Luxury Real Estate Branding Tips: Does Your Brand Work ?

We are always amused when an individual or company peruses our portfolio of luxury real estate branding and website design asks us: "Which one of these designs are your favorites?"  Invariably our answer is all of them, because our goal is to represent the individual or company, as well as their marketplace.   

What is design?  We like Steve Jobs' words on the subject: "Design is a funny word.  Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works." 

So how does a brand work?  A brand has to resonate with the target market by standing out in the sea of sameness, and fit like a glove based on one's personal preferences.  A brand is developed based on a fundamental strategy that, if consistently applied will bring top of mind status.  So, the criteria is: Does the brand work to accelerate the pace at which you achieve this result?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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

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Luxury Real Estate F.A.Q's: How Do I Break Into Luxury Real Estate?#3

This post is Part 3 on the subject of FAQ's, how to break into Luxury Real Estate. The subject is MONEY.  Be prepared to invest your marketing dollars wisely.  Don't be cheap.  It is OK to be wise, which is different than being cheap.  To a luxury buyer or seller, cheap is a REPELLENT.

Many think that what they immediately need to invest in is a luxury car and a premier designer wardrobe.  That in our opinion is thinking you can dance with the American Ballet Theatre, because you bought an expensive wardrobe of tutus and toe shoes.  

Here is where you should be investing your dollars, which is different than buying or leasing a car, or buying a wardrobe, which will be out of date next season.

Your first approach should be to develop a strategy of HOW to get your target market to know you exist.

Secondly, you have to know your competition, and how you have something of value to offer that they are not offering.  Don't get caught up in the trap of competing on features or qualities, such as integrity, experience, certifications...anyone can get certified and should have integrity to be in the business in the first place.

Finally, identify what is different and FRESH about you...That is your unique selling proposition.  Identify what you stand for, who you are as a business person/or company based on your core values, and create a graphic representation based on that.  Make sure you stand out from everyone out there!  These three steps represent a long-term investment.

One of our clients decided fresh out of getting her license that she wanted to break into to the luxury real estate market. She had made several real estate investments that paid off for her.  She also had business experience in launching a line of clothing, which she sold. Given her experience she was well versed in the language of luxury.

Her first investment was to develop her brand strategy and brand identity.  Secondly, she had a friend who had two luxury cars, and was willing to let her use his spare car as long as she paid the insurance on it. Thirdly, she studied fashion, talked to personal shoppers at the best stores who were willing to let her know when something was on sale.  

In six months of consistently applying her strategy, she earned enough commission income to be able to buy a  home in her preferred community, and the car she always wanted.  After an excellent run, she retired in splendor.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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

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Luxury Real Estate F.A.Q's: How Do I Break Into Luxury Real Estate?#1

We get several inquiries a month asking us, how do I break into to the Luxury Real Estate Market?

Here is one of our answers:

If your only intention is to make more money, because of the higher prices on homes, forget it!  You have to be passionate about this unique section of real estate, if you want to be a success and eventually dominate a niche in that area.

You have to become a student of luxury of every kind.  You have to speak and understand the language of luxury.  In a talk we gave at NAR in San Francisco for Prudential Fine Homes, we suggested that at the break agents should wander into the high end San Francisco stores such as Nieman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Tiffany's.

After the break, some of the agents reported that their perspective had changed in being able to understand luxury more clearly.  Educate yourself on high end building materials: stone, wood, wall finishes as well as luxury home furnishings   Luxury car showrooms areanother great place in understanding the nature of luxury possessions.  The car in the photo is a Bugatti Veyron.

Stay tuned for more answers in Part 2!  

Part1 ,  Part 2

Part3

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tips: How to Practice Safe Phone...

This is a follow up to our last post,Is Your Phone Sharing Secrets About YOU?  How do you stop the madness of sensors that track your whereabouts as a shopper, or as a luxury real estate marketing professional, as you move around town?  The answer is simple: just flip the switch! 

Go to your settings and turn off Wi-Fi when you are not deliberately using it.  This will stop them from tracking you, your current location and your movements. 

We went one step further in our investigation of this important topic.  We checked with the managers of Nordstrom’s in two locations that offer Wi-Fi as a convenience to shoppers. They both confirmed that they do not also use tracking sensors within the stores, or otherwise.  We also spoke with the managers in two Apple Stores who do have in-store sensors, but theirs do not work with Wi-Fi. 

Apple has developed a new in-store sensor tracking technology called iBeacon and they are testing it in 254 of their stores. These sensors are short-range low-energy Bluetooth transmitters that can detect a device's location more precisely than GPS to determine when to push a notification, offer or other communication to your phone.  But, you have to have the Apple Store App for it to work.  It differs from the Wi-Fi sensors because it is just short range. 

IBeacon is strictly an Opt-In arrangement. But, keep in mind that Apple has your account information and your credit card on file if you purchase something through your app.  

It is the correlation of your personal information with the general data collected that is most disconcerting here with these types of tracking systems. We trust Apple more than just about any brand and do not believe they will sell the data to third parties.  But, this technology will be licensed to many other major companies and local merchants.  Beware of the privacy policies of those who gather and correlate your personal information with the data collected by either Wi-Fi sensors or Blue Tooth. 

Here is our recommendation:  Practice Safe Phone! Ask yourself if the bargains or other communications are worth sacrificing your privacy. When in doubt, just flip the switch, on or off, Wi-Fi, Blue Tooth or both.  The choice is yours.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tips: Is Your Phone Sharing Secrets About YOU?

This is an important update to one of the our most popular article series of 2013 entitled, “Is Privacy the New Luxury Expenditure?”  This article is about the challenge of keeping your smartphone privacy-safe, not just your computers. 

Several new startups are popping up that can, through sensors, track your physical location down to the square meter when you have Wi-Fi enabled on your smartphone.  One company has placed sensors in about 200 local businesses in a Canadian city within a one-mile radius that track the whereabouts of shoppers, unknowingly, as they move around town. 

These companies know which gym you frequent, which coffee shops and restaurants you visit, which movies you see, on a certain day. They can sense if you are just window-shopping or if you actually come into the store immediately afterwards. 

It is not just the raw information they glean that is most alarming. It is what the information means.  Algorithms can determine if you are a jogger if they can track your movements across a park between certain times of the day. They can determine where you live based on where you are during the hours when you sleep.  They can determine your age by the hours you spend at a certain school. 

It is one thing for restaurant owners to know how many of their customers in general are from an upscale neighborhood.  It is another if they can identify YOU in particular as living in that neighborhood. 

When you log into “free” Wi-Fi using Facebook, at a coffee shop that subscribes to these marketing services, for example, they do collect your name, your age, your gender, and have access to your social media profile.  By cross-referencing your whereabouts with your PERSONAL profile they can learn way too much without your consent, just by inference! 

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, ask yourself this question: "What if that coffee shop owner is a potential client who is choosing between you and your competition?

Be deliberate about enabling Wi-Fi on your phones.  Understand that when you login to Wi-Fi using Facebook that you might be giving personal information away. This information may be innocuous in and of itself. But, it can also be analyzed and aggregated by powerful computers that correlate this information with data about your whereabouts at certain times that accurately yields additional meanings. 

And, remember that privacy is indeed a luxury.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tips: A Sense of Community

A sense of community can be the deciding factor for buyers of luxury real estate.  Of course, if that community is a cluster of a multi-million dollar ski-in, ski out homes in one the most prestigious ski resorts in the world, that doesn’t hurt.

One of the most charming communities we have ever encountered can be found along the Last Chance run in Deer Valley.  What these homes have in common is woodcarvings of animals and Native Americans on display for all to see as they ski by.

One of the homes features raccoons.  Another has bears skiing on the roof. And, another has a three-story hand carved totem pole with a bald eagle and nest at the top.  The community spirit is palpable, with neighbors out-doing each other as if it were a high-end Christmas decorating contest.  The craftsmanship however, speaks for itself.

When you show high net worth buyers homes in luxury communities, take the time in advance to discover whcin ones have a true sense of community. This factor alone can be the tipping point in clinching the sale.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tips: Power Networking - Part 1

Making strong connections and continuously building your personal sphere of influence with high net worth individuals is perhaps the most important success habit for luxury real estate marketing professionals. This is the first in a new Video Blog series on Power Networking.  We hope you enjoy these one or two minute video POWER TIPS!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tips: 3 Ways to Prepare for a Market Upswing

Courtesy of Wikipedia /Public Domain Limpet from Cyprus

As the luxury real estate market recovers in your area you will notice that more new agents are diving back into marketing luxury real estate.  That means competition is heating up. Now is the time to prepare in order to out-think your competitors.

The median sales price for homes in San Francisco jumped 16% in 2013, according to the San Francisco Association of Realtors.  This is primary due to a stronger demand among the “Technorati” who want to live in the city and are content to commute to nearby by Silicon Valley.

Whereas, your area may not be rebounding as fast as San Francisco, you must be prepared to protect your turf.  To do so, think more like a limpet!

The limpet is a sea snail with a conical shell.  The limpet attaches itself to hard surfaces in the ocean. They feed on the algae in the waters and what makes them unique and interesting is that they maintain a garden, which surrounds their home base. When another creature dares to graze in their garden, they push them off by ramming them with their shell, so that their garden can continue to thrive.

California Limpet

For luxury real estate marketing professionals, limpet thinking means keep your garden in order and watch out for interlopers.  Here are three ways to prepare for a market upswing:

Refresh your personal or company brand

Create a new full featured luxury real estate website or update your current one

Stay in close communication with your sphere of influence on a regular basis

So, think like a limpet, and protect your garden in 2014!

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing in 2016: Science Fiction Becomes Reality

As technology continues to evolve, luxury real estate marketing  tools will also evolve, beyond the video and digital camera.  Here is an example of a new technology presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week that may be useful for luxury real estate marketing professionals.  

Fans of Stark Trek will no doubt remember that in the 24th Century, replicators are programmed to create food items, clothing, and other sundry items. Now you can have your own replicator for toys, tools and gadets.  MakerBot unveiled a 3-D Printer for consumers.  It is aptly named MakerBot Replicator Mini.

This model will retail at $1375. The printers build physical objects by layering melted plastic, based on 3-D computer blueprints.  The founder of MakerBot, Bre Pettis, also revealed that their plans include a digital store that will sell 3D blueprints that could replicate toys, etc.  Another firm, XYZPrinting has developed a less expensive 3-D printer called Da Vinci priced at $499. Check out this video that shows how a wrench is duplicated via a 3-D replicator.

Will this have an application for real estate in 2016, when it is predicted that there will be more compelling applications than making toys or tools?  Will we be replicating a model of a home for someone to see instead of jsut shooting photos or videos?  Or will we be sending them the 3-D blueprints for them to replicate themselves at home?  What do you think?

Happy Friday,

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Marketing Luxury Real Estate: Three Tips for Success in 2014 - Part 3

Your Brand Has to Have Soul & Be Inspirational

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, it is essential to discover the SOUL of your personal or company brand and create an INSPIRATIONAL BRAND STORY. Doing so is a surefire path to market leadership. 

Think of a company that has inspired you. Have you ever flown Southwest Airlines?  This is one of the brands we love, mainly because of the ease and simplicity of making or changing reservations, their on-time record and also the remarkable friendliness of their employees.  Here is a company with SOUL! 

If Southwest Airlines has soul, Zappos, the online shoe store that put 2-way no-cost shipping on the map and sold to Amazon for over $1Billion, has both SOUL and an INSPIRATIONAL BRAND STORY. The title of the best seller, Delivering Happiness, written by Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh, says everything about his management style and the company purpose.  

Like Trader Joe’s (covered in Part 2 of this series), the high employee morale in Southwest Airlines and Zappos is palpable. Employee morale contributes mightily to customer engagement via word-of-mouth marketing and also customer loyalty. 

But, why should you strive to uncover and mine your own personal or company brand’s “inspirational DNA”? A survey conducted by Performance Inspiration shows what consumers do when a company inspires them:

• 86% of respondents say they would recommend the company to friends and family
• 82% percent would be loyal to that company
• 92% would share their experience with others
• 71% reported they would spend more on a company that inspires them

Old Spice came out with a commercial that embodies all three essential elements that we cover in this article series, LOVE, SOUL & INSPIRATION (inspirational because it went "viral" with over 3 million views when we saw it).  The theme, "Smellcome to Manhood", brilliantly targets and communicates to boys who are coming of age, and also moms who might buy it for their sons (if they let their sons grow up). It is a must see and is far better than most Superbowl commercials. What a coup for a heritage brand looking to reach its next generation of consumers. Enjoy...

Spend some time uncovering and mining your own inspirational DNA.  It needs to be demonstrated not just superficially, but through every interaction you have your associates, your current clients and also your entire sphere of influence.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Marketing Luxury Real Estate: Three Tips for Success in 2014 - Part 2

What’s Love Got to Do with It?

As a seasoned luxury real estate marketing professional, you have certainly had the experience of a buyer who falls in love with a home at first sight. We personally had that experience with our own home.  We knew within 5 minutes that we found the perfect home, wrote an offer and were in escrow within 48 hours.  But, this is not typical, especially for buyers who are not all that familiar with your marketplace. 

Most of the time you need to set the stage for the buyers by first romanticizing your marketplace, then pointing out how the homes you show them could be an ideal match to their needs or their dreams.  With sellers, you need to romance them with your personal or company brand before they give you their listing. Then you need to present their listings in the best possible light with stunning photography and verbal descriptions that promise a lifestyle devoid of mediocrity. 

Think about a brand you love!  We love Trader Joes.  We cannot say enough about the esprit-de-corps that their very knowledgeable Santa Barbara “Crew” consistently demonstrates, the product selection, their return policy, the food sampling station that always has excellent coffee and friendly conversation, the human scale of the store itself, on and on.  The crew here wears shorts and “island-themed” shirts that set the tone for a casual relaxed buying experience. 

How do you get clients to fall in love with YOU, with your brand?  You need to prove that you truly care about people, according to Wolfgang Shaefer, Global Chief Strategy Officer of SelectNY, a speaker at Luxury Daily’s Luxury Outlook 2014. And, that is what is at the heart of the Trader Joes brand.  The operation is so well run that you get the sense that they really take the time to care about you. 

What can you do, as a luxury real estate marketing professional to further convince your past, current and potential clients that you truly do care? Spread the love in 2014!

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Marketing Luxury Real Estate: Three Tips for Success in 2014

At year-end we attended Luxury Outlook 2014, produced by Luxury Daily. Although, the presentation was geared primary to the luxury goods industry we gleaned some exciting insights for luxury real estate marketing professionals that we will share with you in this article series.

We were particularly moved by Wolfgang Shaefer, Global Chief Strategy Officer at SelectNY, who emphasized the importance of telling the story of your brand from three perspectives: Stories of SOUL, stories to INSPIRE and stories of LOVE.  So, stay tuned as we apply these principles to the art of marketing YOU in the luxury real estate realm and leveraging your brand to create an outrageously successful 2014. 

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Marketing Luxury Real Estate: Human Scale Architecture in Los Angeles

Today, we were in Beverly Hills for our monthly meeting...it was an easy drive, as many people are including the rest of week as part of their New Year's holiday.  Afterwards, we decided to go to the Grove, a new luxury commercial development near Farmers Market, because, it was one of the few place with a Barnes & Noble in the immediate vicinity of Beverly Hills.

We are noticing that the newer architecture in shopping malls is trending to human scale.  Each building is different like it would be in a small town.  Notice the Barnes & Noble building (above) is a deco style, while the Barney's is more modernistic.  This outdoor shopping mall has the feel of a small downtown, and is paved with cobblestone and interesting tile inset work.  They also have a tram running through the center, a beautiful fountain, great places toe at and a multi-plex theater.  It is within walking distance of the neighborhood of upscale homes, as well as the CBS studios and offices.

We think that human scale commercial real estate is one of the trends for 2014, based on our observations of the newer development in California's, and in parts of the USA that we have visited over the past few years.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Happy New Year 2014! 3 Fun Tips for the New Year: DRINK, EAT & WORKOUT

We enjoy champagne for celebrating New Year's Eve as well as special events and times.  We also love  discovering champagne brands that are superb  yet not well known, because they come from smaller producers. They are also not as pricey as the well-known premium brands.

We were introduced to Champagne Tornay by the owners of the Wine Grotto in Montecito.  Champagne Tornay dates back to the 17th century and is family owned, has 50 acres of grapes, and keep enough wine to make 100,000 bottles.  We loved every sip of it, it was everything champagne should be.  We highly recommend it.

If your resolution is to be delightfully svelte in 2014, here are two digital aids to keep on the straight and narrow.  You can buy a digital fork for a $100.  The HAPfork will vibrate in your mouth, and flash a red light if you are eating too fast.  Nutritionists recommend a 10 second interval between bites.  For more info, here is the link to the WSJ article.

For your personalized workout, you will need the latest app called FitStar.  This App uses data about your fitness and tailors workouts videos for you.  You can report to FitStar the results of the workout, whether it was too easy, just right or way too much.  Here is more from the WSJ article.

We wish you all a delightful New Year, and may all your wishes, resolutions, goals be fully realized! 

Cheers, Ron & Alexandra

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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The Winning Attitude for 2014: Unbridled OPTIMISM

The Sky Above Sandyland, Carpinteria Beach in Santa Barbara in December 2013

Some pundits say the recession is over.  Other say we are still in it.  But, how will this affect your productivity as a luxury real estate marketing professional in 2014?  Should you be cautiously optimistic?  

We say don’t listen to “them”.  Here is our recipe: Listen to your own heart! If you let the tough times from the past overshadow the present you are going to miss opportunities that are right under your nose to make 2014 the best year of your life. 

If you do look back, focus on the bright moments and use them as touchstones that offer promise for a better future.  Turn any challenge that comes up into an opportunity to expand.  Then drop the concept of good times and bad times all together. Above all trust yourself! Only then can you experience unbridled optimism, the winning attitude for 2014  

Enjoy Barbra Streisand’s version of “Who Will Buy” (a question luxury real estate listing brokers often ask) from the musical Oliver (lyrics below). It expresses this attitude perfectly! 

Who will buy

This wonderful morning?

Such a sky

You never did see!

Who will tie

It up with a ribbon

And put it in a box for me?

So I could see it at my leisure

Whenever things go wrong

And I would keep it as a treasure

To last my whole life long.

Who will buy

This wonderful feeling?

I'm so high

I swear I could fly.

Me, oh my!

I don't want to lose it

So what am I to do

To keep the sky so blue?

There must be someone who will buy... 

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Learn a Competitive New Skill in 2014

Staying at the top of your game is key in the New Year. It is essential if you want to gain or sustain market leadership. If you do not continue to grow in knowledge and skillset each year, you can count on the fact that your competition will.  So, it's time to turn over a new leaf and learn a competitve new skill in 2014!

Recently, Sal Kahn of Kahn Academy (the online video learning center that is totally transforming education) sent me (Ron here) this email invitation: 

“In the last week over 15 million people tried out [computer] coding for the first time as part of the 'Hour of Code' - would you like to join them? At the end of your hour, you'll have coded your very own greeting card to send to someone this holiday season” 

It was really easy and fun. You can do it too! Just click on the link above the video below.  The “card” below is what I coded for Alexandra.  

In the video below, you will see how many celebrities, including Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, have joined in to help Code.org spread this important message:  The digital future depends on more people learning computer coding! 

Anybody can learn to code: A 60 second video from Code.org on how anybody can learn to code

Whereas, I have no intention of becoming a computer programmer, the mental exercise was exhilarating. My appreciation for our web developers that we work with in personal and company branding has grown significantly. 

Think of how many kids and adults can be inspired by experiencing their initial success at a new skill.  Even Gates and Zuckerberg had to learn to write their first line of code at the beginning of their stellar careers. 

So, shake things up in your world. Try something new, turn over a new leaf!. What important new skill will you learn in 2014 to expand your luxury real estate marketing practice and stay on top of your game?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Is it Time for Two Internet Models?

In marketing luxury real estate many homeowners would prefer to have photos of their homes forever erased from the Internet for privacy and safety purposes. Have you every published a comment or photo online that you later regretted for fear of it being misjudged or taken out of context?  Growing concerns about privacy has spawned an entire new model for the Internet. Is it time for two Internet models?

New technology known as “ephemeral/erasable” has come into the picture. This is giving voice to both spontaneity and privacy.  It started with an app called SnapChat, a photo-messaging app.  Using the app, you can take photos, record videos, add text and send them to your friends.  You can also control the time the recipients have to view their snaps, from 1 to 10 seconds.  Subsequently, the message is deleted automatically from their device as well as SnapChat’s servers. 

The big Internet companies have operated on the idea of data gathering. Although, you get Google and Facebook for free, you actually do pay by giving them data, which they can subsequently analyze and sell to marketers and advertisers.  The more data Amazon gathers about your buying habits the more valuable they are to marketers and advertisers.

Here is an example:  One of Facebook’s users announced her pregnancy and delight.  Target’s Facebook page gleaned the data and sent the woman coupons for diapers and other baby items.  Babies R Us was also there to promote to her.  However, this individual was incensed and felt that she was sharing a private moment with loved ones.

The permanence of data has been challenged in court in Argentina, with the “right-to-be-forgotten” movement. This movement is supported by the European commission, and was included in its proposed privacy legislation.

Law professor Jeffrey Rosen, wrote in an article for the Stanford Law Review, “This legislation could make giants such as Google and Facebook for example, liable for up to 2 percent of their global income if they fail to remove photos that people post about themselves and later regret, even if the photos have been widely distribute already.”

Some tech pundits are calling SnapChat the most important technology of 2013. But, if a second Internet model emerges the big companies want to control that too!  Facebook made an offer to buy SnapChat for 3 billion all cash, which the partners refused.

Perhaps, the time has come where two Internets exist and WE have the choice: Permanent or Forever Erasable. That would be the ideal world for many luxury homeowners. What do you think?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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The Ultimate Luxury of the Year in 2013: Being Young at Heart!

The Ultimate Luxury for 2013: Being Young at Heart

Every year we strive to examine and re-examine the meaning of luxury. And, we keep coming back to the simple things in life. 

In our recent travels to the East Coast, we stayed at a wonderful historic hotel that was right across the street from the Discovery Place, a children’s science museum. In the museum store I (Ron here) spotted a toy that I would have flipped for as a kid.  I was always fascinated by the principles of electronics and wanted to learn more. But, the toys, like the one I found (pictured above), were either too complicated or didn’t work very well. 

There is no way I was going wrap this and wait until Christmas to open the present and play with it!  Notice on the box it says, “AGES 8-108”.  I already did the first 10 projects. Wow! So much fun!  I highly recommended Snap Circuits for kids of all ages if you need a last minute gift idea.

The song Young at Heart was featured in a film by the same name with Frank Sinatra and Doris Day.  Here are the lyrics and Frank's version of the classic song. This line says it all about the ultimate luxury:

"Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on earth - To be young at heart. For as rich as you are, it's much better by far To be young at heart."

Wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season and a Fabulous 2014! Always stay young at heart!

"Young At Heart"

written by Johnny Richards (music) & Carolyn Leigh (lyrics)

 Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you

If you're young at heart.

For it's hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind

If you're young at heart.

You can go to extremes with impossible schemes.

You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams.

And life gets more exciting with each passing day.

And love is either in your heart, or on it's way.

Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on earth

To be young at heart.

For as rich as you are, it's much better by far

To be young at heart.

And if you should survive to 105,

Look at all you'll derive out of being alive!

And here is the best part, you have a head start

If you are among the very young at heart.

And if you should survive to 105,

Look at all you'll derive out of being alive!

And here is the best part, you have a head start

If you are among the very young at heart.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Only Chickens Are Copycats

When we recently visited our clients luxury real market, they pointed out that their main competitors copied their distinctive color.  As the market is improving, more agents are jumping in the fray to sell luxury real estate, and more copycats are on the prowl.

Imitation is our opinion is not a sincere form of flattery.  It shows a distinct lack of creativity and originality, and both qualities are integral to marketing luxury real estate or any other service or product.

The luxury car industry is starting to thrive as the economy improves.  Here is an example done by two separate creative agencies, whose clients are Mercedes Benz, and Jaguar.

To illustrate the Mercedes car suspension and its function of anticipating terrain to insure comfort, this video was created using a chicken.  The chicken is shown moving to the music of Diana Ross; “Upside Down”, and it is held by two hands in white gloves and black sleeves representing the magic of Mercedes suspension engineering.

Jaguar’s agency decided to parody the commercial by showing a scientist manipulating a chicken with the chicken flying away, he tells us, “See it is just like a Mercedes”.  The next scene is the jaguar with feathers flying out of its jaws.  The commercial claims that its suspension is cat-like.  The commercial ends with the slogan, “It Is Good to be Bad”.

According to Mr. Schorr, a Jaguar executive,   “Everyone enjoys a little friendly competition and acknowledge how brilliant the original ad was and how clever and fun our spin on it was.”

In our opinion, only chickens are copycats! What do you think?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Simple & Memorable Luxury Marketing, Part 2

As we have often mentioned, the competition in the wine industry is even fiercer than the competition among luxury real estate marketing professionals.  Whether selecting an agent or a bottle of wine without a direct referral, you may only have a Nano-second to make a great impression and stand out from the crowd. However, if your messaging solves a problem your chances are even greater to get a quick decision.

Here is an example of a marketing message that collapses the time of the decision-making process, by solving the problem of selecting a wine to bring to a dinner party. 

First, the Foodies brand name itself, plus its price point (4 bottles for $23.96), identifies and speaks directly to their precise target market:  less sophisticated wine lovers, on a budget, who aspire to learn more and also look good when buying wine as a gift.

The messaging on the label clearly indicates which wine goes with which meal, which immediately solves a problem. It enables the customer to make a quick decision about which wine to bring to the party. 

Foodies’ further defines their target market on their website:

“Whether farm to table or head to tail, great food deserves great wine.  Foodies was created for culinary-minded wine lovers seeking delicious, balanced wines to complement a range of inspired dishes.”

Then they go on to use “social proof” to convince their potential customers that they are making a wise decision. Foodies’ wines have garnered accolades from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Jefferson Cup Invitational and the California Fair Wine Competition. 

Taken all together, Foodies uses brilliant messaging to create what is known in the world of branding and marketing as a “frictionless” decision.  They rapidly remove all obstacles, all resistance due to uncertainty and all objections to buy.

In the context of luxury real estate marketing, the objective of your marketing message should be to instantaneously communicate that you or your company is the answer to your prospects’ most pressing problem or concerns.  Your messaging needs to collapse the time of the decision-making process to hire you for their needs, which often includes the need to impress others.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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