Luxury Real Estate

By Jean-Yves Piton

The classic marketing mix, with its 4 Ps (Product, Price, Promotion and Place), is evolving to meet current global business needs. It now includes 3 more Ps: Positioning, Packaging and People.

Keep in mind that Positioning should not be confused with Promotion. Although advertising efforts are inherently part of both Promotion and Positioning, the latter P mainly focuses on your competitive position within the marketplace and image amongst consumers.

Are you and your firm positioned as “the luxury real estate expert” in the marketplace? You must ask yourself this question to better compete in the global struggle for differentiated products, services and brands.

How are you and your firm’s products and services perceived by your prospects and clients? In essence, your positioning strategy should assist you with your brand recognition in the marketplace.

Your advertising efforts support your positioning strategy, which, in turn, builds your brand equity.

For instance, BMW has used the slogan “Ultimate Driving Machine” for over three decades now, positioning this tagline as the ultimate one in the automotive industry. BMW clearly advertises its passion and talent for top innovation and engineering, which positions its brand as one of the finest amongst luxury consumers.

In fact, Jack Pitney, Vice President of Marketing, BMW North America clearly articulated that: “BMW has carved out a unique niche in the industry by placing a premium on constant innovation and inspiration and this campaign will reveal the company behind The Ultimate Driving Machine.”

To that effect, while crafting your marketing plan you should carefully select your advertising initiatives to reach and appeal to your targeted audience. Your advertisements should unmistakably position you and your firm not just as “a luxury real estate expert” (one amongst many others), but as “the luxury real estate expert” (the best).


Editor’s Note:
Jean-Yves Piton is the Global Services Membership Manager for LuxuryRealEstate.com. He assists Bente Madtsen, the Director of Global Services, in expanding the LuxuryRealEstate.com brand into even more countries around the world. What a great discussion. It’s definitely important to position yourself, through word and deed, as a standout performer. The photo of the blog apartment building is from www.flickr.com/photos/paytonc/925383449 and it is the copyright of Payton Chung.

By Janice Ridge

There are studies that indicate that both buyers and their agents are attracted to online listings that include photos. In fact, when I am searching MLS for a property for a client, I won’t even look at a listing that doesn’t have photos! And I am a real-estate professional! Truth is, most MLS photos are not that good. That’s why most real estate professionals go directly to the agent’s website to see better photos. I imagine the online consumer does, too.

In general, you would think that with the huge marketing opportunity of presenting photos online the quality would be better, but it isn’t. At LuxuryRealEstate.com, we are committed to making our photos stand out. I think we do a great job, don’t you?

But what I want to know is this: Does anyone know of any studies that show that videos on the Internet help to sell real estate? Is this something in which LuxuryRealEstate.com should invest for our members’ listings? Or are you as happy as I am with the quality of the online photos on LuxuryRealEstate.com?


Editor’s Note:
As the Director of Membership & Relocation at LuxuryRealEstate.com, and herself a licensed REALTOR®, Janice Ridge is devoted to coordinating the efforts of all of the LuxuryRealEstate.com membership and Account Managers, so that each of our members is given superior service. Photos are essential for advertising luxury homes for sale, whether in print or online media. I can’t think of a better photographer than Ilya Moshenskiy, the Principal Photographer of Ilya’s Photography. He is one of the finest luxury photographers in the business, and he can bring out the most amazing qualities in your homes. Jim Walberg recently gave some wonderful praise for Ilya’s fine photography. The photo above is an example of Ilya’s work and it is copyright of Ilya’s Photography.

By Janice Ridge

Don’t miss the opportunity to advertise in the August 1 issue of The Wall Street Journal! Here’s what other LuxuryRealEstate.com members are saying about the results from advertising in the Journal:

I received two calls from my ad in Luxury Real Estate’s June 27th Wall Street Journal ad. They were both within one week of when the ad ran. One from Arizona and one from Northern California. Both are genuinely interested and are planning to come down to visit.
Trudy Stambook, Centre City Properties
San Diego, CA

Editor’s Note:
As the Director of Membership at LuxuryRealEstate.com, and herself a licensed REALTOR®, Janice Ridge is devoted to coordinating the efforts of all of the LuxuryRealEstate.com Membership and Account Managers, so that each of our members is given superior service. Print is definitely not dead, and it’s actually a very useful way to reach target audiences. Plus, every Wall Street Journal ad we run is also posted online so it’s doubly useful. Check it out!

By Brian Langhorst

The luxury real estate market place is filled with various companies with very strong branding messages for the corporation. What are you as an agent doing to stand out from the other competing agents in your own company?

Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. Short and sweet – just the way I like blog entries! LuxuryRealEstate.com can help you stand out with print and online advertisements in The Wall Street Journal, LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and more. The above picture is from www.flickr.com/photos/vieuxbandit/499540173 and is the copyright of vieux bandit.

By Courtney Jackson

Our latest ad in The Wall Street Journal hit newsstands today. If you aren't able to pick up a copy of this issue, you can view the ad in color at www.luxuryrealestate.com/wsj.

Editor’s Note:
Courtney Jackson is the Print Director for LuxuryRealEstate.com. She works closely with The Wall Street Journal, Unique Homes and a variety of other publications to help luxury brokers gain domestic and international exposure for their properties. Don’t forget to advertise in print as well as online. Publications like The Wall Street Journal are great for reaching specific audiences as well as online readers. Check it out!

By Brian Langhorst

Did you know that we track the number of listings that you upload that do not have addresses? We are undertaking a membership-wide commitment to improve the quality of the data/listings that are on LuxuryRealEstate.com.

This is a very exciting and strong opportunity for all of us. When you enter your listings with accurate information it helps us to provide tools and accurate search results for your and our end customers – the buyer! So please enter all the information you have on to all of your listing on LuxuryRealEstate.com!

Please contact me to speak more about your listings and how to get the most out of your membership with us. Email me at blanghorst at LuxuryRealEstate.com.


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. We at LuxuryRealEstate.com are committed to providing excellent service to brokers around the world and to buyers and sellers, as well. Be sure to take the time to contact Brian to find out more about how you can make your listings more effective on our Web site.

By Brian Langhorst

Lately, the keyword in advertising is international! Everyone wants international exposure as foreign currencies are very strong compared to the U.S. dollar. This strength presents great options for investors to come to the United States and purchase real estate. I agree that this is a great target audience, given the current situation.

I also wanted to throw out some facts from Forbes.com, which recently compiled a list of the top billionaires in the world. These facts drew my attention to the importance of continuing to market domestically as well as globally. Of the 1,125 billionaires in the world, 444 or 39.4 percent are citizens of the United States. This is by far the highest number of individuals in one country anywhere in the world. In your marketing campaigns be sure to reach out to both audiences.

There are several print magazines that do a very good job reaching both international and domestic buyers. LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine, Unique Homes and Country Life all work very well. We are happy to help you design ads and market to these key groups. Please contact me with questions or to advertise: blanghorst@LuxuryRealEstate.com.

What are you doing to reach both domestic and international markets?


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. In addition to these excellent publications, we also run group ads in The Wall Street Journal, and we have one coming up on June 27, 2008 that you can sign up for. Contact our Print Director, Courtney Jackson, for details.

By Jean-Yves Piton

Just passing your business cards around to everyone you know will not cut it. Hoping that your good word of mouth will pay off soon? That single effort will not be enough either. Distributing flyers anywhere you possibly can distribute them? You might also fall short of results quickly. Upgrading to a new and flashy website? Do not expect a big turnover if your name is not out there, either.

So you might ask yourself: What does it take to run a successful ad campaign here and abroad?

A single factor: Frequency!

Indeed, you can certainly use any of the above tactics to complement a main advertising plan. Namely, frequent advertising in outstanding periodicals. You might also try TV ads if your advertising budget allows it.

If you are not consistent with publishing ads in various publications, you are not making an impression with customers. The more people see your logo, your tag line, your name, your properties, even the same colors in your ads, the more they will begin to associate your company and properties with the place they need to be spending their money.

You might even be surprised to suddenly enjoy a surge in traffic on your website and much more transactions taking place!


Editor’s Note:
Jean-Yves Piton is the Global Services Membership Manager for LuxuryRealEstate.com. He assists Bente Madtsen, the Director of Global Services, in expanding the LuxuryRealEstate.com brand into even more countries around the world. Jean-Yves is very knowledgeable on the subject of international marketing, and I can second his words of wisdom. Consistently doing even small things is much better than doing something big only rarely.

By Brian Langhorst

Every year more and more young athletes are getting very large signing bonuses and contracts right out of high school and college. These young men are usually looking at buying two things quickly: real estate and automobiles. Are you reaching out to these up-and-coming luxury buyers and sellers?

Most athletes move several times during their careers. I cannot help but think that the referral opportunities for qualified real-estate agents are rather large. These athletes/real-estate investors can provide you with a large pipeline of referrals and business as their peer and teammate network is large and always growing with trades and acquisitions.

As a network with representation in every major market, Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate and LuxuryRealEstate.com can be an excellent resource for you to use for such clients.


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. This is definitely a great market to go after, since professional athletes are certainly wealthy, affluent and looking for the finer things in life.

By Allyson Metters

As part of my position as the Relocation Manager here at LuxuryRealEstate.com, I manage the consumer inquiries that come into our office. Most buyers and sellers who contact us have found us through a Web search for luxury properties. Being the most-viewed luxury real estate website in the world gives us a key advantage online.

This week in particular I had a few calls from buyers and sellers who saw our ad in the May 2 issue of The Wall Street Journal. One call in particular led to a listing referral for eight homes in the Caribbean!


Editor’s Note:
As she mentioned, Allyson Metters is the Relocation Manager for LuxuryRealEstate.com. She helps people who are moving to find a perfect broker to meet their needs in their new area. Our website is a great spot for people to search for luxury properties around the world. Check it out.