Like it or not aesthetics play a very big role in the realm of luxury real estate marketing and the marketing of most luxury goods and services in general. Millions of dollars are spent each year on package design because it is human nature to make “snap” judgments based on outward appearance.  In our time-starved world, people often do not take the time to look below the surface and make decisions, even unconscious decisions, based on aesthetics alone.   As a luxury real estate marketing professional, you are doing yourself a tremendous disservice if your website (which may be the first point of contact for potential clients) does not reflect both your inner beauty and your competence.

You may recall the story of The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen.   The cygnet’s egg rolled into the nest of a duck and the hatchling was mistaken for an ugly duck.  The “duckling”, who later transformed into a magnificent swan, was teased, criticized and ostracized. This classic story, among other wonderful lessons, points out the aesthetic cultural biases that most humans have been taught or have absorbed in the absence of unconditional love.  

For better or for worse, aesthetic cultural biases exist.  Why not turn this to your advantage?  The internet has created an unprecedented hyper-condition known as “competition for attention or eyeballs”.  Your competition’s website is just a click away. Never have consumers had such a plethora of choices.  A stunning website that makes your competition’s site pale in comparison can not only capture attention, but also has a higher probability of capturing the lead.

Few luxury real estate marketing professionals pay enough attention to their “personal packaging”. Nor, do they realize what is at stake.  We often hear the excuse “if my website is not broken, why fix it?”  Your website may work, but if it is not remarkable in appearance and eye catching, it may not be used by potential clients in the first place.

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The personal journey in the unabashed pursuit of market leadership can be among your most exciting lifetime experiences. If you, indeed, have a proclivity for luxury real estate marketing you can reignite your career by applying the most powerful principle from the bestselling business book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins. That principle is known as the “Hedgehog Concept”.

The hedgehog concept was derived from a fable about a fox and hedgehog and illustrates the strategic difference between the two.  Foxes are dispersed strategists.  They will try any strategy that they believe will give them the immediate competitive edge. But, these strategies will not yield sustainable results.  Hedgehogs are focused strategists.  They fend off predators (think competitors) by rolling up into a ball which fully exposes their sharp quills or spines.

In business, hedgehogs have identified their winning strategy and their authentic brand identity. And, they stick to it with unwavering consistency.

Here is the competitive advantage that hedgehogs have over foxes:

1. Hedgehogs identify a market niche or an approach to marketing that they can master and be better at it than anyone else in their marketplace.  They feel like they simply have the natural talent to be the best at this.  To hedgehogs, it feels like this is what they were born to do.
2. Hedgehogs select something that they are passionate about.  They love what they do and feel lucky that they also get very well paid to do it.
3. Hedgehogs are not predators. They mind their own business. While your competition is constantly hatching new plans to out-fox you, your hedgehog strategy renders your competition irrelevant.

In our strategic branding and marketing consulting practice we help our clients to identify their hedgehog strategy.  We help them to bring their authentic personal brand identity into full focus. And, we coach them to stay in focus, by minding their own business when they execute their hedgehog strategy. Although, we call this journey the unabashed pursuit of market leadership, the real prize is the inner certainty that comes from knowing who they really are and from living a life of passion.

 It is this inner certainty and the focus of the hedgehog that consistently attracts an abundance of ideal clients. This is one of the most important marketing principals of all time.  It is what separates the good from the great!

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Luxury real estate marketing professionals, it is time to turn up your nose to the template website and invest in a luxury website makeover!  If market leadership is your quest, owning a template website is tantamount to cutting off your nose to spite your face!

When we lived in Los Angeles, there was a plastic surgeon (pseudonym, Dr. Quirk) that became quite famous.  His specialty was nose reconstruction.  For quite some time he was extremely popular among the Beverly Hills beauty seekers.  However, all his “nose jobs” looked alike, as if he used a template.  He had a penchant for the upturned nose look regardless of the face it was on.

A template website is like a Dr. Quirk nose.  It defies your individuality. It shows a lack of marketing savvy and imagination!  Your website should be your silent salesperson. Do you want your silent salesperson dressed in the same uniform as your competition? This is the antithesis of luxury!

Recently, we researched the websites of one of our client’s closest competitors.  This is part of the competitive analysis that we do in our strategic branding and luxury website design services. We came across two identical web sites in the same city! The only difference was the background color; one had a blue background and the other was green.  What does this say to potential high net worth clients?

The French author, Philippe Mihailovich, defines luxury as “the very best that human beings can make, give or receive.” Does your website represent the best that you can be? Or, is it luxury website makeover time for you?

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Recently, we had the pleasure of being introduced to very successful mortgage planning specialist by a mutual friend.  We were introduced by email.  But, we immediately scheduled a phone call to get to know each other.  Too many luxury real estate marketing professionals have become mesmerized by the mechanics of online social networks and have all but forgotten the phone call as being a vitally important component of professional networking.  

Ironically, it seems that this crucial step, that builds strong rapport, has all but dropped out of our digital lives.  Phones have become “smarter” and smart people need to use them more often while networking professionally. 

This guy really understands the power of networking and is very well-connected.  While we were on the phone, he opened up his list of contacts on Linked In (remember the Rolodex?). Like a matchmaker, he specifically looked for people that he felt we should meet (and vice versa).  He offered to make introductions and we gladly accepted.  He did not expect us to do the same for him right then and there, because he understands the power of “giving first”, which is all part of the art of networking.

Needless to say, we were both impressed and appreciative. And, we are in the process of following up on all of his suggestions.   There is no question that we will reciprocate, if possible, and match his generosity.  At the very least we will “pay it forward”, meaning we will do the same for someone else.

This scenario has been going on in one form or another for as long as humans have transacted business together.  It is professional networking at its best. 

Linked In is simply a very efficient professional networking TOOL. It does not replace the phone!   It makes it easier for our new friend to search his contacts and recommend connections. All we need to do is request an introduction and he simply passes it along to his friends with a single click and a brief note.  The tool of Linked In makes this age-old process quicker and easier, smoother, actually effortless, once you get the hang of it.  

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, are you deliberately expanding your sphere of influence on a consistent basis, through professional networking?  The more contacts you make the more commissions you earn.  Whoever has the most high trust referral relationships wins!  

So, if you are hesitant to learn the mechanics of professional networking tools like Linked In, snap out of it! . And, remember to pick up the phone!

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If you practice luxury real estate marketing in a vacation destination marketplace you know that high net worth travelers can become buyers overnight. Get the idea that a couple arrives in your town from a neighboring state that is ready, willing and able to purchase a luxury home.  They would like the assistance of a competent real estate professional who really knows the local marketplace, but they do not know one in particular.   How do they select one? How do you they find YOU?

Perhaps, if you have an inviting storefront, they may wonder in randomly.  If your office is dusty, gloomy or in disarray how long will it take them to make an about face and walk out?

But, chances are they have done some research on the internet. Can you see just how important their first impression of your website is?  How does your site stand out from your competition? Does it look similar?  Is it more than five years old like over 60% of real estate websites are today? 

The very first goal of website design is to capture attention.  In today’s attention deficient world you need eye candy to attract eyeballs!  Packaging is paramount!  Your website homepage is your store front.   How can you expect to capture their lead if they are not impressed with your window display to begin with and quickly “walk on by” to your competitor’s site with a click of their mouse?

The mechanical functionality of real estate websites, are fairly standardized.  A good IDX provider can offer your visitor a satisfying MLS search experience.  However, it is the graphical interface and the shortcuts you offer to help your visitor get immediate gratification for their search query that determines if they will come back or register on your site. 

With a plethora of choices and a scarcity of time, your website must be a WOW!  Isn’t time for a makeover?  Templates are templates.  Just look at the packaging of the best luxury consumer product brands in the world.  They understand that you need high quality eye candy to capture the attention of high net worth consumers.  That is the first step in capturing the lead on a luxury real estate website.

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As a luxury real estate marketing professional your reputation is at the core of your personal brand equity—the value of your brand.  Your reputation, your trust factor can be the deciding factor in selecting you to list a luxury property over your competition or be selected as a buyer’s representative.

Blogging is a great way to build trust over time with potential clients, providing you have something of interest to say on a subject about which you are passionate.  It is a wonderful way to build your reputation and your personal brand in the minds of potential referral sources who do not even know you personally.  But, your column must be follow-worthy and comment-worthy.  If you really want to stand out, it must be “buzz-worthy”. That is, your content must be worthy of sharing with others. To spark word-of-mouth advertising your content must remarkable.

Do you still subscribe to a newspaper? We do, but only to one: the digital edition of the Wall Street Journal where we can customize the content that we want to read and also receive news alerts of things that matter to us the most.  Personalized, customized news is readily available for free, yet we are willing to pay a nominal monthly subscription fee to WSJ for a good reason. The reason is simple: we trust the Wall Street Journal as a news source and we follow certain columnists like Walt Mossberg, whose opinion we trust. 

Walt Mossberg is the author and creator of the weekly Personal Technology column in The Wall Street Journal, which has appeared every Thursday for almost 20 years.  Walt is a perfect example of a “power journalist” and a one-man-brand.  He is an opinion leader with an impeccable reputation.

Walt is also the co-creator and co-producer of the technology industry's most prestigious annual conference, D: All Things Digital.  On allthingsd.com, Walt spells out his Statement of Ethics.  “It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out”, says Walt.

With the general trust level for real estate agents in general, blogging can set you apart as a trusted advisor.  You may not have to include a Statement of Ethics on your blog or website. But, if you set high standards like the WSJ and Walt Mossberg, not only can you create a strong personal brand, but you can also build a solid reputation that will give you a competitive edge.

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In the arena of luxury real estate marketing, the entire competitive landscape needs to be redefined.  A completely new paradigm needs to be considered that determines who the big winners in the industry will be in 2010 and beyond. Whoever wins the COMPETITION FOR ATTENTION (who stands out the most?) and the COMPETITION FOR RETENTION (who is remembered first?) will get the lion’s share of business.

In the Olympic Men’s Luge event Germany took first place, with Austria second and Latvia in third.  The athletes were so close in technical skills that what separated gold, silver and bronze was the length of time it takes to blink your eye. The difference between first and second place was 0.5250 second.   Latvia was behind #1 by only 1.002 second.   

Following this Olympic example, if luxury real estate agents competed on fundamentals alone, such as negotiation skills or local market knowledge, there would probably be very little difference among the top three agents in terms of market share.  But, in business it usually does not work that way.  Often, there is a large margin between best selling or top producing #1 and the #2 contender, with #3 being forgettable. 

Ironically, the difference may have nothing, whatsoever, to do with the quality of product or service in a given category.  In the category of MP3 players, the well-made Microsoft Zune cannot hold a candle to Apple’s iPod who dominates this category with a 90% market share.  iPod has won the competition for attention, because of its design and the popularity of iTunes.

iPod has also won the battle of retention because most people have retained only one MP3 brand in their “memory folder” for this product category. They cannot even think of a second brand name. 

Try this! Start blinking your eyes and quickly answer this question:  What is the first adhesive cellophane tape that comes to your mind? Now, can you think of a second brand other than the “category killer”, Scotch Tape?

This is the paradigm shift that needs to happen in luxury real estate marketing: the difference in market share is, in reality, MIND-SHARE! The competitive playing field is actually in the minds of the target market.  Very few agents understand this concept which opens up a tremendous competitive advantage for those of you who want to become the “break-away brand” in your marketplace.

Understanding that you are competing for the ATTENTION of your target market in a time starved, attention deficient world will change your entire approach to marketing and branding. In our strategic branding practice, we use the expression. Stand Out or Bow Out! People do not have time to pay attention to a lesser known brand that “blends in”. The agent, who COMES TO MIND FIRST, the personal brand that wins the battle of RETENTION, dominates the marketplace, period! If you have the heart of an Olympic champion it is you who needs to come to mind first, in a blink of an eye.

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Expression of Joy?

 Luxury real estate marketing professionals take heed!  A very valuable lesson in messaging, can be learned from the massive new ad campaign of luxury brand, BMW.  Messaging is the words you select to communicate the essence of your brand to your target market.  A brand’s message tells your audience how you or your company wants to be perceived as distinct from your closest competition. As such messaging is an extremely important component of personal and company branding.

BMW has set out to “own” a word in the mind of affluent consumers. They have staked a claim to the word “joy” and they are spending big bucks to get it to stick in your mind.  We do not believe that it will stick. Whereas, they have owned the phrase, “the ultimate driving machine” for years, BMW is completely missing their target this time. They are now off their previously strong brand signal which stood for efficiency, high-performance, and precision engineering.

Do you know of an agent or a company in your marketplace or a neighboring marketplace that “owns” a segment of the market? Perhaps, it is a specific golf community, a luxury high rise, the downtown area or the waterfront area.  Their name is synonymous with that niche.

You can own a niche or a category of product or service. But, you cannot own an emotion! eBay owns the word “auctions” on the internet. The only place where they do not have a monopoly is in Japan where Yahoo! owns “auctions”. eBay actually bowed out of Japan and ceded to Yahoo!   

When someone wins an auction on eBay or Yahoo! they may experience the emotion of joy. But, neither can claim the emotion as a brand differentiator. When new homeownersa close escrow on their first home can one agent claim ownership of this emotion as a means of being distinct?

Could a teenager derive more joy from purchasing her first car than a third time BMW owner?  Joy transcends demographics which is another reason why it cannot be owned as just a luxury word. Besides, do Mercedes or Lexus owners not experience joy?

The “expression of joy” depicted above is an actual canvas the size of a basketball court, a BMW publicity stunt, created by a driver “joyfully” driving on the canvas with various colors of paint. Could a joyful Acura driver not compose such a canvas?

If you want your luxury real estate personal or company brand to stand for something, make sure it is something that your competition cannot also stand for or own. Then, get your messaging on target. Otherwise, you will defeat the entire purpose of branding: “Top of Mind” in a specific category or niche.

Perhaps, a better new word for BMW to own would be "Vision".  Check out this cool BMW concept car on VIDEO! (Click on the center of the video player).

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LOL is both a professional networking community and a learning community. It is a place where you can gain access to the wealth of the world by acquiring social currency. That is, by becoming fluent in the Language of Luxury.

Our purpose is to help you attract and better serve more high net worth clients.

We now have a name for the language of luxury itself, LUXETERA, ETC. which is a featured category on the LOL Blog. Here we highlight luxury news from around the globe, courtesy of our LOL media partners, and also share insights from our own continuous research in the world of luxury.

Please take a moment to watch the VIDEO introducing Luxetera, Etc. Be sure to join the LOL Community and subscribe to the LOL Blog. Thanks for Watching!

Get More LUXETERA, ETC. on LanguageOfLuxury.com

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This is a special video edition of the Language of Luxury Blog.  Here we feature members of our LOL Team of Niche Experts & Discussion Leaders and also present popular luxury real estate marketing video tips.

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Ron & Alexandra Seigel, LOL Community Founders

LOL Intro

 Tropical Niche  Grace Lappin is the featured member of our LOL Team of Niche Experts & Discussion Leaders, in the Tropical niche.  Check out Grace:s amazing $15.75 million property on the island of Providenciales, or Provo as the locals call it in the Turks & Caicos Islands.  Watch the Video!

  Lessons from Lamborghini  Luxury real estate marketing professionals can learn an outstanding lesson from Automobilli Lamborghini and the Auto Gallery of North Los Angeles. The founders of Auto Gallery, Harry Gray and Tony Schwartz have experimented with a novel way to market these fine cars by opening a showroom adjacent to Neiman Marcus in the Topanga shopping mall.  Their philosophy:  Make the car buying process fun and hassle free!  Watch the Viceo!

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