Nov
08
Filed Under (luxury) by admin on 08-11-2008

Luxury real estate marketing calls for a unique approach. There’s more at stake financially, which leads to a longer sales process. On top of that, the average buyer of luxury real estate is well educated, Internet-savvy and detail-minded.

Combine all of these factors, and you can see the need for a unique marketing approach. Here are five fundamentals for success in luxury real estate marketing.

1. Lead Capture
One client in a hundred will call you and say, “I’m ready to buy. Where do I sign up?” The other 99% of the time, the process starts with a lead and escalates through a series of touches. But without a good lead-capturing system in place, the process is doomed from the start.

All of your marketing efforts should revolve around a central database. All marketing channels should also have a lead-capturing mechanism in place. Phone calls should be logged and added to the database. Same goes for walk-ins and emails. Internet leads should be collected and organized.

To really maximize your leads, you should incorporate information-request forms in strategic locations throughout your website. This encourages customers to request additional information via the web, at their convenience. Ideally, these submissions would be added to your database automatically, or would at least go into a queue for later review.

Make it a top priority to build lead capture into all aspects of your real estate marketing program. Without lead capture, you have no leads. Without leads, you have no business.

2. Lead Management
Lead management is just as important as lead capture. Lead management refers to the process of recording, categorizing, and taking action on a lead. It’s what converts leads into prospects, and prospects into clients.

Lead management should be a “no-brainer” for you. If the process is difficult or cumbersome, you’ll be less likely to adhere to it. At a minimum, your lead-management program should allow you to capture leads in a database, organize them by pre-determined criteria, and update them accordingly as a person moves through the sales process.

When setting up your lead-management system, you first need to determine your ideal sales process. How many touches do you want to make for each client? How do you want to categorize them based on purchasing timeframe or other factors? How will you track it all? A good lead-management program should address and simplify each of these things.

3. The Polish Factor
We’ve talked about the technical side of lead capture and management. Now let’s talk about the customer-facing, aesthetic aspects of your marketing program. Let’s talk about polish!

When people shop for and purchase high-end, luxury real estate, they expect certain things. They expect the sales office to be fancier than an “average real estate” office. They expect more personal treatment and finesse from their sales agent. And they expect marketing collateral with a lot of polish.

Your website, brochures and sales sheets are a direct reflection of your company, and your company directly reflects your product. People want a luxury home built with the utmost care and attention to detail. They want a home that makes them say, “Wow.” Your marketing materials need to reflect this, especially when they’re the first impression you make.

4. Online Visibility
People shop for real estate online before doing it any other way. It’s an inescapable fact of modern real estate marketing. Statistics from a couple of year ago claimed that 84% of home buyers used the Internet for research. Today, I would imagine the number is closer to 90%.

Now here’s something else to consider. If 90% of your audience is looking for luxury real estate properties online, but they can’t find your website where does that leave you in terms of competitiveness?

In the future, real estate companies will sink or swim in large part due to their search engine visibility. So when building your marketing program, be sure you add search engine optimization (SEO) into the mix. Ask your marketing provider if they offer SEO services. If they don’t, you’ll need to find them elsewhere. Otherwise, you’re letting a world of web surfers pass you by.

5. Total Integration
Another thing to realize about marketing luxury real estate is that a single channel can rarely deliver success. Maximum results occur when several marketing channels work together in harmony, complementing and reinforcing one another.

An example of this might be a direct mail piece that leads to a landing page on your website. The landing page has an information-request form, which triggers a confirmation email (and, ultimately, a sales process and continued dialogue).

When multiple marketing channels work together as one, they dramatically increase the number of ways people can find you, talk to you, and purchase from you.

* You may republish this article online if you retain the active hyperlinks below.

About the Author
BR Cornett writes and works for Intra-Focus, a company specializing in luxury real estate marketing, email marketing, real estate CRM and more. Learn more by visiting www.intra-focus.com

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Oct
06
Filed Under (luxury) by admin on 06-10-2008

For years, many people from the East or West Coast snickered when Branson,
Missouri was brought into a conversation. They seemed to look down their noses at the Midwestern people flocking to beautiful Branson to camp out, stay in their RV, fish, boat, and enjoy down-home music and variety shows. Somehow the honesty and simplicity of the people in the Midwest was mistaken for stupidity and lack of sophistication. How could the historical culture of the Ozark Mountain area be entertaining? The big city critics just didn’t get it. The working man’s vacation dream was, and is, to be able to take their family where it’s still wholesome and full of traditional values. Branson represents the America that the working family has tried to hold on to.

Guess who’s laughing now? This vacation spot, nestled in the inspiring Ozark
Mountains is host to over 7 million people a year. It offers the best of both worlds.
Visitors come to enjoy an 1880’s-style theme park called Silver Dollar City, with its
all-American venue and a newer addition with thrilling rides. Many people come for
the entertaining live shows in at least 45 theaters… With more seats than Broadway.
This Tri-Lakes area (Table Rock Lake, Taneycomo, Bull Shoals) bestows visitors and
residents with gifts of nature, including great fishing, camping, boating, swimming,
water skiing, hiking, beautiful golf courses, caves, bald eagle watching, hunting,
cruises, a well-known winery, and more. The Sunday Christian services are usually
packed. This once small town is attracting a more and more sophisticated following.
Branson has a $400 million, 95-acre, lakefront complex with a huge convention
center and top notch shops. There’s a new 141-acre development which will include
more shops and restaurants over the next four years. The first phase will cost $33
million with 300,000 square feet of space available for lease. Over the next 10
years, this will expand to 1-million square feet. The City of Branson’s new 42-acre
state-of-the-art sports and recreation complex is a 44,000 square foot center
featuring two gymnasiums, a fitness center, indoor track, locker rooms, community
rooms, game room, and a concession area. It is easy to continue to list the growth
of Branson, but, you get the picture. Branson is happening!

There’s a huge variety of nightly rental options. Stay in a cabin, in your RV, check
into a motel/hotel, or rent a comfortable home-style villa, condo, or lodge. For
those that do not want to leave this gorgeous resort town, real estate offerings
include dream-like luxury living. Some are staying to join in the growing business
community. Others consider Branson to be a retirement destination where leisure
time offers an array of delightful activities. Country western and other types of
popular stars have made their home in Branson and there are plenty of million dollar
homes. However, generally speaking, housing prices are very reasonable especially
when compared to other entertainment, resort communities. An average single
family home costs around $125,000. Luxury homes come in a wide range of prices.
Neighborhoods are pristine, schools are excellent, crime is low, and there’s
consistent upward growth for real estate investment. The area residents seem to be
on an unending vacation. There is a fantastic lifestyle and innumerable
opportunities in Branson. Many maturing Baby Boomers are seizing the chance to
invest, set up a business, or retire.

Branson has always represented American patriotism with God still in the picture.
That’s what makes Branson the kind of place so many Americans want to visit and
live. Casinos have been voted out of Branson because most residents stand firm in
the belief that working for your money and keeping a wholesome atmosphere is
everything. Got a passel of kids? Bring ‘em on. But, can the ideals set forth in the
original Branson be retained for future homeowners? Let’s just say that everyone
heading to Branson to live is banking on it.

Donna Harper, a Kansas City free-agent writer, has been delighted to visit Branson,
Missouri with her family since she was a young girl… Back as far as the fifties and
sixties. As her own child has grown up, they have often visited Branson for wholesome
family fun. The magic shows were a big favorite. She has happily written this article
with the gorgeous StoneBridge properties in mind. You can find out about them at http://www.stonebridgenorth.com

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Sep
10
Filed Under (luxury) by admin on 10-09-2008

Confident Expectation! The feeling of ‘confidence’ is the assurance that your desire IS on its way. And getting to that place where we have no doubt is one reason why there is often a delay in receiving what we know is coming. We need time to work through our doubt.

Once I had attracted the Perfect Condo, the Perfect Realtor and the Perfect Financier I was ready to do the work of negotiating for the purchase of the harborside condo.

I was so in the flow of Source Energy that the negotiations went quickly and smoothly and within 24 hours we were able to agree on the price I wanted to pay.

Now, the final action needed to complete this Real Estate deal, was to sell the downtown condo.

This should have happened quickly. The market was perfect. The downtown condo was in a VERY trendy location of Victoria. It was the ONLY condo for sale in one of the most sought after complexes. It was large, freshly painted and well decorated. We had it priced just right. It received plenty of attention in the media and Open House was well attended. Yet the offers were not forthcoming.

After five weeks, we still did not have one single offer. And we were pushing very close to the date on which we should have been closing. I felt confused. I was doing all that I knew to do to attract the Perfect Buyer. I was maintaining my focus on where I wanted to be rather than on where I actually was. I was following everything I teach to others about Law of Attraction.

Finally, I simply had to admit, “I don’t know what it is that I need to know to complete this manifestation.” My request became: “Universe/God, show me what I need to know, say or do to bring this to completion.”

Within 24 hours I had the answer to my prayer. Way in the back of my mind I was questioning, “Is it really God’s Will that I live in such a luxurious home?” So deeply had my entire religious upbringing ingrained the message into me that luxury was sin, that the message was still vibrating within me, causing the sale of my downtown condo to be delayed.

But what can a person do about such an old “tape” embedded that way into our psyche? Well, my next request was: “Show me the Truth that I need to know so this ‘tape’ will no longer have effect.” Again, within 24 hours I had the answer to my prayer.

That night I listened to a cassette tape I received from Abraham-Hicks and I learned that wanting God to decide what is good for me is a childish desire for someone else to take responsibility for what manifests in my life. I understood that Truth immediately! I had wanted to blame God if I did not fully receive my desire.

“And the Truth shall set you free!” Indeed. Once I took full responsibility for my choice of where I wanted to live, the downtown condo sold quickly and with a short extension on the closing date ALL parties were happy.

What do you need to know, say or do to have the Confident Expectation that you will indeed have what you want? Do you have a secret dream, desire or hope?

Contact Rebecca, Toll Free at 866.479.1949 to learn how YOU can live your dream!

Rebecca is leading a training course for Coaches, Therapists, Nurses and other Professionals who are ready to make a paradigm shift within themselves (a change from one way of thinking to another) to better serve their clients or patients.

http://www.youcanhaveitall.com

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