Managing your personal or company luxury brand, that is, managing how you are perceived by your target market over time, is mission critical. You can certainly elevate your game as a luxury real estate marketing professional by studying how the market leaders in luxury consumer brands manage or mismanage their brands.

It is truly important, as a luxury real estate marketing professional to examine and re-examine the meaning of luxury itself. Like beauty, luxury is in the eyes of the beholder. What we so often take for granted is the abundance of free experiences available to us, especially via the internet, experiences that are true luxuries. The wealth of free information that is literally at our fingertips is astonishing.

One of the most common traits of a market leader who is interested in sustaining dominance in his or her marketplace and also building a lasting personal brand, is visionary thinking. For those of you luxury real estate marketing professionals with this ambition it is wise to look to luxury brands that have stood the test of time and emulate the standards and the value that these brands embrace. Dom Perignon champagne is brand to emulate.

Houston, we have a problem.
In 2004 our company surveyed more than 481,000 REALTORS® with an average of 12.1 years in the business. You know what their number-one need was? To get more customers. Then in 2008 we surveyed nearly a million agents and asked them what their number one concern was, going forward. Again, overwhelmingly, it was finding enough business.
Even earlier this year (2010), I ran an unofficial poll on my blog. We have thousands of agent visitors every week. Guess …

In the Swanepoel TRENDS Report I regularly discuss trends in the printing and publishing world. For example trend #1 in the 2006 Report was titled “Electronic Devices Take Center Stage”, the 2007 Report extensively discussed “Web 2.0” and the in 2008 trend #3 covered “The New Digital Currency.”

My recent blog on ActiveRain titled “Is Print Finally Dead” drew over 150 comments with opinions from both sides of the isle, with the majority predicting the demise of newspapers.

The final article in Matt’s Max-Bang series last week (the one on cutting your overhead) really hit the nail on the head. We did exactly what that article says, and it saved our business. I told my story to Matt and he suggested that I share it with his readers in a guest post, so here goes.
Early last year, our real estate practice was on the verge of bankruptcy. My wife and I have been in real estate for ten years, but as with a lot of …

While it is true that your social life can and should lead to business referrals, it is a good idea for luxury real estate marketing professionals to separate the concept of business networking and social networking. Business networking can actually increase your bottom line faster because of its focused nature and clear intention: helping one another develop more business. What can be more clear, simple and, most importantly, direct?

Studying the pursuits of your clients is extremely important to your success as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Although this may not apply to all of your clients or to all luxury real estate markets, the quest to possess the finest and the rarest objects in the world is definitely one of the exciting sports of high net worth individuals.

As a luxury real estate marketing professionals studying examples of niche marketing done right in the luxury realm can give you tremendous insight on how to position yourself and standout from your competition as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Luxury books are a case in point.

To stand out from the crowd as a luxury real estate marketing professional, just think like Oprah. She is a one woman brand.

Allow me to pose a question. What does it take to become the top listing agent in your market? If you’ve ever asked yourself that question, you’re already on your way! You’ve shown that you’re interested in mastering the listing side of our business. And you’ve acknowledged that you are competitive — very competitive. You’ve shown your desire to become the best at something, so you’re not interested in mediocrity.
What if I told you that the difference between a struggling agent and …

As a luxury marketing professional one of the great ways to promote your marketplace is to report on the local festivities. For example, we are planning to go to the Annual French Festival in Santa Barbara, Saturday and Sunday, July 17 & 18 (Bastille Day Weekend), from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Santa Barbara’s Oak Park. This is the 23rd annual event, and they are expecting over 20,000 people to attend. Admission is Free.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, seeking market leadership, have you ever considered teaming up with another superstar in your marketplace to better compete with the current market leader or to secure your market leadership position? Sometimes joining forces can yield better results for both of you, more so than your combined production as separate players. The buzz that could be created by an announcement of your partnership may be just what you are looking for to catch the competition off guard and tip the scale in your favor.

Luxury is pursuing your passion. If you are truly passionate about luxury real estate marketing it is likely that you will enjoy a tremendous advantage over your competitors. And, great things must unfold in your practice.

Since my original release of The Ultimate Listing Presentation back in 2006, over 100,000 real estate professionals have taken this training — some by reading the paperback, some the e-Book, some have watched the video series or read the series of articles either in print or online, and some have even taken the training in person. For all you who have invested your valuable time to learn this very different approach, I am sincerely grateful.
Agents all over the country have written me and …