Too often, real estate advertisers focus on features or claims of superiority.
“We’re the best.”
“We’re #1.”
“We lead the industry.”
Accomplishments worthy of praise. But from the prospective customer’s perspective, what of them? If you want to own your customer you need to connect the feature dot to the benefit dot.
In theory, this isn’t too hard to do. Finish these sentences:
Because we’re the best you ________________.
We’re #1 so you can be confident that _________________.
As the industry leader we can give you __________________.
What you place in those blanks, folks, will not only allow you to create more powerful advertisements, it will help the marketplace understand what your true value is.
What RE/MAX does
I watch Lost every Tuesday night. During this week’s episode, two interesting commercials aired almost back-to-back. The first, a RE/MAX commercial. The second, from H&R Block.
The RE/MAX commercial was well done and keyed in on the familiar statement, “nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX.”
I like how they boil their value proposition down to one simple nugget – sales. The problem I have is that this nugget is a feature. The benefit – the reason why that features matters – would be realized if the commercial filled in the blank for the viewer, tying that feature into something meaningful. In other words: “Nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX so when you list with us ________________________.”
Without that final component, the statement hovers. Floats as a claim. One expressed with no meaningful payoff that would motivate me to go and do something now. Or even later.
What H&R Block does
I wish I could find the commercial in YouTube. I can’t. So trust me that I am being faithful to my memory. It began this way: “In 2010, 1,700 new tax laws were added to the books. At H&R Block we provided 10 million hours of education to our tax accountants to make sure they understand those new laws. This way, your taxes get done right.”
Feature. Benefit. Bingo.
Last night’s commercial is one in a long line of great H&R Block ads that are memorable whether you’re a student of copy writing and production or just an anxious taxpayer. The proof is in the pudding. One out of every seven tax returns in the United States last year was prepared by H&R Block – a “sides” stat any real estate company, national or otherwise, would love to claim.
Are H&R Block tax accountants any more knowledgeable about taxes than RE/MAX agents are about real estate? I doubt it. RE/MAX is a company with lots of great people. Their ad just pulled up short in communicating their value in the language of benefits.
Recon
My point is simple: Real estate marketers need to step back. Do some recon on what it is their companies deliver beyond the features and claims. And light a torch around the benefits.
People don’t buy Apple products because of the features. That’s what all you iPad detractors don’t get as you harp on what it can’t do. Apple customers don’t care about what it can’t do. Because neither does Apple. Their ad focuses on what it can do: deliver to the customer a feeling of wonderment and a palpable experience of the future.
I submit that if RE/MAX went one step further and extended the power of “selling more real estate than anyone else” to an expression of the benefits that delivers to the customer, its commercials would be better. Their value proposition clearer.
Want to create a powerful ad? Want to stimulate an immediate reaction? And long term action? Fill in the blank. If you can’t, you’ll be compelled to undertake an even deeper exercise.
If you can, an entirely lost audience will be found.
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Great Article Mark – always good for marketers to keep their eye on the ball.
One additional theme that real estate agents may wish to be mindful of is Advantage.
In sales parlance, trainers coach sales people on Feature, Advantage, Benefit – or Problem, Advantage, Benefit.
In the case of using Feature – Marketers are trying to connect with something that the customer needs or desires. In the case of Problem, Marketers are focusing on something that is causing the customer pain which their product or service makes better.
We like to distinguish these two Marketing tactics as Vitamins or Pain Killers. Vitamins are nice to have, but Pain Killers are “have to have.”
Well put about RE/MAX. If they don’t fill in the blanks or close the loop the public does. Any time I read “The best pie in town,” I wonder according to who and then dismiss it. Even if they made up an organization that made the statement it closes the loop on the comment and I am likely to take it at face value.
Everytime RE/MAX says they sell more real estate than anyone else I think of McDonald’s sign counting all the burgers they have sold. It just means they have more agents. I am sure it works for RE/MAX on some level but you’re right it could work so much better.
I actually disagree with you here.
I think Remax tag line is great because it’s true.
Adding “Nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX so when you list with us ________________________.” makes the whole thing way longer an heavier than needed. The rest is understood.
The problem with agents who claim to be #1 is that there’s always some silly footnote* that makes the initial claim seem dubious. After you get 3 flyers in the mail and they’re all #1 you know it’s time to get a new tag line.
The exception is for those who really are #1 for something that matters. Like selling the most real estate in the country. No footnote, just real data.
Notice they didn’t use any tired formula (we’re #1!) but instead they made the actual statistic their tag line.
I agree that instead of boasting about how great you are, agents should show people what’s in it for them. I just don’t think the tag line is the place for that. I don’t even think most agents need a tag line at all.
*Number one for properties sold under $120,000 among the 12 other individual agents working in the same office for the 3rd week of February 2008.
Hi Mark:
Great post; an interesting spin on this is that when it comes to Gen X, they don’t believe any “claims” made by marketers; they need to see the proof before they even attempt to trust the authority. This is why all the “#1/expert/top/blah-blah-blah” marketing falls upon deaf ears with Gen X buyers and sellers. They don’t care that you’re a legend in the industry; they want to know what legendary benefit you’ll bring to their purchase.
Where this is the most evident is in the claims of “web site traffic”. Who really cares how many hits/traffic/visitors you get. What consumers want to know is how many did you turn into inquiries – AND MORE IMPORTANTLY – how many of those inquiries did you turn into OFFERS. Focus on marketing the OUTCOMES you achieve, not the numbers you generate along the way. Because consumers pay for OUTCOMES, not activities.
In 2008 I had written a blog entry called “More Meaningless Marketing” http://www.matthewferrara.com/blog/management/more-meaningless-marketing/ about this tendency in the industry to spout “we’re the best” numbers and claims. I think this worked for a generation of consumers who believed claims made in marketing; the next generation of consumers is not saying, PROVE IT.
Keep up the great work!
Matthew Ferrara
First I would like serious consideration to be the winner of the ‘I spelled MARC Davison’s first name right’ contest.
On a more serious note…this is spot on and been a message out there for years. Go into the viewer’s or listener’s world. Get in touch with THEIR needs. Relate to THEM instead of simply saying something that makes you feel good. What is the benefit to the customer? Who gives a damn about our ego? Remember they are not a lead…but they do have a need.
“Johnny, tell Greg what he just won.”
Greg, you just won a brand new 1000watt iPhone Gelaskin. The handsome Gelaskin gently afixes to the back of your iPhone. It not only protects it from daily wear and tear but adornes your phone with a bright blue 1000watt bulb indicating the brilliance you possess within.
Email me your address and I’ll pop one in the mail pronto.
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx135/1000wattmarc/1000wattGelaskin.jpg
Turn On!
Oh man, I might have to sweet talk Joel into handing over one of those suckers…
@Laurent
I would argue that the blank needs to be filled in because this feature is true in RE/Max’s case. Especially since its commonplace for real estate companies to take artistic license and make bold claims. Almost all, if not all, roll off the viewer.
So here’s a claim that is actually real. It’s a badass feature. And it’s not just a tagline. It’s the basis by which RE/Max is staking an entire value proposition to 10+million viewers. Fill in that blank. Tell me why selling more home than any of the brand matters because I bet, the average viewer can’t really fill that blank in on their own.
Or at least to the extent RE/Max can.
@Viktor – what you say is true in the context of a sales parlance. But in terms of direct response advertising great copy built around benefits will automatically distill the advantages.
@Matt – Further to your point, the premise of “claims” and consumer believability now crosses all demographic boundaries and no longer owned by one particular age group. A simple Google search will unearth gobs of research documentation of the topic. But interestingly, my 86 year old mother in law recently returned from a doctor visit and asked my wife to research the prescription he gave her and double check and make sure it’s right for her.
This speaks volumes about what we as humans no longer take as gospel and how suspect we are of essentially everyone – expert or not.
Marketers and advertisers alike must be really keen to this in their messaging.
I tell you guys, advertising has come a long way since the 80′s when I worked on Madison Ave. But copywriting. Go back to the early scribes of 40′s and 50′s who really knew how write compelling benefit rich copy. What they understood then, really applies today.
Marc,
I found your post very insightful. So much so that I forwarded it to the Public Relations Manager at RE/MAX International. She’s thanked me for that and asked me to thank you for the suggestions. She’s going to pass this up the chain at RE/MAX to discuss their commercial messaging.
On another note, I share your passion for Lost, though I’m glad the series is almost over so it stops sucking out my brain juice every Tuesday night for 6 years. While I did see the RE/MAX commercial as well on Tuesday, I’m usually making popcorn or catching up on the Lost Twitter stream during commercials!
@Brian
We should talk Lost someday. Or you should join Joel and I for our Wednesday morning Lost smackdown as we analyze and theorize. Truly – a brain drain that has been going on for 6 years.
I’m never too busy to spend a few minutes talking Lost.
As for the commercials… that was cool of you to do. Clearly, being inside the industry, we all have a deeper sense of the value proposition that RE/Max brings to the table that perhaps the typical viewer might not have. Of all the national brand commercials, oddly, I can’t recall one that ever went to the next level and nailed the benefits. The H&R Block commercials are just one of so many (Sprint, Downey, Scwaab, BMW) that take us to the place where we become inspired to react. With respect, I’m pushing RE/Max or any national, regional, local brand or agent for that matter to make your features count.
Bless them with benefits.
You have a few seconds with the viewer.
Make that moment really count.
@Marc
As I said, I agree that it’s important to show value to the customer.
I just don’t think a tag line is the place for that.
As a tag line, “nobody sells more real estate than remax” is great and says everything that needs to be said. I don’t see how you could think it means anything else than “so we’ll sell your house”.
Adding an explanation is redundant, makes the whole thing sound clumsy and is more complicated than it needs to be. A tag line is supposed to be catchy and easy to remember.
What’s more important to a seller than selling their house? Remax is saying, we’re in the business of selling and we sell the most.
I don’t think you can put this line in the same boat as “We’re the best” (according to who?) and “We’re #1″ (See the small print).
I’m a little surprised everyone thinks it’s such a bad line.
@Laurent Like I said McDonald’s sells more burgers than anyone else. What does that mean? Quantity means nothing unless a small 20 person office says they outsell a large firm that has 2000 agents.
For me it is an open-ended statement that I answer mentally. They sell more because they have more agents not because they’re better or at least nothing says that in their commercial.
It’s not a case of that it is bad but that it can be better.
Actually just do this. Here is (I didn’t use them by the way)H&R Block’s tagline, “Turn to H&R Block for Taxes Done Right”. Compare that to, “H&R Block, we do more taxes returns than anyone else.” Which one gives you MORE confidence?
Sorry Marc, I’m on a roll. Avis moved from 11% market share to 35% with this slogan, “We’re No. 2, But We Try Harder.” Holy cow, they admit they aren’t number one and it works! Do you believe that number two wants to be number one? How many new agents push the fact that they will work harder because they are new or that they have more time than the busy #1 agent.
I whole-heartedly agree that the tagline would win MORE customers with a benefit added. I am not saying it doesn’t work.
@Laurent
You wrote “As a tag line, “nobody sells more real estate than remax” is great and says everything that needs to be said. I don’t see how you could think it means anything else than “so we’ll sell your house”.
If that’s all it means, then I think it reduces the overall value of the feature since selling a house is a pretty ubiquitous benefit. In fact, the entity that sells the least amount of real estate still sells a house.A company that sells the most real estate has something far more profound to offer that most people would be drawn too. Something that powerful should not be left to the imagination. I’d say it. I’d claim. And drive that reality home.
Like Mike said.
Keep rolling Mike.
Powerful and accurate message. Claims are just that: claims. Are they true? Maybe. In reality they hold the reader or listeners thought long enough to determine the level of veracity, but when the claim adds a “because” it gives paust to reflect and the individual can determine if this is of value to him/her.
Good post.
[...] Real estate advertising in the language of benefits – What is your value proposition? And why is Marc watching commercials and not fast [...]
Years go, when I first got into sales and took my first sales training class, a Dale Carnegie course, we hammered the feature benefit paradigm. Back then, the mid 80′s, that was the trend, the thing to do. In some instances and I think Dale proved it, the traditional sales approach is timeless.
Fast forward to today. Is it still in vogue? Does the feature / benefit approach work, at least in its purest sense? Or have we matured and become more sophisticated? Do we want to be led to the trough of the obvious or do we want to determine for ourselves what something means to us, individually.
Me personally, I’m not a fan of statements that start with “We’re…” or “Nobody…”. I think it cheapens the brand. You lower yourself to purely transactional, like selling something of little value but a lot of them.
@Barrett,
I am not sure we’ll ever get past the “feature, benefit” paradigm of advertising. Why would we? When composed correctly, that duo provides that perfect balance of “reason” or “purpose” – the very thing a good advertisement should do.
Feature/benefits can be done many ways. They can be direct “we do this so you end up with that” or they can be presented in a softer, more creative way like you see here in this reel of Mac ads from Apple. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCL5UgxtoLs
Laurent wrote: “What’s more important to a seller than selling their house? Remax is saying, we’re in the business of selling and we sell the most.”
I suggest that what’s more important to a seller is selling it at the right price. And selling it within a sound time period based upon the sellers other plans. And working with a professional agent who is responsive. Intelligent. Caring. Resourceful. Among many other things.
“Selling the most” does not automatically allude to those attributes. I would argue that a company most focused on sales alone might project an image of being home sales factory laced with assembly line agents who care less about people and more about commissions and sales.
I’m not saying this is what RE/Max is about. But we can’t ignore the fact that a pure sales based ad might lead viewers to make that connection – a connection that is not all that positive.
I feel it is incumbent upon an advertisement to state a feature, tie it to benefits that matter in an effort to better reduce the chance of confusion, misinterpretation or worse… having no effect on the viewer at all.
It is my belief that a real estate company who sells the most homes accomplishes that by either having more agents than any other company or possessing systems, marketing channels, procedures, technologies, intelligences and top notch people that are better, smarter and more locally connected than any other company.
As a copywriter I see the different between those two options. As a company, I would also see those differences and believe that there might be way more value in the latter option that would tir deeper emotions with the viewers, drive more interest, dispense greater brand value and increase sales even further.
This is what I believe. As a digital branding agency, this is our sensibility and how we absolutely approach copywriting.
@JeffB,
Hook up with Joel B. He’ll hand you a Gelaskin.
This post was great. Remax’s ads are good, but they are aging. They aren’t connecting w/younger consumers.
A brand like BHG could be on a roll. The way the roll is fresh, new.
Personally when I see a ReMax ad I’m not engaged–at all. The brand itself it not fresh.
I do agree w/your theory. Most companies are interested in touting THEIR fabulousness but now how it benefits the customer.
If I used an iPhone I’d hawk ya for a Gelaskin…But I actually need my phone for biz…so I have a BBerry.
KT>
I think some people are missing one point about claims like “the best burger in town.” It’s legal to say because it can’t be proved one way or another, the taste of a burger can’t be determined by anything really but opinion. Of course, most people with common sense know that they can’t prove that, so it’s up to you to believe it or realize it’s puffery. If it’s a factual statement, proved to be unture, they can get in trouble. Just ask Listerine or Yaz – it’s called corrective advertising.
Now, Remax does sell more real estate than anyone, which may position them as the experts, but like previous commenters have said – so what. They’ve got more agents than anyone so of course they sell more. Quantity doesn’t mean it’s the greatest quality.
And while I agree with Marc and think this is a great post – I use to be a copywriter as well and I’ll be the first to admit – taglines are tough!
[...] Real estate advertising in the language of benefits by Marc Davison at 1000Watt Consulting [...]
Sorry for the name typo Marc
Perhaps people should consider the Who in marketing too. Balancing a marketing communication between Women and Men is hard, it is often better to segment – Sell power to men and elegance to women.
according to Dr. Bob Deutsch of marketing firm Brain Sells:
Men respond to Powerful Images
Men and women are different biologically, psychologically and socially. Men live in the “now.” They are concrete thinkers that like to consummate and complete what they set out to do.” Men are interested in power and in looking good, even more than being good.
When it comes to attractiveness, both sexes want to garner attention, but each for different reasons. For men, looking good is looking strong, confident, authoritative and adventurous – being a standout. Men concentrate on looks to the extent that it signals something about what they do, have done or can do.
In contrast, regardless of how much a woman wants to attract in the contest of beauty and brains, their focus is on hope and details, and they concentrate on how appearance reflects their inner being. Therefore, successfully marketing to men, as opposed to marketing to women, requires more than changing colors, fonts and/or packaging.
Four Tips for Marketing to Men
With these essential gender differences in mind, Deutsch offers the following four tips for marketers seeking to appeal to male consumers:
1. Time. Men tend to hone in, more quickly than women, on what they’re looking for. Men are not browsers, but shop for what they need “now.” In contrast, women can shop for something now and put it away for “later.”
2. Causality. Men are concrete and tend to tightly focus their awareness. Their notion of cause and effect is linear and men are visually-oriented because of this concrete literality. Seeking clarity, men create absolute distinctions: black-white, yes-no. Men dislike ensembles and tend to buy individual items. In contrast, many women like to think about how they can put together “outfits” and are creative in selecting, say, a variation on a scarf or a belt that will change the nature of one basic outfit.
3. Space. Men structure and relate to space as compartmented and sequential. To men, space is not relational, as it is for women. These kinds of underlying, fundamental gender differences can have critical implications not only for what makes an item compelling, but also for store design and product layout. For example, many women like the challenge and somewhat disorganized variety of off-price retailers such as T.J. Maxx or Marshalls. Men, even men who shop in such places because of price, are not there out of joy or desire.
4. Other People. For the male, it’s every man for himself. Men prize individuality and self-reliance. They conceive of other people as “my competition.” Daily life for them is a contest with winners and losers. This is in contrast to women, who often view other people as a source of strength. Note, too, that men never shop together. Women often shop with a friend and make a “day” of it. A man focuses on himself – the “me,” while a woman is focused on the “we.”
As noted above, men are interested in power. Women are more interested in security. Men relate to “things” themselves. Women relate to the relationship between things. In today’s world, men might, for example, be paying more attention to grooming aids than they did years ago. But men are still grooming to go up the hierarchy, to be Number One, and be recognized as Number One. Modern man is still primal man, regardless of how much hair a man has to groom.
How Marketers Should Appeal to Women
Deutsch offers the following seven tips for marketers seeking to appeal to female consumers: Recognize women’s ability to appreciate underlying patterns, realize women’s need for authenticity, provide quality as well as quantity or size, offer communality, validate women’s personal feelings and social intentions, offer quality of life as well as accumulation, and provide reasonableness rather than exaggeration or absolutes.
Here is the link to see the 7 tips for women. The link did not appear in the above post
http://www.marketingcharts.com/topics/behavioral-marketing/how-marketers-should-appeal-to-women-12350/
Very nicely put Marc. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve posted a link to this as the daily brain food item on the Modern Estate Agent blog today.
http://www.modernestateagent.co.uk/2010/04/value-of-because.html
Martin