The Language of Luxury

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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Winning Attitude for 2014: Unbridled OPTIMISM

The Sky Above Sandyland, Carpinteria Beach in Santa Barbara in December 2013

Some pundits say the recession is over. Other say we are still in it. But, how will this affect your productivity as a luxury real estate marketing professional in 2014? Should you be cautiously optimistic?

We say don’t listen to “them”. Here is our recipe: Listen to your own heart! If you let the tough times from the past overshadow the present you are going to miss opportunities that are right under your nose to make 2014 the best year of your life.

If you do look back, focus on the bright moments and use them as touchstones that offer promise for a better future. Turn any challenge that comes up into an opportunity to expand. Then drop the concept of good times and bad times all together. Above all trust yourself! Only then can you experience unbridled optimism, the winning attitude for 2014

Enjoy Barbra Streisand’s version of “Who Will Buy” (a question luxury real estate listing brokers often ask) from the musical Oliver (lyrics below). It expresses this attitude perfectly! Here is the link, because Blogger does not have Adobe Flash (so it says), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0MmYihZ_Ws

Who will buy

This wonderful morning?

Such a sky

You never did see!

Who will tie

It up with a ribbon

And put it in a box for me?

So I could see it at my leisure

Whenever things go wrong

And I would keep it as a treasure

To last my whole life long.

Who will buy

This wonderful feeling?

I'm so high

I swear I could fly.

Me, oh my!

I don't want to lose it

So what am I to do

To keep the sky so blue?

There must be someone who will buy...

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Marketing Luxury Real Estate: The Power of Passionate Messaging

One of the key components of strategic branding and marketing, when marketing luxury real estate is thoroughly knowing the mindset of your target market and speaking to them in their language. That is what is known in marketing terms as messaging. When you can communicate your extraordinary promise of value succinctly, i.e., with an economy of words and graphics, and you can do so on an emotional level, with passion, your chances of success increase exponentially.

While we were interviewing the top brokers in Steamboat Springs for our series, 50 Top Luxury Real Estate Markets in the USA, one of the brokers told us about a local mountain sports and lifestyle clothing company called Smartwool. This company has their passionate messaging, the articulation of their unique promise of value, spot on! Here tis how they do it:

WE WEREMADE FOREACH OTHER.

What you get from us isn't just a product; it's the ability to do more of what you love, for as long as you want. That's our promise.

This value proposition zeros right in to the emotion core of mountain athletes who are passionate about their sports, those who aim for endurance or just want to be able to stay outside, longer. Messaging at its best is “speed matchmaking” And, that is what happens here.

The faster you can create an emotional bond with your target market the faster you can build trust. And, trust is the prerequisite for buying products or hiring a service professional.

Then, Smartwool goes on about “The Power of Comfort”. They say,

“When you're comfortable, your body performs better, allowing you to forget about what you're wearing and enjoy the moment”.

High performance is the archetypical quest of athletes, especially competitive ones. It also appeals to their spiritual side in that it addresses one of the greatest benefits of outdoor sports (and simply communing with nature, for that matter): quieting the mind and being in the present.

Smartwool as a company is obviously passionate about mountain sports and the outdoor lifestyle. Their messaging makes their passion palpable. Their ability to communicate their passion clearly, and with an economy of words that resonate within the heart and soul of their target market, is remarkable.

Do you know what you are passionate about? Do you know what your target market is passionate about? How can you communicate your extraordinary promise of value to your target market, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, succinctly so that they quickly bond with you and trust you? The sharper your messaging is, the more you deliver it with passion, the faster the matchmaking process can happen and that is what great marketing is all about.

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Thursday, August 8, 2013

The Two Biggest Thieves of Time in Our Digital Age: Tech Support & Learning Curves

When marketing luxury real estate, understanding the priority values of your high net worth clients is one of the keys to your success. Fine craftsmanship, innovation, elegance of design, uncompromising quality of materials, and superlative customer service are standards of excellence that must be understood by purveyors of luxury goods and service professionals who cater to this demographic.

No one understood these benchmarks of luxury better than Steve Jobs, who infused these values into every aspect of Apple, the organization and its products. But, the one luxury priority value that Jobs knew that still baffles Apple’s competitors is the luxury of time saved. He understood that tech support and the learning curve are the two biggest thieves of time in the digital age and he set out to counter this by saving customers time.

How does Apple save you time and aggravation? Apple controls the customer experience of using computers and digital devices from end to end. Moreover, every product they produce is fully integrated with the others. An integrated product line saves you time in tech support because there is only one tech support number to call. It also saves your time on the learning curve because the various devices become more intuitive to learn having already understood the basics. According to Jobs,

“People pay us to integrate things for them, because they don’t have time to think about this stuff 24/7. If you have an extreme passion for producing great products, it pushes you to be integrated, to connect your hardware and your software and content management. You want to break new ground, so you have to do it yourself.”

Think about what your time is worth in dollars.Then, the value of saving time and aggravation will become crystal clear. Here are some questions to ponder:

How much time did you spend in tech support last year? How much did that cost you in time if one of your hours is worth $100-500.
How many different tech support providers did you need to go to for help because your computers and devices use separate operating systems or were manufactured by separate companies?
How much time did you spend on the learning curve to use your various computers and digital devises?

If you are lucky enough to live near one of Apple’s physical stores you can have unlimited one-on-one sessions with an Apple expert for $100 per year! If you have a specific project that you are working on and have questions you can also join a group session and get the personal help you need as needed.

Tech support via the phone is with support representatives who reside within your country and speak your language the way you do. This costs Apple 50% more than outsourcing tech support. But, the user experience is superlative.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, how can you save time for your clients and for yourself? Perform a Time-saving Audit. See our next post to learn how.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Personal & Company Branding: What Is Your Unique Promise of Value?

In marketing luxury real estate you only have a Nano-second to capture the attention of your ideal clients and communicate your unique promise of value. If your message promises to solve a problem or add significant value you have the best chance of gaining a new client.

When your branding is spot on it is your shortcut in this communication process. Your personal or company brand must send a clear, succinct message to your target through words, symbols and sounds, a message that must encapsulate the distinct benefits that will be derived from doing business with you vs. your competition. Identifying, then distilling your unique promise of value into a concise message is an art. Here is an example of one company has mastered this art.

Coffee is one of the most ubiquitous commodities in the world. As such it poses one of the biggest branding challenges on earth. We give Seattle’s Best very high praise for breaking through the clutter and standing out in this highly competitive food category.

They came up with a suite of 5 different coffees that suit the needs of the majority of coffee drinkers. Their unique promise of value: making it easy to choose the perfect cup of coffee for you. They call it the Level System. From light and bright Level 1 to dark and bold level 5 they claim that they have an expertly blended level for everyone.

Can you see the brilliance behind this brand strategy? The next time you need to buy coffee you do not even need to remember the brand name. Just remember a number between 1 and 5. First they take the guesswork out of selecting the right blend. Then, they make it impossible to forget your preference or the preference of whomever you are buying for. “I’m a #2 and my roommate is a #5”.

For those, who are time-starved they just made life a little bit easier. They solved a common problem How can you distill your luxury real estate marketing message to accomplish the same goal?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Turning a Mistake into a Success with Transparency

As with any business or professional practice, luxury real estate marketing professionals sometimes make mistakes. For some, it is hard to admit for fear of being judged unfavorably. We believe it is best to be transparent about mistakes and do your best to turn them into opportunities to build trust.

Recently, Apple made some missteps in staffing their stores. They announced their mistake, corrected it and moved on. That is transparency.

As we were passing the wine aisle at the market, the label (depicted above), with a big orange question mark, caught our attention. It really stood out from the others. It was priced at $5.99, so we could not resist our curiosity. Soon, we discovered the story of this particular bottle from Oreana Winery. It is simply labeled as red table wine and we enjoyed it very much.

Here is their story as seen on their label,

“Mistake or Fate? I pondered this as I removed the hose from the stainless steel tank. The wrong tank lot 1203 and lot 419 were now one. Once destined to be bottled individually, now and forever fused. A phone call to a mentor elicited a quick response, ‘varietal wine? Blend it man and blend it well!’ I reached for a glass to decide what blue rain had been created from this mishap. This is a soft, satiny, sexy wine, with voluptuous black cherry and blackberry fruit, plus layers of chocolate and spices suggestive of cinnamon, mint and more. It is powerful and complex, yet open and accessible."

WOW! It fully lived up to its description. It was the perfect accompaniment to our Margarita, heirloom tomato and fresh basil pizza.

What impressed us was the transparency in admitting a mistake and turning it into a success. The label fits perfectly as no varietal grape is listed.

Turn your mistakes into successes! Be transparent. Keep building trust. Your reputation is the core component of your personal or company brand. This is an iconic example of branding that is remarkable and memorable. Oreana as a winery was not even on our radar screen, and with this branding coup wer will never forget it. It made an indelible impression.

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Friday, April 26, 2013

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Are You Spinning Your Wheels in Social Media

Without a focused strategy and a unique “point of view” as a luxury real estate marketing professional, you are just spinning your wheels with social media. And, this becomes a colossal waste of time! Without original content, you might as well re-channel your energy on more productive means of developing new business.

Originality and innovation can be rewarded handsomely with viable business leads, but only when you consistently publish buzz-worthy, follow-worthy content through social media. To exercise your original thinking process you need to extrovert and see innovation everywhere you go.

When you think of a hamster in a cage exercising what image comes to mind first? Do you think of an exercise wheel made of wire mesh? Think again!

We recently took a trip to our local pet store to pick up some food for our cats, Zoe and Kobe. There we spotted a new and improved twist on an old product for small animals (not cats): A better exercise wheel! Instead of the typical wire mesh version, this blue plastic “flying saucer” exercise wheel has a unique value proposition not only for pets, but also for their owners. Both products promise better health and freedom from boredom for pets. But, this one is toe and tail safe and pets love the solid running surface. Best of all, it is easier to clean for you than the mesh version. Both wheels cost the same.

You might liken the wire mesh version of the exercise wheel to the incumbent market leader in your luxury real estate marketplace. The market leader enjoys top-of-mind status. That is, until some challenger comes along with a superior value proposition.

If you did not know, about the “flying saucer” exercise wheel until now (like us) it will be fairly difficult not to think about this product category challenger going forward. A shift in top-of-mind status can literally happen instantly, like it did for us in a flash! But, you need a strategy, an original approach, to pull this off. The plastic version of the wheel is most likely less expensive to produce.

This goes to show that you do not have to out-spend the incumbent market leader, you need to out-think your competition. This is exactly what we help our clients accomplish in our luxury real estate strategic branding practice.

When you publish original content, social media gives you the opportunity to show your target market how you think before they even meet you. But, out-smarting your competition requires strategic thinking. Conversely, social media can also show just how unoriginal you are if your content is canned. Given the psycho graphics of those who can afford to buy luxury real estate, you can be assured that these high net worth individuals are more prone to value innovation and originality.

Stop spinning your wheels with social media. Get focused. Be original and innovative. Or, get off the wheel.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Personal & Company Branding: The Added Value of Provenance-Part 5

Provenance, in the realm of luxury goods refers to where a product is sourced. That is, where it is designed and manufactured. As such, a product’s provenance can become a quality cue, an indicator of superior quality, that adds value in the minds of many luxury consumers who are willing to pay a premium for it. Interestingly, the actual difference in the quality of the product, due to its geographic origin, may be real or just a perception. As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is important to understand the role of provenance as a quality cue in personal and company branding.

In Part 4 of this article series on Provenance, we posed the question, “What happens when a luxury product from a world-class French heritage brand (See Part 3 for more background on heritage brands) is actually manufactured in China? Does that negate the added value of its provenance?

Many high-end designers are manufacturing their luxury goods in China and other foreign countries to reduce costs and increase profits. This does break the chain of provenance. So, the real question is who cares? If you hold stock in those companies and their bottom line is healthy, would you care?

But, what do the actual consumers think about provenance? Based on a flurry of outrage in a French trade magazine, Canal Luxe,they seem to care quite a bit. Here in the USA, the Boston Consulting Group conducted a survey of 5000 people on this topic of provenance as a quality cue.

Over 80 percent of U.S. consumers stated that they would be willing to pay more for products with “Made in USA” labels than for those labeled “Made in China.” The reason most often expressed was apprehension about quality and wanting to keep jobs in the USA. The big surprise was that the majority of Chinese consumers that were surveyed preferred goods made in the U.S. and were willing to pay between a 10-80 percent premium for specific products they were shown.

Which luxury consumers are most likely to care about provenance? This brings us back to our previous article series in which we identified two kinds of luxury consumers: The Self-Actualizers and the Status Seekers. (See our series, Luxury is a Soul Supplement).

Status Seekers are less likely to care about provenance, as their priority value is to impress others. Self-Actualizers are more likely to care because they may feel that lower manufacturing costs should be passed along to them. They may be more skeptical about the actual quality of the goods. Or, they may feel more national pride about sourcing the products in their own country. Neither luxury consumer should be judged for their reasons to pay a premium for luxury goods with or without provenance.

Provenance does not always equate to a higher price tag. It always equates to an added value based on your personal mindset and that is actually what makes it a luxury.

For many people in Los Angeles, their beer of choice is sourced right in their hometown by the microbrewery, Golden Road Brewery. Tony Yanow and Meg Gill set out to create a range of craft beers that “reflect the way people live (and drink) in the dynamic melting pot is Los Angeles”. Their story is another classic tale of how provenance adds value in in company branding. But, how do you establish your own provenance in your personal luxury real estate branding? Watch for clues in Part 6!

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Personal & Company Branding: The Added Value of Provenance -Part 1

This is a new article series about a subject that is essential to understand if you want to thrive as a luxury real estate marketing professional: Provenance. The term provenance comes from the French provenir, "to come from", referring to the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object.

Provenance can play a key role in luxury real estate personal and company branding. It also pertains to historic homes, art, antiques, manuscripts, vintage cars, boats, planes, and more. Gaining a deeper appreciation of this topic, which is important to many of your high net worth clients can give you a distinct competitive advantage.

In Part 1, here, we lay the foundation for the topic of provenance in relationship to the location of origin. In Part 2, we will explore how location of original can be used to your advantage in branding yourself or your luxury real estate marketing firm.

It’s March, Trader Joe"s is featuring this green Gouda (pictured above), as the “cheese of the month” or their "Spotlight Cheese". If it were any other time of the year, most likely, customers would not consider buying a green cheese. But, this one, made with basil pesto, was a novelty.

On the package it says, “Product of the Netherlands", which gave it an immediate provenance, a context of added value. Gouda (actually pronounced ‘how-da”) is one of the most popular cheeses in the world. The name Gouda refers to a number of cheeses produced according to the traditional Dutch method including the original Dutch variety.

This added value of provenance based on location can become a highly successful branding strategy. Watch for Part 2 where we will discuss this significant aspect of luxury real estate marketing.

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: The "Hailo" Effect

Luxury real estate marketing professionals often ask us about the importance of selecting the right brand name. It really comes down to how fast and easy you want to make it for your potential referral sources to remember your name, because top-of-mind status IS the name of the referral game.

In marketing luxury real estate, previous conventional wisdom focused primarily on your “sphere of influence”, those people who know you directly and think highly of you. But, with the advent of the Internet and social media the very concept of your sphere can change radically.

The fundamentals of staying in touch with your immediate sphere still apply. But, now there is a potential to have a continuously expanding “peripheral sphere of influence” comprised of people you have never met! And, the aggregate of that sphere can literally become a significant source of referrals.

Here is an example: A couple comes to your town on vacation, has a great time and is inspired to purchase a second home in your marketplace. They ask a local, a stranger, “Who is the best real estate agent or broker in the area? Now, if you can get your name to come up first for that local person, even if that person is not in the market to buy or sell their home right now, that person is in your peripheral sphere of influence.

Don’t you think it is important to make it easy for that person to remember your name, first?

Some of the best brand names are those that you hear once or see once and never forget. Here is an example of one of those great brand names: HAILO, the taxi app or iPhones and Androids. This name may be more significant for those of you who live in a major city and frequently use taxis for transportation. But, once you have heard about it once you are very unlikely to forget it.

With just a couple of taps of your phone you hail a cap and it tells you what your wait time will be. No more flailing arms to summon a cab! Then, as soon as you step out of the cap at your destination, it sends you a receipt, because your credit cards are on file for immediate payment with the app. The service is available in New York, London, Tokyo, Chicago and five other cities so far.

Graphically, the logo is very simple. HAIL on one line, O just below. Black letters with “yellow cab” yellow background. It is a better way to hail a cab in just one word.

There are many tried-and-true principles and approaches that can be applied in crafting a great brand name. Selecting the right approach for your luxury real estate practice or your company in your marketplace is the key. It must fit the essence of who you are. And, it must help you differentiate you from your competition.

Is it worth taking the time to make the right brand name choice? It is if you want to capitalize on and expand your peripheral sphere of influence.

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Friday, December 14, 2012

Personal & Company Branding: Adopting The "Beginner's" Mind

Using technology and Internet marketing has increasingly become a mainstay in the field of marketing luxury real estate. It is humbling, to say the least, to discover that your competitors have been the first to adopt the latest and greatest technology and you just at the beginning of the learning curve. Instead of wallowing in frustration here is a tip to help you get up to speed faster: Embrace a “beginner’s mind”.

A “beginner’s mind” is a term often used in Zen. It is a state of mind that is free of pre-conceptions about a new subject, free of pretending that you know, and also free of self-criticism for not knowing or doubting that you can learn the subject easily. It is a state of genuine curiosity and eagerness to learn.

It is easy for adults to become jaded. To understand this state of mind better, think of the perspective of a child who is discovering ice cream for the first time. What would it be like to rediscover your own marketplace with this mindset?

In our strategic branding and marketing consulting practice for luxury real estate agents and brokerage firms, each time we take on a new client we start our consulting engagement with a trip to their marketplace at no extra charge to our clients. This gives us a chance to have some real face time with clients. It also makes it possible to quickly study and thoroughly learn about their marketplace

By being there, with beginner’s minds, we invariably discover exciting nuances about these markets and find non-obvious business development opportunities that can give our clients a competitive advantage.

We advise our clients to continuously take a fresh look at their marketplace through the eyes of their new clients who are discovering it for the first time. With a beginner’s mind, you can more readily discover the best way to serve your luxury real estate buyers and sellers.

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Monday, October 8, 2012

Marketing Luxury Real Estate: The Difference between Marketing and Selling - Part 2

Make Your Competition Irrelevant

In Part 1 of this article series, we stated that luxury real estate marketing professionals often fall into the trap of selling instead of marketing. Marketing requires concisely communicating the essence of your distinct promise of value to your ideal target market as you address their most pressing needs. Selling is trying to convince those prospects that are not really a match to you that they should work with you or buy from you anyway.

Great marketing necessitates great strategy. Selling requires tactics, scheming and maneuvering. When marketing is done right selling is unnecessary and your competition becomes irrelevant.

In recent years it seems that too many politicians have capitulated to the use of selling rather than marketing themselves. Instead of focusing on issues and how they intend to solve problems, they spend their campaign funds smearing their opponents. This is more an assault on the intelligence of the voters than on their opponents.

Here is an example of a politician who understood the difference between marketing and selling and contributed mightily to the lives of her constituency by encouraging participation in the political process and fighting for equal opportunity for all.

Marge Fong Eu, a third generation Californian, was elected California secretary of state in 1974, making her the first Asian American woman ever elected to a state constitutional office in the United States. She became famous for smashing a toilet bowl on the state Capitol's steps during her successful campaign to ban pay toilets. She argued they discriminated against women because men could use urinals for free whereas women always had to pay a dime for a toilet stall in places where payment was mandatory.

Marge Fong Eu concentrated on one issue, banning paid toilets. She took a stance, which what we call a brand position, and represented one core value, equal opportunity, a value that Marge Fong Eu felt passionate about. This struck a deep emotional chord with an entire gender. Getting her marketing message across in a nanosecond, through a news-starved media, Marge Fong Eu won by a landslide. That is marketing strategy at its best!

In fact, Marge Fong Eu won by a record-breaking three million votes. She did not need to resort to smear tactics. Her brand position was articulated with laser-sharp focus. She did not need to out-spend her competition. Moreover, she simply made her competition irrelevant.

In our strategic branding practice we work only with incumbent market leaders or their challengers in the field of luxury real estate marketing. Our job is to help our clients identify what they are most passionate about, what they stand for personally or as a company, and then develop a strategy based on their authentic nature that helps them to gain or sustain top-of-mind status in their marketplace or niche therein.

If market leadership is your quest, the right brand strategy can take the effort out of besting your competition. It can make your competition irrelevant.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: The High Cost of Misjudging Your Target Market – Part 1

When crafting your personal or company brand, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, it is crucial to accurately access the demographics and the psycho graphics - the mindset of your target market. Otherwise your brand can miss the mark and not resonate with your ideal clients. Avoid the high cost of misjudging your target market at all costs!

Year after year Louis Vuitton is recognized as the world’s most valuable luxury brand. It sells its products through standalone boutiques, lease departments in high-end department stores and also online. The brand itself is valued at over $19 billion, and the company is valued in 2012 at $25.9 billion, according to Bloomberg.

In 2012, Louis Vuitton shuttered its boutique in Santa Barbara. In 2011, in the same upscale shopping center, Ruth Chris, the famous steak house chain with over 130 restaurants, also closed its Santa Barbara doors. What happened?

Certainly, the Santa Barbara demographics can support high-end retail stores and upscale restaurants. But, are the psycho graphics, the mindset of the target market, a match? In this neighborhood of large estates owned by"old money" they are not.

Just a few blocks away Chuck's of Hawaii, thrives. It began serving award-winning steaks and seafood over 45 years ago. The inside is romantically lit and is casually furnished with wood tables anound chairs. A bartender in a Hawaiian shirt serves their famous Mai-Thais as well as a wide variety of local wines. Their dinner menu is still hand painted on bottles of Lancers’ wine.

The décor of Ruth Chris restaurants is considerably more formal than Chuck’s and that is where it miscalculated the Santa Barbara psycho graphic. Chuck serves free high end hors d’oeuvres during Happy Hour, which packs people in and creates a buzz that, attracts a strong dinner crowd.

In adjacent Montecito, Lucky’s Steak House also thrives. This is an intimate, smaller neighborhood restaurant that caters to a higher concentration of the upper demographics, than the general population of Santa Barbara.

Accurately judging both the demographics and the psycho graphics of your target market is like fine-tuning a radio. If your brand is not right on the money you will get static instead of a clear signal. And, static can be very costly in terms of wasted marketing dollars.

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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Luxury Real Estate Website Design: The Winning Formula--Eye Catching Design + Original Content

In recent posts we have been focused on the importance of capturing attention with superior luxury real estate website design and holding attention with original content. We rarely include You Tube videos in our posts. But, this one is so astonishing because it so clearly illustrates both of these concepts.

Human beings tend to make snap judgments and pigeonhole people based on outward appearance. That is why great web design is vital for capturing attention. Apple, the most highly valued company in the world, certainly understood the value of excellence in design. Without it you may be ignored, despite your talent, not to mention the time, energy and money you have spent getting people to your site in the first place.

But, once you have captured their attention with eye-catching design, holding it is an entirely different challenge. That is where continuously providing fresh, follow-worthy and share-worthy ORIGINAL content comes into play. It can spark and accelerate word-of-mouth advertising for you or your company. This video has been viewed over 20 million times. We hope it inspires you as much as it did the two of us. If the video does not appear on your screen, here is the link.

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Why Google Keeps Changing Its Algorithms

This week, we were reviewing the Google ranking of a luxury real estate marketing professional who is the top producing agent in her marketplace, but ranks 7^th in natural search results on her primary keyword phrase. Of the two agents who were ranked higher on the same page, one sold just a single property over the last 12 months and the other did not sell even a single property!

Are consumers being served by placing mediocre agents ahead of market leaders? Google doesn’t think so. That is why they are constantly trying to fine-tune their algorithms to achieve more satisfying results.

In the context of finding qualified local service professionals on the Internet, Google’s ideal job is simply to match the consumer’s search query with the most authoritative experts in a given marketplace. For Google, customer satisfaction with this “matchmaking” service is paramount because they are able to place revenue-generating ads on these popular pages.

Prior to the Internet and search engines, it was statistically proven that whoever got the first buyer or seller call had the best chance of winning the business. While this may still be true with telephone contact, we question that it is true online when it comes to search engine ranking, especially in luxury real estate marketing. One glance at a cluttered site that is difficult to navigate can send a web visitor back to the search result page in a single click.

In another instance one of our local business organizations was looking for a speaker on social media. They hired the #1 ranked “authority” on Google to speak and the group was horrified by the presentation. It was obvious to every businessperson in attendance that this guy barely knew what he was talking about. When confronted his response was, “I know how to rank #1”.

In addition to strong basic SEO architectural structure on your site itself, Google is looking for current, fresh, relevant, authoritative, ORIGINAL CONTENT more so now than ever. And, they are adjusting their algorithms accordingly.

Consistently publishing and distributing new content (through social media channels) via your blog is the best vehicle to achieve this. Getting other authoritative websites to establish links to your newsworthy, follow worthy, original content is also very helpful. But, the days of just publishing unoriginal content, that has even become boring to the Google robots, is over!

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Friday, September 7, 2012

Marketing Luxury Real Estate: Beverly Hills Branded Barricades

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is important to immerse oneself in all aspects of luxury marketing, not just real estate. By observing the top global luxury brands one can learn volumes about communicating to high net worth clients.

Today on an early morning jaunt to Beverly Hills for a meeting, we had time to spare. After fueling ourselves with a warm bagel from St. Urbain, we took a walk on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Dior had moved up the street to a larger location. They had an innovative branded barricade to mask the remodeling and construction in the store.

Dior created a façade that looks like a quilted leather bag. It was so realistic that we were compelled to feel the paper to make sure it was not leather. Every detail was present including the handle and the Dior bauble that hangs on it. The strategy here was promoting their unique handbags as well as their innovative, creative designs.

The Christian Dior brand, which is part of the LVMH family (Louis Vuitton Moet & Hennessy), is beautifully and harmoniously represented here. Christian Dior, the designer, revolutionized the fashion industry in 1946, departing from the then popular boxy look to more feminine lines. He said, “I have designed flower women," emphasizing the curvaceous form of women. His innovative thinking provided a legacy that lives on as you can see,

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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Personal & Company Branding: The High Cost of Being Vague About Your Brand

Photo by Gerald Bougham

Be explicit about who you are and what you stand for, as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Being vague about your personal or company brand can cost you considerably.

An important aspect of personal and company branding is clearly and consistently articulating how you want to be perceived by others. If you do not explicitly define who you are and what your brand stands for, people will brand you or classify you in their own pigeonholes.

In our commercial real estate practice in West Los Angeles, we were best known for our expertise in leasing high-end retail space and working with the entertainment industry. We had a high profile in this niche because our signs were on buildings from West Hollywood to Beverly Hills to Santa Monica by the ocean.

We also sold many commercial properties (most of which were not actually listed) to a select group of developers and investors. We typically kept a low profile about our sales because we just did not like to boast.

But, when the property manager of one of our leasing listings needed to sell another building that he managed he looked for a buyer on his own instead of giving us the listing. He would have gladly given us the listing, but, he just did not know that we sold buildings too! Ironically, that property fell out of escrow with his buyer and we had it sold within 24 hours to one of our clients.

Here was business right under our noses. Although, we were well branded as leasing experts in the mind of this property manager, he was clueless of our sales expertise. That was a $75,000 opportunity that almost passed us by. This is the value of branding that we will never forget. Nor, should you.

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Marketing Luxury Real Estate Tip: Cost of Living vs. Cost of Not Living

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is essential that you understand the value of “living it up” because this is, more often than not, the mindset of your high net worth target market. It seems like there is far too much concern about increases in the cost of living. Have you ever considered the high cost of not living?

Those who truly enjoy their wealth offer clues to those who aspire to acquire their own. They are typically the most generous of human beings in that respect.

“Living it up” does not necessarily mean extravagance. Small indulgences and simple pleasures can send you into a mental state of abundance, a perspective that allows you see the world from an affluent vantage point—a world of possibilities and opportunities.

Sure, there are those who are entrapped by their wealth. They are so worried about losing what they have or comparing their net worth to others that they are not really living at all.

Recently, we visited friends who adopted “Buddy”, the rescue Golden Retriever, as a surprise present for their 6-year-old son. One look at Buddy and you were transported into state of sheer delight and appreciation for the abundance of goodness in nature. Such loving eyes, such playfulness! Buddy’s message to the world: “Forget your troubles, come on, get happy!” He cajoled anyone who came into his presence to play with him and live it up. He was impossible to resist.

The more frequently you can live it up, the more opportunities you will perceive to connect with others who share your abundant mindset. And, the more business you will attract as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Do you have a "Buddy"?

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Friday, August 24, 2012

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Turning a Mistake into a Success with Transparency

Recently, Apple made some missteps in staffing their stores. They announced their mistake, corrected it and moved on. That is transparency.

Here is their story as seen on their label,

“Mistake or Fate? I pondered this as I removed the hose from the stainless steel tank. The wrong tank lot 1203 and lot 419 were now one. Once destined to be bottled individually, now and forever fused. A phone call to a mentor elicited a quick response, ‘varietal wine? Blend it man and blend it well!’ I reached for a glass to decide what blue rain had been created from this mishap. This is a soft, satiny, sexy wine, with voluptuous black cherry and blackberry fruit, plus layers of chocolate and spices suggestive of cinnamon, mint and more. It is powerful and complex, yet open and accessible."

WOW! It fully lived up to its description. It was the perfect accompaniment to our Margarita, heirloom tomato and fresh basil pizza.

What impressed us was the transparency in admitting a mistake and turning it into a success. The label fits perfectly as no varietal grape is listed.

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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: Be Consistently Remarkable!

Being at the top of your game as a luxury real estate marketing professional requires being consistently remarkable. Market leadership requires it.

When was the last time you felt uplifted by a customer service experience? How many people did you tell about it? Did you go out of your way to acknowledge this to the service provider and or their superiors?

You may consider this a random act of kindness. But, it is just as important as leaving big TIPS (to insure prompt service). And, it keeps you focused on being remarkable, yourself.

People tend to pass along, to others, their negative experiences at a significantly higher rate than their positive ones. So what can you do to ignite a chain reaction of positive buzz about YOU? Be remarkable in some way that stands out from your competition. Then be consistent at being remarkable!

Being consistently remarkable is a true sign of a market leader. Trader Joes exemplifies this principle, brilliantly. TJs, as many loyal customer refer to the company, is a privately owned, specialty grocery store with 365 stores in 31 states. Their company culture is very strong. They take great care of their people and they have a knack for consistently selecting great people.

One of the most consistently remarkable attributes of this fine company is their esprit de corps, otherwise known as team spirit. You always feel uplifted by the high positive energy among the employees. Everyone pitches in to help each other, too. Job satisfaction must be very high as we often ask the TJ staff if they enjoy their job. The answer is a resounding yes,, every time.

Discover what you can be consistently remarkable about in your luxury real estate marketing practice. Then, practice deliberate acts of kindness by letting others know that you appreciate their remarkable service. This keeps you focused on being remarkable, too.

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