Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Stand Out With Citizen Journalism

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Today, if you want to be on the leading edge, luxury real estate marketing professionals need to morph into citizen journalists via blogging, video blogging, podcasting, and article distribution. Why? You need to reach people where they now hang out—on the internet and in social networks.

If customer loyalty is the goal (for referrals and word-of-mouth advertising especially) every successful professional and company in the world today needs to morph themselves into two-way communicators. To stay competitive you must engage your customers and clients in a dialogue instead of a monologue of promotion.

Brand loyalty is up for grabs in every segment of our economy. The companies who embrace social media as a means of facilitating two-way communication will be the big winners. Two-way communication means LISTENING not just talking at customers and clients. By listening to your clients, particularly your loyal fans, you can gain a tremendous competitive edge (while the competition is being complacent).

Most luxury real estate agents are flummoxed about what to write about in their blogs. The key is to pick topics that are, what we call, “follow-worthy”. This post is intended to demonstrate an example of citizen journalism. Follow us as we pursue a fun story!

Alexandra is a great cook. I am the merely the sous chef in the family. But, to reciprocate I am the chief dishwasher. My favorite dish washing liquid is Bright Green. I really like the natural citrus scent. The product is clear (no phony rainbow colors) as is its container, and it is biodegradable. The Bright Green brand stands for home products that are “safe, highly effective and soft on the environment”. It makes me feel good to contribute to the environment when I wash dishes.

But the container has a MAJOR design flaw. It is next to impossible to grip with wet hands. I feel that this product is so far superior to the competition that I was willing to transfer the liquid into a better plastic squeeze bottle. Now, how many other customers are having the same experience?

I went to the internet to find the company website and discovered that Bright Green is a Safeway sub-brand. If you were Safeway or Vons (our neighborhood market) and were selling millions of these bottles, would you be interested in my feedback? Think of the public relations story you could tell your customers: SAFEWAY (Vons) LISTENS! And, think of the competitive edge this would provide!

I could not find a website for Bright Green nor was there a place to offer my feedback on the Safeway site. So, I am going to call them. Stay tuned for the rest of the story!

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