Luxury Insights

The Corcoran Group's internet marketing guru to speak at Leaders in Luxury 2010

Matthew Shadbolt
Director of Internet Marketing,
The Corcoran Group

Topic:
How luxury pros can use video and new media
for profitable results

Widely quoted in both real estate and business media, he is a noted expert in internet marketing and understands what works online and how luxury agents like you can use the internet for effective branding, prospecting, and property promotion. 

As Director of Internet Marketing for one of Manhattan's leading real estate brokerage firms, Matthew Shadbolt is responsible for all of Corcoran's interactive output and advertising.  Under his guidance, Corcoran's online audience has quadrupled in fewer than five years. 

Prior to joining Corcoran, Matthew spent five years at Home Shopping Network QVC in both the U.S. and in London (where he developed the world's first real-time interactive television purchasing application).  A native of the United Kingdom, Matthew graduated from the Jan van Eyck Akademie in The Netherlands.

If you are a successful luxury agent, please join us at Leaders in Luxury 2010.  From the networking cocktails to the killer keynotes, it will be two business-building days of fantastic networking, idea sharing, and fun. 

If you haven't already signed-up, registration for the two-day Leaders in Luxury event this year
is only $895.  There are limited seats remaining, so act now.

More information and registration

See you in Austin!

Making Social Networking Work for You

Social media can be a tool for increasing your market presence and branding yourself as the local agent of choice, according to Deborah Valledor the COO of the nation’s largest REALTOR® association, The Miami Association of Realtors, and our July webinar presenter.  Here are just five key points from Deborah’s presentation:

1.  Before you start your social networking here are some key decisions to make.

•   What audience do you want to reach (Buyers?  Sellers?  A special niche?  Other agents?) 
•   What result do you want to accomplish?
•   What persona do you want to create?

If you don’t have clear answers to these questions, you won’t have a clear social networking strategy.  You may still have fun with your social networking, but you are unlikely to get good business results.

2.  Once you’ve made these decisions, you are on your way to creating your image or brand.           

• Use your photo, logo, and content of your message to create the image or persona you want.
• Be consistent across all media--print, online, social media.  This will reinforce the positioning you are trying to establish.

3.  Create value for the reader/viewer

• Think “content rich”
• Ask yourself is your information valuable, relevant, correct, and would you be interested in the information?
• Do give, give, give.   Don’t sell, sell, sell.

4.  Work to create a following

•  Communicate in a “voice” that sounds like you are talking to someone you know
•  Try to create discussion and keep it positive
•  Acknowledge anyone who responds
•  Don’t ignore negative comments.  Be polite, positive, and try to turn negatives around
•  Be authentic and trustworthy

5.  Use your blog as a "hub" for your online information and identity

• Use other social media to drive traffic to your blog
• Put all the info on your blog
• Let your audience “pull” the information

Hear more from Deborah at our Leaders In Luxury event scheduled for October 20-22, in Austin (TX).

Sneek peek at the upcoming Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey

The annual Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey is due out next month. Here's a clip from CNBC of an interview with Bob Shullman, President of Ipsos Mendelsohn (you might remember him from our Leaders in Luxury 2008 event) with a sneek peek at some of the results:

Quick summary:

Among the affluent, the economy is the #1 concern, with unemployment and government debt as top economic concerns.  Overall the affluent are doing better than last year, and there has been a increase in the number of millionaires in many metro areas, but overall their spending is still restrained.

Among those earning $250k+ in the next 12 months:

• 54% plan to take and international vacation
• 32% plan to buy or lease a new car
• 21% plan to take a cruise

Among the 20% most affluent Americans, more than 40% plan to spend on their homes this year.

MORE free property listings on the Wall Street Journal website

Back in 2008 we inked a deal with The Wall Street Journal that gave all of our Members free advertising on WSJ.com.  Since then, Members have placed thousands of free ads and saved more than $2.2 MILLION!  

We've just renegotiated our deal with The Wall Street Journal and it is now even better.  We've tripled the benefits for Members. 

Members now receive 18 free 60-day property listings ( worth $6,300) plus a free agent profile in the WSJ online directory of luxury agents (worth $800).  That's a savings of $7,100!  And our Featured Experts get even more...

Here are the details (for Members only). 

Not a Member?  Find out how you can join us.

RE/MAX University launches new CLHMS training course

The CLHMS designation is the official designation of The RE/MAX Collection, and for years now, our popular CLHMS training has be available to RE/MAX agents through various channels.

A RE/MAX study earlier this year found that among their agents, those with the Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist^® (CLHMS) designation were the highest earners in RE/MAX and earned more than those with every other designation (an average income of $177,800 in 2009).

The CLHMS training course is now available to RE/MAX agents through RE/MAX University.  This video-based course features the same content as our two-day live classes, and our popular online training. 

The CLHMS course for RE/MAX University features special pricing and a choice of bonus modules:

• Working the International Market
• Luxury Home Short Sales

RE/MAX agents can find more information and register on Mainstreet.

Online insights in this month's 'Wealth Report'

The June 2010 Wealth Report Newsletter is now available for members.

In this month's issue:

• Retail Round-Up: Luxury Continues to Lead Retailers in May
• Luxury Institute WealthSurvey: Multichannel Shopping Habits of Ultra Wealthy Consumers
• Luxury Institute Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) Rankings-Japan:
  -Women’s Fashion
  -Women’s Handbags
  -Women’s Shoes
  -Men’s Fashion
  -Men’s Shoes
• Scoring In-Store Luxury Experiences

Members can access this report and an archive of past reports on our website (login required).  More on the report from our partner the Luxury Institute here.

There is always good information in the Wealth Report newsletters, and I found this month's WealthSurvey on the online shopping habits of the Ultra Wealthy particularly interesting and worth considering in the context of your own online presence.  Here is a quick summary of their findings:

Even when the Web is not the channel through which a purchase is made, the Internet is still a powerful and popular tool that has become integral in the shopping process for many luxury categories.

• Seventy-three percent of ultra wealthy consumers use the Internet for online shopping more than they did five years ago
• 75% say they are satisfied shopping online for luxury goods and services.
• Two-thirds (65%) say that online shopping has become simpler than it was five years ago, and 55% cite the greater availability of sites that permit and encourage shopping as factors behind greater usage.
  
• Simple navigation and ease of use are the most important site attributes, say 95% of ultra wealthy shoppers
• 94% cite email notification of orders and an easy check-out experience as top criteria.
  
• Relatively unimportant according to ultra wealthy shoppers are connections to Facebook and Twitter (73%), and the availability of downloadable widgets (71%) or mobile phone applications (69%).
  
• The biggest reason for not shopping online is the desire to touch and feel products, cited by 59% of respondents.
  
• One in four (24%) refuse to shop online because of fear products could be counterfeit and 21% are not comfortable sharing personal data online. 
  

(Emphasis above mine)

The key take-aways?

If you want to get and keep their attention, your website must be simple, easy to navigate, and easy to use.   Does your site measure up?  What sites do you think they rely on most when searching for homes?  How are your listings presented on those sites?

Email is much more important than social networking with this group.  Think about what this suggests about their communication preferences.  My guess is that they want simple, clear, concise, and timely information in a familiar channel that fits in their existing schedule and work-flow.  Ask and be clear on their communication preferences when working with these folks.  Also, think about your time and marketing spend when it comes to your online presence and what percentage of your attention and dollars are going to your website, social media, etc.

One-in-four have little "trust" in online interactions and are hesitant to share personal information online.  Consider this if you require website users to sign-in or provide personal  information.  There had better be a clear reason and a good payoff for them.  You will have to earn their trust.

How's the market?

As usual, the folks at Altos Research are busy finding new ways to help you answer this important question with good market data.  This time they have help from Robert Schiller, of Case-Shiller fame and the firm he founded, MacroMarkets.  MacroMarkets has just rolled out the Gap Gauge, a free online tool that crunches the numbers and helps to answer the questions:

• Where would we be if there had been no bubble?
• How far are we from a "normal" level
• Is now a good time to buy (or sell)?

You can find more details in this Altos blog post, and of course on the Gap Gauge page of the MacroMarkets website.

Here is a quick comparison of the charts for Miami and Dallas:

May Wealth Report Newsletter now available

The May 2010 Wealth Report Newsletter is now available for members.

In this month's issue:

• Retail Round-Up: Recovery Gains Momentum, Stocks Turn Shaky
• Luxury Institute WealthSurvey: Apple vs. Sony: Brand Face-Off
• Luxury Institute Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) Rankings:
• Ultra-Luxury Automobiles: Rolls-Royce, Maybach, Bentley
• Luxury Jewelry: Graff, Asprey, Buccellati
• Luxury Watches: Blancpain, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet
• Wealth Management: Boston Private Bank & Trust, Bernstein Global, Rockefeller

Members can access this report and an archive of past reports on our website (login required).  More on the report from our partner the Luxury Institute here.

YPN webinar with Tom Ferry

Last week we hosted a great webinar featuring real estate coach Tom Ferry for NAR's Young Professional Network (YPN).  The webinar was full of great tips and ideas.  It was recorded and is available through YPN. 

Members of The Institute can also view the recording on the Webinars page of our website.  While you're there, check out the recording of our April webinar on websites for luxury agents, and sign up for our May webinar on Important financing options for affluent buyers (and why currency exchange services matter).

April 'Wealth Report' now available

The April 2010 Wealth Report Newsletter is now available for members.

In this month's issue:

• Retail Sales Surge, Luxury Still Leads
  
• WealthSurvey: Multichannel Shopping Habits of Wealthy Consumers
  
• Old World Appeal, New Era Marketing
• The ROI of Hiring Right In The Luxury Business - Changing Rules of Engagement

Members can access this report and an archive of past reports on our website (login required). 

The report is produced by the Luxury Institute, the uniquely impartial, independent and objective ratings and research organization that is the global voice of the high net-worth consumer.