Are condos created equal?

Yes, if you are a buyer and you don’t know much about condos. No, if you are a seller; condos are not created equal. But if you’re selling one, you have to know why yours is not the same as the others.

In marketing, there are two ways you are supposed to be able to sell well: being the first, or being the best. But there is a third I know: being different.

What you need is a complete package of campaign materials, which includes the following:

1. Brand name
2. Logo
3. Positioning – as against the others of the same kind
4. Brochure & Flyer(s)
5. Letters (series)
6. Billboards (series)
7. Press releases

Not to mention a cadre of sales people who know exactly what they’re talking about, who say exactly the same things about the product. They have to be trained to be robots as it were.

So, how long do you think you can come out with everything in that list of 7? 2 weeks maybe, certainly not 2 days. And how much would you spend? From 100K to 250K if you ask an advertising or PR or marketing agency. I could do it for 50K. But you would have to advance me the funds. I don't have the funds.

What are my credentials for creating a complete package of marketing materials for a product such as a condo? I worked in an advertising agency, Pacifica Publicity Bureau, years ago. And I have a creative mind. And I can manipulate the computer like you wouldn’t believe it when you see my gray hair. But that's not enough, is it?

My free advice is to hire someone who has experience in these things and try him (or her) for 1 week, promising and paying him only for that week, or even only 2 days.

Image from Discover DI who captions it 'Red Zen' (flickr.com/).

Assumption is everything.

In advertising or marketing, you can’t assume everything. If you do, you’re painting a mural, and people don’t buy murals – only buildings do.

Assumption is everything – I mean by that you have to be able to take a point of view that your target clientele will see as their own. An assumption is a premise, a thing taken for granted or accepted as true without proof, a supposition. A selling point is an assumption. For instance, the slogan of Nokia is Connecting people. Given that, they are assuming that people want to connect to people. And Nokia is right, so Nokia is at the top, if not #1.

Another example: For Ayala Land Premier (http://www.ayalalandpremier.com/), the slogan is: The sweet life has never been so tempting. Given that, you are assuming that your target clientele wants what you describe as a sweet life (the ad actually shows chocolate preparations of several kinds). You are further assuming that expensive-looking chocolate reflects what you describe as a ‘sweet life.’ But: chocolates convey a ‘sweet tooth’ and not a ‘sweet life’ – wrong assumption!

Image from MafaldaBlue who captions it simply 'People' (flickr.com/).

Private Cat, Private Internet

You’re a real estate developer; given that, there are many things you’re not selling. You’re not selling real estate. You’re not selling space. You’re not selling lots, not buildings, not rooms, not economy.

And you’re not selling a need. You can’t sell a need, and neither can you create a need. You can only create an awareness that which can be seen by your target clientele as a solution to a problem not articulated until they saw what you were selling: fulfillment. You are not selling a product – you are selling fulfillment. Once you present the solution, the problem becomes clear, a backward effect. People are usually unable to express even their own felt needs, much less their real needs. What kind of need do you target? The real one. Your product is not the need but the fulfillment of that need.

So, what kind of clientele is the image appealing to? The loners, the ones who have pets.

Image from Alasam who captions it 'Loves screensaver fish' (flickr.com/)

Selling a bridge

Given a bridge, if I can sell that bridge, then I can sell the house by the bridge, right? Here’s a sample copy:

This is the overpass at night from the window of the house by the bridge. Tranquil. A little traffic, a little noise. The nights are lovely, dark and deep. ‘I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep’ (Robert Frost).

Daytime, and the bridge becomes a companion to the house, even a metaphor for life: sometimes you’re going up, sometimes you’re going down. At the house, when you look beyond the overpass, you can see green – the trees. You can see blue – the mountaintops. You can see blue – the sky. You can see white – the clouds. You can see more.

Image from Furious George who captions it 'Overpass at night' (flickr.com/)