Marketing Luxury Real Estate: Focused Content Marketing !

A recent report by the Content Marketing Institute stated that those who are marketing without focus, by publishing general content on a daily basis are creating “content shock” for the consumer.  The consumer is overwhelmed by the amount of information, and cannot keep us with it.

Put yourself in the shoes and the mindset of your target market.  Assess their most pressing needs.  A buyer ready to buy now has numerous questions and very specific requirements.  For example, if the buyer is looking for a home with a pool or even more specifically an infinity pool, you might want to write an article / blog post about infinity pools, and link to specific MLS listings on your website.

Focused content leads to interest, which may lead to a sale for you.  When you are discussing a featured listing, be sure to write about the specific features of that listing.  Be focused, and then stay focused!

 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.

-WATCH VIDEOS- 

 Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites  

Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies  

About Language of Luxury 

 GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT! - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNITY

Are Sneezers Spreading Your Remark-ability?

We all know that word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising. So, why do some luxury real estate marketing professionals get more than others?  The answer boils down to one word. Those that spark buzz have ‘REMARK-ABILITY”!  

While it has been proven time and again that many more negative remarks are made than positive remarks, it is imperative to understand what triggers people to spread the good word about YOU.  Some people are natural born “sneezers”.  They love to pass along good news or rave reviews about products or services that are remarkable.   Those that broadcast these good vibrations usually reach many people, even their entire sphere of influence, at times.

Remarkable service sparks buzz.  But, that is only the beginning.  Regularly staying in touch with your prospects and your sphere with information that is valuable and truly buzz-worthy also is fodder for sneezers. 

Keep this in mind: It feels good to spread the word about products and services that you value.  Likeminded people usually hang out together.  So, when one sneezer spreads the word to his or her fellow sneezers a chain reaction is ignited. We call this the chain of gain.

Men hate to shave. Women are not crazy about either. When a breakaway technology comes along that can produce a superior, smoother, closer, effortless shave that is fabulous news. Gillette came out with a truly remarkable razor system called, FUSION® PROGLIDE® MANUAL RAZOR WITH FLEXBALL™ TECHNOLOGY.  The cartridge has 5 blades stacked closely together and the mechanics of the razor itself flexes to the contours of your face.  It actually glides. That is remarkable!

And, that is sneezing.  We are delighted to spread the word about remarkable products and services. Sneezers do not need to be bribed or otherwise induced to do this. It is part of being in on the fun as early adopters of new technologies and also discovering great talent or services. 

Deliver remarkable service.  Pass along remarkable information. And, you will gain remark-ability!

 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.

-WATCH VIDEOS- 

 Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites  

Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies  

About Language of Luxury

 GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT! - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNITY

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Peripheral Chocolate Marketing!

Consistently staying in touch with your sphere of influence through a blog and/or a newsletter can reap a steady flow of referrals from those who already know you and also engage your prospects.   But, what is the secret that the most successful luxury real estate marketing professionals know about this important practice, that you may be missing?  The answer is Peripheral Marketing!  That is, sharing information that is fascinating and not just related to real estate.

Some of these people will occasionally be interested in market trends or what the home sold for on their street. However, if you constantly bombard them with real estate related information they will simply tune you out. They may eventually unsubscribe from your blog or newsletters.  Sustaining their interest in your regular communications is what peripheral marketing is all about.

An agent on the East Coast turned her passion for chocolate into a goldmine of referrals by blogging about a topic that is near and dear to the hearts and stomachs of so many of us. She reports on every type of chocolate and explains the evolution from beans to chocolate bars or truffles. Her sphere looks forward to her newsletters with great anticipation because they are more interested in their lifestyle than real estate facts.

Prospects may have a keener interest in real estate matters. But, if you want them to choose you, over your competition, as their agent you better let them know that you have more than one dimension and also a unique point of view.  That is the secret of highly successful luxury real estate marketing professionals.

 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.

What’s The Use of Social Media Without Pictures or Conversation?

 

Looking back to the inception of social media, we pause to evaluate its meaning today.  In our title, we paraphrased the quote from Alice in Wonderland, “What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversation? ” We substituted social media for the book, to illustrate that some of social media is often without pictures or conversations.

As early adopters, we were impressed by the conversations and the genuine exchange of pictures and information.  We loved the eagerness of people reaching out to connect.   It was fun to converse with someone in Australia, Malta, Spain, and Tasmania via the Internet.  This was a form of having pen pals across the world without waiting for response through the mail.

Internet users were told by the social media pundits to turn new friendships into dollars. They said, “all one has to do to tap into the Internet’s “river of gold” by encumbering the message with key words, and say nearly nothing, except,  “Give me your business, I am connected to you!” Then, as Google continued to change its algorithms, users were told to follow the new rules in order to appease the Google gods.

People forgot that social means talking to each other, and enjoying the conversation. They lost track of the fact that the media is simply a platform of communication.

We have always maintained that genuine conversation and connecting in a meaningful way brings business in.  It is good to be found on Google; there is no doubt about that.  However, will a Google search find the genuine article?  Or, will the result find someone who knows how to twist themself and their words to achieve the top positioning, but knows little else.

We still chuckle at the story of someone who hired the “expert” to speak about social media because he ranked #1.  It turned out that he knew less than the individual who hired him. His cheeky response was, “I know how to be #1!”

What is the use of social media without pictures or conversations?  For us, it has no life, no meaning and no reason for its existence.  With pictures and conversations it is a form of sharing, exchanging, connecting, learning and enjoying other’s perspectives.  Genuine sharing can lead to business. 

What do You think?

 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.

-WATCH VIDEOS- 

 Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites  

Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies  

About Language of Luxury

 GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT! - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNITY

Marketing Real Estate: Local Expertise Makes A World of Difference

Photo by Jorisvo

In marketing luxury real estate, there is no substitute for local knowledge.  Some real estate portals have been collecting local insights from agents by offering them the carrot of a miniscule chance of winning a contest.  This information cannot replace personal contact with trusted content. 

Recently one of the chefs in town mentioned he was going to Paris for a week.  He asked us if we could recommend restaurants that we had recently eaten at.   He wanted to experience bistros, and wine bars where the Parisians ate.  So, we contacted our friend and partner in Paris with that criteria, and she sent back several of her favorites, along with a local’s perspective and descriptions.

When I searched Paris restaurant guidebooks, Google gave me 847,000 results.  This chef has even better resources than Google such as other chefs and customers who constantly travel.  What he was looking for was eating at places where the locals eat.  He wanted to be where the Parisians are, i.e., the local current experience.

Guidebooks and the Internet are great sources of local information, but is it really the genuine article, and can the reviews be really trusted to match our own standards and preferences?

When we travel to a client’s destination, we always ask for their recommendations of places to stay and at which to dine.  We are always looking for the local experience, and not the tourist’s experience.   The same is true for us regardless where we find ourselves in the world.  Local expertise makes a world of difference.

 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.

-WATCH VIDEOS- 

 Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites  

Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies  

About Language of Luxury 

 GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT! - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNITY

Brand Loyalty: Jaw-Dropping Service Makes The Difference!

As an independent luxury real estate marketing firm, who wants to compete against the big brand real estate franchises, you can have a distinct advantage by providing   “jaw-dropping service. It may cause potential clients to switch brand loyalty in your favor.

Recently, we visited our local independent pet store, instead of heading out to the national chain store in downtown Santa Barbara. They have only three locations in our area.

A young man cheerfully greeted us and was genuinely eager to find out how he could help us.  When we told him that cat food was our query he walked us over to that department and proceeded to go through every dry and wet food brand that they carry, explaining the pros and cons of each for our particular needs.  He knew the content of every product by heart, which thoroughly impressed us. 

Their cat food brands are not available at the national chain store or at supermarkets. We purchased two of each flavor of one brand for our two cats. The prices were the same as our typical choices at the national chain store.

After this gentleman explained the difference in each of their cat litter offerings, we decided to purchase a very large and heavy bag that he offered to carry to our car. He told us that this was what they do at their store unless we wanted him to divide it into smaller bags as a courtesy. Our jaws dropped!

What a difference in service between the local independent and the national chain store with 1000 locations!  Our cats love every one of the food items we purchased.  This actually represents a savings because it was always hit and miss with our finicky cats, which meant quite a bit of waste.

We started to contemplate defecting to the local independent store even thought we liked the convenient location of the chain store (next door to our most frequented market).  Then, came the clincher that overcame our switching barrier.

Ron wanted to return a defective cat toy purchased from the chain store. The checkout clerk, who knows us very well, refused to give him a full value credit ($3.99) because he did not have a receipt. He was offered a gift card for 70 cents, which is the current sales price of similar (defective) items.

An appeal to the store manager, who also knows us very well as frequent customers, was also fruitless.  He felt like he was talking with robots who were not allowed to override a policy to make important entrepreneurial customer retention decisions.

End of brand loyalty!  For about 3 dollars, they lost hundreds of dollars of business per year from us. Jaw-dropping service caused us to jump ship! 

How can you incorporate jaw-dropping service in your luxury real estate practice?

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.
 

-WATCH VIDEOS- 

 Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites  

Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies  

About Language of Luxury

 GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT! - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNITY

The Challenge of Marketing Your Brand Online: Is There A Formula For Viral Marketing?

Given that we are bombarded on a daily basis with thousands of communications from various brands it is important to meet the following criteria if you intend to have your   online content go viral.  When you have these components in your online marketing strategy your chances increase exponentially for your target market to spread the word about you. 


Analyze your online content by asking yourself: 



YOUR MESSAGE


Do I have a strategy to encourage my target market to opt in to my content?  Is my content compelling enough to encourage or inspire my target market to return to my site, without drip campaigns or other incentives?  


Ambush marketing is no longer the answer. Remember that your market can click or swipe away in a Nano-second.



YOUR VALUE

Is there value in my message, i.e. is it useful, or educational?  Am I meeting my target market’s expectations, or am I repeating the same old stuff day in and day out? If the message is the same on a daily basis, you will become irrelevant!

In the beauty products world, Clinique invited beauty bloggers to participate in a live, online video chat with Julia Cox, their beauty expert.  They were able to ask questions, so they were better able to spread the word about Clinique.


YOUR ENTERTAINMENT FACTOR

Is my content entertaining?  With the advent of YouTube, attention is often gained through video entertainment.  Volvo’s Epic Split commercial, showing Jean-Paul Van Damme doing the splits between two Volvo trucks, was cited by Volvo as being one of the reasons that their sales increasing by 31%.  Over 10 million people have watched Virgin Airline’s funny safety in-flight announcement on YouTube. This announcement has created a buzz, a fond perception of Virgin and resulted in more occupied seats on their flights.  That’s Viral Marketing!



Does your content have the potential to go viral?

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. 

-WATCH VIDEOS-

 Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites  

Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies  

About Language of Luxury

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT! - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNITY

Appreciating Life's Luxuries: Focusing On The Kindness of Strangers

 

You know you have begun to gain the trust of new clients when they feel hopeful that you can satisfy their most pressing needs and they can count not only on your skill set but also on your kindness to do so.  In marketing luxury real estate, the more high trust relationships you can develop the more successful you will be. If market leadership is your quest it is essential that you cultivate within your self a general sense of hopefulness and faith in the core kindness of mankind.

Evidence of kindness and also cruelty to mankind abounds. Both realities exist. The choice you have is this: which reality are you going to focus upon? Cultivating a sense of hopefulness and kindness requires that you defuse your fixation on cruelty and look for more evidence of kindness.

Have you noticed the extent to which the news and also entertainment has you believing that cruelty is far more predominant than kindness?  Evidently, cruelty sells ads!

This morning, in the parking lot of our grocery store, we saw a Chihuahua running loose seemingly lost and frantically looking for its owner.  Suddenly, we noticed that three other customers joined us trying to coral the dog.  Another wanted to wait until the dog was safely out of the way before getting in her car and leaving her parking space.

Then we heard a whistle and we looked up.  Two men were working on the roof of the grocery store. They could see the dog from their vantage point and were trying to let the customers know where it was.  Finally, they saw the owner and were able to point the owner in the right direction to find her Chihuahua. 

At that point our help was no longer needed.  But, we marveled at the spontaneous outbreak of kindness of eight total strangers who, for a moment in time, became united to help reunite a pet and its owner.  It was uplifting for all of us. There was no expectation or need for gratitude from the pet owner. It just felt great to take a moment out of our day for someone else; that is all!

Evidence of kindness and cruelty abound.  What are you going to focus upon?

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. 

-WATCH VIDEOS-

 Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites  

Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies  

About Language of Luxury

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT! - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNITY