Experiential Marketing is defined as creating a connection between you and your customer.  It is interactive and tells a story that leads the audience to an intended (hopefully!) outcome.

The Hotel Industry uses experiential marketing.  Have you noticed?  Their print ads feature someone standing in a field in Costa Roca, a woman and her daughter standing in a rain forest- no picture of a hotel room in sight.  The ads hit an emotional nerve that beckons an experience- come stay in our hotel and experience nature.  The computer industry uses experiential marketing as well.  The Apple commercials describe an easy, creative and fun experience that say - if you want to be hip - use an apple!  expedia.com is jumping on the experience bandwagon by having added a vacation search box that asks to search by the type of vacation you are desiring.  The local grocery store chain has TV commercials about the wonderful family get together around some delicious meal.  Forget that your family is so dysfunctional that your family meals look more like Animal house.  Reality has nothing to do with experiential marketing.  It's a perceived experience - not necessarily your actual outcome.

So, now back to real estate... lets look at our tools to see what kind of experience we are selling.  

Print ads - most print ads feature 2 things - a rather uninteresting picture of the front of the house - with the garage being the most dominant feature and a picture of the agent which typically bears no resemblance to their actual likeness.  Look a bit closer at the words and you see things like square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms and price.  You tell me, what kind of experience are we selling?

Websites - IMHO, most real estate sites are cluttered - there is a noticeable lack of focus or direction.  Come to search listings?  There is a map or a neighborhood list.  Ever think about what the poor viewer does who is not familiar with the area???  A street map with listings is a far cry from being there.  A virtual tour and a plethora of pictures start to make the experience happen, but it doesn't quite take you where you need to go.

Blogs- yes, a good blogger can take you there.  I liked the Active Rain contest What Makes a House a Home.  If you read these entries you start to "experience" what  experiential marketing is all about. I felt like I was in these homes ... a proverbial fly on the wall watching pies being made and  children at play...the authors took me there.  But  once you look at a property blog, the experience flattens to 2 dimensions and you are looking at a flyer- the experience has disappeared.

We need to transfer some of our personality into our tools.  Every real estate agent quickly learns that showing a house is much more than pointing out the features.  We understand that it is better to "set the stage"  and describe what living in the property and the neighborhood is about as opposed to how old the roof is and the dimensions of the bedroom.... we know that we are better than just the information we have to provide. That is our added value it is what makes a real salesperson great.

Every property tells a story. Each time you take a listing, ask the sellers about their experiences in that house - what made their house a home.  Use that information and photograph and write about it with that story in mind.  Translate that experience and seek the connection with the new buyer... it will set you apart and define your real estate experience.