, consistently expressed in your unique voice, can build a sizable audience of raving fans, if you are up to the challenge.

WATCH VIDEOS:

Personal Branding Case Studies and Company Branding Case Studies

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: LuxuryMarketing

Click SHARE ARTICLE Below

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Begin the Cycle of Networking by Giving

March 30, 2010

If you are like most luxury real estate marketing professionals you are probably tired of hearing the hype about online social and professional networking and are looking for the ROI, already. However, if you are not adept at the fundamentals of networking in the first place, all of the new tools will not help your cause. You most likely will get frustrated and miss the true value of the tools.

Social and professional networking has been around as long as human beings have transacted business together. Networking is at the heart of building a business based on referrals. The new tools of networking can simply speed up the process and exponentially open up new possibilities of connecting with potential referral sources even beyond your immediate marketplace.

To clearly differentiate the importance of networking skills from the new tools, we strongly recommend that you read some books on the art of networking that were written BEFORE online social networking existed. Brush up on your fundamentals then take a fresh look at the online tools. Once you fully understand the fundamentals, the tools will seem almost magical. Serendipitous moments will start to become the norm, but no less astonishing.

Begin the Cycle of Networking by Giving

Here is an example of the kind of coincidence that can happen when a key networking principle is applied very well. That principle is to begin the cycle of networking by giving. We were trying to find out the name of a specific group on Linked In that we were unable to find. We posted our question on the “Answers” section of the site. Several people answered, but no one had the right one. Two weeks after the question was automatically closed, we were approached by someone who happened to see the question and indeed had the right answer. This gentleman owns a professional video editing school in Hollywood. I called him and, after a bit of brainstorming, we discovered that we can also do some video business together.

Reciprocity is a natural phenomenon that results when someone begins the networking cycle by giving. It is a good practice to explore ways that you can reciprocate when you are given to first.

WATCH VIDEOS: