Jitterbug & iPhone: Analogy for Real Estate Companies
I was struck by the huge contrast of two ads in the New York Times for cellular phones. Both ads were on the back pages of inserts in the newspaper. The first was for a basic, feature-less phone called the Jitterbug. The compelling differentiator for this product is that it is simple and does nothing except make phone calls. Nothing else. The ad copy for this phone was wordy and busy with lots of fine print and explanations. The cost of this phone is very inexpensive.
The other ad was for the new iPhone from Apple. It is not only a phone, but also a music player, internet browser, text messenger, camera, and perhaps other things that I am unaware of. This is a very expensive phone. The ad copy was clean, compelling, and attractive. The iPhone ad contained only 17 words. The FIRST LINE of the other ad contained more words than the iPhone's entire ad.
If I was in the market for a simple phone like the Jitterbug, the ad would make me turn away from it...there are too many asterisks, conditions and explanations that keep me from believing its simplicity.
The iPhone ad elegantly shows the product being used, and assumes that I want a product that doesn't need to explain itself. It also even challenges me to try the iPhone, and once I do, I will be a believer in it.
We see these two ends of the marketing spectrum in many industries, including real estate brokerages. Customers are bombarded with ads for "do it yourself" brokerages that overwhelm the consumer with disclaimers, conditions and explanations. Our company's goal is to show our customers straight-forward, compelling messages that offer multiple choices and features, and charge a fair price for them.
I compare the great majority of real estate agents to the Jitterbug: only able to do a limited number of functions, talking too much, confusing the customer with overwhelming data. I compare our Realty Executives to the iPhone: professionally offering its features and benefits, allowing the customer to actually experience the service and understand and appreciate the value received.
There will always be a market for the inexpensive, do-it-yourself customer, but in my 32 years of real estate experience, the great majority of customers want a professional to help them through the process at a fair price.
posted by Realty Executives Int'l at 2:09 PM
2 Comments:
Great post! You couldn't of picked a better analogy to use.
Grant Smith
VP Marketing
http://www.firstreleasehomes.com
I could not agree more with every point you made. All too often we, as the consumer base, are overwhelmed with such visual flooding. Though we are smack in the middle of what can easily be defined as a media-driven economy, 2 ads over the past 20 years actually got it right. The first was the old investment commercials that suggested that “When E.F. Hutton speaks…” every body stops what they are doing and listens. No yelling. No sirens. No screaming car dealers running across their parking lots. This line of thinking was further sustained by a perfume commercial, of all things. I am quite sure you will remember, “When you want someone's attention, Whisper.” Of course, the 'visual' with the ad was the lower portion of some beautiful female mouthing the words whisper, then cutting quickly to a shot of her neck allowing the viewer's mind to almost feel the brush of her breath that carried the word on your own neck. Powerful marketing concepts, indeed.
This is something that we have attempted to maintain within the development aspects of the products and services that our companies produce. Though we produce web based technologies servicing both the real estate and mortgage professionals, the concept is still the same. We call it 'At A Glance'. Just like the simplicity of the somewhat ominous ad that contains the product and a hand using the product. To me, that is the epitome, the living definition, of 'A picture paints a thousand words.' Beyond doubt, the iPhone ad, when coupled with the current level of understanding that we all have concerning how humans interface with such devices, the mind can be left to fill in a rather sizable number of blanks. The result becomes a far more personal experience for the person faced with such an ad vs the stark contrast as offered by the other ad that instructs the reader WHAT to think and HOW to think it along the way. The end result of such a bombardment of data reduces such a visual abrasion down to something impersonal, if not clinical, at best.
In our efforts of striving hard to fulfill the self-inflected rule of 'At A Glance', we have discovered a great many things about the human condition and how we process information. Probably the best lesson that we can extract from such an ad is that there are 2 primary ways that we receive information through our eyes. There is the logical, systematic, highly analytical, sequential approach that can be summed up in words arranged in sentences. The obvious choice of the 'powers that be' for the Jitterbug product. I am sure that if they reduced the image of the cell phone they could have wedged in a few more words and been in line to compete with the like of War And Peace or Gone With The Wind. The diametric approach of the iPhone ad allowed the potential client to decide on a number of elements for his or her self. A powerful approach in the highly contrived world we find ourselves in.
If we would take the time to learn these lessons, we could begin to change the way that we come off to potential clients visually. From how we dress and present ourselves, right down to the structure of our business cards, letterhead, flyers, and web sites. Too many times we have all found ourselves in the 'ocean of liner' where as we are all far more comfortable with messages conveyed, not in logical succession with underlying asterisks referring to more text, but with the non-logical expression of what could be considered 'art'. If communication is an art-form, then what might we do to A) become more visually expressive, and B) more proactive in allowing the consumer - YOUR CLIENT - to fill in his or her own blanks that you have lead them to in a non-liner fashion? Of course, the answer is different for every body - every company - but, as Tony Robbins reminds us, we are empowered by the questions that we allow ourselves to ask.
I urge you to recall the old Xerox commercial that ended with nothing but a white background and black text that faded in with the words, "What if…" The didn't fill in the blanks for us. They didn't try to lead us anywhere. If anything, for one brief, if not fleeting, moment, they blew the doors off of that typically confine the thoughts of our minds in little compartments disallowing us to feel freedom. There in lies the key. Your clients, when all is said and done, will not actually remember what words were printed on your marketing material. More times than not, they won't even remember the things that you told them. At moments when they think back upon the image of you (hopefully as they are referring you to someone new) they will only recall how you made them feel. I urge all of us to follow suit with that truly brilliant ad that provides us the opportunity of filling in our own blanks and use it as a constant reminder to be mindful of the imagery that we provide to those that we hope enhance with our products and services. What image do we put across? What visual stimuli do the companies that we work for provide for consumption to John Q. Public? Are we nailing words to the back of people's eyes in our attempt to be attractive to their buying decision, or are we reaching our with visual finesse that empowers and enhances our underlying message of support and satisfaction?
Sorry for the rant here, but you were so right in bringing the contrast of these two ads to mind that I felt incredibly compelled to offer a 'picture of words' declaring my agreement with your line of thinking. Thank you so very much for having taken the time to share them with us!
Sincerely and without hesitation,
Max Laing, D. MP
CEO / Project Development
ActionCore, Inc.
"Where We Plug In BOTH Ends Of The Cable!"
- GetPreQualified.Com
- AllowingSuccess.Com
- PiddlePort.Com
[ to hear interviews with Max ]
- BeyondTheOrdinary - Interviews with Max!
Post a Comment
<< Home