Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Luxury Real Estate Brand Strategy: The Unabashed Pursuit of Market Leadership

Singapore Airport Courtesy of Salvador Manaois Iii

If you have that entrepreneurial “gene” that compels you to be the best in class as a luxury real estate marketing professional then you can understand our slogan, “the unabashed pursuit of market leadership”. For, it is only within the context of market leadership that brand strategy has any meaning.

Brand strategy is the route to “top-of-mind status” in any category of business whether it is a product or service. What most luxury real estate marketing professionals do realize (because it may not be obvious) is just how much is at stake when your name or your company name vs. your competitor’s name comes to mind first to the majority of people in your marketplace or niche therein. What is at stake is the lion’s share of business. It is known as “mind share”. And, mind share converts to market share over time. Whoever has the most mind share wins, big time!

When you are ready to approach your luxury real estate marketing practice as an exercise in achieving top- of- mind status the entire “game board” or competitive field takes on an entirely new perspective. The very set of questions that you need to ask yourself is completely different than the questions that the majority of agents or brokers in your marketplace ask themselves. In fact, the questions required to achieve this status most likely do not even enter their minds.

The most important question to ask yourself if you decide to embark on the unabashed pursuit of market leadership is this: What can I (or we, as a team or company) do better than anyone else in the world (or in my marketplace)? To illustrate the importance of this question see how it played out when an entire country asked this question of itself and implement the answer.

Singapore’s Changi airport has been recognized as the best airport in the world winning over 370 ‘best’ awards worldwide. Their airport offers countless amenities to travelers who have deliberately chosen it as their connection hub to other parts of the planet. At Changi airport you can take a shower for $6. You can go swimming in the airport pool for $11. There are touch screens next to the sinks in the restrooms where you can rate your experience or get an immediate response if there is an issue.

Soothing music is piped in to reduce stress throughout the airport. There is over 750,000 square feet of shopping, concessions and entertainment facilities. 50% of revenues pays for amenities and also keeps costs down for the airlines. There are activities galore for travelers with time on their hands including movies and bus tours of the city if you have 5 hours in between flights.

Some travelers appreciate the quick baggage handling. Others find terrific entertainment for their kids who can be challenging to deal with on long flights plus stopovers. And, there are people who choose Singapore just because they can swim in between flights!

Ultimately, Singapore has created an international buzz-worthy news story by identifying what the country can do better than anyone else in the world and delivering on that claim. In the unabashed pursuit of market leadership Singapore not only generates over $1 billion dollars in annual revenue from its airport, it has proven that the economic development of an entire country can benefit by becoming known as the best in class in a specific market niche.

Oddly, the cost of adding most of these amenities is relatively low. Other airports could easily imitate this strategy. However, just like with the tablet computer, first to market earns instant top-of-mind status in an underserved or uncontested market niche rendering others simply as “me too” copycats. This is the power of great brand strategy!

What can you do better than anyone else in your luxury real estate marketplace? Is it time you became known for doing that and triggering positive buzz about you or company?

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