If You Get The Itch to Ditch Your Niche, Think Again!

Niche players will always have an advantage over generalists, in luxury real estate marketing, because they are focused on taking care of the specific needs of clients that were not being met by the generalists.  If you are a generalist, you cannot serve everyone, and expect to have client satisfaction across the board. You are vulnerable to niche players who can seize your market share. 

Here is an example in the entertainment industry.  The three major television networks, ABC, CBS, & NBC used to dominate TV programming.  HBO, Netflix, and others identified a gap in that entertainment.  As niche players, they were able to supply a different style of entertainment that was geared to a demographic that the big three networks ignored.  These companies carved out a niche by producing intelligent content that is well crafted with good acting, good stories and no commercial interruptions.

Here is a Real Estate Example. One of our clients carved out a niche years ago by specializing in the newer communities in a particular price range.  She concentrated all her marketing efforts on those communities.  Part of her strategy was to meet and make friends with the HOA boards. She spoke at their meetings on a variety of real estate subjects such as staging a home to sell, curb appeal, and more.

Our client is still the undisputed expert in these communities, based on her knowledge and consistent execution of her marketing plan.  Generalists have tried to dethrone her and have not succeeded. 

So next time you get the itch to move in the direction of expanding before mastering your niche, think again!  Do yourself a favor and buy some Calamine lotion.  

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.

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Luxury Real Estate Brand Colors: Part 1 - Some Like it Hot!

                      

Using color effectively in luxury real estate branding can help to make you stand out from the crowd.  Your brand colors can speak volumes about who you are and how you are distinct from your competition.  In this article series we delve into some of the nuances of brand colors and how to integrate them into your brand story. 

Some people love the hot or warm colors: red, orange, yellow, magenta and gold.  Others prefer cold or cool colors: blues, greens, white, grays silver.  

This image of sweet peppers, taken at the Santa Barbara Farmer’s Market, focuses upon hot colors.  But, notice that there are several cool colors that offset the hot colors.  This contrast makes it easier on the eyes to view an image for a longer period of time.  

If your luxury real estate brand colors are going to include both hot and cold colors, one of the important principals to keep in mind is using the right proportions of hot and cold colors. 

The color swatches below are actually samples of hot and cold colors taken from the same image of the peppers.  Can you see how important proportion of hot and cold colors are to a composition?

 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.

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How to Find the Under Served Market Niche: The Paradigm Shift, Clue #3

 

One of the most important aspects in luxury real estate marketing is to be able to shift paradigms. The dictionary defines it: “as making a fundamental change in an individual’s or a society view of how things work in the world.”  It is seeing life from a new perspective and aligning to it.

When you are looking for a niche, you may need to change your frame of mind on how you view your marketplace.  If only for a moment, let go of your assumptions that tell you that there is nothing new to specialize, and you have the facts to prove it.

In the crowded wine industry, Yellow Tail wines is a perfect example of a company that found an under served market niche.  Yellow Tail noticed that young adults wanted to drink wine, without having to be experts in grape varietals or vintages. CEO, John Cansella, expressed it this way: "People can’t be bothered by all the hype and nonsense of wine. They just want to drink it."    Yellow Tail provided their target market with an easy way to select the right wine for the occasion.

This Australian company has become the number one imported wine to Britain in 2000 surpassing their usual import of French wine.  In the USA they held that distinction in 2003.  Yellow Tail established a new category, a niche for those who want to drink wine without confusion and intimidation.  They have recently come out with bubbly versions and sangria.

Clue # 3 Practice looking at situations from new perspectives, and shift your paradigm. Focus on the picture above, you can see the different perspectives!

 
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.

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How to Find Your Market Niche: Focus Your Internet Energy,Clue #2

Last week, we wanted to purchase another Meyer lemon tree  (thin fragrant skinned lemons that are less acidic) for our deck.  We looked on line hoping to find a nursery in Santa Barbara. We were utterly surprised that not a single grower or nursery in Santa Barbara came up for a Meyer lemon tree. We made an assumption based on the fact that since California is the second biggest citrus producer after Florida, we would find a Meyer lemon tree on line from California.

Our search revealed two growers, one based in South Carolina, and the other in Georgia.  The search did not even show nurseries in Santa Barbara carrying Meyer Lemon trees.  For all practical purposes, one could conclude that Santa Barbara does not stock Meyer lemon trees, which is not true.  The only reason we looked on line is because two of the local nurseries had  sub par Meyer trees , and like everyone else we were hoping to save ourselves time on line.

The Eastern based nurseries identified an under served market niche in Southern California.   We were stunned. If someone is pressed for time and does not want to wander through nurseries, they can easily order a tree on line and have it arrive at their home with free shipping.  It fulfills an important need of saving time, and both of these companies who are located back East are benefiting from this uncontested market niche.

Clue #2. Realize that searches are specific, so question your assumptions.  Check on line how homes are advertised in your marketplace.  What characteristics of homes are missing that a buyer would be looking for, that is so obvious no one had mentioned it?

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.

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Luxury Real Estate Branding: Provenance As A Brand Characteristic

The art of branding has many characteristics.  One of these is Provenance (the origin or source of something).  Kanaloa, our fish store has added something new to its fresh fish board.  As the picture above illustrates you can see that the black cod was caught on the Casanova Anne vessel, and the Bling Cod was caught on the Caledonian.  

When we inquired why they are doing that, our friend Nate, mentioned that every fish they sell has a direct provenance.  At any time they can tell you exactly when that fish was caught and where it came from. They can also tell you what is coming in that has been purchased.

In the wee hours of the morning Kanaloa trucks are at LAX, picking up fish shipped by each vessel.  Unlike other fish purveyors who deal with a broker, they have direct access to the freshest fish, which is why we shop there.

As a luxury real estate agent, you can claim provenance if you are born and bred in your marketplace.  It can distinguish you from the others, in that because of your birthright you may have more knowledge than any other agent in the marketplace.  

This may or may not be a good way to differentiate yourself, it all depends on the marketplace.  This also applies to real estate in general.

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. 

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“So Five Minutes Ago?”Or Will It Last As Long As The Wall of China?

The Fashion World’s designers want to stand out among their competition, as much as luxury real estate agents and companies do.  Standing out in one’s field means being top- of-mind and that translates into profit.   September and October are the fashion show months as designers unveil their latest offerings for Spring/Summer Collection 2015.  

The spirit of competition is fierce among the various fashion brands.  Every designer wants to be noticed and first to come to mind.  The showmanship is usually buzz- worthy. However, will the buzz be long term memorable or “so five minutes ago”?

This morning we received a video announcement from Ralph Lauren about the “first ever 4D Fashion Show, A Holographic Runway Event in the Heart of Central Park.” 

 Along with the video of the event, a behind the scenes video was included on the making of a holographic event with green screens. 

It was for us a momentary wow, and then it became “so five minutes ago!”  It was so five minutes ago, because we could envision all the other fashion houses imitating this in no time.  As technology evolves on a daily basis, it can so easily become so five minutes ago,” because the next breakthrough is around the bend.

In October 2007, Fendi made fashion history by hosting the world’s longest runway   show on the Great Wall of China.  The runway was built on top of the wall, and this in itself was an engineering feat. This definitely was a wow for us. The event caught the attention of the global media.     

Seven years later, we are still talking about it.  This event eclipsed all the runwayshows in 2007, and in our opinion was memorable and inimitable.  As much as it was a defining moment for Fendi, it was a coming out party for China, at that time an emerging superpower looking to make its impact on the world at large.  

From a marketing viewpoint, there was an alignment of purposes and a win-win for all parties, and that alignment made it memorable.

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. 

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Pesto, Pizza & Amore: Does Your Message in Your Posts Evoke Amore?

Plenty of words have been written on the subject of the recent Google edict of writing posts of 1000 words.  As far as we are concerned, it does not matter how many words you use to make a point.  Make it amore (lovable) and memorable!

A post is memorable when it is of interest to the demographics (statistical data relating to the population and groups within it) and the psychographics (the study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations and other psychological criteria, especially in market research) of your marketplace. 

Think of it like tuning in to a radio station frequency.  If your target market likes classical music, you would write about all forms of classical music.  You would not discuss rap, jazz, or rhythm and blues.  In order to be follow-worthy to your target market, you have to give them what they are interested in and they will love you.

Those of you working in the luxury arena (top 10% of your marketplace and above $500,000), should know that writing a post on the importance of a prequalifying letter from a lender is mind numbing and illustrates your ignorance, of your marketplace.   If the post were about what is new in kitchen or bathroom fixtures in luxury homes, the readers in this demographic would likely be interested in what you have to say.

In our opinion, brevity is an art.  If you want to understand brevity, pick up Truman Capote’s book, Music for Chameleons. Be sure to read the forward.  In this collection of autobiographical short stories, he set out to use the least possible words to tell his stories, without sacrificing the emotional essence.

A post that is written in a succinct, clear manner is interesting, memorable and follow-worthy, than one that goes on and on about the reasons to hire an agent instead of doing it yourself.  As Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

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.

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Luxury Real Estate Brand Strategy: Days on Market or Dom Perignon?

As brand strategists we see an excellent opportunity, to develop a reputation as the leading expert in your marketplace by periodically authoring and publishing a compelling luxury real estate market report. The key to success with this strategy is providing original content, which is true of any journalistic endeavor on the Internet or in print.

The opportunity to stand out as the leading expert in your area writing a local market report is actually an opportunity to brand yourself as such.  Each edition of your market report gives you a chance to communicate your unique point of view.  That is, how you are different and better than your competition and why prospective buyers or selling should choose you over your competition as their agent or broker.

The first catch here is that you need to know your unique point of view, your unique promise of value.  Otherwise, you will not be followed.  You will not build an ever-expanding audience.

Your first step is assessing your competition.  Is there anyone else in your marketplace that is publishing a market report?  Are they just regurgitating the facts or are they offering a distinct point of view?

If no one is truly offering fresh insights you may have identified what we call an uncontested market niche.  This may be a vehicle for you to stand out in the minds of your target market.

 The second catch is being consistent.  If you do not keep up your reports on a regular basis you will quickly lose your audience.

The third catch is that you need to communicate in clear terms that are easy to understand. Do not use abbreviations like DOM (days on market). After all, you do not want to be confused with Dom Perignon, the great Champagne brand.

Here is the true test to see if you have the “chops” to be an authoritative author and self-publisher of a local market report: Ask yourself if you would read your own marketing reports? Or would you be bored out of your mind reading mind numbing data?

Write from a unique point of view.  Be consistent.  Write clearly in layman’s terms. And, you may just achieve top-of-mind status as other highly successful market leading agents have done.  No doubt, you will be sipping a glass of Dom Perignon to celebrate your top of mind status.

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.

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