My wife often remarks that I have no boundaries (i.e. shame) when it comes to what I share in my columns or online. That statement could actually be true, based on the story and image I am about to share today.
We all know how critical marketing is to a real estate professional’s career. No matter how great an agent you may be, if no one knows who you are, or how to get in touch with you, your career will likely end up in the dustbin of history, alongside pay-phones, Gangnam Style and my 28-inch waist.
My own marketing plans had flashes of success, alongside a few missteps. Sometimes, those combined.
My wife helped me come up with the hallmark phrase of my marketing career, “Sell with the Saint”. A colleague added a halo to my profile pic and faster than Justin Bieber driving his Ferrari through school zones during construction season, my career exploded like a cannon!
Well, perhaps I exaggerate a bit. A little bit of exaggeration isn’t such a bad thing when you’re writing your advertising copy, as long as you can back those claims up under the scrutiny of a lie detector test, or a real estate council disciplinary hearing.
I even eventually hired a cartoonist to provide a number of caricatures of my smiling, honest face in a variety of scenarios – standing beside a sold sign, holding out the keys to a new home, and in one case, assisting Ogopogo with his own underwater home search. That may have been one of those instances of gentle exaggeration.
As the success of that Ogopogo advertising campaign continued to show results, I began to consider other fictional creatures that I could be seen selling or showing homes to. I determined that even though the Okanagan was somewhat lacking in jungle and/or vines, perhaps a shot of me out with Tarzan the Ape Man might be a grand idea – at the “height” of my career, so to speak.
My cartoonist provided a sketch, which I received during a hectic time. I was a bit behind that week on both my newspaper advertising and my monthly newsletter. I wrote some hasty ad copy and sent a copy of the caricature off to the newspapers I advertised in. I wrote my newsletter and made the cartoon a sizeable feature, very prominent on the front page.
Then I sat back, folded my hands behind my head and finally relaxed, determined to bask in the glow of yet another amazing marketing campaign.
When I went into the office the next day, I found that I had left a copy of my newsletter in the photocopier and a couple of colleagues had posted it on the staff bulletin board. As I walked past, more than a couple of people were smiling and looking down.
As I went up and glanced at it, I swear to God that was the first time I considered what the image might look like under scrutiny. Or at least could be interpreted to look like. Tarzan and I seemed to be awfully cosy, swinging from that vine. The matching loincloths were the coup de grace.
As the days passed, there were many jabbed comments in passing. At a time when “viral” wasn’t even a thing yet, my innocent ad gained considerable notoriety among my colleagues and several clients, who took great amusement with that image.
My vine days are behind me now. My cautionary tale with marketing is: get a second opinion before you swing full-steam ahead.
Humour columnist and author Dan St. Yves was licensed with Royal LePage Kelowna for 11 years. Check out his website at danstyves.com.
