Home
page
Stan Barron Properties
is a licensed Texas real estate broker
512.345-8585
adssb@aol.com
Bio of Stan Barron
Stan Barron is perhaps the
only real estate agent in the country that has an
advertising background. His primary mentor was the legendary
David Ogilvy of the Madison Avenue ad agency, Ogilvy and
Mather. Ogilvy’s clients have included corporations
such as Mercedes-Benz, IBM, Dove and Hewlett-Packard. He
also wrote tourism ads on behalf of France, Great Britain
and Puerto Rico.
Several years ago Ogilvy was asked to name the four best
print ads of all time. Of the four ads Ogilvy selected, one
was written by Stan Barron (an ad for one of Barron's real
estate clients).
In Barron’s own market of
Austin, Texas, he is a Charter member of the Elite-25 (the
top one
percent of local agents) and a Charter Member of the Austin
Luxury Network (the top-producing agents who sell luxury
homes).
Recent articles
Barron has written a number of articles that deal with the
topic of real estate marketing and advertising. For the
trade publication of the National Association of
Homebuilders, he wrote "What Is Branding And How
Does It Apply To Homebuilding". For Design-Build
Magazine, he wrote a long 'how-to' article titled,
"What To Say In An Ad When It Is Time To Sell One House".
Each article is available upon request.
Speaking engagements
In October 2007 Barron was a keynote speaker at the national
meeting of the Institute For Luxury Home Marketing.
Sponsored by its founder, Laurie Moore-Moore (named, along
with Donald Trump as one of the 35 most influential people
in luxury real estate), Moore-Moore bills this annual
meeting as the "Top 125 agents from the United States and
Canada".
In November 2007, Barron was invited by his professional
association, the National Association of Realtors®, to
speak at its annual convention in Las Vegas. His topic was
"How To Apply Madison Avenue Methods To Real Estate".
In late 2007, Barron wrote a book for the industry called
"How To Photograph Houses".
An iconic example of the marketing
Here is a typical example of how this marketing is
different. A seller called and said his expensive house had
already been listed twice and on the market for a year. The
house had been shown almost 300 times, yet no offer ever
came in. Barron asked what the objection was. The seller
said he had been told a couple of times the back yard was
too small. When Barron viewed the house for the first time
he walked straight through so he could look at the yard.
Barron opened the back door--and what a shock--you could
reach out and touch the fence. There was NO yard at all.
Barron used one ad and sold the house in sixteen days. The
only important thing to know about the ad was the headline.
It said, "Tempting buy in Tarrytown if you like the idea of
no yard maintenance". The home was purchased by a senior
citizen who said, "My grandkids live in the neighborhood,
and I want to spend time with them. To me, the lack of a
yard is the benefit".
The previous agents used a marketing message that told
everything that was positively great about the house. Did
either agent ever mention the lack of a back yard? Of course
not, and when you do this you attract the wrong
audience.
This single case demonstrates one of advertising's most
important lessons. It is called positioning. Most real
estate ads are too safe. About this strategy, marketing
expert Al Ries said, "No one buys a Porsche and then bitches
because it has just two seats". Good ads intentionally
sacrifice the majority in exchange for making a strong
connection with a small group that has a burning desire for
exactly what is offered.
Click
here
to go back to the home page
or email questions to adssb@aol.com