Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Achieving First Mover Status as an Innovator

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Is Your Brand Shar Pei or Dull?

October 12, 2010

If you are looking for a way to stand out from the crowd as a luxury real estate marketing professional consider taking a page from the play-book of the best luxury retailers during the Holiday season. For many retail businesses the vast majority of sales occur in the last quarter of the year. With so much competition for attention how do you stand out? Fifty years ago, one major high-end retailer created a tradition that continues to WOW its customers to this day: His and Hers extravagant gifts. Do you know which retailer that is?

Stanley Marcus, of Neiman Marcus fame developed this buzz marketing strategy that still has customers eager to discover what His & Hers gift they selected for the current season and discuss it with friends. This year’s catalogue has a retrospective of their 50 year old strategy. One of our favorite gift offering is His & Her Shar Pei pups for $7750.00 back in 1983.

The Shar Pei, is known for its distinctive features of deep wrinkles and a blue-black tongue. The breed comes from China. As puppies, Shar Pei have many wrinkles but they disappear as the pups "grow into their skin". Back in 1983 they were still considered one of the world’s rarest breeds and were not recognized by the American Kennel Club until 1991.

With an abundance of choices in just about every category of service and product you have a nano-second to sharply distinguish your brand from your competition. Be Shar Pei. Don't be dull. What tradition can you create that can keep you "top-of-mind" year after year like Neiman Marcus’ His & Hers Holiday gifts has done?

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Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: Real Estate of the Mind

October 11, 2010

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, you must understand the “inner game” of marketing as well as you know the process of selling a home. If you want to gain or sustain market leadership in your area or your niche you must “own” real estate in the minds of your target market. We refer to the real estate of the mind as top-of-mind status. The key question is: Who comes to mind first?

In your mind who owns the category of multipurpose household oil that lubricates, cleans and prevents rust? Did you come up with W-D 40 or 3-IN-ONE? Can you think of another brand? Most people cannot think of a 3^rd or 4^th brand in this product category. It so happens that both household oil brands are owned by the same company. More importantly, they own the category!

Welcome to the world of real estate of the mind! In our time-pressed, over-communicated world we just cannot hold more than a few brand names in our mind in any category of product or service. That is what makes the stakes so high in the bid for market leadership.

In the realm of listing and marketing luxury real estate, achieving top-of mind status is far more valuable than owning the top position on a Google search result pages. Sure, it is great to also come up first on the search engines so you can get more buyer leads, especially when properties are slow to move. But, over time he or she who has the best listings and has the best reputation in town, or in a given niche, the one who stands out from the crowd, wins the lion’s share of the business!

We know an agent who is one of the top producers in all of the United States who has never optimized his website for the search engines. He does not have a Facebook or any other social networking account. His phone rings off the hook. He barely keeps up with his email and the business he attracts. He enjoys top-of-mind status in his marketplace because he has focused solely on building trusting relationships that yield continuous referrals.

This seems to fly in the face of what is now considered conventional wisdom. But, this luxury real estate marketing professional has mastered the inner game of marketing. He owns the most valuable real estate where “location, location, location” rules the day now and forevermore: in the minds of his target market.

By, the way...did you know that W-D stands for "water displacement" which was what the inventor, Norm Larson, was aiming for with his formula to prevent rust. It took him 40 attempts to find the best way to prefvent corrosion by repelling water.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Recipe for Overtaking the Incumbent Market Leader in Your Area

October 6, 2010

In luxury real estate marketing the top three players typically own the lion’s share of the business. For those of you who are aiming for market leadership and are interested in overtaking the incumbent market leaders in your area or niche, here is your recipe for success.

This phenomenon of three players dominating a marketplace is true not only in luxury real estate marketing, but in most product and services categories. In 2009 #1 Coca-Cola Co. enjoyed a 41.9% market share of the non-alcoholic beverage market. #2 PepsiCo commanded 29.9% and #3 Dr. Pepper Snapple owned 16.4%. Together they comprised 88.2% of the entire soft drink marketplace worldwide.

In 1992, two South African gentlemen by the name of Sacks and Schlosberg paid $14.5 million for, Hansen Natural Corp, maker of wholesome beverages such as preservative-free natural sodas and low-carb peach smoothies. At that time Hansen was doing about $17 million a year in sales. By 2009 Hansen was transformed into the #6 position in the overall soft drink marketplace with $1.14 billion in revenue. How did they do that?

In 2002 they identified an uncontested market niche, a $2-3 billion dollar category that had only one major player. That niche was Energy Drinks, with extremely high levels of caffeine and sugar. The major player was Red Bull, an Australian company. Hansen named their energy drink, Monster Energy. With the slogan, "Unleash the beast'', Monster was positioned as an edgy alternative to Red Bull. With scary packaging, plus a multitude of extreme-sports sponsorships, their strategy was also to offer double the quantity (16 ounces of virtually the identical recipe in Red Bull’s 8 ounce can) for the same price.

At first, Hansen Natural made a few missteps. Instead of creating a separate and unique brand (a mistake that many real estate agents and companies make when going after an additional niche in their marketplace), they named their energy drink Hansen’s Energy.

Only when they changed the “recipe” of their brand (not the ingredients of their energy drink) by creating a new name and crafting a new package that expressed their unique brand personality (as well as the fundamental nature of the category itself), did they fully engage the minds of their target market: predominately 18-30 year old guys. This caused their sales to sky rocket. Essentially, Monster’s brand became a superior “spokesperson” for the category. They were thus able to reach a broader spectrum of their target with the right message. And, that is the recipe for overtaking the incumbent market leader.

Most luxury real estate marketing professionals, have the mistaken notion that personal branding is merely a matter of donning a new look, like going shopping for a new outfit and buying a new tricked-out website, like purchasing a new car. While you will definitely outshine 60% of the agents whose websites are over 5 years old ( an NAR statistic) you will not accomplish the most important task at hand: developing and executing a brand strategy that catapults you to top-of-mind status as one of the top three agents in your marketplace.

In 2009 Hansen Natural Corp, now the energy drink category leader, grew 11.0% over 2008. Red Bull grew only 1.2%. Hansen shipped 29% more cases in 2009 than Red Bull.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Are You in the Know or a Know-it-All?

October 5, 2010

Library of Congress, Washington DC

We recently interviewed a potential personal branding client who is determined to specialize in luxury real estate marketing and focus exclusively on the upper-tier of the price range in her marketplace rather than all price points. It was refreshing to hear how passionate she is about her pursuit of market leadership. She is bound and determined to compete on the basis of being more “in the know” about her marketplace than her top competitors.

She explained how she had researched the most expensive home in her market. Several agents had listed the home but none had sold it. Through her research she discovered some clues about the property that were undoubtedly overlooked by the previous listing agents.

She was convinced that the property was not being exposed to the right pool of potential buyers. She was certain that she could sell it if only he had the opportunity to market the home in a completely different manner that specifically targeted foreign buyers. The fact that the previous agent’s company had a large international reach did not mean that this particular property was given maximum exposure beyond their closed international network. This got her motivated to dive into the field and become the expert in her area at marketing luxury real estate internationally.

It is often the case that the incumbent market leaders get complacent; sometimes they do not take the time to thoroughly do their homework prior to putting each of their listings on the market. They are expected to be the “know-it-all” in their marketplace. But, this is not always the case.

Incumbents often “sit on their laurels” and are not always tech-savvy. As a result, market leadership is up for grabs in most marketplaces because free information and internet marketing tools create a level playing field for all competitors. Getting in the know by gaining superior market knowledge plus becoming more tech-savvy than the “know-it-all” incumbents can empower you to overtake the current market leader in your area.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Three Keys to Success - Accessibility, Authenticity and Accuracy

October 4, 2010

Courtesy of Konstantin32

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, what good does it do you if you are #1 on Google search results if you do not provide accurate answers to users’ search queries or are inaccessible when the user calls or emails you? What is the point of achieving this status if you do not present your personal brand with authenticity? While it is true that you get more “at bats” it doesn’t mean that you automatically get more business. Accessibility, Authenticity and Accuracy are three keys to your success that will help you achieve market leadership.

In researching this blog post we wanted to find the lyrics to the Beatles song, Eleanor Rigby by Lennon & McCartney. Naturally, we went to Google. The number one site on Google’s natural search results list did not allow us to copy the words. In less than three seconds we moved on to check out the number two site. Here, we were able to copy the lyrics but they were not accurate. Instead of the first line being “AH, look at all the lonely people” it had “I look at all the lonely people”. Number three and all of the other results on the first page confirmed that “Ah” was accurate.

Accuracy in presenting information on your website and in your blog is what builds your reputation as a luxury real estate marketing professional and as a journalist. Being responsive to comments demonstrates your accessibility. In fact, accessibility, authenticity and accuracy are three of the most important aspects of building trust and building a strong referral base. These factors are definitely essential for building an online audience of raving fans over time.

The lyrics to the Beatles’ haunting song remind us of all of the lonely bloggers who spew worthless, unoriginal content and miss the entire purpose of blogging: to genuinely connect with other people and engage others in conversation. Who is their content and unauthenic "face" for; the Google robots? Are they living in a dream? Now, that is truly lonely!

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice
In the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream

Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Truth Is in the Details

September 29, 2010

Photo by Raluca Tudor:Dreamstime.com

In luxury real estate marketing and branding, "the truth is in the details". Refinement, subtlety and simplicity are often the benchmark of sophistication and brilliant design. Studying the most highly recognized brands in the world often yields great insights. Take Giorgio Armani, for example.

Giorgio Armani is, perhaps, one of the world's most famous names and international luxury brands. Take a close look at the details in the logo. At first glance the logo appears to be very simple. It is a single font that is spaced close together. At first glance the logo appears to be almost ordinary.

Now look at how each of the letters in the name Armani itself connect at the bottom or at the top. Notice that that is not the case in his first name. These extremely clean lines that you also find in most of his clothes design are mirrored here in a very subtle manner.

Alexandra discovered Giorio Armani in small article in Vogue magazine well before his clothes were world renown. We decided to visit his boutique in Milan while we were on a reconnaissance mission. Our job was to discover possible tenants for a Beverly Hills retail property that we were handling as commercial real estate brokers. Alexandra asked the taxi driver to take us to Giorgio Armani’s (she speaks Italian) and we were driven to his appartment! She finally was able to explain that we wanted to visit his store. He obviously was not very famous at that point ourside of Milan.

While Alexandra was trying on several items of clothing at the store, a gentleman insisted that Ron try on an outfit that was comprised of a tweed sportcoat, a check shirt and a striped tie which seemed to fly in the face of every sensible American design principle. Much to Ron’s surprise it all worked together. That was the end of traditional design in his wardrobe; no more pinstripe suits and wingtip shoes, the uniform of commercial real estate brokers in Los Angeles, then.

The discovery of fine Italian clothing opened both sets of our eyes to the importance of quality design in branding. It was part of what set our brand apart, as a husband and wife real estate team, from our competition. As niche market leaders in high end retail and also in entertainment industry office leasing and sales, this was one of our first lessons in branding: The truth is in the details.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Key to Serving Multiple Price Points!

September 28, 2010

Recently, we were approached by a marketing director of a high profile boutique luxury real estate marketing firm that is the market leader in their area, with an important question that we hear quite often:

“Higher priced homes in our marketplace are not selling very fast. We see the opportunity to sell a high volume of lower priced homes in surrounding neighborhoods. Should we create a new brand for this market segment or keep the same brand?”

There is a risk of keeping the same brand name when you change the identity of your services. The owners of the lower priced homes may feel intimidated by your brand which is already associated with higher priced homes. The owners of the higher priced homes may feel like you have diluted the quality of “their” brand. There may be no intention of being pretentious on anyone’s part, but brand perception plays a very important role in the listing process and in the referral process as well.

The entire exercise of personal or company branding or product branding is to achieve top-of-mind status in a specific category of business or a product category. The brass ring of branding is to be totally identified with a category. The grand prize is being the “category killer” like Scotch Tape. The crowning glory is having your brand name become a verb that literally means that category like “to Xerox” (copy) or “to Fed-Ex” (ship overnight), or “to Google” (search on the internet).

Why would you want to blur a brand that is so sharply defined and associated with a specific category when you can easily create a new brand name for the new category? It just does not make good business sense. But, if you create a sub-brand be sure to stake your claim as the best brand in the new category so your sub-brand can become top-of mind in that category.

This week we were sent a few bottles of wine from a Napa Valley wine club to which we belong. Unbeknownst to us, this famous winery created a sub-brand with a new name. They basically rebranded the wines that they were already producing and we were enjoying from the adjacent area, Alexander Valley. Previously, these wines had the same brand name as their Napa & Sonoma Valley wines. We thought there was some mistake and were pre-disposed to tasting an inferior wine, just because of the brand name change.

There was a breach of trust that occurred because there was no bridge in the communication that endorsed the new brand. All that was necessary was a very simple statement, something like this:

“We felt that our wines from the Alexander Valley had a distinct set of characteristics due the special micro-climate there and these wines merited their own label”

The key to serving multiple price points is definitely to create a separate brand name or a sub-brand. But, that does not mean that your sub-brand should be perceived as sub-par.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Is Your Slogan Laser Sharp or Is it Gibberish?

September 27, 2010

Have you considered billboard advertising to establish your personal brand in your luxury real estate marketing practice? In most upper tier markets this just does not work. But, then there are other markets where billboard advertising can help you achieve top-of-mind status rather quickly. We saw this work quite effectively for our client, the reigning market leader in the most highly trafficked tourist destination in California, Napa Valley.

With billboard advertising you only have seconds to create a lasting impression. The key is to get your messaging laser sharp so that it resonates with the most pressing needs of your target market.

While driving at 65 miles per hour on a Southern California freeway we noticed an outstanding billboard for a boutique bank by the name of OneWest Bank. The message was absolutely brilliant:

“Jumbo Loans without the Mumbo Jumbo”

In just six clever words OneWest Bank conveyed their entire promise of value for their luxury real estate lending services. For those of you who have not heard the expression “mumbo jumbo” it means complicated language usually intended to obscure and confuse—gibberish.

The distillation of your extraordinary promise of value into a single marketing message that conveys the essence of your brand, and how you are distinct from your competition, is vitally important in our over-communicated, time pressed world. Brevity in your messaging is your best weapon in the race for top-of-mind status and market leadership. That is the thinking behind the Language of Luxury slogan: "Get Fluent. Get Affluent!"

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Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: Getting the Most Thrills Per Minute

September 22, 2010

Courtesy of Rick Steves - ETBD

Do you recognize this man in the picture? Chances are you have seen him on TV or in the bookstores. The same principles of personal branding that have enabled Rick Steves to dominate the affordable travel advice industry can help you achieve market leadership in your luxury real estate marketing career.

Rick Steves is a one-man-brand with a staff of 70 people and a thriving travel and media company that grosses around $30M per year—Europe Through the Back Door. Rick is the author of 40 travel guidebooks. His guidebook to Italy is the bestselling guidebook to any foreign destination in the United States. His phrase books in foreign languages out-sell Berlitz. His TV show is the most popular travel series in America on public television. Rick is also featured on a weekly hour-long national public radio show and has a weekly newspaper column syndicated by the Chicago Tribune. Additionally, he runs a successful European tour program with more than 300 departures that annually attract around 10,000 people.

What do you think is attributable to Rick Steves’ success? Here are some of the factors:

AUTHENTICITIY: Rick “is” his personal brand
PASSION: This man loves traveling and is passionate about teaching others how to get, “maximum thrills per minute” (Rick’s own words)
FOCUS: Rick focuses on and owns “affordable European travel” as his niche in the overall travel industry.

If you are thinking that this level of personal branding is beyond your reach, think again. You do not need to achieve top-of-mind status in all of the United States. You just need to become the first luxury real estate marketing professional that comes to mind in the number of households that comprise your local target market.

You do not need your own TV show or radio show or syndicated newspaper column. You just need to stake your claim to an uncontested market niche that you can dominate with passion. And, you need to leverage the internet media marketing tools that can catapult you to the top.

If your competitors are your pet peeves, be like Rick Steves. Get branded! ( Yes, that rhymed on purpose).

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Are You Riding the Wave of Change?

September 21, 2010

The picture above was taken in our local neighborhood here in the Santa Barbara area. It tells an important story about our economy, but not necessarily the story you may have in mind. It is a manifestation of a mega-trend, a wave of change in the delivery and distribution of movies, a change that has been coming for over twenty years. As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is essential to anticipate trends in your local marketplace so that you are not caught off-guard. Positioning yourself or your company to ride the new waves can propel you to greater heights.

In the early 90’s, when we owned our commercial real estate firm in Beverly Hills, we worked with Blockbuster Video to open a neighborhood location. They were almost as aggressive in penetrating the market as Starbucks at the time, opening locations at breakneck speed. At the same time the internet was just taking off, but not yet in the mainstream.

The new light-weight media of DVDs that could be inexpensively mailed to customers and watched either on TV or on a computer, made it appear that Blockbuster’s brick and mortar days were limited. When Netflix introduced an online service offering movie suggestions based on personal preferences a superior customer experience was born. Plus, there was no late fee for tardy returns.

Today, you can rent movies from a kiosk in your local marketplace for $1 or you can purchase them via your cable or satellite TV provider without waiting for the mail. Meanwhile, with over 100 internet video on demand platforms, including Apple’s iPhone and iPad, Netflix has become a globally ubiquitous brand.

Consumers have now come to expect their movies on-demand as soon as they are released on DVD. Except for major “blockbuster” event movies, like the soon to be released two-part finale of Harry Potter, why pay more at a local theatre when you can enjoy it on your huge HD TV screen right in your living room or on a mobile devise if you are a road warrior.

Although, the movie industry has seen a modest increase in overall revenue this past year there has been a decline in actual movie attendance. It was the higher average price per ticket that caused the increase in revenue not the number of actual sales. Is the closing of a local theater a sign of a slow economy or is it a sign of the Titanic shift in the technology of delivering and distributing movies?

The most important question is this: Are you maximizing the use of video in your luxury real estate marketing practice? Are you taking advantage of this new media and riding this wave of change? Pay attention to trends. And, do not forget, there is always a new wave.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tips: Emotional Branding-It's All About "Amore"- Love!

September 20, 2010

Marketing luxury real estate requires creating emotional rapport with your high net worth clients. The more your clients know that you understand their challenges, their interests and what they do to pursue happiness the quicker you can establish rapport and build trust. In fact, the speed of referrals is directly proportionate to the speed of trust that can be established through emotional branding.

Speed of referrals is also a factor of achieving top-of-mind status in a given category of business or a niche within your marketplace. When a buyer comes to town who is interested in purchasing a waterfront condo and they ask a stranger in town who is the best agent or company that specializes in handling this market segment, you want that stranger to think of you first. You want to “own” the term “waterfront condos” in the mind of your target market and also in the mind of anyone in your local marketplace, for that matter.

The process of getting your fans to ravie about you and also owning a market category or niche comes down to emotional branding strategy It is often easier to understand emotional branding strategy by studying how big companies go about doing it.

UPS, the 103 year old company that just recently went public, is planning their biggest advertising campaign ever. The goal: To own the word “logistics” in the minds of small to mid-size companies. UPS recognized that 70% of the companies in the US that sell products to foreign countries just ship to Canada because they are intimidated by the logistics of managing shipping , customs, returns and inventory control beyond our northern neighbors. UPS has been busy acquiring companies that can take the hassle out of logistics as an outsourced solution for a vast potential market. In the process they have developed a way to funnel more business to their core business, parcel delivery.

Their new marketing campaign, “We Love (with a Heart) Logistics” centers around clever lyrics to the song tune, That’s Amore! It is exciting to think that outsourcing these kinds of services can give small businesses a competitive advantage and also help increase exports from the USA to foreign countries to help our economy.

What emotional branding strategies are you developing and implementing to build rapport and achieve top-of-mind status as a luxury real estate marketing professional?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Privilege of Pressure

September 15, 2010

Courtesy of Eagleflying

Last weekend was the finale of the US Open Tennis Tournament. We salute Kim Clijsters and Rafa Nadal the 2010 champions! Watching these and other champions of sports can give you tremendous insight into the mindset that it takes to become the undisputed market leader as a luxury real estate marketing professional.

For example, Ms. Clijsters is a previous champion from Belgium who recently took time off from the tennis circuit to have a child. When asked if she was feeling the pressure of defending her title, she quoted the title of Billy Jean King’s book, “Pressure is a Privilege”.

Venus Williams who made it to the semi-finals still believes that she has another major tournament win in her. When asked a similar question she responded that she is focused on her own game and doing her personal best rather than on paying attention to the competition.

Another semi-finalist, Roger Federer, the owner of 16 grand slam championships, was asked about the challenge of the heavy winds that were blowing plus the abrupt changes in climate, and how that affected his serve. He stated that you could wake him up at 2 or 4am from a deep sleep and he could serve under any condition. He inferred that it was just part of his consistent rigorous training that included working out in the blistering heat of Dubai.

Finalist, Novak Djokovic, was interesting to watch when he clubbed himself with his racquet and fought not just with Nadal, but also with what John McEnroe referred to as his “inner demons”-- those internalized judgments of others that can erode self confidence with self-degradation. Contrast this to the self-appreciating mindset of two -time US Open champion, Kim Clijsters.

What all champions and all those playing at this level know is very clear. They know what is at stake to be the champion. In tennis and many other professional sports the prize money is considerable. That is exactly what you need to keep in mind, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, if your quest is market leadership. But, as good as the financial rewards can be, the real victory is an inner victory that comes from appreciating yourself and the opportunity to play at this level—the privilege of pressure.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Winning the Battle of Brand Perception – Part 2

September 14, 2010

Photo courtesy of mbusa

How you are perceived by potential clients as a personal or company brand is a major factor in the decision making process of hiring you as a luxury real estate marketing professional. In Part 1 of this blog series, we showed the seven most important factors that car buyers consider when choosing a new car. We explained that Mercedes Benz has regained its dominance over other all other luxury cars in the battle of perception.

Here are some examples of how the same brand perception categories referred to in Part 2 might apply to the decision making process (the factor(s) that potential clients values most) when selecting an agent to represent them in buying or selling a luxury home. You can win your own battle of perception by positioning yourself or your company as the leader in at least one of these categories:

1. SAFETY: Although the concept of Safety applies to protection from physical harm when considering the purchase of a car, for some there is a perceived Safety in numbers when it comes to selecting a service provider. Some homeowners prefer to list their home with the biggest firm because the perception of more agents means more exposure to more potential buyers. Other home sellers feel more secure with the idea of listing their home with a big team within a company vs. a single agent.

2. QUALITY:
Home sellers with an entrepreneurial bent might be more likely to choose a single agent vs. a team or a boutique firm vs. a large brand. To them Quality is more important than quantity. Quality time and attention is more important than getting lost in the shuffle of a large firm or dealing with an underling vs. the team leader. There may be more risk involved in selecting an agent based on this factor, but entrepreneurial thinkers are usually less risk averse.

3. VALUE: Some people decide who to hire based solely on Value, meaning the lowest commission rate. These people consider most top agents to be equal to the task. They do not care as much about Safety or Quality in this context. If you have the bent for this approach, become the value leader and dominate this category!

4. PERFORMANCE: In luxury real estate, Performance might refer to your track record. We recently heard a story from a successful agent whose website was found first via a Google search by a foreign buyer ready, able and willing to spend over $3M on a home. This person had searched the MLS on the agent’s site on a Thursday night and identified five homes that he wanted to see when he came in town that Saturday. The agent was told by the buyer that he checked out the Gallery of Sold Homes on the agent’s site which included several $3M+ homes. That was enough to convince the buyer to pick up the phone and request the showing appointment. For some Performance is a key decision making factor. If you have a strong track record by all means, flaunt it!

5 & 6. ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY/GREEN & DESIGN/STYLE: Agents with a passion for all things Green or those who have a flair for Design can run circles around other agents once potential clients learn that you speak their language and share their values.

7. TECHNOLOGY/INNOVATOIN: If you have a penchant for Technology, by all means jump all over this category and dominate it in the minds of potential clients. If you use Technology or demonstrate Innovation better than anyone else in your marketplace you have a shot at “owning” this category. Those who consider these factors to be their priority value will hire you over others who are a lesser match to their values.

If you can demonstrate that you or your company stand for one of these brand perception categories you will have a clear shot at gaining significant market share. If you can accomplish this in more than one category like Mercedes Benz has done with Qualtiy, Design/Style and Technology/Innovation you too can win the battle of brand perception, a battle that takes place expressly in the minds of your target market.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Winning the Battle of Brand Perception - Part 1

September 13, 2010

Photo courtesy of mbusa

In luxury real estate marketing, brand perception is an extremely important determining factor for consumers when selecting an agent to assist them in buying or selling a home. Have you taken the time to consider how you are perceived by potential clients? What do you stand for in the minds of your target market? If market leadership is your quest, you must tell people how you want them to perceive you and in which of their mental categories you want to be held. Otherwise, by default, they will pigeonhole you themselves-accurately or not (mostly inaccurately).

To get a better sense of how perception factors into the agent selection process let us first take a look at how Mercedes Benz is winning the battle of perception as a market leader. Then, in Part 2 we will apply the principles of brand perception to your luxury real estate marketing practice.

According to Consumer Reports’ 2010 Brand Perception Survey for cars, consumers consider the following categories to be the most important factors in buying a new car:

Safety
Quality
Value
Performance
Environmentally Friendly/Green
Design/Style
Technology/Innovation

Each of these factors becomes a brand perception category in the minds of car buying consumers; each category offers an opportunity for one brand to be a category leader, enjoying top-of-mind status in that category. A brand perception category is different from a product category, such as economy car, luxury car, sports car, truck, SUV/crossover, or van. A brand perception category is an aspect of the product category that has relative importance and meaning, i.e., value to the consumer when making a buying or hiring (in the case of a service) decision.

Deliberately communicating to your target market that you want your brand to be perceived predominantly in a particular brand perception category is a key component of brand positioning. This is where the real competition for market leadership takes place. Whichever brand commands the top-of-mind position in a brand perception category wins! Mindshare precedes market share.

Here is how it works. Which automobile brand comes to mind first when you think of the word Safety? According to Consumer Reports, Volvo absolutely dominates this brand perception category. Through years of engineering and marketing Volvo has come to “own” the category of Safety in the minds of 77% of consumers. Volvo has deliberately positioned itself as the top-of-mind leader in the perception category of Safety, and has a stranglehold in this category. In the physical realm of moving parts, many other car brands aim to achieve the same rigorous safety standards as Volvo. But, Volvo, the only luxury car in this category, consistently wins the battle that takes place in the consumer’s mind.

In the category of Quality, Mercedes Benz was the only luxury car in the top 5. But, Mercedes was a “no-show” in the top 5 for the Performance category; BMW and Porsche were the only luxury brands there. BMW’s slogan “the ultimate driving machine” has reinforced their leadership in the Performance category, a brand position they have dominated for years.

Mercedes Benz is also the category luxury leader of Technology/Innovation. Based on the Brand Perception Survey, Lexus is the only other luxury car competitor in this category.

It is important to pick your battles wisely. It is better to focus on a single category, like Volvo (Safety) or BMW (Performance) that you can dominate, rather than disperse your efforts by trying to be all things to all people. However, Mercedes Benz has the potential to regain its status as the overall most highly perceived luxury car brand in the world and once again become a triple threat by dominating not only Quality and Technology/Innovation, but also Design/Style.

This year Mercedes Benz made a bold move by going back to their roots and re-focusing on Design/Style. They changed their slogan to “the best or nothing” to strengthen their dominance of Quality. And, they reintroduced a retro version of the 1955 classic sports car, the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing that sells for upwards of $200,000.

While only a select segment of their target market can afford to purchase this awesome car, the value of producing it lies primarily in perception enhancement. In 2011, Mercedes Benz will most likely surpass Lexus and Cadillac with whom they are tied for the top spot in the Design/Style category in the 2010 survey.

Be sure to check out Part 2 of this blog post series where we will discuss what it takes to win the battle of brand perception in marketing luxury real estate.

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: How to Grow Your Brand Equity

September 7, 2010

If you think that creating your personal brand is not all that important, think again. Brand equity is a term that describes the financial value of a brand, the value that it contributes to the bottom line profit of a business. Brand equity in your luxury real estate marketing practice is the added value in revenue that your brand generates based on the degree to which you achieve top-of-mind status among potential referral sources. The best way to grow brand equity and achieve top-of-mind status is to “own” or dominate a specific category or niche within your luxury marketplace.

Is the taste of Coca Cola, the formula of ingredients added to sugar-sweetened sparkling water, really that much better and more valuable than Pepsi or other colas? The brand value of Coke is in the top-of-mind status that Coke enjoys among consumers. According to Business Week’s 2009 Top 100 Global Brands, Coca Cola is number one most highly valued brand in the world.

“Owning” an idea or category of goods or services, like the sub-category of ‘colas’ in the broader category of soft drinks, is the ultimate aim of branding. Toyota is #8 on the list with the greatest brand value of all global car manufacturers. When you think of Toyota what idea comes to mind? Toyota owns the word “reliable”. A Toyota is a reliable, moderately priced car.

Toyota is not a luxury car. But, did you know that Lexus, #96 on the list, is made by Toyota? They have done a masterful job of building separate sub-brands that are sharply focused on specific car categories and then dominating those niches. Other Toyota brands (not on the list) are the Prius which is the “proven leader in Hybrid technology”, and the Scion, a winner in the youth category.

What idea or category of car does #49 Ford own? In contrast to Toyota, the Ford brand is on so many models and categories of cars that it has diluted its brand equity. Ford does outsell all other truck manufactures in the US by a considerable margin and therefore, owns this category.

Pick a category within your luxury real estate marketplace that you would like to own. Build your brand around this niche. Then, watch your brand equity grow!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Don't Blow It By Being a Generalist!

September 6, 2010

Focus is the name of the game in luxury real estate marketing and branding today, particularly because internet marketing, an inescapable component of any successful marketing plan, is all about “expertness” on a given subject or category of business. Selecting and dominating an uncontested market niche is the fastest route to market leadership and top-of-mind status.

In business, niches are categories of products and services. The majority of people can only hold one or two brands in their mind in a given category. What is the first facial tissue that comes to your mind? Can you see the importance of being Kleenex, the category leader, the top-of-mind brand that commands the lion’s share of revenue in this product category?

If you wanted to gift a client who was interested in hand blown glass sculpture which artist would come to your mind first? If you didn’t know any of these artists, you most likely would ask a friend. If your friend didn’t have an answer you would probably turn to Google.

The glass sculpture tree depicted above by Dale Chihuly is the first image displayed on Google using the search term “glass sculpture”. Chihuly is, by far, the category leader. And, he not only is a master glass sculptor, but also a brilliant marketer. His major exhibits are often staged outside and his publicity is extensive.

Essentially, Dale Chihuly identified an uncontested market niche that he could dominate, a niche about which he is quite passionate. By popularizing the virtually unknown sub-category of contemporary style, he made glass sculpture more accessible and more appealing to more people than traditional, functional Venetian glass sculpture. This is Chihuly’s extraordinary promise of value that catapulted him to top-of-mind status and to high volume sales. He "owns" the contemporary micro-niche sub-category of hand-blown glass sculpture that previously was not on the radar of mass consciousness.

So don’t blow it by being a generalist! Identify an uncontested market niche that you can dominate with passion in your luxury real estate marketing practice.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Share Your Delectable Finds

September 1, 2010

Cork bark from a Cork Tree

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, staying in touch with your sphere of influence is of paramount importance. One way to stay in touch is to share your newest and best discoveries as you live your life and explore the ins and outs of your marketplace.

This evening we went out to our local wine bar and bistro, Corktree Cellars. It is located in downtown Carpinteria on our "Main Street," Linden Avenue. We love going there because the menu is fun, innovative and puts a smile on your face as you read it. The food is great. The wine list is varied and well thought out, reflecting the bounty of our local wine country known as the California Central Coast.

This evening we shared a char broiled romaine hearts salad with blue cheese crumbles, apples and sherry pommery (mustard) dressing. We followed that with a Kobe burger which comes with several choices of French fries. Anne, our knowledgeable server, suggested the parmesan truffle fries. We followed her advice, and were delighted with the taste. This was accompanied by a wonderful glass of local Syrah.

For dessert, we had macaroons. dipped in chocolate The dessert menu assures you that the offerings are fat free and have zero calories*. As you read on the * reveals, that this is a totally false statement. You have to chuckle!

So, share your discoveries with everyone you know. Your blog will be noticed. Foks will rush to read the latest and greatest food finds discovered by someone who has actually experienced it.

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Luxury Real Estate Company & Personal Branding: What Is Your Claim to Fame?

August 31, 2010

Ariana Rose holding up an Amaranth,
Team Member of B.D's Earththrine Farms, Ojai, California

One of the most common mistakes that luxury real estate marketing professionals make is trying to be all things to all people. Focus is mission critical in marketing luxury real estate and in company and personal branding as well. If you can focus on a specific niche, whether it is a neighborhood, or a demographic or a type of property and also be the best in your marketplace in that one niche, your chances of success will improve exponentially.

The idea is to become the first luxury real estate marketing professional to come to mind in that specific category of business. When you select the category that is best for you must:

Select something about which you can feel passionate.
Select a niche that is virtually uncontested, something that you can do better than anyone else in your marketplace.
Select an under served niche that you can dominate and demonstrate your expertise

Here is an example of niche marketing that ties all three of these points together. At our farmers market in Santa Barbara, California, there is one farm that stands out as the best in class for organic herbs. Although, BD’s Earthrine Farms, from nearby Ojai, also grows and sells fruits and vegetables, in our minds, and in the minds of many local restaurants, Eartrine stands for the best herbs in our area. We never miss a stop at their stand.

On our last trip there we noticed a rather remarkable “flower” that looked like it came out of a Dr. Seuss book, called amaranth. In talking with Ariana Rose from Earthrine, she explained that the amaranth is actually the oldest cultivated edible vegetable. We suspect that most people would buy these fascinating vegetables as ornamentals but people around the world also value amaranths as leaf vegetables and cereals.

Are amaranths a big seller? Probably, they are not. But, growing them and selling them at the farmers market speaks volumes about the breadth and depth of Earthrine’s knowledge and expertise in lesser known organic foods which is their claim to fame. Their passion for what they do is palpable. Everyone who works there smiles and they do their best to make you feel good, too.

What is your claim to fame?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: It's All About Moo!

August 30, 2010

Instantly communicating your extraordinary promise of value as a luxury real estate marketing professional is the goal of strategic branding. It is a challenge to distill your marketing message, the benefits that will be derived by working with you, into just a few words. If you can do this through humor you have the opportunity to hit a home run. If you can do this with video, you can hit a grand slam home run because video offers the opportunity to spark word-of mouth advertising and trigger viral marketing through social media channels.

You will remember the highly successful “Got Milk?” campaign. That expression hit a chord and became a “meme” A meme is a concept that gets passed from one person to another like a virus. In just two words, and some very humorous situations where milk as a thirst quencher was unattainable the Got Milk? ads conveyed the promise of value that only milk could satisfy.

Today, at the bottom of the Wall Street Journal Online was a curious miniature advertisement with a call to action that said “Visit Mootopia. Roll over to explore.” The ad was only two inches wide by ¾ inch tall. And, the idea of scrolling over an ad was intriguing.

It was an hilarious 30 second video that extended the Got Milk? advertising campaign. In fact there were two additional, must see, 30 second videos that were also available to view adjacent to the video player. Each video communicated in a humorous manner three benefits of drinking milk:

Shinier Hair
Stronger Muscles
Healthier Teeth

Check out the Mootopia Videos for yourself and you will see what we mean.

These videos were very funny and they were easy to recall which makes it easier to share with others. Distilling your marketing message and succinctly communicating your extraordinary promise of value is paramount in the game of marketing luxury real estate. Tapping into this powerful opportunity of “Sharing” that social media offers can help you build your reputation more rapidly than ever before.

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