I went to my local grocery store for square orange cheese crackers. In particular I was looking for Cheese Nips because they were on insane sale.

Cracker isle. Found the Cheez-Its but where are the Cheese Nips????? Can't find them anywhere. But they're on sale. They must be around.

Cruise down the isle to the granola snack bars. Lo and Behold - there are the Cheese Nips. Why here???

This immediately gets my attention. Why in the world would Nabisco choose to put their square cheese cracker so far away from the other square cheese cracker? Why would they choose to put their cracker where the other crackers are not?

Now, this was like five days ago and I can't let it go. Something is significant here. Today, I think I figured it out.

Location, Location, Location!

You've heard it said before in real estate but it really is the best thing to consider in much of marketing, listings and otherwise. I don't like Cheese Nips as well as I like Cheez-Its. My guess is that most people agree with me or at least they recognize the red Cheez-Its box much faster than they recognize the orange Cheese Nips box. My guess is that Nabisco purposefully moved their product out of their competition's reach. Move it where there is no competition besides granola bars. The guilty indulgence may get the best of some people and they'll reach for the cheese crackers instead of the granola bars.

That's my theory.

What does it mean to you?

This can be applied to both listing marketing and agent marketing. If you can't get a house sold, what is the first thing you recommend to the seller? Price reduction. If you can't beat the competition, move away from it. Move away in price. Set yourself up with new competition. Sit next to a granola bar.

Same goes for agent marketing. Get out of Homes & Lifestyles and put yourself where the saturation is much more in your favor of getting seen. Where is that you say? Right now, it's in people. It's in social media. It's in getting yourself out there where the people are. It's about walking your neighborhood and talking to your neighbors. Ask for a referral. If you don't have the guts, get some. (psssst....you're in sales).Don't be afraid to move out of the cracker isle. (No, I didn't just call you a cracker). Hang out with some granola bars and you might find yourself with better exposure. At the very least, someone might start talking about you on some blog.