A two-minute read.
There are more than 7.8 billion people in the world, according to the latest United Nations data.
That’s a lot of humans, but there is only one person exactly like you, which makes you unique.
Something I remind my young daughter of regularly.
There are more than 16,000 estate agency brands in the UK but if you were to believe a lot of agencies’ marketing, there’s only one like theirs.
Nine times out of 10 that’s nonsense.
There are thousands of agencies who look the same, sound the same, act the same.
You’d be hard pushed to spot the difference other than a logo and brand colours.
Which is a shame. Because being different from your rivals and being able to highlight it in your marketing and when you are on valuations can often be the difference between thriving or merely surviving.
The easiest way to show your agency is worthy of attention is to be clearly seen and loudly heard to be different.
Close your eyes and imagine this. Screw that, it doesn’t work for a written blog so just read on.
The Pavarotti Principle
Let’s say ten agents are in a room trying to get the attention of Mrs Ambrose who has a three-bed semi to sell but is unsure about who to instruct.
Nine agents are jumping around screeching “pick me, pick me, pick me”.
It’s becoming inaudible white noise until one agent stands up proudly and in a voice that would make Pavarotti weep with deep joy sings “Piiiiiiiiiiiickkkkkkkkkk meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”.
Who do you think good old Mrs Ambrose is going to notice?
Look, I’m not saying our Pavarotti soundalike will win the instruction, but I can guarantee they’d get noticed above the noise. They’ve been bold enough to do something different. And that gives them a chance.
Now I’m not suggesting you sing to your prospects – helluva point of difference though – I’m just encouraging you to try something out of the norm, especially as we’re working in this strange ‘new normal’.
It could be using informal photos of your team taken when they are away from the office, walking the dog, fishing, with their kids, or playing golf on your meet the team pages.
It might be adding photos of you or your team on for sale or to let boards.
Perhaps it’s canvassing campaign letters that don’t sound like canvassing campaign letters.
It may be by doing something very different and donating 10% of your annual profits to local community causes. If I owned an agency I’d look into this approach as I think it’d be worth it in PR and marketing returns alone – not to mention how motivating it would be for staff and raising local profile.
And if you are regularly sharing content you could try using a more down-to-earth tone, that’s jargon-free and is talking about subjects other than just the local property market and homes.
The amount of people looking to buy or sell or rent or let in your patch at any given time is minuscule.
By casting your estate agency’s content topic net wider, you’ll get noticed by a far bigger audience which will position your agency more prominently in the long run.
And Finally …
What are you doing that’s in line with this Pavarotti Principle of rising above the noise to sing your own song?
I’m off to listen to Nessun Dorma.
Jerry