Teaching real estate a lesson in making something old, magical

We often talk about updating to the newest this or that, or showing the latest of this widget or that one, but rarely is there really an opportunity for us to visualize what it is you’re trying to accomplish. You sell houses, you sell services, and you’re selling yourself, how many different ways are there to do this?

If you follow a trail of real estate websites in just about any city U.S.A. the written copy pretty much reads the same, and the hallmarks of a typical real estate website are just about as repetitive- if not for the colors and the names, you probably feel it’s impossible to really distinguish yourself. But is it really? Is it really just a matter of imagining yourself or your brand in a new and fresh way? Maybe so.

Scoopertino.com is an online news source covering everything unreal at Apple in Cupertino, CA. and in January published a story about Apple’s new bottled water. At first glance and read, it’s pretty funny, but what struck me was how a simple bottle of water was freshly imagined and marketed even in simple satire. The copy surrounding the bottle of water (pictured here) was compelling, and before I realized it, not only was I thirsty, but I had read the entire ad and was inspired. There are so many things we take for granted in real estate because it’s always been that way– I mean, a mundane bottle of water really is about as insignificant as many of the real estate websites in any given city when you really consider the redundancy of real estate jargon and tools, but here is a bottle of water that was actually interesting.

I hope you see something inspiring within the ad, and if not, maybe you had a laugh, but I wonder if next time you talk to your marketing person and he or she asks what you’re after, maybe you’ll say while sending along this link to “Think different.” Rethink what we do, how we speak, and how we deliver, and maybe even purchase a thesaurus. What’s the return on thinking differently? Catching bored real estate consumers off guard with something refreshing is the difference between conversion and not that.  I’m not talking about just saying something differently,I’m saying to allow the visual elements to grab their attention while you say it the way you feel it – inspire your consumer.