Personal Branding for Real Estate Agents: Promote Your Marketplace More Than You

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it can be strategically advantageous to anchor your locale as a major component of your personal brand identity. Doing so can add significantly to the emotional appeal of your brand because it promotes the fact that you an ambassador of good will in your marketplace. Promoting your marketplace more than you demonstrates your marketing expertise and sells you in the process.

Donna Karan

Here is an example of a luxury fashion brand that incorporates geography in their marketing strategy and how it can be applied to personal branding for real estate agents:

Donna Karan New York (clothes for men and women targeting the urban chic crowd): In a recent article in Interview Magazine, Donna Karan explains:

“When Donna Karan started, I didn’t like the name Donna Karan. I had a real problem with it. I was so used to designing under somebody else’s name that I didn’t want to go out there with my own. I’m sitting in the kitchen, and I see the name “Maud Frizon/Paris, London” on a shoebox. I’m thinking, “That’s cool. What about Donna Karan New York?” Because it won’t be about me. It will be about New York City. Why New York City? Because New York City says the world. I wanted an international brand. Donna Karan’s just another boring name. I want everything to be about New York people living. I mean, everybody relates to New York as a bridge to the world. So that’s how New York came in.”

Our clients, Crown & Crown, AKA The Downtown Crowns (downtown San Diego mother-daughter luxury real estate team): Sharyn and Victoria Crown are experts in promoting their marketplace through their popular blog. And, they are very active participants in their community. Visit their website.

The United States is replete with geographical gems. Which one is yours and how can you demonstrate your marketing expertise by promoting your marketplace more than you?

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Personal Branding for Real Estate Agents: Why Study Big Brands—Part 2

 Wisdom is gained through the application of Knowlege--

The Goddess of Wisdom by R.L.Reid

 How to Apply What Big Brands Do

There is a lot to be gained by real estate professionals who study big brand marketing, especially if market leadership is your quest. Personal branding for real estate agents is not just getting a new outfit or a new look. Person branding is all about positioning yourself to win BIG!

First, it is important to think BIG because that is what market leaders do. They know what is at stake-the lion's share of business. You need to think big in order to out-think, not out-spend your competition. Secondly, you need to think globally not just locally if you want to compete in today's marketplace. Here are some examples of how you can apply big brand strategy to your personal marketing practice:

1. KFC-- they now give health-conscious customers the option of grilled chicken. Send your farm a 7 day healthier menu for a family of four, including recipes. You could list stores where those ingredients are located.

2. Toms Shoes-- they give shoes away to the needy. You could donate a part of your commission to a client's cause, or find someone in need at a private school and sponsor them.

3. Heineken-they help prevent DUI (driving under the influence). Encourage employment. Pick up donated clothes suitable for single moms returning to the work force who live in your farm.

4. Range Rover-they build long lasting luxury cars. Range Rover says, "A well made product is "luxury beyond luxury". How about having all your marketing and sales materials not only look sharp, but stand out because they are congruent and cohesive? How about designing your web site so it is truly user friendly? A refreshed look and website that is built to last is a luxury for you and your clients.

Study the big brands to help craft your personal real estate agent brand. Think big. Think Global. And, win BIG!

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Personal Branding for Real Estate Agents: Humorous Slogans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Outhink, not Out-Spend Your Competition

THE ZUNE

Perhaps one of the most important principles that luxury real estate marketing professionals need to understand about personal branding for real estate agents is this: Out-think, not out-spend your competition. If you want to out-smart your competition find something, some niche that you can do better than anyone else in your marketplace. Choose an arena in which you can become the break-away brand. Don’t waste your time or your money becoming a “me-too” in a niche that your competitor dominates.

Every year in the United States companies invest close to $300 billion in marketing products and services. A huge portion of this is spent on introducing new brands in the marketplace. The majority of these new product launches never get off the ground.

Microsoft is at it again! They are in discussions with Verizon Wireless to launch a touch-screen multimedia cell phone on the carrier's network  early next year, in a bid to compete with Apple’s iPhone, the break-away brand in the smart phone category.  Didn’t they learn from their mistakes with the Zune as a head- on competitor with Apple’s iPod?

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, the size of your advertising budget does not guarantee your success if you fail to form a strong emotional connection with your target market, whether it be consumers or referring real estate agents from outside of your marketplace. Win the hearts and minds of your target market in a niche you can own like Apple has done with iPod and iPhone.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Internationalize Your Practice “Overnight”

One of the most frequently asked questions by luxury real estate marketing professionals today is: “how can I gain more exposure of my listings to buyers outside of my immediate marketplace?” Agents who work in second home markets, especially vacation destinations, are asking the additional question: “how can I reach more international buyers?” We discovered a very exciting answer that not only can help you attract more qualified buyers, but also can help you stretch your marketing dollars: Proxio, the international MLS and global referral network.

Proxio has a singularly focused mission: to make it easier for you generate more referral income. Proxio empowers you to simultaneously promote yourself and your listings to referring agents in neighboring towns or across the globe. You can enter a listing in one of seven languages and it can be searched or sent to clients in any other language. Proxio can also provide a search engine on your personal or company website so your entire local IDX/MLS feed can be displayed in multiple languages for consumers. In short, Proxio makes it possible for you to expand your market reach and internationalize your practice overnight!

One of the reasons that Proxio is growing so fast is that entire MLSs, associations and prominent real estate groups are enrolling all their members at once. For example, Proxio recently added the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing and the Realtor Association of Miami Dade County as new Proxio groups. This alone added more than 10,000 new agents to those who were already participating in 50 states and over 60 countries.

Plus, Proxio is getting the attention of the media and industry pundits. Stefan Swanepoel has cited Proxio as a key player in internationalizing the real estate industry in his 2009 Trends Report. Bernice Ross, real estate coach, speaker and columnist at Inman News, featured Janet Case, Proxio’s CEO, at her recent AFIRE (Awesome Females in Real Estate) conference in Savannah, Georgia and in her most recent column.

Basic Membership is free on Proxio. Standard Membership, which allows you to share your listings in multiple languages and build your personal global referral network, is only $79 dollars per year (that is about $6.50 per month). You can also gain more visibility by upgrading your account so that your listings and your personal profile are displayed on top of property and agent search results. The cost for upgrading is very reasonable and well worth it.

To learn more about Proxio visit www.proxio.com. And join our new Language of Luxury Group on Proxio!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Exemplary Client Service

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, developing ways to provide exemplary client/customer service should be a continuing pursuit. Providing great service in ways that differentiate you from your competition is the best of both worlds.

On our drive back to our headquarters in Santa Barbara, California from Los Angeles International Airport last week we stopped in Century City for dinner at Gulfstream, in the Westfield Mall. From our perspective as commercial real estate brokers (we were broker/owners of a commercial real estate firm in Beverly Hills), this is, by far, the most exciting upscale shopping mall in California. They really set the tone for exemplary client/customer service.

The Westfield Group is an Australian company and the largest property group in the world by equity market capitalization. This multinational company owns and operates shopping centers in Australia, United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Century City is a highly trafficked, densely populated area, adjacent to Beverly Hills. Parking places here are at a premium and parking can be extremely expensive especially in the office buildings. The Westfield shopping center has emerged as a hub and meeting place for LA’s Westside population for movies, dining and shopping. Ease of finding parking here is mission critical. With retail tenants paying very high rental rates, Westfield must deliver extensive foot traffic, both at night and during the day.

Prior to Westfield’s ownership of the center parking was particularly difficult. Frustrated shoppers would often leave the center without being able to find a parking place. This could easily deter them from returning at peak hours of the day. Valet parking is an option, but an expensive one.

Westfield minimized the stress of finding a parking space with a very simple, yet extremely effective use of technology. When you enter the parking garage, you can easily scan the spaces that all have light sensors indicating if a given space is occupied. A red light indicates an occupied space, a green light indicates a vacant space and a blue light indicates a vacant handicapped space. Now, that convenience not only represents exemplary, distinguishable customer service, but assures more walking traffic for tenants (Westfield’s’ ultimate customer)!

How can you demonstrate exemplary client/customer service in your luxury real estate marketing practice?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Happy Easter -Twice

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is helpful to understand multiple cultures and ethnic holidays. Your friends and clients will appreciate you for it. For, example, did you know there are two Easters?

Many people will be celebrating Easter this Sunday (April 12^th), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted calendar. The computation for the Easter date is based on the cycle of the moon. It can fall on 35 possible dates between late March and late April.

The revised Julian calendar is used for holiday celebrations by Eastern/Oriental Orthodox Christians. In accordance to this calendar, Easter must fall after Passover. Christ celebrated Passover prior to his crucifixion. So Easter must fall after Passover (April 9). The Eastern Orthodox Easter this year is on April 19^th.

Faberge Egg, Easter Surpise for Tsarina Maria FyodoroEaster is one of the most important religious and secular holidays for this sect of Christianity. Children are given large chocolate eggs or bunnies filled with toys and candies. Special breads are baked with colored eggs. In Greece Leg of lamb is roasted slowly over a spit basted with lemon, garlic and oregano.

The Russians make a special sweet bread (kulich) baked in coffee cans, and a pyramid shaped cheesecake (Cheese Paska) embossed with the letters XB, the Russian abbreviation for “Christ has risen“. Some families bring kulich to church for the midnight service to have it blessed, and to share after the service. The service includes a procession circling the church three times. Then the priest declares, “Christ has risen”, and the congregation responds, “Indeed he has!” Then everyone disperses home or to friends' homes to feast till the wee hours of the morning. The next day, people start all over again visiting friends and comparing the buffet and delicious offerings.

We celebrate it all! There are wonderful traditions in all religious feasts! These rituals get us to slow down and contemplate the wisdom and truths that are common to all of us. It is the celebration of the human spirit, and springtime when everything is born anew, nature’s resurrection. Happy Easter (twice), Happy Passover and Happy Spring!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Stretching Your Marketing $$$, Part 2

This is a series in response to one of the most asked question in real estate at the moment, “How do I stretch my marketing dollars?”

Be Prepared For Business: Don’t Invite People if Your Shop is a Mess

Is your website like the "Little Shop of Horrors"? Many luxury real estate professionals are spending money on pay-per-click advertising and Search Engine Optimization to help drive traffic to their sites. However, their web sites are not customer/user friendly. It’s like shopkeepers advertising to invite people into an uninviting messy store.

Instead of being focused on the clients’ primary need, which is usually to search for homes, many web sites confuse the visitor by running news feeds, weather reports, etc. With the popularity of videos, they often clutter their home pages with distractiing features of local attractions.

Many of these “bells and whistles” are a turn-off. Have you ever visited a site where someone walks across the home page and starts talking at you? This may have been novel the first time you saw it, but once the novelty wears off it is downright annoying and often horribly done. In fact, it can be a deterrent for repeat visits which is the whole purpose of having a website that is a resource, not a special effect show. Instead of a 'sticky' site that encourages visitors to hang out, it becomes a slippery site, where customers want to slip out the back.

Furthermore, if the type is so tiny that you need a magnifying glass to read it, even if you are blessed with 20/20 vision, you can expect a no-show if you invite someone to return to your site. Like walking out of a store in a shopping mall, we can immediately click away, and look at the more user-friendly competitor site. Your marketing dollars may have brought business to the door. But, will the customer walk in and stay? Or, have you just wasted your money? If you are going to pay for your web site to be optimized, make sure you reap the benefits of a clean, tasteful site!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Stretching Your Marketing Dollars. Part 1

This is a series in response to one of the most asked question in real estate at the moment, “How do I stretch my marketing dollars?”

Co-market with Others

Do what the big brands do. Think outside the proverbial box of advertising in magazines and on online. Do something that involves creating relationships with individuals and groups. For instance, at the Santa Barbara Saturday Farmer’s market, Toyota of Santa Barbara introduced its Venza model. They recruited the local chefs to come up with sampling delights based on the market’s ingredients. Toyota gave away potted herbs to anyone visiting their display. They also had a $50 gift for individuals who wanted to test drive the car.

Who benefited? Toyota, the farmers and other purveyors, the chefs promoted their restaurants and theToyota Venza throngs of locals and tourists who frequent the Saturday market—they all benefited. Everyone came away with a good impression and a wonderful experience.

An agent could have easily participated in this event by supporting a part of this event with a clever giveaway. This is promotion at its best, MAKING YOURSELF WELL KNOWN AND WELL THOUGHT OF.

How can you co-market with someone or some company in your marketplace?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Minding Your Store

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, it is important to respond to leads, emails, and phone calls as soon as possible. Here is an example of what can happen, when no one responds.

Cosmetics and beauty products are one of the largest profit centers in a department store. That is why they are positioned in front of the store as you enter. Have you ever noticed what happens when a customer is looking for products at an unattended cosmetic counter?

At unattended counters, customers are often approached by a salesperson from another counter, representing another brand, but wanting to help. When the customer is unsure about the particular product line that they first inquired about, the opportunity to switch is heightened. If the salesperson is charming, engaging and knowledgeable, the customer can easily be persuaded to switch brands, based purely on attentiveness.

The bottom line here is that an unattended counter can cost sizable sales. The lack of attention, alone, can be enough to make customers switch. 

In luxury real estate, when a potential buyer or seller is looking for answers on the internet, they want an answer ASAP. The person who responds first and is knowledgeable will get the lead and eventually the sale. That is why RAPID RESPONSE on the web and on the phone is very, very important. Even if they are not ready to buy or sell, potential clients will be impressed by this, and remember you.

Don’t let your marketing dollars benefit someone else. Follow up on everyone you bring to your "counter". Your assistant can take care of the initial responses and determine the ones with whom you should talk or personally respond to by email.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Continuing Your Education in Luxury

We often get asked how to break into the Luxury Market, and the Institute of Luxury Home Marketing is an excellent resource for learning and understanding the fine points of the market. Given the exponential growth of information in the real estate market, it is great to have the Institute as a trusted advisor help you sift through the mountains of data.

Over the last several days we have had the privilege and the honor of presenting webinars on personal branding and marketing strategies to the members of the Institute of Luxury Home Marketing. The Institute is the premier independent authority in the training and certification of real estate agents working in the luxury market and has trained over 9,000 agents worldwide.

Laurie Moore Moore, the company’s CEO, graciously hosted and moderated the events. Laurie was chosen by The Real Estate Intelligence Report as one of the ten people having the most impact on the residential real estate business in the past 25 years.

We highly recommend that you investigate their training and certification program. As an independent organization, their membership is open to all luxury home and estate agents, regardless of firm.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Wear Blue for St. Patrick’s Day

The Chicago River turned green for St. Patrick's Day

If you want to be historically correct, you should Know that Blue is the color to wear on March 17^th. The Irish Presidential standard is dark blue and gold. Dark blue and gold are considered the original colors of Ireland.

St. Patrick used to illustrate The Holy Trinity with a shamrock (a three leaved plant.) The wearing of the green originally referred to wearing a shamrock on one’s clothing. The change to green happened around the mid 1700’s inspired some say by Irish nationalism or loyalty to the Catholic faith, or the abundant green foliage associated with the beauty of Ireland.

The wonderful aspect of March 17^th is that everyone is happy to join in the celebration. Being Irish is not a requirement. The willingness to have a good time is. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Making the Proper Commitment to Your Business Today

There has never been a better time for luxury real estate marketing professionals to increase their market share than right now. While your competition is like a deer in headlights, stunned by indecision and immobilized, this is the best time to strategize and stay in front of prospective buyers and sellers.

In his debut video blog, Rick Goodwin, the publisher of Unique Homes and UniqueHomes.com,advises Realtors about the mindset needed to survive in today's real estate market. Rick says, "those who make the proper commitment to their business today, will be positioned to reap the benefits when the market recovers".

Check out Rick's video. It will just take a minute, a "Unique Minute". It is well worth your time!

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Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: What’s In a Name?

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Professionals must pay close attention to word associations when choosing a personal brand name, a domain name for their web site or blog, and also a brand name for their team. Sometimes it is helpftul to look at some luxury brand name disasters to avoid pitfalls. Here is an example of what some experts consider to be a disaster waiting to happen by the ultra-luxury division of Mercedes Benz—Maybach-- that produces limited production models of 100 cars priced between $522K and $609K.

The newest model has been named Maybach Zheppelin. With the crash of the Hindenburg (a Zeppelin airship) and the 1970’s iconic heavy metal rock group from England, Led Zeppelin, what were they thinking? These two word associations spell disaster! The marketing department intended to refer the newer model group to its ancestors built in 1932-34, the Maybach DS8 Zeppelin. The Zeppelin name was chosen to honor the experience gained from designing the Zeppelin airship engines.

In 1937, the Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed within one minute while attempting to dock. This accident destroyed public confidence, and ended the reign of rigid airships. The cause of the fire is still unknown. It may have had nothing to do with its engineering. However, reviving the name evokes the inescapable association with the crash and burn of the Hindenburg disaster.

Led ZeppelinDoes Led Zeppelin mean luxury to you? The manufacturer’s credo is “to create nothing but the best from the most advanced materials, cars of lasting value, manufactured to the highest level of perfection. The Maybach Zeppelin is the ultimate answer to automotive wishes, with a distinctive character, and the highest levels of elegance and power. “-(From a Maybach 1934 leaflet)- Check out this video, then reflect on the Hindenburg and Led Zepplin? Get the picture?

When choosing a name do your homework by making sure it reflects well on the image you are trying to convey to your clients. Don’t get caught up in history and romance of the past. In today’s world, it is easy to investigate the different meanings of a word and their associations by using the internet. Happy Naming!

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Luxury Real Estate Web Design Essentials: What does Your Store Front Look Like?

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, one of the best ways to think of your real estate web design is to compare it to a fine retail establishment. A luxury retail store is designed to attract its customers and maximize sales. Here are some guidelines to consider:

• The store front usually has a huge window display. The idea is to let customers see the merchandise within the store, as well as a special vignette of the latest merchandise.This is your home page. Is it appealing to look at? Does it have curb appeal? As part of the home page, several iconic images of the area in which you work may be appropriate.

• Is the merchandise aesthetically pleasing? When looking at what you are displaying, i.e. your listings, how do they look on the page? Are the initial photos inviting the potential client to click further and find out more? Is there logic to the way they are displayed?

• When you are in the store are the colors complimenting the displays? Is the site easy to read? Often black is overused as a luxury color particularly with white lettering. If the whole site is black with white writing, it is hard to read. It may be beautiful from a design standpoint, but difficult on the eyes. Is the type large enough? Again, functionality is more important than the look. The purpose of the site is to attract clients, not to win awards.

• Is it easy to access the inventory? Is the search function easy to use on your site? If the client has to fill out a lengthy form to find information, they will click away. There are plenty of sites on the World Wide Web that can be searched by remaining anonymous. Is it easy to access you?

• A luxury store avoids clutter and anything that may detract from focusing on the merchandise for sale. Avoid all extraneous information. Accessorize with pertinent and insightful information about your marketplace such as the nature of your community and why it is special.

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Luxury Marketing Web Design Essentials: Forget the Flash. Keep the Focus!

It is important for luxury real estate marketing professionals to understand that consumers expect the internet to be a “Time Saver”. Your clients and potential clients want information now! They want it quickly, and easily. Complicated navigation, flash  animation, links to other sites, and other add-ons do not enhance your website. They are the source of clutter and confusion. Forget the flash.  Keep the focus!

A new study by Forrester Research, focusing on the impact of technology on business and consumers, confirms the fact that 80% of high-net-worth consumers use the internet daily, and they regularly buy products as well as research online. According to this study, high net worth consumers is defined as those with annual gross income and assets of at least $500,000.

Wealthy consumers are among the most tech-savvy in the world. To appeal to this crowd, many luxury companies have created luxury sites with bells and whistles including flash and sound which often takes a long time to load. Unfortunately, this is a turn off, and your clients will often leave the site before the images display. Once they have seen the “special effects” they do not want to see them again.

Adhere, to the “Keep it Simple Rule”. It is important to communicate to your clients online in a way that makes them confident in your expertise.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Hug Your Clients

Sometimes we rush to innovate looking for the latest and greatest marketing ideas, forgetting the fundamentals of doing business. Here is a wonderful reminder of the basics for luxury real estate marketing professionals.

Successful retailer and owner of three high end boutique stores for men and women, Jack Mitchell wrote a wonderful book titled, Hug Your Customers. Jack feels that relationships are the heart and soul of every transaction.

Here are some of the recommendations that are applicable to selling anything especially luxury real estate.

• Remembering the name of your customer’s dog
• Calling a customer to make sure he is happy with his purchase
• Introducing customers to business contacts
• Letting your customer make a call from your office
• Have a kid friendly area in your office

Here is his explanation for hugging:

“Hugging involves touching and listening to and caring about the customer, getting so close to the customer that the customer becomes more important than anything else. Over time in a hugging culture a unique personal and professional relationship develops between the business and customer-a loyalty built on trust and, in our case, sales that fill closets with clothes customers love to wear and are right for them.”

See Part 2 of Hug Your Clients--If the Shoe Fits...

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Luxury Real Estate Agent Branding: Find Your Balance

Here is a question from Doc Reiss of Port Angeles, WA. Doc is one of the members of our Language of Luxury group on Broker Agent Social. We wanted to share this with you because this question comes up quite often.

Doc: We have about 800 homes in our two town MLS with only about 16 priced from the mid-fives to about 2.6 million. Affluent buyers want someone who is very well-versed in luxury homes, but with so few available, is it wrong to also be a great agent for lesser priced properties? I don't want to be all things to all people, but I don't want to lock myself solely into a niche that may not have sufficient inventory to maintain a viable business. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

R&A Seigel: We understandi what you are reaching for. It's a matter of striking the right balance. The key is to develop an upscale personal brand that is sophisticated but not pretentious. Whereas Macy's appeals to a wide range of customers, Nordstrom’s is more upscale. However, Nordstrom's does not intimidate Macy's customers. That is the balance you are looking for.

Hope this is helpful to you as well. And, thanks, Doc, for bringing it up!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Be The Google of Your Marketplace

Luxury real estate marketing professionals need to carefully evaluate the best ways to spend marketing dollars. Despite what is now popularly held as gospel, Internet marketing through search engine optimization (SEO) may not be for you.

If your marketplace is small SEO may not be the best way to spend your time or your money. What may work better is to get involved with a community project and maximize your visibility face-to- face rather than online.

If your market is in a cosmopolitan city and your clientele is global, coming up first on Google makes sense. But, what makes even more sense is being the Google of your marketplace the one standout whom everyone knows. This is a function of building your personal brand and leveraging public relations. Sometimes, online press releases can help drive traffic to your website better than any search engine optimization practices.

Don’t neglect pay-per-click advertising on the search engines. When it is done right, in a targeted manner, it can work much better as a lead generator than spending time and money on improving your natural search rankings. Plus, it is entirely measurable, with immediate feedback that cam allow you to make instant improvements that result in more qualified leads.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: How to Increase Your Market Share

Just because it seems that the market is dwindling, it doesn’t mean that people have stopped buying luxury real estate. What it means, is that they are choosier about where they buy and with whom they do business. The luxury market is conservatively estimated to be 220 billion dollars and growing. To significantly increase your market share you must sharply differentiate yourself from your competition. How? Offer REMARKABLE customer service.

Every study from Harris Interactive to the Wharton School of Business emphasizes building a lasting relationship with your clients. Prospective clients are looking for a positive, memorable experience. They expect you to exceed their expectations. They may like your brand. But, what will solidify their loyalty is the amazing service you give.

Even in they don’t buy the first time, find ways to keep them engaged as to what is happening in the market they were interested in. Don’t just send updates on new homes; send interesting articles about the community, new restaurants or gallery openings. Better yet invite them to an art gallery opening, or a special museum exhibit. The world of luxury is small. Word will get out that you are strikingly different. A warm and friendly experience increases trust which means they are more likely to recommend you to a friend.

Do the same with existing and previous clients. Make them a part of your “in” crowd. Share with them your special secrets and insights. They will see you as the go to person.

For example, the designer Kate Spade reveals what inspired her designs with her “special clients”. She has a section on her web site called, “Behind the Curtain” that catalogues her influences, her interests and what she thinks is “hot”. Her comments serve to build relationships with her customers and engage them in conversation.

Harley Davidson did the same by creating a community. This revived a dying brand and made it profitable once again. They have added activities and meet ups as part of the brand, and as a result created a customer base that is fiercely loyal to the brand.

Apply these ideas, and you will be delighted by your loyal following.

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