People the world over are insatiably hungry for original ideas and new talent. That is why there is always room for a challenger to take on an entrenched market leader. If you can capture the imagination of your target market with a fresh approach in your luxury real estate marketing practice by giving them a compelling reason to shift their attention to you, they will also go out of their way to tell their friends about you. That is because there is social currency in being the first to share the latest and the greatest.
We often tell luxury real estate marketing professionals that the fastest way to achieve market leadership is to identify an uncontested market niche about which you are passionate, and then offer an extraordinary promise of value. If you are first in a new category, you start off as the market leader! If you have truly defined new territory, you simply render your competition irrelevant. What can be a faster way to top-of-mind status than to create your own new category?
Simon Cowell, of American Idol and X Factor fame, had an idea for a new pop music category, inspired by the success of Andrea Bocelli and the Three Tenors (Placido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti). He embarked on a two year audition to form an international quartette of young, handsome talented singers who could sing both classical opera and pop. Cowell branded the group as Il Divo which is comprised of a renowned Spanish baritone, two classically trained tenors (one Swiss and the other American) and a French pop singer.
Il Divo went on to sell over 26 million albums. And, they were Barbra Streisand’s opening act for her highly successful 2006 tour.
If you haven’t already heard about 2 Cellos, treat yourself to a fresh new sound and a brand new category of music Two dueling cellists from Croatia, vying to win classical music competitions decided to join forces when they realized that they both shared a passion not only for playing classical music, but also for playing rock, pop and jazz music on the cello. They became an overnight success on You Tube with over 1, 000,000 hits. When Elton John saw them online, he invited them to join his world tour.
In both of these examples, it is obvious that these categories are very, very narrow niches. However, when you are first in a narrow niche you not only have the competitive advantage of naming the category you can also create a brand name for yourself that defines the niche itself. Two pop/rock star cellists(brand new category) = 2 Cellos. Four pop/rock star opera singers = Il Divo.
The chances of competition in these categories are quite slim. Any challenger to your newly identified niche will most likely come off as and be dismissed by your target market as a “me-too” copycat. This gives you the additional advantage of promoting the category itself instead of just you or your company.
Remember that people (and the news media, too) the world over are hungry for original, refreshing ideas and new talent. When they spread the word about a new category they promote you in the process. That is the other competitive advantage of being first to name a new category: You create news!
Tap your passion. Think different and develop a new category or a new approach to an existing category of marketing luxury real estate. Leverage social media to facilitate word-of-mouth advertising. It can be the fastest way to achieve the top-of-mind status of a true market leader.
(Click here if you cannot see the video below of 2 Cello on the Ellen show)
View Part 1 & Part 2 of This Article Series
P.S. Thank you Aunt Shirley for turning us on to 2 Cellos and inspiring this post!
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