Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Peripheral Chocolate Marketing!

Consistently staying in touch with your sphere of influence through a blog and/or a newsletter can reap a steady flow of referrals from those who already know you and also engage your prospects.   But, what is the secret that the most successful luxury real estate marketing professionals know about this important practice, that you may be missing?  The answer is Peripheral Marketing!  That is, sharing information that is fascinating and not just related to real estate.

Some of these people will occasionally be interested in market trends or what the home sold for on their street. However, if you constantly bombard them with real estate related information they will simply tune you out. They may eventually unsubscribe from your blog or newsletters.  Sustaining their interest in your regular communications is what peripheral marketing is all about.

An agent on the East Coast turned her passion for chocolate into a goldmine of referrals by blogging about a topic that is near and dear to the hearts and stomachs of so many of us. She reports on every type of chocolate and explains the evolution from beans to chocolate bars or truffles. Her sphere looks forward to her newsletters with great anticipation because they are more interested in their lifestyle than real estate facts. 

Prospects may have a keener interest in real estate matters. But, if you want them to choose you, over your competition, as their agent you better let them know that you have more than one dimension and also a unique point of view.  That is the secret of highly successful luxury real estate marketing professionals.

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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What’s The Use of Social Media Without Pictures or Conversation?

Looking back to the inception of social media, we pause to evaluate its meaning today.  In our title, we paraphrased the quote from Alice in Wonderland, “What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversation? ” We substituted social media for the book, to illustrate that some of social media is often without pictures or conversations.

As early adopters, we were impressed by the conversations and the genuine exchange of pictures and information.  We loved the eagerness of people reaching out to connect.   It was fun to converse with someone in Australia, Malta, Spain, and Tasmania via the Internet.  This was a form of having pen pals across the world without waiting for response through the mail.

Internet users were told by the social media pundits to turn new friendships into dollars. They said, “all one has to do to tap into the Internet’s “river of gold” by encumbering the message with key words, and say nearly nothing, except,  “Give me your business, I am connected to you!” Then, as Google continued to change its algorithms, users were told to follow the new rules in order to appease the Google gods.

People forgot that social means talking to each other, and enjoying the conversation. They lost track of the fact that the media is simply a platform of communication.

We have always maintained that genuine conversation and connecting in a meaningful way brings business in.  It is good to be found on Google; there is no doubt about that.  However, will a Google search find the genuine article?  Or, will the result find someone who knows how to twist themself and their words to achieve the top positioning, but knows little else.

We still chuckle at the story of someone who hired the “expert” to speak about social media because he ranked #1.  It turned out that he knew less than the individual who hired him. His cheeky response was, “I know how to be #1!”

What is the use of social media without pictures or conversations?  For us, it has no life, no meaning and no reason for its existence.  With pictures and conversations it is a form of sharing, exchanging, connecting, learning and enjoying other’s perspectives.  Genuine sharing can lead to business. 

What do You think?

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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Marketing Real Estate: Local Expertise Makes A World of Difference

Photo by Jorisvo

In marketing luxury real estate, there is no substitute for local knowledge.  Some real estate portals have been collecting local insights from agents by offering them the carrot of a miniscule chance of winning a contest.  This information cannot replace personal contact with trusted content. 

Recently one of the chefs in town mentioned he was going to Paris for a week.  He asked us if we could recommend restaurants that we had recently eaten at.   He wanted to experience bistros, and wine bars where the Parisians ate.  So, we contacted our friend and partner in Paris with that criteria, and she sent back several of her favorites, along with a local’s perspective and descriptions.

When I searched Paris restaurant guidebooks, Google gave me 847,000 results.  This chef has even better resources than Google such as other chefs and customers who constantly travel.  What he was looking for was eating at places where the locals eat.  He wanted to be where the Parisians are, i.e., the local current experience.

Guidebooks and the Internet are great sources of local information, but is it really the genuine article, and can the reviews be really trusted to match our own standards and preferences?

When we travel to a client’s destination, we always ask for their recommendations of places to stay and at which to dine.  We are always looking for the local experience, and not the tourist’s experience.   The same is true for us regardless where we find ourselves in the world.  Local expertise makes a world of difference.

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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Brand Loyalty: Jaw-Dropping Service Makes The Difference!

As an independent luxury real estate marketing firm, who wants to compete against the big brand real estate franchises, you can have a distinct advantage by providing   “jaw-dropping service. It may cause potential clients to switch brand loyalty in your favor.

Recently, we visited our local independent pet store, instead of heading out to the national chain store in downtown Santa Barbara. They have only three locations in our area.

A young man cheerfully greeted us and was genuinely eager to find out how he could help us.  When we told him that cat food was our query he walked us over to that department and proceeded to go through every dry and wet food brand that they carry, explaining the pros and cons of each for our particular needs.  He knew the content of every product by heart, which thoroughly impressed us. 

Their cat food brands are not available at the national chain store or at supermarkets. We purchased two of each flavor of one brand for our two cats. The prices were the same as our typical choices at the national chain store.

After this gentleman explained the difference in each of their cat litter offerings, we decided to purchase a very large and heavy bag that he offered to carry to our car. He told us that this was what they do at their store unless we wanted him to divide it into smaller bags as a courtesy. Our jaws dropped!

What a difference in service between the local independent and the national chain store with 1000 locations!  Our cats love every one of the food items we purchased.  This actually represents a savings because it was always hit and miss with our finicky cats, which meant quite a bit of waste.

We started to contemplate defecting to the local independent store even thought we liked the convenient location of the chain store (next door to our most frequented market).  Then, came the clincher that overcame our switching barrier.

Ron wanted to return a defective cat toy purchased from the chain store. The checkout clerk, who knows us very well, refused to give him a full value credit ($3.99) because he did not have a receipt. He was offered a gift card for 70 cents, which is the current sales price of similar (defective) items.

An appeal to the store manager, who also knows us very well as frequent customers, was also fruitless.  He felt like he was talking with robots who were not allowed to override a policy to make important entrepreneurial customer retention decisions.

End of brand loyalty!  For about 3 dollars, they lost hundreds of dollars of business per year from us. Jaw-dropping service caused us to jump ship! 

How can you incorporate jaw-dropping service in your luxury real estate practice?

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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Getting Your Brand To Go Viral: The Importance of EduTainment

One of the concepts of getting your brand to go viral as we mentioned in our previous post, "Is There A Formula For Going Viral", is the subject of edutainment. It refers to online content that is both educational and entertaining.  The importance of this concept in marketing is that it is fun and memorable. 

Children are taught the ABC song to learn the alphabet. “Do, Re, Mi” from the “The Sound of Music, “ teaches the musical notes.  These are definitely a form of edutainment. 

Some of the best memories of favorite teachers and professors often involve moments of edutainment.  My father (A) rapidly filled his college courses on physics, thermodynamics, statistics, pre-med and engineering, because he was known for being entertaining. Traditionally these courses are considered “dull” subjects.  However, he had his students laughing, learning and remembering these subjects.

Many real estate professionals miss out on the opportunity to use edutainment as a strategy to invite contacts and potential leads into their world.  Edutainment is a great way to expose the lifestyle of your marketplace, or share something interesting. 

A wonderful example is Mario’s Facebook Page, the brainchild of Mary Greenberg of Mary and Dick Greenberg, whose real estate firm serves Fort Collins and surrounding areas. Dick is well known for his exemplary market reports reflecting his economic take on what is happening in Northern Colorado.  Mario is their adorable rat terrier who has quite a following, because he is so entertaining. This is edutainment at its best.  It is an invitation to join the fun and the brand of Mary & Dick.

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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The Challenge of Marketing Your Brand Online: Is There A Formula For Viral Marketing?

Given that we are bombarded on a daily basis with thousands of communications from various brands it is important to meet the following criteria if you intend to have your    online content go viral.  When you have these components in your online marketing strategy your chances increase exponentially for your target market to spread the word about you. 

Analyze your online content by asking yourself: 

YOUR MESSAGE

Do I have a strategy to encourage my target market to opt in to my content?  Is my content compelling enough to encourage or inspire my target market to return to my site, without drip campaigns or other incentives?  

Ambush marketing is no longer the answer. Remember that your market can click or swipe away in a Nano-second.

YOUR VALUE

Is there value in my message, i.e. is it useful, or educational?  Am I meeting my target market’s expectations, or am I repeating the same old stuff day in and day out? If the message is the same on a daily basis, you will become irrelevant!

In the beauty products world, Clinique invited beauty bloggers to participate in a live, online video chat with Julia Cox, their beauty expert.  They were able to ask questions, so they were better able to spread the word about Clinique.

YOUR ENTERTAINMENT FACTOR

Is my content entertaining?  With the advent of YouTube, attention is often gained through video entertainment.  Volvo’s Epic Split commercial, showing Jean-Paul Van Damme doing the splits between two Volvo trucks, was cited by Volvo as being one of the reasons that their sales increasing by 31%.  Over 10 million people have watched Virgin Airline’s funny safety in-flight announcement on YouTube. This announcement has created a buzz, a fond perception of Virgin and resulted in more occupied seats on their flights.  That’s Viral Marketing!

Does your content have the potential to go viral?

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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Appreciating Life's Luxuries: Focusing On The Kindness of Strangers

You know you have begun to gain the trust of new clients when they feel hopeful that you can satisfy their most pressing needs and they can count not only on your skill set but also on your kindness to do so.  In marketing luxury real estate, the more high trust relationships you can develop the more successful you will be. If market leadership is your quest it is essential that you cultivate within your self a general sense of hopefulness and faith in the core kindness of mankind.

Evidence of kindness and also cruelty to mankind abounds. Both realities exist. The choice you have is this: which reality are you going to focus upon? Cultivating a sense of hopefulness and kindness requires that you defuse your fixation on cruelty and look for more evidence of kindness.

Have you noticed the extent to which the news and also entertainment has you believing that cruelty is far more predominant than kindness?  Evidently, cruelty sells ads!

This morning, in the parking lot of our grocery store, we saw a Chihuahua running loose seemingly lost and frantically looking for its owner.  Suddenly, we noticed that three other customers joined us trying to coral the dog.  Another wanted to wait until the dog was safely out of the way before getting in her car and leaving her parking space.

Then we heard a whistle and we looked up.  Two men were working on the roof of the grocery store. They could see the dog from their vantage point and were trying to let the customers know where it was.  Finally, they saw the owner and were able to point the owner in the right direction to find her Chihuahua. 

At that point our help was no longer needed.  But, we marveled at the spontaneous outbreak of kindness of eight total strangers who, for a moment in time, became united to help reunite a pet and its owner.  It was uplifting for all of us. There was no expectation or need for gratitude from the pet owner. It just felt great to take a moment out of our day for someone else; that is all!

Evidence of kindness and cruelty abound.  What are you going to focus upon?

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 Company Branding: Is Your Company Brand a Household Name?

If market leadership is your quest, as a luxury real estate company simply achieving the brand awareness of potential clients, or agents you would like to recruit, is not enough.  You must set you sites on having your company become a HOUSEHOLD NAME and achieve INSTANT RECOGNITION as the go-to brand in your marketplace. To get the lion’s share of business in your marketplace you must reach for top-of-mind status. This is a case study of CornerStone Coastal Properties in Fort Meyers, Florida.

We contacted Napa Consultants, International in May of 2014. We had been given 30 day notice that our franchisor was not going to renew our franchise agreement. The task to preserve and rebrand our successful real estate company in less than 30 days was overwhelming. Ron and Alexandra were assuring and proactive from the first conversation. They immediately met with us, designed, created and delivered a brand that positioned our company as the leader in our market place. The goal was to have a new company identity that represented our company; its culture, philosophies and business model that we could clearly articulate to our team of 50 agents, their past customers and clients, our local real estate community and the community at large. This task included: a new brand with a clear and concise marketing message, a logo, a full functioning and optimized luxury website, business card, letterhead & presentation folder designs, yard sign and facility sign designs, consultation on 25 custom agent websites, and coordination of incorporating our new brand into numerous real estate products used by our company. Ron and Alexandra exceeded our expectations. Their comprehensive knowledge of the real estate business was the golden key to achieving our success in rebranding in such short amount of time. Their tireless work ethic and level of professionalism was amazing. They will continue to be an integral part of our strategic planning and future success as we expanded into new markets. Without question I would highly recommend Napa Consultants, International.

David Cole, Broker-Owner, CornerStone Coastal Properties
CornerStoneCoastal.com

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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Choosing Your Brand Colors: The Non-Obvious Brand Colors!

Are you stumped trying to come up with a color scheme for your personal or company brand? Take a cue from the natural surroundings in your marketplace or colors that might represent it.

For example, if you look to nature in a tropical marketplace there is a treasure trove of color clues.  Here is a color palette that is inspired by a tropical fish. These colors are actually sampled directly from the photos; they just are not obvious.

If your marketplace is Santa Fe, New Mexico turquoise blue and silver jewelry may be your inspiration.  But, if you look closer at the image here you will find other complimentary colors that are not the usual suspects, colors that can make your brand identity stand out. 

Take your personal or company brand color cues from your marketplace and your natural surroundings. Then, discover the non-obvious brand color combinations.

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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A Personal Brand is Born in Santa Barbara!

What comprises a model luxury real estate personal brand? It is the fusion of your marketplace and its lifestyle, the spirit of your own personality, your personal values and personal preferences, tempered in such a way that it clearly communicates on the wavelength of your ideal target clients.

Nothing shouts out Santa Barbara like the hot colors of fuchsia bougainvillea and terracotta Spanish rooftops against a backdrop of the Pacific Ocean with the coastal mountain range snuggled up right behind you.  How do you capture the essence of this semi-tropical paradise with a year-round temperate climate and a relaxed vacation lifestyle, and then incorporate all that into a very personal luxury real estate brand? 

When you are a market leader and you have a name like YOLANDA and no other agent in your marketplace has that name you want to seize this opportunity.  Think, Cher, Madonna, and Beyoncé! Hence, the personal brand, YolandaSB was born.  (Check out YolandaSB.com)

Yolanda van Wingerden hails from one of the fine Dutch families that emigrated from Holland to Santa Barbara and created what has become a mecca for the wholesale floral industry.  Claiming bougainvillea as part of Yolanda’s personal brand was a natural.

Yolanda specializes in selling luxury real estate in the area called Upper East (adjacent to our fabulous downtown shopping and dining streets) and also The Mesa (the trendy beachfront neighborhood).  Yolanda’s friends know her simply as Yo. As an ambassador of the Santa Barbara lifestyle we featured Yo’s Picks on her website (best restaurants, shopping and points of interest).  Be sure to check out this great local resource before you come to town! http://yolandasb.com/sb-info-tips/yos-picks-downtown/

When we work with luxury real estate personal and company branding clients we always travel to meet face-to-face with them, study the marketplace and understand their areas of expertise.  Although, we live right here in Santa Barbara, Yolanda gave us a comprehensive tour of her target market so we could understand it through her eyes.  And, we were surprised to learn so much about the place we already love.

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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If You Get The Itch to Ditch Your Niche, Think Again!

 

Niche players will always have an advantage over generalists, in luxury real estate marketing, because they are focused on taking care of the specific needs of clients that were not being met by the generalists.  If you are a generalist, you cannot serve everyone, and expect to have client satisfaction across the board. You are vulnerable to niche players who can seize your market share. 

Here is an example in the entertainment industry.  The three major television networks, ABC, CBS, & NBC used to dominate TV programming.  HBO, Netflix, and others identified a gap in that entertainment.  As niche players, they were able to supply a different style of entertainment that was geared to a demographic that the big three networks ignored.  These companies carved out a niche by producing intelligent content that is well crafted with good acting, good stories and no commercial interruptions.

Here is a Real Estate Example. One of our clients carved out a niche years ago by specializing in the newer communities in a particular price range.  She concentrated all her marketing efforts on those communities.  Part of her strategy was to meet and make friends with the HOA boards. She spoke at their meetings on a variety of real estate subjects such as staging a home to sell, curb appeal, and more.

Our client is still the undisputed expert in these communities, based on her knowledge and consistent execution of her marketing plan.  Generalists have tried to dethrone her and have not succeeded. 

So next time you get the itch to move in the direction of expanding before mastering your niche, think again!  Do yourself a favor and buy some Calamine lotion.  

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 Brand Colors: Part 1 - Some Like it Hot!

Using color effectively in luxury real estate branding can help to make you stand out from the crowd.  Your brand colors can speak volumes about who you are and how you are distinct from your competition.  In this article series we delve into some of the nuances of brand colors and how to integrate them into your brand story. 

Some people love the hot or warm colors: red, orange, yellow, magenta and gold.  Others prefer cold or cool colors: blues, greens, white, grays silver.  

This image of sweet peppers, taken at the Santa Barbara Farmer’s Market, focuses upon hot colors.  But, notice that there are several cool colors that offset the hot colors.  This contrast makes it easier on the eyes to view an image for a longer period of time.  

If your luxury real estate brand colors are going to include both hot and cold colors, one of the important principals to keep in mind is using the right proportions of hot and cold colors. 

The color swatches below are actually samples of hot and cold colors taken from the same image of the peppers.  Can you see how important proportion of hot and cold colors are to a composition?

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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How to Find the Under Served Market Niche: The Paradigm Shift, Clue #3

One of the most important aspects in luxury real estate marketing is to be able to shift paradigms. The dictionary defines it: “as making a fundamental change in an individual’s or a society view of how things work in the world.”  It is seeing life from a new perspective and aligning to it.

When you are looking for a niche, you may need to change your frame of mind on how you view your marketplace.  If only for a moment, let go of your assumptions that tell you that there is nothing new to specialize, and you have the facts to prove it.

In the crowded wine industry, Yellow Tail wines is a perfect example of a company that found an under served market niche.  Yellow Tail noticed that young adults wanted to drink wine, without having to be experts in grape varietals or vintages. CEO, John Cansella, expressed it this way: "People can’t be bothered by all the hype and nonsense of wine. They just want to drink it."    Yellow Tail provided their target market with an easy way to select the right wine for the occasion.

This Australian company has become the number one imported wine to Britain in 2000 surpassing their usual import of French wine.  In the USA they held that distinction in 2003.  Yellow Tail established a new category, a niche for those who want to drink wine without confusion and intimidation.  They have recently come out with bubbly versions and sangria.

Clue # 3 Practice looking at situations from new perspectives, and shift your paradigm. Focus on the picture above, you can see the different perspectives!

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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How to Find Your Market Niche: Focus Your Internet Energy,Clue #2

Last week, we wanted to purchase another Meyer lemon tree  (thin fragrant skinned lemons that are less acidic) for our deck.  We looked on line hoping to find a nursery in Santa Barbara. We were utterly surprised that not a single grower or nursery in Santa Barbara came up for a Meyer lemon tree. We made an assumption based on the fact that since California is the second biggest citrus producer after Florida, we would find a Meyer lemon tree on line from California.

Our search revealed two growers, one based in South Carolina, and the other in Georgia.  The search did not even show nurseries in Santa Barbara carrying Meyer Lemon trees.  For all practical purposes, one could conclude that Santa Barbara does not stock Meyer lemon trees, which is not true.  The only reason we looked on line is because two of the local nurseries had  sub par Meyer trees , and like everyone else we were hoping to save ourselves time on line.

The Eastern based nurseries identified an under served market niche in Southern California.   We were stunned. If someone is pressed for time and does not want to wander through nurseries, they can easily order a tree on line and have it arrive at their home with free shipping.  It fulfills an important need of saving time, and both of these companies who are located back East are benefiting from this uncontested market niche.

Clue #2. Realize that searches are specific, so question your assumptions.  Check on line how homes are advertised in your marketplace.  What characteristics of homes are missing that a buyer would be looking for, that is so obvious no one had mentioned it?

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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Real Estate Marketing Tip: How to Find the UnderServed Market Niche #1

Whenever we write about finding an under served market niche, we get comments of how hard it is to find that niche.  It can take considerable research and time to find the uncontested niche in your marketplace.  Real estate marketing professionals often assume that someone dominates a niche based on hearsay.  However, if you delve deeper you will often find that what you assumed is not necessarily true. 

There is an abundance of cookbooks available on every subject. If you were looking for an under served market niche in the cookbook-publishing world, you would be hard pressed to find a topic that doesn’t already exist.

Yesterday, while browsing through Williams-Sonoma, Ron noticed that Ina Garten, aka, the Barefoot Contessa, has a new book coming out.  It is called, Make It Ahead.  Ms. Garten identified an important need in our time-starved world: having recipes that can be made ahead of time.

This is an excerpt from the book cover, “If you've ever found yourself stuck in front of the stove at your own party, scrambling to get everything to the table at just the right moment, Ina is here to let you in on her secrets! Thanks to twenty years of running a specialty food store and fifteen years writing cookbooks, she has learned exactly which dishes you can prep, assemble, or cook ahead of time. ” The need to have recipes for making food ahead of time represented an under served market niche, which Ina brilliantly recognized and filled.

Clue# 1: Check your assumptions as to whether or not the perceived market leader is truly serving their niche well.  You may be surprised.

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 Branding: Provenance As A Brand Characteristic

The art of branding has many characteristics.  One of these is Provenance (the origin or source of something).  Kanaloa, our fish store has added something new to its fresh fish board.  As the picture above illustrates you can see that the black cod was caught on the Casanova Anne vessel, and the Bling Cod was caught on the Caledonian.  

When we inquired why they are doing that, our friend Nate, mentioned that every fish they sell has a direct provenance.  At any time they can tell you exactly when that fish was caught and where it came from. They can also tell you what is coming in that has been purchased.

In the wee hours of the morning Kanaloa trucks are at LAX, picking up fish shipped by each vessel.  Unlike other fish purveyors who deal with a broker, they have direct access to the freshest fish, which is why we shop there.

As a luxury real estate agent, you can claim provenance if you are born and bred in your marketplace.  It can distinguish you from the others, in that because of your birthright you may have more knowledge than any other agent in the marketplace.  This may or may not be a good way to differentiate yourself, it all depends on the marketplace.  This also applies to real estate in general.

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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“So Five Minutes Ago?”Or Will It Last As Long As The Wall of China?

The Fashion World’s designers want to stand out among their competition, as much as luxury real estate agents and companies do.  Standing out in one’s field means being top- of-mind and that translates into profit.   September and October are the fashion show months as designers unveil their latest offerings for Spring/Summer Collection 2015.  

The spirit of competition is fierce among the various fashion brands.  Every designer wants to be noticed and first to come to mind.  The showmanship is usually buzz- worthy. However, will the buzz be long term memorable or “so five minutes ago”?

This morning we received a video announcement from Ralph Lauren about the “first ever 4D Fashion Show, A Holographic Runway Event in the Heart of Central Park.”  Along with the video of the event, a behind the scenes video was included on the making of a holographic event with green screens. 

It was for us a momentary wow, and then it became “so five minutes ago!”  It was so five minutes ago, because we could envision all the other fashion houses imitating this in no time.  As technology evolves on a daily basis, it can so easily become so five minutes ago,” because the next breakthrough is around the bend.

In October 2007, Fendi made fashion history by hosting the world’s longest runway    show on the Great Wall of China.  The runway was built on top of the wall, and this in itself was an engineering feat.

This definitely was a wow for us. The event caught the attention of the global media.     Seven years later, we are still talking about it.  This event eclipsed all the runway shows in 2007, and in our opinion was memorable and inimitable.  

As much as it was a defining moment for Fendi, it was a coming out party for China, at that time an emerging superpower looking to make its impact on the world at large.  From a marketing viewpoint, there was an alignment of purposes and a win-win for all parties, and that alignment made it memorable.

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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Innovation News Interfered With Our Plan to Write A Post!

Photo Courtesy of Apple

We got a call from our dear friend and partner that he was about to tune in to watch the Apple unveiling of its new products. It was for us two hours of wows!  Even if you don't like Apple products, there is so much to learn by watching their presentation.  

Every aspect of the presentation, whether verbal or video was polished to perfection.  Every word was thought out to be the best word possible, and the same for the video presentation.  Every person called up to the stage by Tim Cook, Apple CEO was flawless in their presentation.

We are particularly excited about the new phones, IOS8,  and Apple pay.  What is distinct about Apple Pay is that all the information is only available to your bank when you use your credit card or debit card.  

That is the only entity that will have access to your data.  This clearly differentiates Apple from those who are garnering your data, spending habits, and this clearly answers our concerns on the subject of privacy.

The watch is a work of art in our opinion in terms of functionality, design and personalizing.  Neither one of us uses our watches at this point in time.  However, both of us are open to perhaps one day wear an Apple watch.

Innovation is something that thrills us to no end.  We love it!  In our opinion, Apple is one of the most innovative companies in the universe at this moment in time.  

They definitely set an example as to what it means to be on the leading edge, and they inspire our work with real estate agents and luxury brands world wide.

Tonight, we will make a toast to INNOVATION with a glass of wine!  We always, have time for INNOVATIVE THINKING & SPIRIT!  It makes us that much better.

If you wish to view the Keynote simply click on apple,com.

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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Pesto, Pizza & Amore: Does Your Message in Your Posts Evoke Amore?

Plenty of words have been written on the subject of the recent Google edict of writing posts of 1000 words.  As far as we are concerned, it does not matter how many words you use to make a point.  Make it amore (lovable) and memorable!

A post is memorable when it is of interest to the demographics (statistical data relating to the population and groups within it) and the psychographics (the study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations and other psychological criteria, especially in market research) of your marketplace. 

Think of it like tuning in to a radio station frequency.  If your target market likes classical music, you would write about all forms of classical music.  You would not discuss rap, jazz, or rhythm and blues.  In order to be follow-worthy to your target market, you have to give them what they are interested in and they will love you.

Those of you working in the luxury arena (top 10% of your marketplace and above $500,000), should know that writing a post on the importance of a prequalifying letter from a lender is mind numbing and illustrates your ignorance, of your marketplace.   If the post were about what is new in kitchen or bathroom fixtures in luxury homes, the readers in this demographic would likely be interested in what you have to say.

In our opinion, brevity is an art.  If you want to understand brevity, pick up Truman Capote’s book, Music for Chameleons. Be sure to read the forward.  In this collection of autobiographical short stories, he set out to use the least possible words to tell his stories, without sacrificing the emotional essence.

A post that is written in a succinct, clear manner is interesting, memorable and follow-worthy, than one that goes on and on about the reasons to hire an agent instead of doing it yourself.  As Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

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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Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites 

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Luxury Real Estate Brand Strategy: Days on Market or Dom Perignon?

As brand strategists we see an excellent opportunity, to develop a reputation as the leading expert in your marketplace by periodically authoring and publishing a compelling luxury real estate market report. The key to success with this strategy is providing original content, which is true of any journalistic endeavor on the Internet or in print.

The opportunity to stand out as the leading expert in your area writing a local market report is actually an opportunity to brand yourself as such.  Each edition of your market report gives you a chance to communicate your unique point of view.  That is, how you are different and better than your competition and why prospective buyers or selling should choose you over your competition as their agent or broker.

The first catch here is that you need to know your unique point of view, your unique promise of value.  Otherwise, you will not be followed.  You will not build an ever-expanding audience.

Your first step is assessing your competition.  Is there anyone else in your marketplace that is publishing a market report?  Are they just regurgitating the facts or are they offering a distinct point of view?

If no one is truly offering fresh insights you may have identified what we call an uncontested market niche.  This may be a vehicle for you to stand out in the minds of your target market.

The second catch is being consistent.  If you do not keep up your reports on a regular basis you will quickly lose your audience.

The third catch is that you need to communicate in clear terms that are easy to understand. Do not use abbreviations like DOM (days on market). After all, you do not want to be confused with Dom Perignon, the great Champagne brand.

Here is the true test to see if you have the “chops” to be an authoritative author and self-publisher of a local market report: Ask yourself if you would read your own marketing reports? Or would you be bored out of your mind reading mind numbing data?

Write from a unique point of view.  Be consistent.  Write clearly in layman’s terms. And, you may just achieve top-of-mind status as other highly successful market leading agents have done.  No doubt, you will be sipping a glass of Dom Perignon to celebrate your top of mind status.

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. 

-WATCH VIDEOS-

Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites 

Personal Branding Case Studies Company Branding Case Studies 

About Language of Luxury

 GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT! - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNITY