Friday, October 29, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Beyond Online Self-Service - Part 2

Harry Potter's Friend - The Snow Owl

As a luxury real estate marketing professional you have just moments to capture and hold the attention of website visitors and differentiate yourself from your competition. A stunning, distinctive looking website may snag their attention, but to hold it you must offer original content that they cannot find elsewhere. MLS Search, generic community information, local school information, etc., has become a commodity because it is available on just about universally. In general it is very difficult to compete based on website features that your competition can easily match. It is therefore, essential to provide an extraordinary value proposition to win over your website visitors and capture their leads.

Earlier this week we shared our experience of purchasing a Nook, the single–purpose e-book reader from Barnes & Noble. What influenced our buying decision over Amazon’s Kindle was the remarkable customer service we were offered in our local B&N store.

Yesterday, B&N announced the launch of their Nook Color which is more like an iPad than the previous non-color version. It costs about ½ the price of the iPad, weighs less, and has video and audio capability. The publishers of magazines (that are offering multimedia formats) are supportive because B&N is willing to sell long term subscriptions for their publications which Apple is not. Apple wants magazines to be offered one issue at a time like iTunes.

Additionally, B&N announced the launch of NookKids.com an aggregation of children’s’ interactive book, a niche that must be presented in color. Can Amazon launch a similar color e-book reader and a children’s book website? Absolutely! B&N can be matched feature by feature by competitors. But, B&N’s in-store experience is what cannot be copied by Apple or Amazon and that is what needs to be exploited as an unfair competitive advantage.

What is your unfair competitive advantage? How can you showcase that as your extraordinary promise of value as a luxury real estate marketing professional?

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Monday, October 25, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Beyond Online Self-Service

There is a very, very important lesson for Luxury real estate marketing professionals in the arena of e-book readers. Competing feature by feature with your competition such as integrity and market knowledge is an utter waste of time. The agent with the most extraordinary and inimitable promise of ADDED value has a better chance of winning.

Have you tried reading an e-book yet? So far it seems that the race is on for market leadership in the single purpose e-book arena between two major players: Barnes & Nobel and Amazon.

The two most popular single purpose e-book readers are B&N’s Nook and Amazon’s Kindle. However, both of these companies have Apps available for use on multi-purpose devices such as the iPad, smart phones, laptops and desktop computers. But, if you are in the market for a single purpose e-book reader which one would you choose when the features on the devices themselves are basically the same and so is the price?

Barnes & Noble has a wider selection of e-books. But, it is only a matter of time that Amazon catches up. At first, B&N had a book sharing policy that Amazon did not have as a way to differentiate itself. Then, Amazon announced a similar policy. The reason that competing on features alone is such a worthless pursuit is because a feature is too easy to imitate.

Not everyone has the same buying criteria. But, for us the Nook beat out the Kindle hands down with an extraordinary ADDED value proposition that that Amazon simple cannot match. First, it is a luxury for us to take our time and browse for books in our local brick and mortar B&N Store in Santa Barbara. We can ask live humans questions and get instant help there. Second you can read any e-book on your Nook for one hour via Wi-Fi while you are in the store. Amazon has the “Look Inside” feature online that is now extremely limited by comparison.

Our third reason is extremely important to note as a luxury real estate marketing professional. The store’s merchandise manager, Elliot Klement, took about one-half hour to help us set up our Nook account and give us a personal tour of the device. This was extremely helpful since we were about to travel and did not have time to read the manual thoroughly. He also offered each of us a cappuccino “on the house” from Starbucks (within the store) while he personally affixed the reading pane’s clear protective cover that we also bought.

We now have a relationship with Elliot in particular, not just B&N. Elliot assured us that we could come in any time to ask him any additional question we might have, not just go to a series of FAQ’s online. These reasons may not be meaningful to some, but they speak volumes to us and many others like us who are seeking the perfect balance between online self-service and matchless in-person quality care, which is the essence of the traditional luxury buying experience.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Lessons from Ferrari

Photo by Olexiy Lazarevych, Ferrari 599XX, Geneva 2010

Why do some luxury real estate marketing professionals fare well in all economic conditions? The keys lie in two important words embodied by Ferrari, one of the most prestigious luxury brands on the planet: Authenticity & Certainty!

Agents who are certain about their core strengths, their internal capabilities and have a well-grounded value set do not get confused by changes in the economy. They do not question their competence. Therefore, they are able to clearly assess new opportunities, especially opportunities that are impervious to the economy. For example, relocating highly paid athletes can be a perennial source of new business.

Now is the best time to catch current market leaders off-guard, especially those who are deviating from their essential winning formulas and therefore, are sacrificing their authenticity in the process. If you are challenging the incumbent market leader you need to tap into your power, draw on your unique talents as well as your previous track record. You must offer an extraordinary promise of value that heretofore does not exist in your marketplace.

Most importantly, you must be authentic—the “real deal”- and consistently deliver on your clients’ expectations. Clients who are able to purchase, although they are more reluctant to spend in uncertain times, want to trust the brands they purchase from. That is where authenticity in personal branding becomes paramount.

This year, the luxury brands that have prospered the most have been those that have stayed true to their core values. A prime example is Ferrari who maintains its limited production in order to stay focused on craftsmanship and consistently delivers on customer expectations.

Like Ferrari, authenticity will keep you sure-footed, set you apart from your competition, and provide traction on the road to success. Maintaining your core value set will give you certainty and maneuverability regardless of road conditions.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Cutting Edge of Chocolate

Boutique luxury real estate marketing firms and high powered teams can have a distinct competitive advantage over the larger firms if they position themselves to appeal to the right target market, those who appreciates what a smaller firm or team can offer. Consider the difference between two brands of premium chocolate: Godiva and NōKA.

Godiva, founded in Belgium in 1926, was purchased by Campbells Soup Corporation in 1967 and recently sold to a Turkish firm. Godiva owns and operates more than 450 retail shops in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia and is available via over 10,000 specialty retailers. NōKA can be purchased online and through luxury department stores including Neiman Marcus and Saks 5th Avenue.

To differentiate itself and stand out in contrast to Godiva and other major well known premium chocolate brands NōKA focuses on single estate chocolates in much the same way as a winery will offer a vintage from grapes picked from a single estate. The nuances in the taste in the single estate chocolate are derived from distinct soil and climate conditions.

NōKA offers their Sky Collection™, that comes in ten brushed stainless-steel keepsake gift boxes designed as a tribute to Howard Roark, the iconic figure in legendary author's, Ayn Rand's, classic novel The Fountainhead. Towering 1.5 feet high, the SKY Collection is comprised of 242 pieces of the finest single-estate dark chocolates and truffles, revealing the true "essence of each origin". Tasting guidelines and flavor profiles are included in each box. NōKA suggests that the Grand Cru Truffles are best enjoyed within 7 days of receipt and Vintages within 30 days of receipt. The price is $495.00

Price, distinctive packaging, single estate chocolate and smaller scale upscale distribution are the “quality cues”that differentiate NōKA from Godiva. How can you distinguish yourself, as a boutique firm or a high powered luxury real estate marketing team from the big players?

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Monday, October 18, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Achieving First Mover Status as an Innovator

First mover status can give you a competitive advantage, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, if you tap into an innovative way of doing business that no one in your marketplace has tried, yet. Getting to market first can set you apart and create distance between you and your competition. It can give you a head start and an “unfair” competitive advantage.

While being the first mover can trigger a frenzy of copy-cats playing catch up with you, it gives you the advantage of creating a news story. If you know how to leverage social media and public relations to propel you, you can literally leave your competition in the dust—at least for a while. Once you are news, your “me-too” competitors are rendered old news.

Microsoft has just released their new operating platform for smart phones to compete with Google & Apple after an abortion of a product launch with the Kin phone. They were also a “me too” with their Zune MP3 player. Playing catch up puts your competition at a tremendous disadvantage.

In the category of luxury jewelry, one company has outdistanced the competition by applying innovative technology ahead of its competition. Boucheron encourages jewelry and watch enthusiasts to discover what they call a “pioneer digital experience”! “Trying on” exquisite rings and iconic watches is now possible under any circumstances and in the intimacy of your own home or office, or anywhere else for that matter at MyBoucheron.com.

Using your computer, a webcam and a piece of paper and some downloaded software your screen will become a “magic mirror”, reflecting your image. When you select the product you desire it will appear on your wrist or finger with just one click.

Will everyone jewelry company use this technology in the future? Possibly they will. But, Boucheron has established their brand as the leader in innovation and continues to drive this point home to their target market over and over again. See our December 2008 post on Boucheron entitled, “Thinking Outside of the Jewelry Box”.

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Is Your Brand Shar Pei or Dull?

If you are looking for a way to stand out from the crowd as a luxury real estate marketing professional consider taking a page from the play-book of the best luxury retailers during the Holiday season. For many retail businesses the vast majority of sales occur in the last quarter of the year. With so much competition for attention how do you stand out? Fifty years ago, one major high-end retailer created a tradition that continues to WOW its customers to this day: His and Hers extravagant gifts. Do you know which retailer that is?

Stanley Marcus, of Neiman Marcus fame developed this buzz marketing strategy that still has customers eager to discover what His & Hers gift they selected for the current season and discuss it with friends. This year’s catalogue has a retrospective of their 50 year old strategy. One of our favorite gift offering is His & Her Shar Pei pups for $7750.00 back in 1983.

The Shar Pei, is known for its distinctive features of deep wrinkles and a blue-black tongue. The breed comes from China. As puppies, Shar Pei have many wrinkles but they disappear as the pups "grow into their skin". Back in 1983 they were still considered one of the world’s rarest breeds and were not recognized by the American Kennel Club until 1991.

With an abundance of choices in just about every category of service and product you have a nano-second to sharply distinguish your brand from your competition. Be Shar Pei. Don't be dull. What tradition can you create that can keep you "top-of-mind" year after year like Neiman Marcus’ His & Hers Holiday gifts has done?

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Monday, October 11, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Personal Branding: Real Estate of the Mind

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, you must understand the “inner game” of marketing as well as you know the process of selling a home. If you want to gain or sustain market leadership in your area or your niche you must “own” real estate in the minds of your target market. We refer to the real estate of the mind as top-of-mind status. The key question is: Who comes to mind first?

In your mind who owns the category of multipurpose household oil that lubricates, cleans and prevents rust? Did you come up with W-D 40 or 3-IN-ONE? Can you think of another brand? Most people cannot think of a 3rd or 4th brand in this product category. It so happens that both household oil brands are owned by the same company. More importantly, they own the category!

Welcome to the world of real estate of the mind! In our time-pressed, over-communicated world we just cannot hold more than a few brand names in our mind in any category of product or service. That is what makes the stakes so high in the bid for market leadership.

In the realm of listing and marketing luxury real estate, achieving top-of mind status is far more valuable than owning the top position on a Google search result pages. Sure, it is great to also come up first on the search engines so you can get more buyer leads, especially when properties are slow to move. But, over time he or she who has the best listings and has the best reputation in town, or in a given niche, the one who stands out from the crowd, wins the lion’s share of the business!

We know an agent who is one of the top producers in all of the United States who has never optimized his website for the search engines. He does not have a Facebook or any other social networking account. His phone rings off the hook. He barely keeps up with his email and the business he attracts. He enjoys top-of-mind status in his marketplace because he has focused solely on building trusting relationships that yield continuous referrals.

This seems to fly in the face of what is now considered conventional wisdom. But, this luxury real estate marketing professional has mastered the inner game of marketing. He owns the most valuable real estate where “location, location, location” rules the day now and forevermore: in the minds of his target market.

By, the way...did you know that W-D stands for "water displacement" which was what the inventor, Norm Larson, was aiming for with his formula to prevent rust. It took him 40 attempts to find the best way to prefvent corrosion by repelling water.

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Thursday, October 7, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Recipe for Overtaking the Incumbent Market Leader in Your Area

In luxury real estate marketing the top three players typically own the lion’s share of the business. For those of you who are aiming for market leadership and are interested in overtaking the incumbent market leaders in your area or niche, here is your recipe for success.

This phenomenon of three players dominating a marketplace is true not only in luxury real estate marketing, but in most product and services categories. In 2009 #1 Coca-Cola Co. enjoyed a 41.9% market share of the non-alcoholic beverage market. #2 PepsiCo commanded 29.9% and #3 Dr. Pepper Snapple owned 16.4%. Together they comprised 88.2% of the entire soft drink marketplace worldwide.

In 1992, two South African gentlemen by the name of Sacks and Schlosberg paid $14.5 million for, Hansen Natural Corp, maker of wholesome beverages such as preservative-free natural sodas and low-carb peach smoothies. At that time Hansen was doing about $17 million a year in sales. By 2009 Hansen was transformed into the #6 in the overall soft drink marketplace with $1.14 billion in revenue. How did they do that?

In 2002 they identified an uncontested market niche, a $2-3 billion dollar category that had only one major player. That niche was Energy Drinks, with extremely high levels of caffeine and sugar. The major player was Red Bull, an Australian company. Hansen named their energy drink, Monster Energy. With the slogan, "Unleash the beast'', Monster was positioned as an edgy alternative to Red Bull. With scary packaging, plus a multitude of extreme-sports sponsorships, their strategy was also to offer double the quantity (16 ounces of virtually the identical recipe in Red Bull’s 8 ounce can) for the same price.

At first, Hansen Natural made a few missteps. Instead of creating a separate and unique brand (a mistake that many real estate agents and companies make when going after an additional niche in their marketplace), they named their energy drink Hansen’s Energy.

Only when they changed the “recipe” of their brand (not the ingredients of their energy drink) by creating a new name and crafting a new package that expressed their unique brand personality (as well as the fundamental nature of the category itself), did they fully engage the minds of their target market: predominately 18-30 year old guys. This caused their sales to sky rocket. Essentially, Monster’s brand became a superior “spokesperson” for the category. They were thus able to reach a broader spectrum of their target with the right message. And, that is the recipe for overtaking the incumbent market leader.

Most luxury real estate marketing professionals, have the mistaken notion that personal branding is merely a matter of donning a new look, like going shopping for a new outfit and buying a new tricked-out website, like purchasing a new car. While you will definitely outshine 60% of the agents whose websites are over 5 years old ( an NAR statistic) you will not accomplish the most important task at hand: developing and executing a brand strategy that catapults you to top-of-mind status as one of the top three agents in your marketplace.

In 2009 Hansen Natural Corp, now the energy drink category leader grew 11.0% over 2008. Red Bull grew only 1.2%. Hansen shipped 29% more cases in 2009 than Red Bull.

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Are You in the Know or a Know-it-All?

Library of Congress, Washington DC

We recently interviewed a potential personal branding client who is determined to specialize in luxury real estate marketing and focus exclusively on the upper-tier of the price range in her marketplace rather than all price points. It was refreshing to hear how passionate she is about her pursuit of market leadership. She is bound and determined to compete on the basis of being more “in the know” about her marketplace than her top competitors.

She explained how she had researched the most expensive home in her market. Several agents had listed the home but none had sold it. Through her research she discovered some clues about the property that were undoubtedly overlooked by the previous listing agents.

She was convinced that the property was not being exposed to the right pool of potential buyers. She was certain that she could sell it if only he had the opportunity to market the home in a completely different manner that specifically targeted foreign buyers. The fact that the previous agent’s company had a large international reach did not mean that this particular property was given maximum exposure beyond their closed international network. This got her motivated to dive into the field and become the expert in her area at marketing luxury real estate internationally.

It is often the case that the incumbent market leaders get complacent; sometimes they do not take the time to thoroughly do their homework prior to putting each of their listings on the market. They are expected to be the “know-it-all” in their marketplace. But, this is not always the case.

Incumbents often “sit on their laurels” and are not always tech-savvy. As a result, market leadership is up for grabs in most marketplaces because free information and internet marketing tools create a level playing field for all competitors. Getting in the know by gaining superior market knowledge plus becoming more tech-savvy than the “know-it-all” incumbents can empower you to overtake the current market leader in your area.

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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Three Keys to Success - Accessibility, Authenticity and Accuracy

Courtesy of Konstantin32

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, what good does it do you if you are #1 on Google search results if you do not provide accurate answers to users’ search queries or are inaccessible when the user calls or emails you? What is the point of achieving this status if you do not present your personal brand with authenticity? While it is true that you get more “at bats” it doesn’t mean that you automatically get more business. Accessibility, Authenticity and Accuracy are three keys to your success that will help you achieve market leadership.

In researching this blog post we wanted to find the lyrics to the Beatles song, Eleanor Rigby by Lennon & McCartney. Naturally, we went to Google. The number one site on Google’s natural search results list did not allow us to copy the words. In less than three seconds we moved on to check out the number two site. Here, we were able to copy the lyrics but they were not accurate. Instead of the first line being “AH, look at all the lonely people” it had “I look at all the lonely people”. Number three and all of the other results on the first page confirmed that “Ah” was accurate.

Accuracy in presenting information on your website and in your blog is what builds your reputation as a luxury real estate marketing professional and as a journalist. Being responsive to comments demonstrates your accessibility. In fact, accessibility, authenticity and accuracy are three of the most important aspects of building trust and building a strong referral base. These factors are definitely essential for building an online audience of raving fans over time.

The lyrics to the Beatles’ haunting song remind us of all of the lonely bloggers who spew worthless, unoriginal content and miss the entire purpose of blogging: to genuinely connect with other people and engage others in conversation. Who is their content and unauthenic "face" for; the Google robots? Are they living in a dream? Now, that is truly lonely!

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice
In the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream

Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

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Friday, October 1, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: The Business of Luxury

Photo by Lucian Milasan | Dreamstime.com

“Why do I need to know how the watch market is doing? I’m in the business of luxury”, Patrick Heiniger, CEO, Rolex

Real Estate marketing professionals can learn from this quote, because luxury is a product category by itself. Like Rolex, you are in the business of luxury. Stay focused on the luxury market and its trends. Every market has its opportunities, and the luxury buyers can afford those opportunities. Make yourself visible in those circles where people are thriving and buying. Pay attention to the good news out there. It is more plentiful than the bad news, if you look for it.

Being in the business of luxury, it is important to get acquainted and understand the customs and the ways of buyers who are here from other countries. Rolex and other luxury brands understand the global market place. They know what works and doesn't work. They study the customs and ways of each country and tailor their marketing for success.

Recently there has been a lot of talk about reaching out to the Chinese market. One of the resources that focuses on China Luxury is Red Luxury. Here is one of their headlines, "There are 1,363 individuals with personal wealth of a billion Chinese yuan (US$150 million) in 2010, up from 1,000 in 2009 according to the Hurun Report, a luxury publishing repo..."

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