I recently watched a video where Gary Vaynerchuk speaks about the dangers of living in the middle and how business gets better when you embrace the extremes.
Id like to talk about some of points that Gary makes in this video. Where he caught my attention was when he said the following:
“One of the things I’m obsessed with is extremes. If I started an event business, if I was like in the blow-up castle business to rent to bar mitzvahs and birthdays, what I would do tomorrow is go to China and make the most extreme castle of all time. Like a 900 foot castle! Because what’s happening in our society right now is it’s minimalism and it’s extremism.”
The reason that you don’t want to run your business from a place of mediocrity and play the safe side, is that you will be lost in the noise. There is so much content out there in the media (social media included) that unless you stand out, you wont even be noticed. Think about commercials these days, some of them look like movies. I’ve caught myself watching something that I thought was the start to a movie, or at least a TV series, only to discover it’s a commercial for headphones. I remember that because the production value was so much higher than the rest that it caught my attention and drew me in. Gary uses examples regarding things as simple as how you order champagne in a club and how even that is shifting to towards extreme.
“It’s the club dynamic. Why do clubs right now have, when you order the champagne, the sparklers come out? People want attention. They’re not buying the champagne, they’re buying the attention.”
All this got me thinking about how someone could apply his words and ideas to real estate marketing. I have noticed that a lot of real estate marketing is middle-of-the-road. You may not be able to find sparklers big enough to top your listing with, and even if you did, its probably a fire hazard and I don’t recommend it… but you may be able to find ways to bump up your marketing enough for it stand out. If you can draw attention to your marketing campaign you also bring attention to you as an agent and the agency that you work for. The secret is to get out of your comfort zone because leaning into the fear is how you create something amazing. Nothing worth doing is ever easy.
So where do you start getting your marketing campaign over there to the edge of extremism?
Well, first you need to figure out what is considered ‘medium’ in your market. Take a look at what other people are doing to market their listings. Do you see many of them have photos that were taken with a cell phone or the photos are all distorted and weird? If so, above average images might be your extreme and it would be a good idea to put some money toward getting a professional photographer. Or maybe in your area professional photography is pretty standard and in that case you might think about adding some nice quality video to showcase the home or maybe even adding floor plans, or hell, add BOTH (we are being extreme here, remember). Another great option to make your listing pop is getting some twilight shots to bring out the beauty of the exterior!
If you are using social media to broadcast your content, it’s a good idea to figure out which platform works best for you and put an abundance of your attention there. Gary points out in the video that is all about volume these days. Pick whichever medium you’re best at and make sure that you are heavy on the content within that platform. This isn’t to say ignore the rest, but be extreme wherever it is that you SHINE. You want that shine to BLIND clients from all the rest of the listings out there!
Take a look at what the top Realtors are doing in your area and work toward making your campaign look as amazing as theirs does. You may not be marketing those luxury homes just yet but with jaw dropping campaigns for your mid-priced homes, you are bound to attract more high-priced luxury listings. Another bonus is that once those clients are contacting you about their luxury listings, you will already have a handle on how to market their home which will in turn ensure things run smoothly, help the home sell quickly and get you rolling with even more listings!
If you want your business to be extreme and live an extreme life, get out of the middle. Or as Gary puts it,
“… Don’t live in the middle. The world is getting pulled that way because of the internet. The middle is bad.”