The Language of Luxury: Luxury real estate branding strategy

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Luxury Real Estate Brand Strategy: The Perils of Monkey See, Monkey Do!

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, imitation of the market leader is definitely not a viable brand strategy for the challenger. It becomes a case of “Monkey see, Monkey do”. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it will not result in increased market share.

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, we stopped by our favorite shopping center in Century City adjacent to Beverly Hills. This is an outdoor mall with movie theaters, restaurants, department stores, boutique stores, and electronic equipment stores. The mall is situated between several high rise office buildings with walkways and bridges over the streets that bring a constant flow of people to the center. As we were walking along checking out the latest and greatest we passed the Apple store that was packed with customers, many who were coming and out with purchases. Then, several doors down, we noticed the new Sony Store that was not crowded at all.

In Japan, Sony has slipped to #2 with Apple becoming the #1 “luxury” electronic brand. Now, with lost market share, Sony is trying to play catch-up. But, how are they different? What does Sony stand for? Why was Sony not as busy as the Apple store?

In the Sony storefront was a large billboard of leaping young people (pictured above) with the slogan, “Connect/Compete/Conquer”. In front of the billboard are three colorful balls. This message was our first encounter with the brand as a store. What does this message mean in terms of a unique promise of value as distinct from Apple? We are still scratching our heads in wonderment.

If you do not immediately offer a compelling reason to switch brands on first encounter your chances of gaining market share from the incumbent market leader are next to none. The same holds true for marketing luxury real estate.

The Sony store is beautifully designed, and fun to walk through. We donned glasses to view the newest 3D screens, we saw holographic image technology, and we played with their new touch screens. The sales people were very knowledgeable and very helpful. They wore colorful T shirts with Sony logos (just like the Apple staffers). One of the fun things that caught our eye was colorful keyboard covers that would transform an ordinary white keyboard into lime green, hot pink, or orange. But, it was Apple that introduced the concept of multiple bright colors to their product line.

The Sony laptop computers uses the Windows 7 operating system. So do other brands. How are Sony’s laptops different from those brands? Certainly, the feature of applying a colorful plastic cover to your keyboard is unique. But, any other brand could replicate this feature for pennies and render Sony’s keyboards indistinguishable.

A handful of people walked in and out admiring and testing the displays. But, we did not see any products purchased in the Sony store while we were there.

Luxury real estate marketing professionals, take heed! Imitation of incumbent market leaders will get you nowhere as a brand strategy. Think different. That is what Apple has done.

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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Luxury Real Estate Branding Strategy: Are You Getting the Lion's Share?

If you could do two things today that could significantly change your financial outlook for the better, here is what we would recommend: 1) start treating your luxury real estate marketing practice like a business instead of a profession; 2) Discover your competitive advantage, what you can do better that anyone else. Then make the decision to be either #1 or #2 in your marketplace or some niche within your marketplace that you can dominate. That is the journey we call the “unabashed pursuit of market leadership”.

Take a page from the playbook of one of the greatest business leaders in recent decades, Jack Welch, the previous CEO of General Electric. Mr. Welch’s had a motto: “Fix, sell or close”. To survive in the company portfolio, GE-owned businesses had to be number one or two in their industry or have the potential to get there.

Everything changes when you shift to the mindset of a business market leader. Your entire game board takes on a whole new meaning. That is when the fun begins! What is at stake? The stakes are always high in the realm of market leadership: the lion’s share of business and revenue. If you are not aiming for #1 or #2 you are settling for the crumbs.

What is most exciting to understand about the pursuit of market leadership is that the entire playing field is in the minds of your target market. Although the evidence of being #1 & #2 manifests in having the most market share and the highest revenues, mind share always precedes market share. The battle for market leadership is won when you achieve “top-of-mind” status. Who is the first luxury real estate professional to come to mind in your market place (or niche therein)? Who is the second?

The ideal scenario is to identify an uncontested market niche that you can dominate. Otherwise, the game becomes a battle between the incumbent market leader and the challenger to gain or sustain top-of-mind status. It is in the realm of the mind that branding takes place.

What is the first corn chip to come to your mind? The vast majority will answer, Doritos. Can you think of another corn chip brand? Most people cannot. Fritos actually occupies its own snack food category, an uncontested niche, in customers’ minds, according to experts.

Personal and company branding is not about getting a new look in the same way you would go out and buy a new outfit. Doing this may help you stand out from your fellow crumb gathers (#3 and below). Branding is all about strategy and jostling for top-of-mind status where the lion’s share of the business is at stake.

In our strategic branding consulting practice we only work with incumbents who want to fend off the challengers or the challengers who want to surpass the incumbents. It is all about strategy; how to out-think not outspend your competition.

Start treating your luxury real estate marketing practice like a business. Aim for gaining or sustaining the #1 or #2 position in the minds of your target market. Then, watch your financial outlook change for the better.