The Language of Luxury

Monday, August 4, 2014

Three Ways to Sharpen Your Strategic Thinking Part 1

If you are going to respond pro-actively to the ever-changing world we live in, it is important that you sharpen your strategic thinking. This will help you to outthink your competition.

Take time to reexamine your opinions. Challenge your own premises, and be open enough to admit you may be wrong. For instance, many real estate marketing professionals are quick to tell you that print advertising is a colossal waste of money.

In our research and experience we have found that in some luxury markets, print ads are a strong source of leads for many brokers and agents. The same is true in some communities with 55+ homeowners.

Some luxury marketers are now beginning their campaigns in print first and online second. This practice is a more effective way to reach their target market. Research on the subject also shows that the younger generations are responding to print ads favorably.

Realize that opposing views are not negative views, they are just views. Negative views begin, continue and end with insults. Opposing views is simply a view that does not agree with yours. Read articles or have discussions with people with opposing views. In practicing this you may glean something you are missing in your thinking, and it may actually strengthen your position.

Take time to recharge your mind and learn something new. Do something different outside of your routine; adapt it as part of your daily job. This morning on our early beach walk, we walked to the left rather than our usual choice to the right. It was a treat as there were tide pools to explore, and also seals and sea lions sunbathing on the rocks.

We also saw a sign announcing that once again the grunions are running this evening. “Grunion are known for their unusual mating ritual wherein at very high tides, the females come up on to sandy beaches where they dig their tails into the sand to lay their eggs. The male then wraps himself around the female to deposit his sperm and for the next 10 days the grunion eggs remain hidden in the sand. At the next set of high tides, the eggs hatch and the young grunion are washed out to sea.” Wikipedia. This event occurs for several evenings, and we are going to catch the show.

Stay tuned for Part 2. We will continue to discuss more ways to expand your strategic thinking, and outthink your competition.

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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Monday, July 28, 2014

Real Estate Brand Strategy: 3 Ways to Deal with Zillow/Trulia Merger!

Here are three ways to deal with what appears to be the inevitable merger of Zillow and Trulia.

Outspend Your Competition

Steve Murray, President of Real Trends mentioned in an article on CNN that some agent teams are spending up to $20,000 a month to appear on the Zillow/Trulia listing pages. With the merger both entities can charge more for their combined Internet exposure of a 130 million visitors a month. By spending more you can outdistance your competition.

For example, Douglas Elliman recently paid Zillow an undisclosed amount to make sure that all leads generated by their listings go directly to the agent who has listed the property and no other competing agent’s profile is allowed on their pages. They created an exclusive relationship which boosts the traffic to their website. Their main offices are in the city of New York and New York does not have an MLS, which in turn benefits Zillow as it lacked a New York presence. If your pockets are deep enough, this is a viable option.

Outthink Your Competition

Find a brand strategy that will help you secure top-of-mind status in your marketplace. Real estate is local and the more you stand out in your local community as a caring business person, the more likely you will be sought after for listing or buying a property.

One of our local companies here in Santa Barbara County supports the teachers in the communities they have offices in. They have a fund to help teachers’ special projects. This strategy can influence the teaching community and the parents to think of them first when it comes to real estate.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

Some of the best agents build a strong referral base and are not dependent on any third party lead generation.

What will you do, OUTSPEND, OUTTHINK, OR BE HAPPY AND NOT WORRY?

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Thursday, July 24, 2014

Luxury Real Estate Branding: Communicating with Colors

There is an entire psychology of color that goes into crafting luxury brands. This applies to personal and company brands. Certain colors and color combination evoke strong emotions and are also associated with certain things in the minds of your target market. It is important to become aware of what you are communicating with your brand colors.

When you think of the color combination, Green and Red, what is the first thing that comes to mind? If you are like most people Christmas immediately is associated with this color duo. As a result, you rarely will see this combination used when crafting a brand. But, there is much more to this brand story when you think outside of the holiday gift box.

By using variations of reds and greens tones you can create some spectacular themes. If additional colors are added to the theme you can evoke excitement and vibrancy, festive emotions. Setting the right tone and the right mood is an integral part of communicating your brand’s primary message.

The proportions of the two colors can change the brand message all together, making it more or less sophisticated. For example, Alitalia uses red very sparingly, but still represents the colors of the Italian flag that has equal portions of green read and white.

The more you tune into colors and how they are used in branding the more you can learn about the art of communicating with colors. What colors are you using in your personal brand? Do they accurately represent you and your personal brand’s message?

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Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Luxury Real Estate Marketing :Hope Marketing or Face-to-Face Marketing?

Luxury brands with significant budgets are constantly keeping track of their various marketing campaigns and assessing which ones bring the best ROI, (Return on Investment of time and money.) As a luxury real estate marketing professional, there are lessons to learn from these savvy brand managers.

In the past few years, many of the top brands have engaged award winning videographers, writers and directors to produce videos about their latest offering, and also their heritage in order to engage their target market. Their goal is to increase brand recognition, brand loyalty and brand retention. These videos were distributed on many social media with high hopes. These efforts and many more fall into the category of what we call “hope marketing”.

What has become clear to the luxury industry is that face-to-face experience including live events is what drives the ROI in the right direction. For instance, artisans of high-end jewelry brands attended some of these events to demonstrate the intricacies of how to choose the right gem and how to set it. This type of experiences is educational and interesting. It creates a connection with the brand and the people behind it. It engenders loyalty and word of mouth referrals,

According to a survey by Wealth X, over 84% of the top 1000 luxury brands hosted events that focused on making a connection with their market. 62% of those who kept statistics found significant increase in the ROI.

How can you increase your face-to-face marketing and decrease your hope marketing?

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Real Estate Branding: Premium Is The Added Value That Defines Luxury

Borderfree is another nomination for the LOL Luxury Brand of the Year because it helps us to define the essence of a luxury in a unique way. Borderfree helps USA retailers potentially reach 2 billion foreign consumers by managing retail logistics including customs, shipping and returns hassle-free for retailers and consumers. According to Borderfree, “50% of consumers say they will pay more for a better customer experience”. And, that PREMIUM (Added Value) is what makes it a luxury brand.

When a foreign consumer shops on the websites of participating retailers, the site is translated into 60 languages and currencies. Duty, taxes and shipping costs are automatically calculated based on the shipping destination, and paid for upon checkout by the consumer. Some of Borderfree’s clients include Barney’s New York, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bloomingdales.

They also offer foreign consumers a USA shipping address where Borderfree repackages USA goods purchased from any number of USA online stores, like Amazon, and then ships the combined merchandise efficiently to reduce shipping costs to the consumer.

Now, from a branding perspective, how do you distill and convey this extraordinary promise of value in a brand name and a logo and the messaging on their website? These are the cornerstones of our job as brand strategists for the luxury real estate industry.

Take a close look at the logo. The “B” has no borders. The four corners are triangles pointing in all directions. The brand name says it all. Once you here it once you will easily remember it because it names the entire value proposition in with just a few letters. The very character spacing of B O R D E R F R E E communicates the freeing up of previously closed markets, an untapped reservoir of consumers for retailers and also the hassle-free user experience for which consumers are willing to pay a PREMIUM.

Check out Borderfree.com. Notice the economy of words and images they use to explain their extraordinary promise of value. It is all distilled again in their three-word slogan: “Going Global. Simplified”.

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Thursday, June 19, 2014

The Triumph of Substance Over Hype: What Color is Your Bus? #2

Making the shift to the “good to great” mindset requires dedication and a mindset of constant improvement. There are many good real estate agents in this industry, and very few great real estate companies, teams, or individuals.

In the book, Good to Great, Jim Collins emphasizes getting “the right people on the bus, and in the right seats.” First of all you have to know who you are, and what you stand for. You have know your brand, so that the right people with the same core values can relate to and join your brand.

In the case of the San Antonio Spurs, their brand is trust, humility, and teamwork. This is the driving force of their bus. These are the core values, which their ownership, general manager and coaches embody. The players are carefully selected in accordance to these values. Other teams have other approaches. There is no “right” approach, or “wrong” approach.

What is important in the “good to great” journey is the discipline to maintain your core values and brand, and not deviate from them, when selecting your teammates. The key is to know the color of your bus.

In your real estate practice, congruency of shared core values creates substance. Substance does not need hype; it shines on its own, like a diamond.

“It is hard to be a diamond, in a rhinestone world.” Dolly Parton

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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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: The Triumph of Substance Over Hype! Part 1.

In watching the NBA finals, and the widely unexpected results of the San Antonio Spurs beating the Heat, we were amused how the sportscasters are now embracing the concept that the coach of the Spurs, Greg Popovitch, had instilled in his team.

Keep passing the ball and look for the “great” shot instead of the “good” one. The result of his “good to great” strategy has ushered a new era in the sport of basketball, “the triumph of substance over hype!”

The Heat had their big three superstars, all great players in their own right. In our opinion, they expected their success, and progress stopped on their team causing their resounding defeat. Once again, David had defeated Goliath!

Good to Great is the title of a management book written by Jim Collins, one of our favorite authors. The first sentence of the book is: “Good is the enemy of great.” He goes on to explain that it is easy to settle for good.

This is not a new concept. Aristotle said: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” Thomas J Watson of IBM expressed it this way: “Whenever, an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops.”

In part 2, we will be discussing the anatomy of a good to great mindset, and how it contributes to the triumph of substance over hype. We will explore the conditions necessary to achieve these types of results, and our passionate stance on the subject. In our luxury real estate branding strategy and marketing practice, we only work with those professionals who want to make the leap from good to great. They are not satisfied doing things that are “good enough”. They are looking to practice excellence as a habit, and then keep improving on that.

Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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