Personal & Company Branding: What Is the Soul of Your Brand?

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: What Is the Recipe for Your Personal Point of View?

July 20, 2011

Articulating your personal point of view is the essence of personal branding. The process of personal branding involves zeroing in on what is distinct about your personality and also your unique promise of value. Then it is a question of expressing the sum total of what your target market can expect when they work with you both graphically and in just a few words. If branding is done right your ideal clients will quickly know that you are exactly the right match for them and it should accelerate the speed of trust.

Personal branding must also quickly express your expertness and your authority in your chosen category of business. The more sharply you define your niche the faster those who specifically seek your advice or service can find you. Let’s take the example of TV cooking show hosts to illustrate how this works.

Rachael Ray is the “girl next door”. That is her brand. Quick easy meals or meals on a budget when you travel, that is Rachel. If you want to learn how to cook Southwest style Bobby Flay is your man. If you want to learn about great comfort food that can be found in diners and dives, Guy Fieri is the guy for you. His barbeque sauce is available in the supermarket and it is terrific. Rachel and Bobby would be off their personal brand signal to market this product.

Here are some questions that are included in the application if you want to audition for the Next Network Food Star and compete for the prize of getting your own show.

What is your favorite genre of food?
What is your least favorite cooking style and why?
How do you put your own personal twist on recipes?

f I were an ingredient, I would be ______________. Why would you be that ingredient?
What is your all time favorite ingredient and why?
What ingredients and/or foods do you absolutely hate and why?
Clearly describe 3 of your “signature dishes” that best represent you and/or are most popular with your friends/family/clients. Tell us WHY they represent you so well.
What are your top 5 ORIGINAL cooking/food/ingredients tips that demonstrate your food knowledge?
What is your unique “Culinary Point of View”?
Why do you want your own food show?
What about your background would make you a unique finalist on the show?

By far the most important question here is about your personal point of view. This is your slant-the essence of what makes you stand out from your competition. It is essential when crafting your personal brand that it expresses who you are, authentically. You cannot be all things to all people and you cannot really please those who are not a truly a match to you.

What is your personal brand recipe? What is your personal point of view?

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The Key to Building an Exemplary Luxury Real Estate Marketing Team

July 18, 2011

If you want to build an exemplary luxury real estate marketing team, look around you for examples of great teamwork to keep you and your team inspired. That is the key!

Evidence of exemplary teamwork abounds. In sports when two teams are evenly matched and both display extraordinary teamwork it is still a pleasure to watch the team that opposes your favorite. Take the Women’s World Cup Soccer finals. You must give the Japanese team their due credit when they defeated the USA. Even though it appeared that the American team would close it out with just a couple of minutes to go, it was extreme tenacity that enabled the Japanese to win at the end.

Also, consider the tremendous milestone of the engineering team responsible for dismantling an overpass, which is a part of a $1 billion freeway widening project in West Los Angeles. With over 500,000 cars traversing this stretch of freeway on any given weekend locals feared that it would become “Carmaggedon”, the traffic jam to end all jams, when the freeway was temporarily closed this past weekend.

Faced with potential penalties of $6000 for every 10 minutes they exceeded the deadline. The crew completed their work under budget way ahead of schedule. In fact, they received a bonus of $300,000. This was also a victory for the people of LA who cooperated with local officials by staying off the freeways and patronizing local eateries and stores. There is something about teamwork and cooperation when it all works that lifts the spirit.

It is just as easy to find evidence of poor teamwork as it is great teamwork. The choice is yours! The difference is that focusing on examples of excellent teamwork feels good and it empowers you. The members of your marketing team look to you to set the tone. If you are pessimistic, and expect mediocre results, chances are that will be your experience. If you are optimistic, eventually great results will show up. To stay optimistic stay focused on great teamwork. That is the key to building an exemplary luxury real estate marketing team.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Give Your Mouse a Break!

July 14, 2011

To achieve and sustain top-of-mind status in your marketplace as a luxury real estate marketing professional, you need a plan that you can implement consistently. Sure, you can create a publicity stunt that grabs attention and thrusts you into the limelight for “15 minutes of fame”. But, the surest way to stay in the minds of your target market is through spaced repetition of promotion. That is why some of the traditional media tools, like “Just Listed & Just Sold” postcards, still work.

When we first opened our commercial real estate firm in Beverly Hills/West Los Angeles, we started with just three listings. But, these listings were situated at high profile, highly trafficked intersections. Within days we were hearing comments like, “I see your signs everywhere”.

But, once you get their attention you need to keep it! So, here is a plan to consider.

When you get a listing you have some news about which most of the neighbors are interested. This gives you an opportunity, an entrée, a reason to communicate and a reason to be received. While a postcard may be the easiest way to stay in communicate, why not take the opportunity to introduce yourself directly to the neighbors? That’s right; if they do not live behind private gates, knock on their doors!

Nothing beats a face-to-face meeting, not even online “face-time”. Think about it! If your niche or farm has, say 2000-3000 households, you only need to achieve and sustain top-of-mind status in that many households. You only need to meet and make a favorable impression on a very finite number of people to be extremely successful. If you elegantly introduce yourself in person, the subsequent postcards that you send will reinforce that positive first encounter.

Most agents are mesmerized and distracted by social media today. They are trolling for contacts, when the most important contacts, the ones who can actually send them business are right under their noses. Give your mouse a break and grab some door knockers instead!

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50 Top Luxury Real Estate Markets in the USA: Santa Barbara, CA

July 11, 2011

Photo Courtesy of Rebecca Riskin

Jackie and John F. Kennedy honeymooned here. Prince William just played polo here. Oprah, George Lucas and many other Hollywood notables call it their “second” home. Santa Barbara, with its magnificent surrounding neighborhoods is known as the American Riviera®. According to Diana Bull, past president of both Santa Barbara Association of Realtors and California Association of Realtors, “Santa Barbara is rich in culture, beauty, entertainment, and interesting people”.

Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: The Line Extension Trap Part 2

July 6, 2011

As a luxury real estate marketing professional if it is your desire to challenge a formidable incumbent market leader in your marketplace keep an eye on Google as they take on Facebook with their new strategy, Google +. The key to challenging the incumbent is to identify where they are most vulnerable, concentrate all of your strengths with laser sharp focus and then take aim at that vulnerability.

Google has determined that contact management (particularly the way you group your contacts) is one of Facebook’s weakest links. Google+ offers a superior contact management method that enables you to easily group your friends into “circles” that more closely mirror how you actually socialize. This is not easy to do on Facebook. Google is also in the process of tying together the various components that they have already developed (and are currently in use by billions of people) into a cohesive social strategy.

For example, when you are planning a family event you will be able to send a Google map of the event location to everyone in your family circle plus your extended family circle with a couple of clicks. You will be able to “hang out” with your circle of scuba diving buddies via their video conferencing answer to Skype or “huddle” for a chat with your circle of team members on a project at work via Google’s instant messaging software.

However, to take on Facebook the challenger must come up with a strategy that is a true social networking game changer. The first clue that Google+ may not be a game changer is in the brand name itself, which was the subject of Part 1 of this series. Including Google within the new brand name is very risky. From a branding standpoint if you have indeed created a new category of social networking, a fundamental paradigm shift, you must first name your new category. Then, you must create a brand name that stands for the category.

If social circles, indeed represents a fundamental new way to organize social networking Google needs to create a distinct brand name for this product/service that will potentially stands for the category. Calling it something like “Circles”, for example, would have made it easy for both the press and consumers to spread the word about the new category and its extraordinary promise of value. That is how Google can still avoid the Line Extension Trap we refer to in Part 1 before general release (Google+ is in beta testing now).

When Steve Jobs introduced a new category of computers (touch screen tablet with apps) it trumped the categories of net books and e-book readers. It sparked a tsunami of news coverage, triggered a massive demand for the category and also for the first and only product in the category. Overnight, iPad stood for “tablet”.

Google stands for “search engine”, not a new, superior category of social networking. Google+ could stand for “social search”, but supposedly it is much more than a new category of search. Conversely, Android, Google’s brand of smart phone and tablet operating systems, successfully stands for the most viable alternative to the iPad and iPhone.

If social circles is not a game changing new category of social networking, but is instead just a feature that can easily be imitated by Facebook, Google has fallen into another trap of trying to compete on features. Facebook just announced that Microsoft-owned Skype will be incorporated into its entire platform, which will match the same feature offered by Google+. Additionally, Facebook just announced that it now has 750 million users. Competing on features alone, with a Juggernaut like Facebook, is futile.

To take on a formidable incumbent in your luxury real estate marketplace, you must become a game changer and create a thoroughly compelling, newsworthy business model. And, you must brand yourself in such a way that your name stands for your unique promise of value. That way you make it very easy for others to spread the word about you and how you stand out from your competition.

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Happy Birthday America: Celebrating the Luxury of Independence

July 3, 2011

We wish you all a wonderful July 4th, 2011. We all are truly blessed to be living in this magnificent country!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

Personal and Company Branding: The Line Extension Trap – Part 1

June 29, 2011

Russian Nested Dolls

In marketing luxury real estate, one of the traps that market leading agents fall into is attempting to be all things to all people. They figure, for example, that since they are the expert in selling single family homes in a particular geographic farm they certainly can extend their line of work to another category of business and become the expert at selling condos throughout multiple areas. Never mind that they will have to face off with an incumbent market leader in this separate niche who is known as the “condo queen or king”, an agent who is currently enjoying top-of-mind status based on an indelible personal brand that was developed over years.

Off they go, believing that their reputation as the expert in single family homes plus their unique brand of doing business in that one area will automatically apply and extend to another, and another arena. Instead, they will need to successfully develop a second distinct brand that resonates with their new target market. Keeping the same brand name for the new category is what is known as the “line extension trap”.

Think of those Russian nested dolls that look identical but in different sizes. Using the same brand name for different lines of business diminishes the stature of the original brand. Let us take a look at how Google is about to fall into the line extension trap as they take on Facebook once again.

Do we really need another major social network? At a time when News Corp. is selling off MySpace for $30-40 Million (less than 10 cents on the dollar based on their original purchase price of $580M), Google seems to think so. Facebook, with its alliance with Microsoft, is Google’s fiercest competitor not only in social media but in search, where Google dominates. But, from a strategic branding standpoint, with the name, “Google +”, they are heading in the same direction as MySpace on a very slippery slide. Here is why.

While Google is one of the world’s most widely recognized brand names, they were wise in keeping the name, Android, for their smart phone operating system (OS) when they acquired Android Inc. in 2005. With Android they avoided this very common brand extension trap. That is, the trap of using the primary brand name as an integral part of the new brand name in the new product/service category they are entering. But, it looks like they did fall into this trap with Google +1 in the category of social networking.

It would have been suicide to use Google instead of Android for their mobile device OS because it would dilute and diminish Google’s top-of-mind status in its primary product category. Google stands for SEARCH, period. It cannot also stand for social media, like Facebook does, or anything else without diminishing the power of the brand in its primary category.

Android doesn’t just stand for the “other” mobile device operating system. It stands for an “open source” operating system that allows unlimited number of developers to contribute to the evolution of its source code. It freely licenses its OS for use by any qualified manufacturer of mobile devices.

In contrast, Android’s closest competitor, Apple, has a strictly proprietary “closed source”. This is a classic case of a challenger taking on the opposite brand position as that of the incumbent. Google created a contest between the #1 and #2 brands who, together, own the lion’s share of the marketplace. When price is equal, the majority of mobile devise consumers make a clear choice between the two opposing brands based on their personal values and the opportunity for self-expression that each of them offers.

Google brilliantly framed this two-way contest as Open (Android) vs. Closed (Apple) and summarily dismissed the #3 and #4 operating systems. This is brand positioning at its best. So far, Google has not been as brilliant about positioning itself as the #2 contender to Facebook. What does + stand for and how is it the opposite of what Facebook stands for?

Every new product or service category that a company or a service professional enters must have its own unique brand name, a name that stands for the category or niche. Google’s streaming video service, You Tube, is a direct competitor of Hulu which is owned by a consortium of companies You Tube currently stands for streaming video with free user generated content. Competitor, Hulu, is comprised exclusively of the content that is produced by its owners and is available partially for free, mostly for a fee. Free vs. Fee, user generated content vs. proprietary content. This is brand positioning.

Google means search. It does not mean TV (Google TV), nor does it mean instant messenger (Google Talk). These are examples that illustrate Google’s tendency to fall into the line extension trap. Google definitely does not mean social network. Why is this branding principle of the line extension trap so difficult to apply consistently?

Orkut, Google’s first faceoff with Facebook, means social network to 100,000,000 users primarily in India and Brazil. It is one of the most highly trafficked websites in these countries and the 96^th most highly-trafficked website in the world. It is not at all popular in the United States. But, they stayed out of the line extension trap on this one becasue the name does not include the word Google.

But, Google had a disastrous misstep when they launched Google Buzz, their second attempt to surpass Facebook. A technical glitch resulted in revealing users' address books to the public. Why on earth would they tarnish their good name in the realm of search again? What were they thinking? Trapped!

In your luxury real estate marketing practice did you ever feel the tendency to branch out into other categories of business? Did you fall into the line extension trap? Or, did you rebrand yourself for the new category?

In Part 2 of this blog series on the line extension trap, we will see how Google is compounding their troubles by falling into another trap. That is the trap of competing on features vs. leveraging the art of brand positioning.

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Personal & Company Branding: What Is Your X Factor?

June 28, 2011

Courtesy of Coca Cola

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, what does your personal brand stand for in the minds of your target market and how is that distinct from your closest competitor? What is your X Factor? This is a question that baffles even the most seasoned consumer brands. If you cannot articulate in a word or a very brief phrase how you stand out from your competition you are going to swiftly lose market share to those who can. Take head from one of the most well known brands in the world.

Simon Cowell will not be drinking Coke this fall on his new (to America) show, X Factor, like he did on American Idol. Pepsi has become a $60 million sponsor of the show as they beef up their advertising to help regain lost market share to Coke. Pepsi is now #3 (9.5%) in the beverage contest for market leadership behind #2 (9.9%) Diet Coke and #1 (17%) Coke- Classic. Pepsi is not that far ahead of #4 Mountain Dew and # 5 Dr. Pepper.

What happened to Pepsi? Pundits are blaming the shift in focus from soft drinks to PepsiCo’s healthy foods in terms of ad spending. The resulting neglect of their most important brand in the entire company has cost them plenty. The experts are basically saying, “When you snooze. You Lose”!

But, we say, Pepsi was losing way before they began snoozing on ad spending! They were losing mind share before they began losing marketing share. What does Pepsi stand for in the minds of their target market and who is their target market, today?

It used to be the brand of choice for the younger generation. At one point Pepsi’s brand strategy was spot on, the perfect strategy for the challenger. Pepsi framed a two-brand contest between young (Pepsi) and old (Coke) because they knew more young people were buying their product. Pepsi OWNED the ‘younger generation” as their brand position and they spoke their target market’s language.

Pepsi’s new ads are anything but cool or youthful. The slogan is “summertime is Pepsi time”. Does that mean anything to you? Summertime may be the biggest selling time of the year for soft drinks in general. But, why choose Pepsi over Coke?

Their new ad has Santa (an old man with a white beard) in a Hawaiian shirt drinking Pepsi instead of Coke, saying “I’m on vacation”, intimating that he drinks Pepsi in the summer (but don’t tell Coke about his secret summer passion). Pepsi is attempting to disrupt, dislodge or shatter Coke’s archetypical branding imagery, the marriage of Santa & Coke (depicted above) from the 1950s. Coke spent millions of dollars over many years to deeply imbed this notion into the minds their target market. The problem is that most of these minds are 50 years old or more. This is the very opposite strategy that Pepsi should be taking to regain market share.

Contrast this to Pepsi in their brilliant branding heyday when they had Michael Jackson singing “you are a whole new generation” (to the tune of Billy Jean) in a commercial in which he also made a personal appearance. Kids where moon dancing in the street, imitating the “gloved one” and drinking Pepsi, when Jackson himself appears in the commercial. What could possibly be cooler than that? Check out the commercial below which has been seen over 31, 500,000 times on You Tube. Click Here or view the video below.

Pepsi needs to get back to its roots and reassert its unique promise of value. It needs to amplify it’s X Factor! Otherwise, all of the advertising dollars that they are spending are going to become, as Simon Cowell would say, an “utter waste”.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, have you lost touch with your unique promise of value? What makes you stand out from your competition? What is your X Factor?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Secret of "Pull" vs. "Push" Marketing

June 27, 2011

Identifying and serving an underserved market niche better than anyone else can take the notion of sales out of your business equation, all together. In your luxury real estate marketing practice a niche may be a geographic area or a category of properties or a group of consumers with the same values such as environmentalists. The key to marketing to a group of consumers with the same mindset is to fully understand how they think. Most importantly, this includes knowing their deepest concerns or pain points. If you can clearly and quickly communicate that your service can relieve their pain you literally will not have to sell them on working with you. They will sell themselves on you.

Crafting the right marketing messaging is the art of precisely communicating your extraordinary promise of value (through all facets of your brand identity) in such a way that your target market can instantly recognize that you are the one who can best meet their needs. Essentially, you need to know their mindset or psychographics so you can speak to them in their language.

In the realm of luxury real estate you are dealing with achievers of wealth, those aspiring to achieve wealth or those who just want to emulate the wealthy. Your message to achievers will be entirely different from your message to emulators because their needs are distinct. To understand how important the right messaging can be let us take L’Oréal hair coloring products as an example.

Headquartered just outside of Paris, L’Oréal is the world’s largest cosmetic and beauty company. For a while Sex in the City star, Sarah Jessica Parker, was the spokesperson for their hair color line, which usually sells at somewhat of a premium. Ms. Parker’s character in the show is the quintessential emulator.

The question of self-worth is often a pain point for emulators. L’Oréal’s classic advertising slogan, “Because I’m worth it” spoke directly to emulating consumers. The “it” word in the slogan presumes that the product is superior and worth the premium price. Since its first use in the mid 2000s the slogan has evolved to “Because we’re worth it” because research proved that ‘we’ evoked an even higher level of consumer involvement in the L’Oréal philosophy and lifestyle. Plus, it elicited more “perceived” consumer satisfaction with the products themselves. The new slogan was further extended for the kid’s line of hair and body products with, “Because we’re worth it, too”!

Are the ingredients in the product that much better than the competitor’s product line? That is debatable. But, the perception that L’Oréal has created is one of superiority. With just four words L’Oréal has created what is known as “pull marketing” vs. “push marketing”. They are not selling hair color ingredients here. They are offering self-worth as their unique promise of value and their target market is reaching for the relief that represents.

With this “pull marketing” strategy L’Oréal does not need to compete on features that any competent competitor can copy like “foam” or “mousse” versions of the product. L’Oréal has also come out with a “mousse” version of their hair color product just to match the competition. But, competing on features alone is futile.

With one brilliant preemptive move, L’Oréal OWNED the word “self-worth” in the minds of their target market. No other competitor can stake claim to it without looking like a copycat. Test it for yourself. Just ask any woman what brand comes to mind when you say “Because I’m worth it”. This is brand strategy at its best. L’Oréal has achieved and has sustained top-of-mind status.

Pull marketing is what happens when you get your branding and messaging spot on. Instead of going fishing for prospects, the fish jump into your boat. That is because you are communicating your extraordinary promise of value to your target market with precision, in their language. You are not selling. You are solving their problem and you are relieving their pain.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, do you know the pain points of your target market? If you have not taken the time to articulate your unique promise of value in such a way that you are solving problems and relieving pain, you are working way too hard at selling. And, you are probably annoying your target market in the process.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Guess Who's Coming To Santa Barbara?

June 23, 2011

On July 9, 2011, Prince William (aka Duke of Cambridge) and his wife Kate Middleton (aka Duchess of Cambridge) will attend a Polo match at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club. The duchess will be presenting a trophy specially designed for the event by Tiffany's who is a perennial sponsor of the Polo Club. This is the only event open to the public at large. The event will benefit the American Friends of the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry. The funds support disadvantaged children, conservation and veterans of military families.

Tickets for the VIP tent are $4000 per person. This will give you access to chat with the royals, seats in the royal couple's section and a three course lunch prepared by Giada de Laurentis If you are budget conscious, $400 will get you in the grounds and a gourmet box lunch.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Apple, What's Your Secret? Part 2

June 22, 2011

Courtesy of Apple

We have identified the phenomenon of “complacency” as is one of the potential vulnerabilities of market leaders who have outdistanced their closest competitors by a considerable margin. There is a tendency to coast on their momentum instead of continuously reinvest in staying sharp. They tend to “rest on their laurels”, relying on the recognition of their previous achievements to stay on top. As a luxury real estate marketing professional, if you want to challenge the market leader this is an important symptom of vulnerability to be able to recognize and also be able to exploit.

In Steven Covey’s mega-bestselling book the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People he writes about the flip side of complacency which is working too hard, for fear of losing ground to the competition, and not taking the time for self renewal or “sharpening the saw”. In our strategic branding consulting practice and also as syndicated bloggers we are continuously interviewing top producing agents. We notice that the market leaders who are workaholics are equally vulnerable to being challenged as the complacent ones.

When a new idea of doing business is introduced to the complacent market leader, the response is often “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it”? When a new idea in proposed to a workaholic it is often rejected because they do not have the time to take a break from sawing in order to sharpen the saw. In both cases there is a paucity of innovation, ingenuity and imagination at the top which makes them vulnerable to challengers who are eager and willing to “think outside the box.”

In our previous post we highlighted the brilliant success of Apple’s retail stores. Clearly, Apple is an enlightened market leader that does not rest on its laurels. It continuously stays sharply focused and is an uninterrupted font of innovation. Within a year of the debut of the iPad, iPad 2 trumped its predecessor and preempted many of its would- be competitors by including superior features like two cameras and a skinnier profile.

The genius who is mainly credited for the success of the Apple stores is Ron Johnson, the Senior VP of Retail Operations, who recently was tapped for the CEO position of J.C Penny to restore its prominence as a market leader. In an interview, Johnson said, “I’ve always dreamed of leading a major retail company as CEO. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help J.C. Penney re-imagine what I believe to be the single greatest opportunity in American retailing today, the Department Store.”

A true market leader is willing to continuously re-invent and re-imagine its business model. Essentially, a great market leader never stops thinking like a challenger.

If you are a market leader and you find yourself getting complacent or becoming a workaholic these are warning signals that your health and the health of your luxury real estate marketing practice is in jeopardy. You are definitely vulnerable to being caught off-guard by a challenger who is open to new ideas.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Apple, What's Your Secret?

June 21, 2011

Courtesy of Apple

Customer or client loyalty is one of the aspects of marketing luxury real estate that can be measured with reasonable accuracy. We recently heard a story about an agent who thought she had the loyalty of a particular client. Then, after spending a considerable amount of time abroad, the client came back into town for the weekend, noticed that a home that he and his wife admired for years came on the market. They bought it on the spot from the listing agent with whom they also listed their current home for sale. The terms of this multi-million dollar purchase were all cash with a very short closing. And, the listing had an equally sizable price tag. Ouch!

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, what does it take to keep your clients loyal? It may be wise to study the secrets of Apple, the world most valuable technology company. Oddly, the Wall Street Journal uncovered the confidential employee manual for running their retail stores and wrote an “exposé” on the subject. The funny thing about the manual is that there were actually no real secrets at all. Anyone can easily observe their “secrets” by visiting the store and experiencing their superb customer service, first hand.

Do the following aspects of customer service sound like secrets to you? Or is it simply attention to every detail of the customer experience

Passionate employees who love the products
Highly trained staff that acquires thorough product knowledge
Customer respect--no ridicule of those who do not understand something
Buffering the frustration of the tech-challenged with excellent listing skills
Solve customer problems vs. push sales
Up-selling subscriptions and tech support services
Employee tardiness is unacceptable
No sales quotas + no commissions = no pressure
In-store tech support

According to the Wall Street Journal, sales per square foot in Apple’s 326 retail stores range between $4-6,000. To put this into perspective, Tiffany & Company sells $3000/sq. ft and Best Buy sells $880/sq. ft. Best Buy’s, who sells multiple product lines, has a profit margin around 1% before taxes. Apple’s profit margin, selling only its own products, is 26%.

Having an Apple Store nearby where you can have all of your questions answered by a cheerful staff vs. overseas tech support is quite conducive to customer loyalty. Being able to upload, store and sync all of your photos, documents, music and videos via iCloud, with all of your Apple computers and mobile devises “seals the deal!"

What are your “secrets” to maintain client loyalty in your luxury real estate marketing practice? Are you paying close attention to every detail of your client experience like Apple does in their stores?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: What Is Your Brand Worth?

June 20, 2011

Choosing the right brand name is extremely important for luxury real estate marketing professionals. Some of the best brand names deliver an emotional impact that makes it easy to remember and also propels sales. Striking just the right chord with your target market is the key. What emotions are summoned with the name Shark Tank?

Have you ever watched Shark Tank, the TV reality show on ABC? It stars Barbara Corcoran, the luxury real estate marketing professional who sold her highly successful brokerage firm in New York several years ago, and other successful venture capital superstars including billionaire Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. The premise of the show is that entrepreneurs seeking venture capital give their pitch to a panel of investors who fight, like sharks, over who will offer the best deal.

On a recent episode, a couple of guys pitched the idea of investing $50,000 in their clothing business in exchange for a 25% interest in the company which is called Hill Billy™. Comedian Jeff Foxworthy (one of the sharks) immediately recognized the value of the Hill Billy brand name because he has made a fortune with his “red neck” humor and Blue Color TV.

The entrepreneurs, who trademarked the name, proved that there is a market for Hill Billy™ brand clothes by selling them at country music concerts and often outselling the performers T-shirts and concert paraphernalia. But, none of the sharks took the bait. Instead, they all insisted that the true value of the company was in the trademarked brand itself, asserting that the clothing business is extremely risky. They did see value in the brand name, but only in its limitless licensing potential.

Three of the sharks agreed to offer $25,000 each to buy the Hill Billy™ brand name for licensing purposes and not to invest in the manufacturing of the clothing line. They also offered to give the entrepreneurs a 7% royalty on all licensing fees. The deal was accepted.

The term Hill Billy refers to people in the United States who dwell in remote, rural mountainous areas, such as Appalachia, or the Ozarks. It sometimes has a derogatory connotation depending on the context of its use or the attitude of person using of the word. But, all of this meaning plus the values that are inferred are wrapped up in the brand name. The brand obviously offers a form of self-expression for certain consumers who can identify with it whether or not it is taken seriously.

The Hill Billy™ brand clearly strikes the right emotional chord with its target market that drives sales. That is exactly what makes it a valuable brand. How much is your brand name worth?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing:Are You Playing Your "A" Game?

June 15, 2011

One of the core attributes of a successful luxury real estate marketing professional is consistent focus. Complacency begets inconsistency. When you get complacent, you are vulnerable to those competitors who maintain their focus.

Notice the consistency of focus in top professional athletes, musicians or entrepreneurs. Let’s use professional musicians as an example of consistent focus.

The very first thing a musician in an orchestra does is tune his or her instrument with the perfect pitch of the oboe playing the key of A. Think of perfect pitch as your pure brand signal. What do you do to align yourself each day with your pure brand signal and your vision for your luxury real estate marketing practice?

Professional musicians practice consistently. Once you have defined your winning formula in your real estate practice you must focus consistently on practicing what works, over and over again, fine tuning as you go along.

We recommend deliberately quieting the mind on a regular basis. When your mind is quiet all opposing or contradictory thoughts disappear and you are most receptive to “possibilities thinking”. That is a good time to contemplate your vision for playing your “A game” in your business.

Take what we call “transaction engineering” out of the picture for a moment. You are expected to be able to see a transaction all the way through to close of escrow. Let’s concentrate here on consistently doing the things that together comprise your “A game”. These are the things that are necessary to get transactions into escrow in the first place. Focus is all about the doing the small things like consistently:

Staying in touch with your sphere of influence
Promoting new business
Returning phone calls and emails in a timely manner
Showing up for appointments on time
Meeting new people who can be referral sources

If you get complacent and neglect these small things you are sacrificing your winning formula that has made you successful. To play your “A game” consistently over time you must find a way to stay focused and stay in perfect pitch. One way that we recommend to do this is to delegate everything you possible can that you do not absolutely love doing. This can be challenging. But, then if you are showing signs of complacency, a good challenge may just be the ticket for you.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: So, You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 7

June 14, 2011

Today, in marketing luxury real estate, being tech-savvy involves much more than just optimizing your website to rank highly on search engines. It encompasses the art of building an audience of raving fans not just through blogging or having a Facebook page, but also through the latest social media practice of creating a “curated” online experience. In this final post in our series, So You Want to Be a Market Leader, we discuss how Tiffany & Company, the leading American luxury jewelry brand, has preempted their domestic and European competitors with this cutting edge, indirect or “peripheral” marketing and branding strategy.

We understand that building an audience was never part of the job description of a real estate agent. We understand that it is time consuming, not to mention a long term strategy. But, it is swiftly becoming a requirement if you want to gain or sustain market leadership. Every incumbent luxury real estate market leader who does not fully embrace the new media is potentially vulnerable to local challengers who are willing to do so.

Leveraging social media and mobile apps was certainly not an aspect of the jewelry marketing play-book either. But, Tiffany & Company is intent on attracting a younger audience and they know that they cannot rely solely on the tradition of their blue gift boxes or the half-century old Breakfast at Tiffany’s movie to win this new business. They are also intent on keeping ahead of their European counterparts, such as Cartier, who is challenging Tiffany’s dominance in the US when it comes to purchasing engagement rings by young affluent customers.

Tiffany has an iPhone and iPad mobile app where you can customize your own engagement ring and design and change the carat size of the diamond. When you place one of the rings that you already own on the screen it will tell you your ring size. But, soon every major jeweler will have their own app and this “feature” will no longer be unique. That is why we say that you cannot count on features as a way to differentiate your brand from your competitors’. Competing on features is not a brand strategy because brand strategy is all about seizing and holding on to top-of-mind status.

Recently, Tiffany & Company launched a new “curated” website called What Makes Love True. Their brand strategy is to “own” the word LOVE in the minds of their target market. If you want to sell engagement rings as your core product that would be an excellent word to own.

Tiffany takes on the role of “curator” of this online exhibition listing romantic places and restaurants to “pop the question”, lists of love songs and romantic movies that you can buy via iTunes, and also videos of customers of all ages who discuss the romantic courtships that lead to their engagements. You can also interact with the site by placing your initials (and your mate’s initials) on a map with your own story of why this location is romantic.

Staking a claim on “true love” as their brand position preempts any other competing jeweler to do so without looking ridiculous as a copycat. Can you imagine Cartier saying, “We stand for true love, too”? Provided that Tiffany continues to develop this site in interesting ways, we believe that this peripheral branding strategy is nothing less than brilliant! It is emotional branding at its best.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional who is bent on gaining or sustaining market leadership, what can you stand for, what word can you own? And, how do you go about executing a strategy to successfully achieve top-of-mind status with this brand position?

In our luxury real estate marketing consulting practice we work exclusively with incumbent market leaders or their challengers. We do not work with direct competitors within the same marketplace. Our ideal clients are those who realize just how much is at stake in terms of market share and revenue at this level, when you achieve top-of-mind status. If you have the heart of a champion and are keen on “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”, give us a call for a complimentary consultation! 805.684.8180

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Heart of a Champion

June 13, 2011

If you want to become the dominate luxury real estate marketing team in your marketplace or niche therein, you and your team must have the heart of a champion. This post is dedicated to a true champion, Dirk Nowitski and the entire 2011 World Champion Dallas Mavericks team and franchise.

Dirk was one of only five players in NBA history to win the championship while being the only NBA All-Star on the team. Only Nowitzki and three other players have averaged more than 25 points and 10 rebounds in the NBA playoffs. Only Nowitzki and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have ever had four consecutive 30-point 15-rebound games in the playoffs. Dirk is the only player in NBA history to get over 100 blocks and 150 three-pointers in a single season.

The Mavericks were not the favored team going into the playoffs. Nor were they expected to win in the finals according to most media pundits. But, they had a strategy. And, at the core of their strategy was their essential strength: cohesive teamwork that was consistently evidenced on the court and courtside.

In marketing luxury real estate as a team, it is essential that you assess your core strengths. Perhaps nothing is more important in building a championship real estate team than strategic thinking. This involves uncovering, identifying, and developing non-obvious opportunities to create value for your target market, extraordinary value that differentiates you from your competition. It necessitates challenging your assumptions about your current value proposition and re-engineering your strategic plan if you already have one in place.

As a team or a company, strategic thinking is best conducted in brainstorming sessions which can be fun and exhilarating if you set the right tone. When you brainstorm you are tapping into the realm of imagination which is the source of fresh, new ideas. The entire purpose of brainstorming in this context is to challenge conventional thinking.

Brainstorming should be open to all team members. However, as the leader of brainstorming sessions it is important to set some ground rules. When we brainstorm with our clients, whether the session is for an individual agent, a team or company, we introduce the concept of the “bulletin board”. The idea here is to just let all ideas that you hatch have a place on the board without criticism or immediate evaluation of its merit. You never know when a fragment of one idea can trigger a flash of brilliance that makes its way to you new strategic plan.

The very process of brainstorming on strategy not only develops a vortex of creativity where great ideas are born, but it also can create an atmosphere of trust that builds cohesive teamwork. If it feels safe to contribute to this “mastermind” everyone can own the strategic plan that emerges. Under these conditions the likelihood is high that the plan will be executed with minimum hassles.

To Dirk, the Mavericks and to all of you luxury real estate teams who have the heart of a champion we salute you. We understand what it takes to establish innovative strategies to out-think your competition and we know that it is cohesive teamwork that is at the core of your success.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: So, You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 6

June 8, 2011

The Latest iCloud Technology- Courtesy of Apple

In our previous post (Part 5) of our series entitled, So You Want to Be a Market Leader, we covered one of the key vulnerabilities that luxury real estate market leaders tend to exhibit: losing focus. In this post we cover the other key vulnerabilities: Being complacent and being “tech-challenged”. If you want to overtake the incumbent market leader, rather than identifying an uncontested market niche that you can dominate, you need to assess your opponent’s weakest link and wage an all-out battle that is 100% concentrated on one of these three specific vulnerabilities.

Complacency, a common vulnerability of market leaders in luxury real estate, usually manifests in the form of neglect of the relationships that got them to the #1 position in the first place. Lack of consistent personal communication with their sphere of influence can create a very compelling reason to switch if the challenger excels at this and offers a remarkably distinct value proposition.

The consistent use of superior technology (especially methods for attracting a high volume of buyers) aimed directly at a market leader who is not tech-savvy, can be an excellent plan to challenge an incumbent. Incumbents who take on over-priced listings that languish on the market may look impressive to luxury home sellers in the short run. But, eventually, the agent who can demonstrate the ability to bring buyers to the table through superior technology will win the listings, too.

If you want to challenge the incumbent who is “tech-challenged” preempt this powerful attribute of being the most tech-savvy. That means, be the first challenger to seize this brand position by “owning” the very words "tech-savvy" as a brand position. Be the first to brand yourself as the tech expert in the competitive landscape that exists, not in your computer or in your office or in some other physical location in your marketplace, but in the minds of your target market.

When you are the first to take on the opposite attribute of the incumbent market leader as your brand position you stand a great chance of at least being #2. That is because you have framed the race for market leadership as a two person or two-company contest: “Tech-savvy” vs. “tech-challenged”. Creating an either/or contest summarily dismisses the rest of the would-be challengers for market leadership who may try to own this attribute in the minds of the target market. Saying "I am tech-savvy, too" is a very weak competitive position. It is like another rental car company besides Avis saying " We try harder (than Hertz), too".

Today, being tech-savvy is much more than just generating leads specifically for properties. It encompasses the art of building an audience of raving fans through social media and engaging in peripheral or indirect marketing. Tiffany & Company has just launched a social media website that we will review in Part 7 of this blog series that positions the jeweler to own the word “love” in the minds of its target market. If you want to sell engagement rings as your core product that would be an excellent word to own.

In our luxury real estate marketing consulting practice we work exclusively with incumbent market leaders or their challengers. We do not work with direct competitors within the same marketplace. Our ideal clients are those who realize just how much is at stake in terms of market share and revenue at this level, when you achieve top-of-mind status. If you have the heart of a champion and are keen on “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”, give us a call for a complimentary consultation! 805.684.8180

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: So, You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 5

June 7, 2011

In the realm of marketing luxury real estate, we have noticed some patterns of vulnerabilities among market leaders that represent opportunities for challengers. If they do have a chink in their armor it usually comes down to this: 1) they lose their focus; 2) they get complacent, or; 3) they lag behind technologically.

If you want to overtake the incumbent market leader, rather than identifying an uncontested market niche that you can dominate, you need to assess your opponent’s weakest link and wage an all-out battle that is 100% concentrated on one of these specific vulnerabilities.

In this post we look at the vulnerability of losing focus. Maintaining focus over time is one of the true tests of a market leader.

When you are a market leader in a specific category or niche within your marketplace there is always a temptation to lose your focus by diversifying or changing your singular winning formula because you have attracted an abundance of diverse opportunities. If you are the best prime rib restaurant in town, is it not logical that you could also become known as the best seafood restaurant? After all, the fundamentals of the restaurant business are the same regardless of what you serve.

There is a seafood restaurant in Los Angeles that was, year after year, one the highest grossing restaurants in town because of its moderately priced menu, its ideal setting and a bar business that was unstoppable. It appealed equally to families, tourists and young adults. We recently visited the restaurant after over a decade of no longer living in the city, expecting to find the same menu. Instead, they reinvented themselves as an expensive dinner house. They may have needed to refresh their brand, but they completely lost their focus on the core attributes that made them successful for decades. This restaurant is potentially vulnerable to competitors who could reintroduce the prior winning formula under a new brand.

To be successful today, you have to narrow your focus in order to build a position in the prospect's mind. Then you have to stay focused to sustain your market leadership position. A company that has resisted the temptation to diversify and has maintained its focus on its primary winning formula is Gerber.

Just take a walk down the baby food aisle in any supermarket in the USA (and dozens of countries around the world). Gerber dominates this food category and the shelf space as well. The company is owned by Nestlé, the largest food (and nutrition) company in the world, founded and headquartered in Switzerland. Gerber enjoys roughly 80% of the market share. Beech-Nut, a very distant #2, is also Swiss owned by the Hero Group, who makes fine jellies and jams in addition to baby food. With no substantial challenger, only Gerber and Beech-Nut currently have double-digit market shares.

How focused are you in your market place? In our next post we will cover the other two vulnerabilities of incumbent market leaders: Being complacent and being “tech-challenged”.

In our luxury real estate marketing consulting practice we work exclusively with incumbent market leaders or their challengers. We do not work with direct competitors within the same marketplace. Our ideal clients are those who realize just how much is at stake in terms of market share and revenue at this level, when you achieve top-of-mind status. If you have the heart of a champion and are keen on “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”, give us a call for a complimentary consultation! 805.684.8180

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: So, You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 4

June 6, 2011

One of the best ways to become a market leader in your luxury real estate marketing practice is to carve out a new niche or create an entirely new market category. Why not start out as #1?

There is a huge competitive advantage in being the first in a freshly defined market segment. For example, have you ever tried or heard of 5-Hour Energy, the caffeine and vitamin liquid concentrate that comes in a small plastic bottle and is sold over the counter?

Seven years ago there was no such niche or sub-category of beverages. This energy shot trend was started by 5-Hour Energy. They dominate the category with an 80% market share, according to trade publication, Beverage Digest. Their annual sales are about $1 billion. The next closest competitor, NVE Pharmaceuticals has a paltry 5% market share. 5-Hour Energy, as a brand, has achieved the status of “category killer”.

Some of the best niches are not obvious. In our recent blog series, So You Want to Be a Market Leader-Part 3, we used the example of becoming the expert in ski-in/ski-out properties within the larger marketplace of the entire ski resort town. This is a very narrow market niche, but a potentially lucrative one as these kinds of properties tend to be the most expensive.

Let’s take this example a few steps further. Before you declare yourself the expert, you need to have some ski-in/ski-out property sales (at least one) under your belt to have some credibility. Then, when you take it upon yourself to define or carve out a niche where heretofore the niche was not perceived as a separate area of specialization amazing things happen.

Suddenly, you are perceived differently and so is the competitive landscape. Because you are the first, you literally cause your name to be identified with the new category that previously did not exist. Once this takes place it is very difficult for your competition to dislodge the #1 position that you have secured in the minds of your target market.

When people indentify you as the ski-in/ski-out maven, they will refer you to other owners of such properties (who they probably know very well) as the expert. If you were the owner of a ski-in/ski out property, wouldn’t you want to be referred to the leading expert in this field to list your home, instead of the generalist? That is what branding is all about.

In your luxury real estate practice, the sharper your focus the more you become an expert and the more likely you are to succeed. Concentration in your chosen area gives you a command not only of the nuances of the market segment itself, but also of the mindset of your target market. The depth of your knowledge and your certainty about your niche becomes palpable to potential clients. The sharpness of your focus also enables you to discover opportunities that completely elude your competition. If you are passionate about your niche, you will not need energy shots to keep you awake, lift your spirits or stay motivated .

You may think that it is scary to be so focused within a niche because you have to sacrifice other general business if you give your niche your undivided attention. But, in time your name can become extremely well-known and, ideally, synonymous with the category itself. That is when you become the undisputed category killer. If you sustain your focus, you can become so formidable as the market leader that your would-be competition will not even bother to challenge you.

In our luxury real estate marketing consulting practice we work exclusively with incumbent market leaders or their challengers. We do not work with direct competitors within the same marketplace. Our ideal clients are those who realize just how much is at stake in terms of market share and revenue at this level, when you achieve top-of-mind status. If you have the heart of a champion and are keen on “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”, give us a call for a complimentary consultation! 805.684.8180

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