Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: The Power of Color in Logo and Web Design

Color is integral to the design of your logo and you web site. Here is a brief discussion of various colors, which you can use as a guideline when you are contemplating colors for your logo or web site. It is also important that the colors are in harmony with your personality and your marketplace.

Color evokes a physiological reaction. The pituitary gland sends a message to your brain when it sees the color red. People will often say referring to a moment of anger, “I saw red!” The color red is connected with excitement, energy, and danger. Red commands attention and is provocative. Orange is known to be a hot color. It is a friendly color, it is energizing. The color yellow is equated sunshine, friendliness and warmth. Brown is considered rustic, rich and durable. Blue is dependable, and cool, such as blue skies water and a true blue friend. The color green is soothing, refreshing, and healing. The color purple is regal, sensual and elegant. White is lightweight, pristine and pure. Black is strong, powerful, mysterious, classic and elegant.

Here is picture of the UPS logo. It is brown and yellow. Their ads refer to their primary color which is brown. The meaning is clear they are durable, i.e. reliable. The yellow refers to their friendliness.

Brioni specializes in the sale of handmade men’s suits. Their logo color is a light red on white. The concept of attention (red) and (white) purity in handmade suits made of the finest fabrics expresses the brand. A handmade suit is appropriate for someone who commands attention, such as an actor or a CEO of company. Among their famous customers are Rudy Guliani, Pierce Brosnan, and the Rockefeller family.

Are your colors communicating your strategy, your personality, and your marketplace?

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: The Role of a Logo in Your Personal Brand

A logo is defined as a graphic symbol which defines the identity of a business. In the context of luxury real estate marketing, a logo represents the brand; it defines who you are, what you do, and where you are going. A brand cannot be the graphic designer’s personal interpretation of what you do or how they think you should be seen. As talented as graphic designers may be, they need to be given direction as to how you want to be perceived by your target market and defined by your niche.

Above all a logo must communicate your essence and your authenticate self. It has to engender customer recognition of you and the market in which you work. A logo can be just an image (Nike, Apple, and Polo by Ralph Lauren). It can be a particular font (Jo Malone, Coca Cola), or it can be a combination of an image and font (Hermes). A logo can also incorporate a slogan (Hallmark "When you care enough to send the very best.").

A logo is also a graphic representation of your marketing strategy; it has to fit into the overall plan of your brand. In luxury real estate it has to embody the market niche you serve as well as your unique selling proposition. Does your logo fit you and your marketplace?

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Website Design, Don’t Blend In, Blend Out

Several times a day, I look at luxury real estate professionals websites. I am amazed at how many agents use the identical template. Today, I saw two agents in a luxury market with the exact same website. The only difference was their pictures, their names and their featured listing. Furthermore, they are working in the same geographic farm. What are they saying to the prospective seller or buyer? Will they market my luxury property in a template fashion? Will it get lost with every other listing?

Here is an example from the world of luxury goods. LVMH (Louis Vuitton, Moet-Hennessey) is a French company that owns over 60 prestigious companies and brands. In the world of champagne, they own the following brands: Veuve-Cliquot, Domanine Chandon, Krug, Ruinart, Dom Perignon, Domaine Chandon Australia, California, and Spain. Each champagne has its own branded look, its own distinctive web site and its own identity. Most shoppers have no idea that LVMH owns them. Since peoples tastes vary they buy the champagne that appeals to them, and part of the appeal is that certain intangible emotional connection. LVMH also owns several cosmetic companies ranging from Yves St Laurent to Benefit. Again, they all maintain their identity and their look.

Take a lesson from the world of luxury goods and services! Get a branded look, don’t blend in! Blend out! Demonstrate your marketing savvy by marketing yourself with panache. Don’t blend in. Stand out! Blend out!

By Alexandra Seigel

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Know Your Caviar

High prices and scarcity often imply luxury, and so it is with caviar. Caviar is salted roe of certain fish, notably sturgeon for black caviar and salmon for red caviar. The sterlet fish (smaller specie of sturgeon) produces golden roe known to be the favorite of shahs and tsars. According to experts the best caviar comes from the Caspian Sea, home of the caviar sturgeons including the beluga sturgeon. The highest priced caviars are beluga, ossetra, and sevruga.

The Caspian Sea is one of the largest inland bodies of water. Its borders are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russian and Turkmenistan. The lake itself has three distinct geographic regions. The Northern portion is very shallow 15 to 18 feet; the Middle Caspian is deeper 570 feet. The Southern Caspian is the deepest with a depth of over 3000 feet. The Caspian Sea is a section of the Tethys Ocean as was the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.  At one time they were all part of this ancient ocean and were divided by the movement of the earth's tectonic plates. With over 130 fresh water tributaries such as the Volga the Northern portion is a fresh water lake, and is saline on the Iranian side. Overfishing and pollution have led countries such as the US, Canada and Russia to ban or limit the harvest from the Caspian Sea. This has led to aquaculture of sturgeon in Spain, Uruguay and California.

As a real estate luxury marketing professional, acquaint yourself with the new caviars both wild and farmed. Petrossian Caviar is one of most famous caviar suppliers. They have a wonderful six month gift of caviar and blini (Russian pancake) comprised of six different caviars. If you are not a caviar aficionado, it is a great gift for someone who is. By the way, my Russian grandfather scoffed at the idea of serving caviar with champagne, frozen vodka in shot glasses was his recommendation. To serve caviar always use a spoon made of mother of pearl as caviar tarnishes silver.

By Alexandra Seigel

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: What is an Iconoclast?

To be a true standout in your marketplace, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, think like a trail blazing iconoclast. The dictionary defines an iconoclast as somebody who challengers or overturns traditional beliefs, customs and values. To get into the iconoclastic mindset, check out the TV series, Iconoclasts on the Sundance Channel. Robert Redford, executive producer of the series, explains: “Iconoclasts explores the intersection where two great talents meet, and where creativity comes alive.”

Each segment pairs two iconoclastic individuals who are great examples of a one man or a one woman brand, yet dissimilar in their life’s work. It then explores their views and their ideals. Each individual has blazed a path and has explored the leading edge in their personal inimitable fashion and passion. They have expressed their authentic selves. Each has strayed from the comfort of the normal and the average. They have each fearlessly opened doors that were considered taboo. They have stayed true to their own ideals regardless of the consequences.

One of the earlier episodes paired Norman Lear and Howard Schultz. Norman Lear is best known for his 1971 production of All in the Family, a comedic sitcom exploring bigotry and race, which according to the experts was doomed to fail. Howard Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks, and he recounted his efforts to raise money to fund Starbucks and how everyone told him, he would fail because he wanted all of his employees, including the part timers, to get have health insurance and stock ownership in the company.

The show is fun to watch. It is enjoyable, instructive and inspiring. It confirms that all is very well with our world as long as there are iconoclasts to blaze new trails. Are you an iconoclast?

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Is Knowledge Power?

Luxury real estate marketing professionals attend seminars and workshops in order to improve their knowledge of technology, marketing techniques, and new laws which affect their business. As they walk out, they feel all fired up, armed and up to date with the latest and greatest. Are they? Or do they just know about it? Is there power in that knowledge? Yes, in terms of being aware of what is going on and no if you don’t learn how to apply it.

Do you take the time to apply what you have learned? Or, do you just stash all the workbooks and software you buy in your “one of these days, I will get to it” closet?

Everyone knows that yeast makes dough rise when you are making bread or certain pastries. This is a tidbit of information in the art of making bread or pastries. Knowing how yeast works does not make you a master baker or a pastry chef. In order to become a master baker, you have to learn about flour, yeast, oven temperatures, and the role of humidity to achieve a great result. And of course, you have to actually practice making bread over and over until you achieve the perfect result.

We have learned the art of baking bread and have even made croissants. However, we are perfectly willing to buy baked goods instead of making them ourselves. Our hands-on knowledge of baking has made us discerning and appreciative customers, and that is its own power.

We encourage you to take the time to apply what you have learned and put it into practice consistently if it adds to your winning formula. Otherwise, clear out that closet! Once you have applied the knowledge you have acquired it is also easy to delegate the application of it to another. Knowledge is only partial power. The application of knowledge is true power.

Speaking of dough, check out the innovative game created by Bernice Ross and Byron Van Arsdale, called Real Estate Dough. It is fun and educational, and can only add power to your game.

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Don’t Rush, Delegate!

Scarcity of time is one of the main complaints of luxury real estate marketing professionals. Do you feel like you do not have enough time in a day? Do you feel like you are always in a rush?

Our answer is to try a new mantra, “I have plenty of time”. Repeat that over and over again. We realize that this may be new territory. Play along! Try saying, today, “I have plenty of time” to enjoy doing____________, going to________________, and being with________________. You will find that in time you have your schedule full of activities you like doing.

The best route to gaining more time is doing only what you love to do the most and delegating everything else to others. Give away anything that you don’t like to do to others who love to do that type of task.

Check into virtual assistants. They live to unburden you of tasks that you do not really enjoy doing. Concerned about the cost of virtual assistants? Think about all of the missed opportunities to increase your income that are slipping through the cracks because you are too busy to notice them or do not have time to follow up on them.

This is a wonderful world with an abundance of resources and people to meet your needs. How will you find them? By saying “I have plenty of time” to enjoy discovering all life’s treasures.

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form    in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: It’s About Time

As a luxury real estate marketing professional do you find yourself repeating the universal mantra, “I don’t have enough time”? It is amazing that in the age of rapidly evolving technology designed to save and maximize your time that so many people are time starved. For instance, you can have groceries delivered via an online order, and you can cook a meal in a matter of minutes using a microwave or a convection oven. These are just some of the time saving devices in our homes. Yet, so many still complain about the scarcity of time.

There is an overabundance of time management gurus, books, seminars and self help systems ready to help your solve your time starvation problem; if you only had time to do it. Saying “I don’t have enough time” is a nice way of saying, “I don’t want to do this”, or “I do not want to go there”, or “I don’t want to take the time to listen”. The more one says it, the more it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

The feeling that there is a scarcity of time explains the unreturned phone call, the forgotten appointment, and the lack of follow through. It explains multi-tasking while driving or eating. It explains stress. It explains self-neglect as well as neglect of others. In a business situation, it becomes a double edge sword. So many agents look and act like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, who repeats over and over, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” If you are running around like the rabbit your clients or potential clients may be asking themselves if you will have time for them.

Does this sound like you? Read our next post to discover what to do to gain an abundance of time!

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form    in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Are You the Wallflower of Social Networks?

As a Luxury Real Estate Marketing professional, here is onene way to approach professional networking.  Look at it as a great big party or mixer, where you have the opportunity to network with everyone there. At a party if you don’t make the effort to meet people or reach out, you might as well be a wallflower and blend in to the wallpaper. The Internet makes it easy because you don’t have to dress for the party, and geographic distances are irrelevant. However, the Internet cannot create relationships. You have to do that, either by sending them an email or picking up the phone.

Walflower

Social networks are not about how many people you have in your network. It is how many you can actually engage in conversation in a meaningful way. How many people in your network actually want to know what you are doing in between emails and phone calls? That is another means of measuring the effectiveness of your network.

Marketing is about relationships. Relationships create opportunities to expand your sphere of influence and friendships. Relationships take time, and it is time well spent. The old adage “it’s who you know” still applies in the age of technology and web-based social networks.

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form    in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Does Your Quilt of Contacts Have a Common Thread?

Old Amsterdam quilt pattern

No doubt, most of you in the luxury real estate arena are aware of the rushing rivers of social networks. You may already be a member of several networks for business, for friendships or for special interests.

Joining a network to share your photos of family with other members of your clan is fun and a great way to stay in touch. Special interest networks such as handicraft networks are very successful, because the members are bound by a similar passion. They communicate regularly with each other and know each others’ expertise. They even buy each others’ work or supplies. They are a resource for each other. Like the family, they stay in touch and participate in each other’s endeavors with the common bond of their interest in handicrafts.

Professional social networks should be looked at in terms of building common bonds. It is like creating a quilt with a  common thread or pattern. It is easier to introduce yourself to others who share your values and interests. However, if you do not make an effort to reach out and actually meet other people the usefulness of the networks will be minimal. Yes, that’s right! You may actually need to pick up the phone and give someone in your network a call.

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: You Say Cheese, They Say Fromage!

If you are out to dinner at a fine restaurant with an important client, it is a good idea as a luxury real estate marketing professional, to know your cheeses. Here is some background information that is valuable to know.

Although the United States is the largest producer of cheese it is a marginal exporter. While ranking third in production, France is the largest exporter of cheeses. The most revered cheese makers are the French. The impact of French cheese is evident when you read the following quotes.

 "A country producing almost 360 different types of cheese cannot die." Winston Churchill, June 1940

 "How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?" Charles de Gaulle, 1960

 "A meal without cheese is a beautiful woman with an eye missing". Brillat Savarin, epicure and gastronome from his book The Physiology of Taste 1825.

Currently France makes over 1000 types of cheeses, and recently revived a cheese that hasn’t been made for over 200 years. Recently Fromage de Clon, also known as the cheese of popes and kings has reappeared thanks to the diligence of a historian Jerome Dupasquier who found a recipe in a dusty box. “The taste is nutty and sweet with a tang of saffron, and eating it is like listening to Vivaldi on a Stradivarius,” according to Gourmet Magazine. “It is can be ordered directly from the cheese maker in France, the Perrigots located in the village of Drom.

To get acquainted with some of the world’s best cheeses find a cheese shop in town and taste some new cheeses. Plan a cheese party and have a tasting with friends. Or, visit the imported cheese section at a grocery store and invest in a half-dozen cheeses that you have not yet tried. Then, go to Google and look them up. You never know when this information will come in handy.

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use the form in the left column.

Luxury Marketing Essentials: Creating Buzz

Titanium fighter motorcycle

Understanding the concept of buzz marketing in luxury real estate marketing is important. Buzz marketing is a way of getting media attention by orchestrating an event that is unusual in nature and results in people talking. It can be less expensive than traditional advertising. Buzz generates word-of- mouth advertising. Here are some fun examples of buzz marketing:

Every Christmas Neiman Marcus reveals the fantasy gifts. This year’s gifts selection runs the gamut from a backyard golf course custom designed by Jack Nicklaus, a 35 year collection of every 45 RPM records listed o the Billboard Top 100 through the end of 1990, a titanium fighter motorcycle or a shootout session with the Harlem Globetrotters.

In 2007, Harrods department store in London, hired a live Egyptian cobra to guard a pair of ruby-sapphire and diamond encrusted sandals valued at over $100,000. This also was a great promotion for the shoe designer Rene Caovilla, who is now on par with Manolo Blahnik and other famed shoe designers.

Popular talk show hosts such as Oprah, and Ellen give away the book or CD of an author or musician on the show. Martha Stewart also gives gifts and food to taste on her show. On a plane out of Burbank, we watched a couple of gals who had been to the Ellen show regale others with the gifts they received.

Savvy wedding planners and caterers always have some favor for the guests that create buzz, so that you are bound to ask who did that. This buzz effect reflects well both on the party giver and the planner.

One of the fruit and vegetable stands at our local Farmer’s market created a beautiful table with the bounty of the local harvest. Everyone gathered around and called their friends to come see it as well as the local paper.

Buzz does not have to cost a lot of money. Take a lesson from bees: You can attract more business with honey- the sweet smell of successful buzz!

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: The Closing Gift-Who Gets It?

Go shopping at Harrod's in London

Many agents who are involved in the business of luxury real estate marketing feel that they have to bow and scrape to the wealthy. They have to serve them and anticipate their every need, so that the potential client will like them. They even send them gifts after meeting them for the first time in hopes of doing business with them. If this is the way you love being treated, if it feels good, by all means do it for your clients. Keep in mind that these are the types of clients that you will consistently attract, the ones who will feel most comfortable with you.

However, here is another approach to working with the wealthy that you might consider. A very successful agent in Silicon Valley does not give closing gifts. She gets them spontaneously from her clients. Her stance is that her service is invaluable, her knowledge of the luxury market impeccable. She has an impressive roster of clients who praise her expertise and prowess. These are the clients she consistently attracts. She is a player on equal footing with her clients who are more like partners in the process of selling or buying a home.

Find your approach, express it clearly and you will attract the very ones you would like to work with. Either way be sure to gift yourself when you close a transaction!

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: What’s In It For Me/What’s In it For You?

Toscanini

In order to stand out from the crowd, luxury real estate marketing professionals should be able to immediately answer the question "what’s in it for me?", from the perspective of your target market. As a consumer you chose the products and services that suit your needs and your desires. Every product and every service is trying to answer that question for their target market. They answer it visually with graphics and design, and they answer it in terms of benefits and incentives.

Before you can answer for your clients, you need to answer the question “what is in it for you?", the luxury real estate marketing professional. Commission aside, what is it about your business that you love doing? What makes your heart sing? Take a moment to be selfish and analyze what you are most comfortable with.

Marketing essentially is the matching and orchestration of self-interests. Know your self-interest. Know your clients’ self-interest. Only then can you become an expert marketer and matchmaker who seeks solutions that simultaneously satisfies all parties. Everyone can get what they want. It’s all about orchestrating matches.

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: The Spirit of Innovation in Marketing

Be innovative with your marketing! Luxury real estate marketing professionals should look outside the world of real estate for inspiration. Here is an example of three co-marketers who partnered in a very innovative way: The Sundance Channel, Grey Goose Vodka and Conde Nast Magazines. Together they created an outstanding TV show called Iconoclasts which reflects the brand values that all three companies share in common.

Sundance is the producer of Iconoclasts, which was initially a six episode documentary series, featuring the visionaries in the world of celebrity. According to their website, the Sundance Channel “ is the television destination for independent-minded viewers seeking something different. Bold, uncompromising and irreverent, Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse and engaging selection of films, documentaries, and original programs, all unedited and commercial free” The shows reflect the overall Sundance mission of “encouraging artistic freedom of expression.” The first episode of the new season will feature Desmond Tutu and Richard Bramson paired up to profile each other.

With Iconoclasts, Grey Goose Entertainment, a division of Grey Goose Vodka, came up with an innovative way to market themselves to their loyal clientele and also gain new customers. Here is how Monsell Darville, VP-group director of Grey Goose Entertainment explains it. “We were approached by Sundance Channel and Conde Nast Media Group to become a co-production partner on Iconoclasts. At that time we were looking to step away from the traditional and into the innovative. We also felt the need to give back to a great many individuals who support us so resolutely. We realized that not only by participating in this project, but also similar future projects, we could do both.”

Conde Nast Media is a division of Conde Nast Magazines. Condé Nast Media Group is the corporate sales and marketing arm of the company. Condé Nast is known for their marketing strategy which is focused on magazines catering to a particular interest, such as Vogue for fashion, Architectural Digest for home, and Gourmet for food enthusiast. This category is also known as lifestyle magazines. They publicized the Iconoclasts series in all their magazines.

All three brands were aligned in their brand message and their brand values. Those core values include independent thinking and a luxury lifestyle. This degree of alignment was the recipe for a critically acclaimed TV series. How can you co-market with compatible, non-competitive brands in your marketplace?

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: The Luxury of Loyalty

Photo by Orchi of Cattleya Orchid

Loyalty is a byproduct of high trust relationships. The dictionary defines loyalty as faithful to a person, a cause, an ideal, a custom, an institution, or a product. In the business of maintaining and serving the luxury real estate market it is important to engender loyalty in your relationships with your clients, because it is a formidable source of word-of-mouth marketing, i.e. referrals. If you value loyalty, having a loyal client base can be developed in this way: Be loyal!

• Develop consistency in your follow-through
• Do what you say you are going to do
• Stay true to your principles such as working with people you like
• Give your clients the best care, before, during and after the close of escrow
• Stay in touch, remember birthdays, anniversaries and their children’s names. It is easy to do that when you like them.

Loyalty is in and of itself a luxury because it is so satisfying when a client stays true to you. If loyalty seems like a rarity to you, practice it more often yourself. Champion the products and services that you value the most. Let other service professionals know that you appreciate them by sending them referrals, and a gift such as flowers.

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Marketing Essentials: A Salute to Adventurers

Like Christopher Columbus whose day we celebrate today across America, luxury real estate marketing experts take on an adventure each time they position a magnificent home to sell in their marketplace. Luxury homes are as unique as the owners who occupy them. It is important to determine what segment of the luxury market would appreciate this home, both in your marketplace and internationally. The sizzle to sell here is the adventure that can be had by living in this location, because the sense of adventure and discovery is an important lure with deep psychological implications for the buyer.

Luxury homes situated in a second home market should be marketed to reflect the adventurous aspects and specific advantages of their surroundings. Learn from the m arketers of luxury condo hotels in your area who appeal to an international clientele. Apply their marketing strategies. They understand the emotional reasons why buyers are attracted to your area. They have spent quite a bit on market research. Besides the sumptuous accommodations and setting, they sell the dream and the experience of the locale. They are engaging the customer’s sense of the story they will tell when they come home from their vacation. Their marketing story includes off-the-beaten-track experiences, best restaurants, secret adventures, romantic rendez- vous and art exhibits. A pied-a-terre in New York and a ski in/ski out home in Aspen appeal to the adventure of discovering new worlds.

How will you position your next listing as the adventure to own? By the way, Columbus’s legacy as the discoverer of the new world is not accurate according to historians. What is accurate is that he was the person who brought attention to America. As historian Martin Dugard, explains, “Columbus’ claim to fame isn’t that he got there first; it’s that he stayed.”

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: What Color is Your Lobster

Legend has it that the prison fare on the Eastern seaboard in the 1800’s was lobster, because it was plentiful and cheap. Prisoners begged the warden for a change of menu. Today, lobster is a luxury and is considered a delicacy. The perception has changed and it is usually one of the most expensive items on a menu. Here is some social currency on the subject of lobsters that you can share, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, when you take a client out to lunch or dinner. 

Lobster shells are usually a blend of three colors, red yellow and blue. One in two million lobsters is blue because it produce extra protein due to a genetic anomaly. One is 30 million lobsters are yellow. An half yellow, half brown lobster resides in an oceanarium in Maine. One in 100 million lobsters is albino. An albino lobsters is known as a crystal lobster. The European lobster has a blue tipped tail and legs, and some have variegated coloring. 

The West Coast is home to the Spiny Lobster, also known as langouste or rock lobster. Unlike their Maine cousins (considered to be true lobsters) they do not have claws. In our area, the central California Coast, the lobster season is between October and March. The meat is very sweet and they are absolutely delicious! The sea birds agree, as we often see discarded lobster shells on the beach this time of the year.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: The Avocado Festival

Sunset on Carpinteria beach

Luxury real estate marketing professionals can learn about differentiation by observing how cities bring attention to themselves. This supports local business and tourism and can benefit local charities.  It is also a potential opportunity to make your brand known by sponsoring an event which is congruent with your style.  Here is an example.

Carpinteria, our home town, is a small California central coast city in Santa Barbara County.  It is known for its avocado ranches, orchid nurseries, organic produce, flower growing fields and polo fields.  It was named by the Spanish as “carpentry shop” because the Chumash Indian tribe made canoes on the beach and used the naturally occurring surface tar to seal their boats.

Carpinteria hosts an annual Avocado Festival on the first weekend in October.  It attracts a worldwide audience of avocado growers and lovers because Santa Barbara County is the third largest producer of avocados in North America.  The three day event features live music, food, recipes and contests.   It usually draws over 100,000 people.  This event is sponsored by local businesses who are promoting themselves as well as a good cause.

What is in going on in your town, city, or neighborhood that you can support? How about starting something new?

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Achieving Momentum-Part 5

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about the principle of the flywheel to describe the inflection point when a company gains momentum, then acceleration followed by a sudden burst of velocity that leads to the achievement of stratospheric results. There is an important lesson here about momentum for luxury real estate marketing professionals that can be applied to building a thriving practice in any economic condition.

Mr. Collins describes the nature of an actual flywheel as a “massive metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle, about 30 feet in diameter, 2 feet thick, and weighing about 5,000 pounds.” By consistently moving the wheel forward incrementaly, gravity eventually takes over, creates a momentum, and the wheel begins to spin on its own.

To build a strong momentum and eventually gain (or regain) velocity in your luxury real estate practice stay on track by consistently promoting. Experiment with various promotional methods until you discover what works best. Discard what does not work. Then keep on repeating what works. Become like a monorail on a single track to success, building speed through consistency.

Here are three ways to build momentum and velocity.

Consistently stay in touch with your contacts. When was the last time you sent out an email to your database, took a friend out to lunch, or remembered someone’s birthday?

Keep track of your results from various promotional vehicles. Become discerning when it comes to selecting advertising venues, direct mail campaigns, internet marketing methods or other promotional means. Compare and measure their effectiveness.

Leverage your time and your money. Co-market with other agents. Co-advertise with compatible non-competitive professionals like lenders.

Consistency in promotion is your sure route to building momentum and velocity in your luxury real estate marketing practice. How can you be more consistent in your promotion?

This is part of an ongoing series about Luxury Real Estate Marketing. Get Fluent. Get Affluent! Subscribe to The Language of Luxury by Email or RSS Feed. Comments? Please use form in left column.