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IF YOU GIVE A HOUSE A COOKIE...

By
Real Estate Agent with First Realty Auburn

  

Oftentimes, creating a flyer or writing an ad for your home for sale, is not about a formula, but rather a fascination with and the delight in PLAYING with pictures/images/symbols. It reminds me of doing board puzzles when I was young, and the concentration and watchfulness I associate with that to make the pieces come together. I loved the challenge and the anticipation of the familiar surprise of completeness... a perfect picture!  I often relive this playful, joyful  experience, when working on an ad. It's like all the pieces are scattered. No one, including myself, has seen the completed picture--- the one that was often on a puzzle box, but everyone has at least one or more of the pieces in mind, maybe even in heart or soul. Pictures can become "symbolic," meaning they can represent a time, a place, an experience, an idea. Symbolic imagery is more about soul language. In certain fields, this can sometimes be referred to as "archetypes."  An archetype is essentially an energetic imprint. Carl Jung helps us to understand archetypes as "active living dispositions, ideas in the Platonic sense, that pre-form and continually influence our thoughts and feelings and actions."   He clarifies that these are not really inherited ideas, but rather "inherited possibilities of ideas."  I find this interesting for advertising. In one respect, If you struggle with trying to write ads for your homes, one thing to do might be to consider that you are sending out an invitation... that you are inviting the possibility of something much more significant than could ever be conveyed in the actual picture of a house. ‘The House," I often hear, "will sell itself." So I like to go with that and spend some time thinking or imagining the kinds of connections people would be able to make with a particular house. You have all the facts about the house... strengthening the facts with an idea of possibility is like frosting on the cake!

In the previous blog is a recent ad I did for a group of homes in my town. The bride & groom photo  conveyed, for me, some remarkable imagery in what was really a candid shot. I think, in one way, it represents a lot about HOMEs... you've got an architectural image with the beautiful window & wrought iron railing, a  connection image of people in love, a fashion image, a dream image, movement, and also one that speaks deeply of ‘forever'... Can you see how all this embedded imagery can create the possibility of hitting HOME as it strikes universal chords about some strong ideas associated with HOME? Voila! Ad a la mode!

 www.marahawks.com

© This posting and the contents written here are the property of Mara Hawks, All Rights Reserved

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Courtesy of Mara Hawks, inactive REALTOR®, storyteller/writer/editor. 

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© 2012 Mara Hawks, All rights reserved

 

Comments(3)

Judy Greenberg
Compass - Long Grove, IL
Compass- Long Grove -Buffalo Grove
First of all I love the series of books  If you give a mouse a.... Secondly I love what you said about creating imagery....  I'm about to do a write up of a home- and your blog has inspired me.  Thanks
Mar 01, 2008 11:07 AM
Mara Hawks
First Realty Auburn - Auburn, AL
Inactive-2012 REALTOR - Homes for Sale Auburn Real Estate, AL
Judy - You're so welcome! I observe a lot how my WORD association with an object is immediate, like "a tree" is what I immediately think when I see a tree... but if I didn't know it's name or didn't have words, what impressions could I possibly feel? That's how I sometimes can come up with another angle or image. One example of this is when I wrote an ad for a home a few months back. It had a lot of trees in the back of the house that took you on a path to the lake. hmmm... so I did this type of "meditation" and came up with "gorgeous, towering hardwood trees dream of tall ships, adjacent to wooden steps and landings, creating a poetic pathway to the pier, for outdoor relaxation and fishing."  Imagine that the house is telling you a story... I love doing this. And it's really like a secret of sorts, after I write all the notes I need & gather all the facts, the really fun part, for me, is to walk through & around the house by myself, and simply listen...I always leave with a smile! I admit, I'm a tad crazy with this though! lol! Have fun with this. :-)
Mar 01, 2008 11:45 AM
Chuck Willman
Chuck Willman - Alpine, UT
NewHouseUtah.com

No doubt- many homes you look at elicit very little response beyond the utilitarian... then there are houses that have that magic... great post- this is how it's done.

Jul 25, 2008 02:53 AM