Why good customer service is not a USP

This post is one of admiration.... No, I’m not thinking of giving away marketing and getting into real estate sales... But I’ve always admired the real estate industry, its marketing systems, and how it markets properties. I’ve always believed that other businesses can benefit from observing how real estate agents sell a property, and in this post, I’ve listed 7 key marketing lessons any business can learn from real estate marketing. Here they are: 1. To sell something, you need to market it. Imagine if you went to an agent and they said to you, " We’ll list your property, but we won’t do any marketing. “We won’t create a promotional flyer, we won’t take any photos, and we certainly won’t promote it in our shop front. “You would walk out the door. So why do other businesses believe they can sell products and services without marketing? Real estate agents include marketing as a cost of sale. To sell the product, an investment needs to be made. This is a good lesson for any business. 

I heard a great quote the other day. It was “give me the freedom of a tight brief” from David Ogilvy, the man regarded as the “father of advertising”. In my years of marketing, I’ve written hundreds of briefs. Briefs for advertising campaigns, briefs for brand development and briefs for new websites amongst many others. And I’d like to think I do a reasonable job of them. I try to be very clear, provide lots of information and give a clear guide to what I want the brief to achieve. Unfortunately, I don’t often receive detailed briefs from clients, so I’ve come up with five things you must include in your brief to get the outcome you want. 1. Include everything you already know. This might seem obvious, but it’s important to share everything you know about your business, your market and your target market in a brief. Don’t make the recipient go and find this information, as it will cost you time and money. Tell them everything you know, and you will have a good foundation to build your brief. 2. Include things you want to know (but don’t) Nearly every business has knowledge gaps. It may be that you don’t have a clear idea of where your website traffic is coming from, the market perception of your brand, or even how you should price your product. If you can be clear about what you don't know, then we can go about finding the answers for you. 

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