Who Is Your Target Market: Pigeonholes VS People?

There is a tendency in the marketing world to focus on categorizing people into pigeonholes as a shortcut in order to influence those they are marketing to. As the world’s population grows, more people are pigeonholed and pundits appear to tell you how to market to this and that group.  While this may be valuable as a construct, it is not the absolute truth regardless of what the experts say.

We subscribe to many online marketing publications, and we see some of the dopiest headlines.  Here is an example: “Millennial shoppers value compassion, customer service more than most... They tend to expect brands to be more value-conscious…” We, who are not in the millennial pigeonhole, value compassion and customer service, and it is unimaginable that anyone in any pigeonhole would not value great service or compassion. 

Another headline touted that millennial folks invented and love craft beers. Fact is that craft beers have been around a long, long, time all over the world.  This group may have popularized craft beer places but did not invent them. In our little village, we have a craft beer place that has existed before the word “millennial” was invented.  And we can assure you that we have met people with the millennial label who disliked beer of any kind.

In order to be successful in your marketing efforts, you need to focus on specifics or the core values of the people in your marketplace. Who are the people in your target market, what is important to them? What are their habits? What kind of lifestyle they have?  Do they read the newspaper and is it delivered to their door every morning?  If they do, then you better have an ad in that paper! This may be contrary to your beliefs that “print is dead”.  For them it is not.

Understanding the values of your marketplace without judgment, labels or preconceived notions, will put you way ahead of your competition who are relying on pigeonholes.  It takes time to understand different values and adjust your thinking.  In the long run, you will have learned compassion.  And, compassion is something that is a value that is understood and appreciated by all. 

Details Make Perfection & Perfection Is Not A Detail--Part 2!

In January of 2016, we wrote a post with the same title.  As we mentioned then, the title is a quote by Leonardo da Vinci, and it is one of our favorite quotes.  Recently, we spent time in Arizona on a project.  We had booked our stay at the historical Arizona Biltmore.  Both of us had fond memories of our stays many years ago.

This hotel was designed by Albert Chase, a former student of Frank Lloyd Wrigh,t along with his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright  acting as his consultant.  They came up with the idea of creating "Biltmore" block pictured in the photo above.  This block was created from the desert sand on the site, and the different patterns are inspired by palm trees.  Frank Lloyd Wright primary tenet was that architecture should be in harmony with nature.

Even though the hotel has been remodeled to meet current building codes and added conveniences expected of a luxury resort, we are happy to report that they honored the spirit and the attention to detail that Frank Llyod Wright and Albert Chase came up with in 1929.

Even though the hotel has been remodeled to meet current building codes and added conveniences expected of a luxury resort, we are happy to report that they honored the spirit and the attention to detail that Frank Llyod Wright and Albert Chase came up with in 1929.

How does this apply to real estate? Details often complete the look and feel of the brand and its logo.  Although they may seen unimportant in the whole scheme of things, it is what makes a brand stand out.  

In our experience with creating brands for our clients, it is always that detail that makes the brand memorable.  It may be a simple as a font, a color, or photo.  Perfection is in the details, and details make a brand remarkable and unforgettable.

Branding Moment: What Is At Stake When Choosing A Brand Name?

The first goal of marketing is to build and maintain a preference for your brand within your target market. This is true if your intention is to be the market leader. It makes sense to find the right name for your brand. It has to be easy to remember and easy to say.  This is very important when it comes to referrals, and word of mouth. 

This morning as we were returning home from an appointment, two trucks were waiting at the red light in front of us. The one directly in front of us  was branded  paysage  This is a French word. Its primary meaning is scenery. Its secondary meaning is landscape. We wondered how many people in Santa Barbara understand the word or could pronounce it. Would someone call this company, "pay sage?" Listen to this 15 second video below if you want to learn the pronunciation .

It is easier to say FedEx  than to say paysage. And the majority of us knows the word FedEx. 

Our research revealed that Paysage, the local landscape company, has been operating in Santa Barbara since 2000. Apparently, they are doing something right, however, they are not considered to be in the top 5 in the city.  The top 5 have an easy name to remember.  

If you want to maintain a preference for your brand, be sure to take time to choose the right name.  What is at stake is word of mouth and referrals.

The Future is Here: The Solution For The Affordable Housing Shortage Is On Its Way!

We are all aware of the “affordable housing” crisis is affecting many parts of our country.  There is a solution that will soon be put into effect in the homebuilding industry. It is known as 3D printing

In January of 2014, we wrote a post called, “Science Fiction Becomes Reality.  We focused on the 3D Printer that premiered at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. We likened it to the Star Trek technology in the 24thCentury known as the replicator, which could produce food, clothing and other sundry items. We also posted a video demonstrating the making of a wrench with a 3D printer.

Four years later, on May 12, 2018, this video  premiered on YouTube.  It showed an affordable 3D-printedHouse that took less than a day to build for $10,000. The prototype was built in Austin, TX, and was the first to received a permit for occupancy. The company ICON is predicting that the costs can be brought down to $4,000, for a 650 square foot home.  

The use of is booming in many industries. With a 3D printer, a dentist can print a perfect crown for his patient in 30 minutes. Automobile manufacturers are printing auto parts. Even the luxury industry is now using 3D printing.

“The Future is here.  It’s just not widely distributed, yet” --William Gibson, Science Fiction Novelist

A Spicy Pursuit: What Specialty Is Missing In Your Marketplace?

One of the best ways to stand out from the crowd in luxury or other real estate marketing is to find the underserved market niche, or filling a need in your marketplace..  In order to find it, one has to do quite a bit of research, because at first glance the market may look crowded. It is not unusual to assume that every niche in the real estate market is already taken.  Here is an example of a business that did just that.

In one of the markets we frequent here in Santa Barbara, the spice and seasonings aisle takes up over one quarter of the space. It is our source to find the rare spice or seasoning for a dish we are making.

Food experts advise that spices diminish in flavor over time. They are susceptible to heat, moisture and light.  Furthermore, they are sold in quantities that are too large for an average household to use up in a short period of time as they have at best one to two-year lifetime of flavor. 

Spicely Organics found the underserved market niche among the  biggest spice producers in the food industry.  Gelson’s Market added more shelf space to their spice aisle to accommodate them. Thanks to Spicely Organics you don’t have to go out of your way to assure yourself that certain spices may be a detriment to your diet because how they are produced. Everything is certified for every type of food concern. 

Furthermore, they sell them in small batches, which means that you don’t have to worry about the shelf life of your purchase.  There is enough for two or three uses.  It may seem more expensive than that big bottle you are used to buying in terms of quantity, however, this beats the competition in terms of quality.  

In the realm of real estate, we have heard many success stories of agents who specialize in what may seem to many who will take any listing at any price crazy niches.  We can assure you that those who specialize in just condos, for instance, or just properties they personally like, or just historical properties, or just land are thriving regardless of the market conditions.  These agents researched what was missing in their marketplace and became experts, and the go to agents in those niches.  What  Specialty is missing in your marketplace?

A New & Different Perspective: Is It A Problem or A Puzzle?

Consistently applying the fundamentals of good marketing and branding can go a long way in building your luxury real estate practice. But, if your quest is achieving and then sustaining market leadership in your chosen niche, you need to do things differently and better than your competitors. You need to think differently to out-think your competition. And, that requires a new and different perspective.

The term, “Thinking out of the box” is a phrase that has been used so much that it has almost become cliché, the antithesis of original thinking. We have been looking for a new way to express this concept in our strategic branding practice.

Then, last Sunday, in our mastermind discussion, our friend shared this quote with us. “I don’t have any problems, I have puzzles”-Quincy Jones (musician and record producer). At first this seemed like a cool concept. But, after thinking about it for a while it also seemed quite profound.

Most people think of a problem as a matter or situation that is unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome. However, if you can make the shift to viewing your situation as a puzzle your can instantly shift your perspective.  

A puzzle is a game or toy designed to test ingenuity and knowledge.  Can you feel the immediate shift in attitude that takes place when you view the same situation as a puzzle?

When you think in terms of having a problem you often introvert, it becomes part of you; it burdens you and becomes part of your identity. When you solve a puzzle you extrovert and the situation becomes objective vs. subjective. You see it outside of yourself. As Quincy says, “The moment you see your challenges as a puzzle & not a problem...you've found your way out”. 

Are You The Google of Your Marketplace Or At The Mercy of Google Bots?

We often hear real estate agents proudly stating the number of leads, they are generating with their websites.  They even cite these numbers on their printed materials, and tell everyone about it.  What does this mean? Many think that this is proof that Google loves them and will send them more leads,

Not long ago we interviewed an agent whose claim to fame was that his website generated 4000 leads a month. He had incorporated every concept that would attract people to leave their name on his website.  He faithfully attended every seminar known to real estate, and tweaked his website to please the Google bots.  And he was happy to spend big bucks to do that.  Google loved him.

We asked him, how many of those leads turned into closed transactions.   He asked us to speak to his assistant who was in charge of sifting through the leads.  

It took his assistant 4 hours a day (20 hours a week or 80 hours a month @ $25 an hour) to establish which leads were genuine, and which were not.  At the end of the month 1 or 2 would emerge as viable leads.  It would take anywhere from six months to a year to convert them into a transaction

48,000 leads a year produced 12-24 viable leads.  When we asked how many of these leads did follow through, her answer was 2-3 a year with a median home price of $400,000.  When we did the math, the agent was losing money. 

When the concept of the IDX came about, we were working with a brokerage in Napa.  We encouraged the broker-owner to be the first to join. We also employed 3 SEO experts for each search engine (Google, Bing and Yahoo) to optimize the site.  

We had as many leads as the gentleman we interviewed we mentioned. We converted one lead a quarter with a median price point of $850,000.   After expenses, the company was making money.  However, it was not a significant amount of money. 

We compared the cost of consistent farming postcard mailings and personal follow-through with the cost per lead in the SEO model. The brokerage generated 12 transactions a year in the same price range with a consistent campaign focused on just one of the sectors that she specialized in. The cost per lead was significantly less.  The broker was able to distribute these leads to her agents.  

We advise our clients to stay focused on their strategy, which involves maximum human interaction. They are not spending money on lead generation, or going crazy optimizing their websites.  They are spending their time face to face with real people instead of bots and making themselves well known and well thought of in their marketplace. They know that being visible in their community is more important than being visible on the World Wide Web.

Are You The Google of Your Marketplace, Or At The Mercy of Google Bots?

Throwback Thursday: Which Niche Can Make You Rich Part 2

As we promised last week on our Throwback Thursday post, here is the next installment of our video course, which was inspired by webinars we had done both for Active Rain and Zillow on the subject of niches. Our entire course can be found on our website if you are curious to see it all at once.  Here is part 2 of the course.  We named this video:

The Most Powerful Law of Niche Marketing

Most Powerful Law from The Language of Luxury on Vimeo.

Mind-share precedes market share. Focus on capturing MIND SHARE FIRST.  Market share will follow. It must follow according to this law. Click the image above to watch the video. 

Enjoy!

! 

The Precious Value of Human Interaction VS Digital Solutions

If you think that Human Interaction is being upstaged by digital solutions, think again. Recently a friend of ours saw a sign on a home and called the number on the sign.  She listened to a recording that sent her to an agent directory. The sign did not have the agent’s name or phone number on it, because the company does not allow agent riders.  

She tried to get connected to the receptionist (was not sure there was one) and gave up.  She was frustrated and vowed never to have any dealings with that company.  And all her friends heard about it like we did.

All of us have had what seemed as interminable moments on the phone getting through the maze of automated systems, just to speak to a human.  When we get to the human, we are even more frustrated because we learn that we need to speak to a supervisor to resolve our issues.  We are then placed on hold, and sometimes we are disconnected. 

Accenture, one of the leading management consultants firms, found in one of their studies that 52 percent of consumers switch due to poor customer service.  They estimated the cost to businesses at $1.6 trillion.  On the real estate scene, it is not unusual to find the voice mailbox full, or the example in our first paragraph.

This is due to the fact that most companies assume that digital-only customers are the most profitable, and customer service is an expensive service.  When they do have customer service, it is usually outsourced to other countries, which often creates more problems.  

Many of these customers (44%) resort to venting on social media channels about the poor service they received.  Sometimes, companies respond to the vent and make things right.  However, keep in mind that quite a bit of damage has been done by the venting. 

Accenture’s study found that 83% of those customers value human interaction and want more of it. They are less likely to switch companies when they have easy access to human interaction, as well as recommend the companies to friends and associates.

Digital solutions have made life easier when you stop and think about it, however we need to balance our reliance on it.  The be-all- and end-all is human interaction. Its value is precious. Institute that in your practice, and your clients will remember you and refer you.

This post is inspired our Internet provider.  Pictured above is the envelope our bill came in.  We are delighted with this change. Now when we have a question or problem with our service, we can actually speak to someone live.  It is so much easier than listening to fix it electronic instructions or going to their website.  It also takes less time.  

Throwback Thursday Series Real Estate Marketing: How Pick Your Niche!

In 2014, we are asked by then Trulia/ Active Rain to present a webinar for the members on Niche marketing. Shortly thereafter, we did it again for Zillow.  That experience spurred a video course that is part of our website.  Although, many of the examples in this course pertain to the luxury real estate industry, the lessons learned can and should be applied to any local professional practice or local business that specializes in serving affluent consumers.  Each video segment is just two-to-four minutes and can be conveniently viewed at your pace on your computer, tablet or smartphone. 

There Are Riches In Niches! from The Language of Luxury on Vimeo.

Here is the introductory video and Part 1.

In this course you will learn:

• How to pick the right niche for YOU
• How to harness the power of focus through niche marketing
• How to out-think your competition and achieve top-of-mind status in your niche
• How to strike the right balance between high tech and high touch in your niche

We hope you enjoy the course and we expect you'll walk away eager to dominate your own niche!

Number One Secret of Market Leaders from The Language of Luxury on Vimeo.

We will add a video each Thursday as for your viewing pleasure, and if you are eager to learn more faster you can always visit to our website.

Branding Moments: Self Expression VS The Aesthetics of Your Marketplace!

Capturing attention and standing out from your competition are both very important when crafting your personal brand as a luxury or other real estate marketing professional. However, the two most treacherous traps that luxury real estate marketing professionals fall into when attempting to brand themselves are these: 

1. Factoring out the aesthetic expectations of their target market thinking that self expression is all that is needed
2. Factoring out their personality, values and personal aesthetic preferences to please their target market.

Either one of these extremes is a recipe for failure in personal branding.  

Certainly, you have heard the expression “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”.  There is no question that aesthetics is a subjective value judgment.  To some contemporary art design and architecture is the ultimate expression of the human spirit, while traditionalists see no value in it at all.  But, when it comes to branding, the entire exercise is to make the subjective, objective. Brand comes first and then in alignment with aesthetics

If you work in a conservative marketplace this objective fact must be respected if market leadership is your quest. Too much shock value may keep you out of the winner’s circle. The objective measurement is whether or not you are attracting the number of clients that you need to reach your goal. 

There are ways to express yourself to a conservative audience without offending them and still feel that you have not compromised your sense of self-expression.  Find a way to express yourself in your personal life if outrageousness is your “thing”, like the owner of the luxury car (Mercedes) pictured above.   

But, trying to please everyone is impossible.  Trying to be all things to all people is likewise futile.  Leaving YOU out of the branding equation eliminates perhaps the most important key to branding success: authenticity.

When we conduct a strategic brand analysis in our consulting practice, we dial into all of these factors in the quiz above to establish our client’s “brand signal”.  It is like finding the right combination when all of the tumblers click into place and the brand “unlocks”. 

Once you amplify your authentic brand signal and reach your target market through focused communication, those who resonate with that signal with naturally gravitate to it.  Therefore, it is essential to place brand before beauty.  You must sharply differentiate yourself from your competitor and you must do so with a wow factor.  But, with aesthetics, you must also strike the perfect balance between your personal tastes and the values of your target market.

Branding Moments: What is A Brand Extension?

A brand extension is when you take a familiar brand name, and use it to brand another product category. It helps launch a new product. Here is a perfect example.

Last time we were in Trader Joe’s we noticed that two-buck chuck (Charles Shaw wine, the brand Trader Joe’s popularized) had extended its brand.  Pictured above is the four-buck version.  This version is certified organic, has a new-fangled “Helix” twist off cork that looks like a Champagne cork, and a new label.

The Trader Joe’s reviews of the Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Rosé state that the wines are “delightfully drinkable.”  We have not tried it.  If you do, let us know what you think, Cheers!

Are You The Best Kept Secret In Your Marketplace?

As a luxury or other real estate marketing professional, have you ever asked yourself any of these questions?

1. Why am I cash rich some months and cash poor the next?
2. Why are some of my competitors, who have less talent and less marketing savvy, getting the lion’s share of the business?
3. I close at least 70% of the business I get. Why is it so hard to get more business?
4. Why am I the best kept secret in my marketplace?

If you have been pondering these questions you most likely are a generalist in your marketplace akin to a general practitioner in the medical field.  However, if you specialized in a particular style of home, in a particular marketplace, or in a particular price range, you would be known for that specialty.

However, if you want to become the standout in your marketplace, you have to stand for something, you have to have a brand or an identity in your marketplace. You cannot afford to be just another real estate agent in the pack. It lessens your value.  

 The biggest struggle most luxury and other real estate agents have is not standing out in the minds of their target market.  That is the very thing that those who discount their commissions are promoting and emphasizing.  These firms succeed thanks the majority of real estate agents do not take time to discover their identity.Instead, they continue to struggle and complain about those “big, bad” aggregators who are “taking away their business!

To stand out you must stand for something that is remarkable. This gives people the opportunity to promote you to others. The missing ingredient that personal branding offers is making it easy for other to tell others about YOU! If you are blending in you are missing out on the leverage of word-of-mouth marketing which personal branding accomplishes when it is well executed. The lack of a personal brand is what is making your job more difficult than it has to be.

If you no longer want to blend in and be the best-kept secret in your marketplace, you must become remarkable. Start by asking yourself these new questions: How am I extraordinary, amazing, notable, outstanding, noteworthy, significant, incredible and astonishing?

Become the best-known agent in your specialty in your marketplace. It may take time to develop your specialty, but in the long run, it will pay off. You will even find that other real estate agents are sending you business because you are the best at what you do.  

Are You the best kept secret in your marketplace?

Will You Sell Your Email Address For $10?

Pictured above is the postcard we recently received from Staples.  They have $10 for us that they are willing to exchange for our email address. What is in it for Staples? 

When a company wants to be this generous, it must mean that their reward is so much greater than the $10 they are offering to each customer on their snail mail list.  This $10, plus the cost of printing and mailing, will save them much more than this offer cost. 

We can surmise that they are hoping to reduce their printing costs by pushing catalogs and all kinds of other digital advertising our way.  They most likely will have online promotions (not available to others who withhold their email addresses). For those those of us who cannot stand the thought of another email arriving daily, we will just have to miss out. 

If you are experiencing a FOMO moment (a fear of missing out moment), let us assuage your fears.  Our research revealed that the in-store kiosk has those same promotional items, without burdening your digital mailbox. If they don’t have a kiosk in a store near you, one of their 61,500 employees (2016) can do the job of ordering that item for you.

Will you sell your email address for $10?

Sing For Your Supper: Out Think, VS Out-Spending Your Competition

Paris Opera  House, Grand Staircase Photo by Nicole Brown. Dreamstime

Perhaps one of the most important principles that luxury real estate marketing professionals need to understand about personal branding for real estate agents is this: Out-think, not out-spend your competition. If you want to out-smart your competition find something, some niche that you can do better than anyone else in your marketplace. 

Choose an arena in which you can become the brand that matches your personality, and where you can express your passion. Finding that niche/brand may take time, however in the long run it will pay dividends, and make work fun. Don’t waste your time or your money becoming a “me-too” in a niche that your competitor dominates.

Here is an example.  One of the agents we spent time with had graduated from a prestigious university with a Master in Fine Arts in Opera.  Opera was her passion although she knew that her voice was not of the caliber that would catapult her on stage as a star.  In our conversations with her, we suggested that she investigate the opera community in her marketplace.   This metropolitan city is known for its passion for opera. 

She started volunteering both back stage and in fund raising.  The majority of the donors lived in the exact market place she wanted to dominate.  By volunteering she became known as the go to real estate agent for that opera loving community and their sphere of influence. She also was given chorus parts in some of the productions.  

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, the size of your advertising budget does not guarantee your success if you fail to form a strong emotional connection with your target market, whether it be consumers or referring real estate agents from outside of your marketplace. Win the hearts and minds of your target market by having them identify with who you are.  Remember, people like doing business with people like themselves!

And in the immortal words of Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart,

Sing for your supper, and you'll get breakfast;
Songbirds always eat
If their song is sweet to hear.
Sing for your luncheon, and you'll get dinner -
Dine with wine of choice
If romance is in your voice

Now is time to sing for your supper, and you'll get breakfast.
Songbirds are not dumb;
They never buy a crumb of bread,
It is said...
So sing, and you'll be fed, oh yeah -
Just sing and you'll be fed.

Get Real With Your Luxury Real Estate With Pull Marketing VS Push Marketing!

If you are tired of unwanted digital ads and unsolicited email marketing, join the crowd. Most of us do not like having advertisements or information “pushed” at us.  

The ideal marketing relationship between a customer or subscriber to a digital newsletter is “pull marketing” vs. push marketing”.  Keep this in mind when you think of sending out your own luxury real estate e-newsletter.

Pull marketing is information with advertisements that is sent to you because you are asking for it.  Sometime you ask for a “free report” and then you are bombarded forevermore with a daily, automatic “drip” campaign (as in Chinese Torture) chock full of unwanted information, products and services.  Where is that Unsubscribe button?

Can you think of an e-newsletter that you actually look forward to receiving regularly?  Here is an example of our favorite pull marketing e-newsletter from Santa Barbara Fish Market (pictured above). 

Every week we discover what has recently been caught right off our coast or what has been flown in fresh from around the world. There are always weekly specials and great recipes.

We absolutely love to go down to our Harbor, breathe in the sea air, hear the sounds of the ocean and also pick up some seafood for dinner. Included is a recipe link for Black Cod with Swiss Chard, Olives, and Lemon, (pictured above).

Recently, we were thinking of going out for lunch and opted to purchase a couple of Maine lobster tails, instead. It may sound extravagant, but each tail was only $10 with our “members” discount of 10%.  We made a delicious lobster salad for a fraction of the price of going to a restaurant for a delicacy like lobster salad with tax and tip. 

Another “hook” that keeps us coming back is the “Fresh Catch Wish List”. We cannot wait to get our “wish fish”: Fresh Alaskan King Crab and lump crabmeat flown in from Louisiana. We are blissfully on the hook and we do not feel like we are “caught”.

The moral of the story is: get real with your luxury real estate email marketing. “Reel” us in with pull marketing!

HOW TO GET YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE ACROSS WITH 3D VIDEO TECHNOLOGY – PART2

Bridging the Imagination Gap In Marketing New Construction

In Part 1 of this article series we noted that one of the biggest challenges that luxury real estate professional face when marketing new construction, whether it is a single-family residence or an entire master planned community is bridging the imagination gap. Most prospective buyers need to see the finished product before they are willing to hand over dollars to reserve a home or a condominium unit. 

You may recall that people were lined up to reserve a Tesla Model 3 way before actual production. But, the Model S and the SUV already were on the road. To make it easy for buyers to imagine what it would be like to live in the Residence Club in Ocean Reef Florida we collaborated with an award winning videographer and also one of the top international 3D animation firms to create a very compelling visual experience. See the 3D video on this page: http://residenceclubor.com

Interactive Floor Plans

To help make the experience even more immersive we also created two interactive floor plan maps. The first one allows prospective buyers to see and compare the floor plans for each unit. See the interactive floor plan on this page: http://residenceclubor.com/design

The second interactive feature enables them to see photos of the each of the lifestyle features incorporated in the18,000 square foot Concierge Clubhouse, such as the spa, the theatre, and the bistro. See the interactive floor plan on this page: http://residenceclubor.com/concierge

Together, the interactive floor plan maps and the 3D video create a method for bridging the imagination gap. These elements are a necessity, if you plan on marketing a new project prior to completion of construction. 

Brand Strategy Involves Using The Right Colors Like A Sunflower Does!

The importance of communicating with color when it comes to your brand identity should not be underestimated or taken lightly. It is part of the brand strategy. Just because you love a certain color does not necessarily mean, it should reign supreme in your brand color scheme.   Take a lesson from the Sunflower pictured above.

There is so much more to learn in terms of color.  The photo above clearly illustrates the many yellow hues in a sunflower.  It is not just one yellow, it takes so much more to fully communicate its essence.  The brand, sunflower, is a combination of yellow-based colors in varying hues.

Colors trigger emotions. When we look at a sunrise or sunset, the range of colors displayed evokes a feeling of joy, of awe, romance or even a sad or happy memory.  Colors communicate texture, smooth or rough through proportion or a different hue of the same color.  Colors evoke attraction or repulsion depending on the perception of the viewer.

When expressing reliability, most companies rely on the families of dark blues, navy, gray, and blue toned reds to communicate genuineness, solidity and reliability. You have no doubt heard the expression “true blue”.  For instance, there are three different real estate company signs side by side in a townhouse development in town.  From a distance, it is hard to distinguish one from the other.

Two of them are big box companies. It is not uncommon for big companies to use the colors of “reliability.”  One is an independent broker who wants to look like the other two, or a “me too” look.  All three have different hues of blue and white as part of their signage.  

However, that combination by itself also says stodgy, old fashioned, slow to embrace change because of the usual layers of bureaucracy. Although the independent broker is progressive in nature, he has done himself a disservice in our opinion by mimicking the big boxes and confusing his potential clients.

What should be taken into account when it comes to color selection are the environmental color signals in your real estate market place. You also choose the colors that would attract the clients to your style of doing business. 

In selecting a combination of colors to work with, take a lesson from the sunflower. When all is said and done, take time to explore the range of colors to match your brand strategy, and communicate your essence. 

Branding Moment: Is Your Brand Name Easy to Recall?

The selection of your personal or company brand name is extremely important in the real estate game.  The idea is to make it as easy as possible for people to recall your name. If you can get your target market to make the association of your brand name with your brand category, your strategic differentiator and the benefits your brand provides in just one impression, you can accelerate your word-of-mouth advertising.

One of the biggest branding mistakes that real estate agents and companies make in selecting their brand name is to use initials. Unless you already are very well known with your full name, it is wise to steer clear of initials because they are very easy to forget. Kentucky Fried Chicken spent millions of advertising dollars over years to get their brand to top-of-mind status in the fried chicken niche before they distilled it down to KFC. The same applies to IBM, 3M and JFK!

Here is an example of a brand name that sticks in your mind after just one impression, which is the ultimate goal of picking the right name: Howell’n Good Doggie Dentals.  The ad depicted above is a perfect example of outstanding branding and advertising, one of the best we have ever seen.

Why this ad works perfectly:

Brand Name: First, the brand is a take off of the owner’s name Charmaine Howell.  A howl is a cry of pain or fear or amusement. The brand category is also cleverly conveyed in the name: Doggie Dentals. It rhymes, which makes it fun and easy to remember.

Strategic Differentiator: Clear communication of the strategic differentiator:  Veterinarian Supervised and No Anesthesia

Benefits: Clear articulation of benefits: Safer and More Affordable. Visual results: Before & After photos.

Logo:  Name and strategic differentiator distill in a well-designed symbol and/or font that conveys the brand’s personality.

Do you want to accelerate your word-of-mouth advertising? Make your brand name easy to recall! 

The Power And Luxury of Laughter!

Having a sense of humor and being able to laugh easily is a must for a luxury or any other real estate marketing professional.  Given the nature of the business which often involves a life changing decision and the myriad of emotions that accompany this decision, it is important to sometimes bring relief to a tense situation by introducing a lighter side.  The importance of laughter cannot be underestimated.

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." e. e. cummings

When something is both rare and desirable it becomes a luxury.  Laughter is a luxury regardless of economic conditions. Being joyful is the state of abundance. That is why we love the idea of emphasizing LOL (a.k.a. laugh out loud) as the abbreviated version of the Language of Luxury.

“Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.” ~ Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D. 

Laughter also creates bonds in teams.  Teams who share a familiar joke (“you had to be there, to appreciate how funny it was!”) perform better in stressful situations.  Emotional laughter releases beneficial hormones which help you maintain a positive attitude.

“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” Mark Twain

As grownups, we tend to be serious, and even those who feel they have a great sense of humor are not laughing enough.  A recent study revealed a startling fact.  Children up to pre-school age laugh about 300 times a day.  Adults on the average laugh about 15 times a day. 

"Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors." Norman Cousins

Wishing you all an abundance of laughs today...