DISCOVER THE SAND BETWEEN THE MARBLES

If you have followed our blog, you know that we are proponents of niche marketing.   Our mantra for challengers of market leaders and rising stars has been, discover and dominate an under served market niche. It is one of the first items we address, when we start working with our clients.

No one person or company can do it all and do it well, regardless of his or her claims.  In looking over agent and company profiles, we are always surprised to find how many specialties they list for themselves from REO to commercial and industrial real estate.  And, the worst statement is when someone says, “I will sell anything that can be sold!’’

A niche is specialized market segment or a particular market “space”.  An example of a niche in luxury real estate would be historic homes. When we were in commercial real estate in Beverly Hills we specialized in high-end retail and the entertainment industry.  One of our jobs was to find potential tenants for retail stores and shopping centers that we represented exclusively in the Beverly Hills Golden Triangle, or surrounding areas.

We found an excellent analogy for niches by Ray Wert on his Jalopnik.com blog.  He referred to niches “the spaces between the marbles in a Mason jar that is full of marbles”.  The Mason jar represents the overall real estate market.  The marbles represents the dominant players. If you were to pour sand in the jar it would fill those spaces and there would be a surprising amount of room for the sand. The niches exist in those spaces between the marbles that the sand fills.

To be successful in luxury real estate, you must first identify an uncontested market “space”.  The next step is to insure that the niche is financially viable and fits your interests and strengths.  Here is an example.

One of our friends loved historical homes.  She had bought a historical home and rehabbed it from top to bottom restoring to its original splendor, and then bought and sold several more.  This was her passion.  She promoted herself legitimately as a historical expert with a proven track record of sold properties.  Anyone in her area who was interested in buying or selling historical homes knew whom to call. She had found the sand between the marbles, and dominated the historical niche in her marketplace.


Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International is the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  They work exclusively with professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership. With an expertise in personal branding, company branding, luxury real estate website design and social media marketing they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Are You Answering Someone’s Prayers With Your Marketing?

Marketing done right is an answer to someone’s prayers.  This is as true for marketing luxury real estate as it is for marketing products and other services.

An ad, whether online or in print, should focus on addressing the pain point of its target audience.  It should have a message that is so clearly stated that even if the reader or listener is not the target market, they can easily tell someone else about the product or the service.

Many of us watched the Super Bowl to see the commercials.  When a company is willing to pay $5 million dollars for a 30 second slot, to sell its product, we expect to be dazzled by the message and the production.  At the very least, the ads should engender a desire to buy the product the next day, or as soon as our budgets can allow it.

We chuckled at the Dorito ads.  However, neither one of us eats Doritos.  We would not buy them for a party either.  Other ads were utterly confusing when it came to messaging, like puppy-monkey-baby?  How about avocados from Mexico in outer space?  Or the Budweiser political campaign twist?  Or the new laundry soap that is better than Tide?  Funny enough, we can’t remember the name of the soap, and are not even interested in looking it up.  

Are You Answering Someone's Prayers With Your Marketing?

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-
ABOUT:  Napa Consultants, International is the leader in brand strategy for the luxury real estate industry.  They work exclusively with professionals who are passionate about gaining or sustaining market leadership. With an expertise in personal branding, company branding, luxury real estate website design and social media marketing they help their clients become the breakaway brand in their marketplace.

Do not let the ants get in the way of the elephant. This means keep your eyes on the big goal (elephants-new listings and sold properties).  Don’t let minor distractions (ants) become impediments to your big goals.  Distractions come in many forms. Often agents focus on what is going wrong rather than holding the vision.  

Here are some common examples of distractions that take your eyes off target.

Ranting and raving

Incompetent agents

Hard to please clients

Lenders and inspectors

These are just the ants getting in the way of the elephant. Focusing your energy on these moments is a waste of your precious time. 

Another time waster is writing blog posts about these ants and having your readers sympathize with you.  It hooks them in and gets them distracted too. Recounting their ant stories adds fuel to the fire and fortifies your position of suffering as the victim of the ants.  The trouble with continuously focusing on these minutiae is that you wind up attracting ants deal after deal.  It becomes the norm in your transactions.