Table of Contents
The Top 5 Reasons Why Your Brand Is Being Ignored
1) Nobody cares about you or your brand.
They only care about what’s in it for them. Focus on them, not you.
Specifically, what benefit/outcome they will receive by working with you?
2) You don’t deserve their attention.
Attention is the most precious marketing asset. Don’t ask for it lightly. Showing up does not warrant attention. Exchange value to earn attention.
3) You don’t have permission.
Interruptive marketing is spam. Seek permission instead by delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages instead.
4) You’re just like everyone else — a commodity.
What’s your purpose? Why do you exist? How can you make a difference?
Tell your story. Make it who you are, what you do. Over-deliver so they tell their friends about you.
5) You chase shiny new objects.
You love new marketing toys. You take shortcuts. You’re looking for a magic solution. You’re not patient and willing to earn out over the long-term by over-indexing / investing in your brand to build momentum, mindshare, and ultimately market share.
Bonus
6) You’re out of order.
Your offer needs to follow a sequence and have the right messaging. Just like you don’t ask for marriage on a first date, don’t expect to get the sale if you ask for it upfront. Instead, try a lower-risk micro offer that allows you to “date” your prospects first and build trust along the way.
The Laws of Supply and Demand
The laws of supply and demand determine the actual market prices and volume of goods that are traded on a market.
What happens when there is more supply than demand in a market?
The law of supply in economics illustrates the quantities that will be sold at a certain price. The higher the price, the higher the quantity supplied.
Why? Producers will supply more at a higher price because selling a higher quantity at a higher price increases revenue.
In marketing, attention is the highest price consumer asset and true to the law of supply, we now have producers supplying more “content” and “messaging” in their attempts to sell more stuff.
One could argue that marketers have created a perpetual surplus, a never-ending excess supply, where the number of goods (content, messaging) offered for sale in the market now exceeds the quantity demanded by consumers.
In economics, surpluses occur when the market is in disequilibrium – when supply and demand do not meet at the same point to reach equilibrium and thus off-balance.
What do companies do in surplus markets?
They offer discounts, have fire sales and lower prices in an attempt to increase demand and get back to equilibrium. They focus on the short-term, take short-cuts, and create more “market noise,” and hasty tactics that only serve to worsen their brands and deepen the divide between consumers.
Sounds exactly like the current state of marketing!
The real challenge here is that the demand for consumer attention will forever exceed supply so we may never again reach market equilibrium.
Welcome to marketing disequilibrium.
Back To Basics
Consumers love brands. Consumers buy more from brands.
Even Google loves brands.
Former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt may have said it best, “Brands are the solution, not the problem…brands are how you sort out the cesspool.”
But branding is boring and doesn’t provide the instantaneous dopamine hit that today’s marketers seek.
Patience is a lost art but those who practice it are proving the real winners.
Branding, For Real Estate Agents
Think of it as a diet and exercise program for your business. If you do it, it will only add value, make your business healthier, more sustainable, and fortify your authority in the market.
But sadly, most agents don’t have the patience, long-term vision, and determination to create brands for their business.
It’s easier to chase internet leads and blow your marketing dollars on shiny new objects because it makes you feel like you’re doing something that’s working, but it’s really the exact opposite.
It’s the reason the 80/20 rule is so prevalent in the real estate industry – the top 20% of producers control 80% of the business because they’ve managed to create brands for their business.
And guess what?
It took time, patience, vision, persistence, frequency, and repetition to get there.
Just like that diet and exercise program, you won’t ever see the results unless you stick to it and make it “what you do.”
Long live brands.
