I have the great fortune to travel the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon, talking to hundreds of Real Estate agents about their business and their marketing. There are some buzz words on the street that I’m hearing over and over and they are “lifestyle marketing” and “fence sitters.” Let’s dive into these words that are coming up so frequently.
Lifestyle Marketing
Lifestyle marketing aligns your listing with a consumer’s aspirations, needs, desires, and values. Think about what that means for a moment. Get inside your potential buyer’s head and heavily promote the lifestyle components of that home, the surrounding area, the community, the schools, and the features of the home that speak to lifestyle... Move away from the “functional” marketing words and think about what it’s like to actually live in that home you have listed.
Functional Brand –
- Functional Benefit
- Commodity features
- Competes on price
Lifestyle Brand –
- Values & aspirations
- Design, identity, image
- Vehicle for self expression
Functional vs. Lifestyle Comparison Source: Sherry Chris, CEO, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate at Inman Agent Reboot
Today’s client is the pilot and you are the co-pilot. The 73 million echo boomers (18-34) who are our up and coming generation of buyers have very specific buying habits and they generally demand a high level of control over the entire transaction. All marketing should be geared toward the buyer with a focus on what they want to know.
Sometimes it can be hard to find the right words. I found a wonderful website that can be helpful to you in creating lifestyle headlines that speak to people. Visit the “Emotional Headline Analyzer” that rates your marketing headlines. You can find it at the Advanced Marketing Institute.
Here is some information from their site:
What is the Headline Analyzer?
This free tool will analyze your headline to determine the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) score. As you know, reaching your customers in a deep and emotional way is a key to successful copywriting, and your headline is unquestionably the most important piece of copy you use to reach prospects.
Your headline will be analyzed and scored based on the total number of EMV words it has in relation to the total number of words it contains. This will determine the EMV score of your headline.
In addition to the EMV score, you will find out which emotion inside your customer's your headline most impacts:
Source: Advanced Marketing Institute www.aminstitute.com
Lifestyle Brainstorming Tip: When you take a new listing make it a habit to pull it up on Google Maps and take a look at what is around. After you pull up the address, use the “search nearby” feature. Is there a beautiful park within walking distance that you might’ve missed, what school district is it in, what restaurants or shopping are nearby, what are the employment opportunities?
Get to know the surrounding area as this is where that new buyer will LIVE. Focus on the reasons why a person might want to live in this home and community you’re trying to sell.
Now on to FaceBook and its growing commercial use. FaceBook is a garden of opportunity for lifestyle marketing and promotion. However, don’t be obnoxious. This is a community and a conversation.
You wouldn’t walk into a circle of people who are having a conversation and interrupt them with “BUY THIS 3 BED 2 BATH HOME TODAY BEFORE IT GOES AWAY!” No, no. More realistically, you might mention what you did to get ready for your open house that is coming up. Or possibly how you sat on the amazing deck of your current listing looking at the view and a doe and her fawn walked right through the yard while you were there.
Conversational. Realistic. Talking on FaceBook is like walking into a circle of people. It’s an organic conversation and not a place to blast out your commercial. Be real and you’ll get much better results. People will be more interested in learning about that comfortable deck and the view and might even ask you to take them to look at it because they just happen to be looking for a more peaceful home.
Fence Sitter
When I ask agents what their number one challenge is right now, I hear that home buyers in general are too afraid to make a decision and move forward with a purchase. “Fence sitter” is a term that I’ve been hearing over and over.
Put some thought into the emotional changes our prospects have gone through as far as social and economic conditions and the general news about the real estate industry. Think about why a buyer or seller may be a fence sitter. How can you connect with them, ease their fears, and educate them on the benefits of buying now?
Direct your marketing words toward a “fence sitter” mentality because, in reality, that is where the majority of people are right now. What words would help somebody climb off that fence, dispel their anxieties and allow them to make the choice to buy their dream home at potentially, one of the best bargains available in years?
This ties in very well to lifestyle marketing because these are the words and connections you want to make with your prospects.
Thanks for listening to me ramble and happy marketing to you.
