At first blush, one of those time-wasting web emails that get shared by the millions seems to be entirely time-wasting. But upon somber reflection, the email about The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest contains a lesson or two that could easily apply to St. Cloud real estate marketing.

 There is no need to go into the details of the story attached to the email, other than to verify that the winning canine, Scooter, is well qualified for the title of Ugliest. Scooter’s history is the expected rags-to-riches saga with the requisite heartwarming outcome. In short, despite birth defects that had the pup slated for euthanasia, a last-minute rescue by a sympathetic new owner produced a well-cared-for dog that’s now “not only surviving but thriving.”

Not to mention, he’s now a world title holder, having beat out a “glamorously ugly” Pekinese and a 16-year-old “curmudgeonly” chihuahua (isn’t that like most senior chihuahuas?).

The lessons here for St. Cloud real estate are twofold—and related to each other. For one, the success of Scooter would be uncelebrated were it not for how it demonstrates the power of marketing. Nobody outside of Petaluma, California would even have heard of Scooter were it not for the smart, strategic promotion that the founders of the World’s Ugliest Dog Competition have long demonstrated. The event, which annually draws tens of thousands of spectators to the Sonoma-Marin Fair, has been going since the 1970s. It grew in attendance from the first, but when the Animal Planet Channel began filming it in 2006, it became a national event. These are the Dog Days of Summer for TV producers, so videotaping ugly dogs is a natural.

The second connection with St. Cloud real estate is hypothetical. If you were to promote your own property as the winner of “The Ugliest House in St. Cloud Competition” to draw attention to your property’s listing, I suspect that it would get a fortune worth of local (and possibly national) attention. This would be an easy win, unless it really is a serious competitor for the title. If that were true, it would probably not work as a way to sell your house for the best price…Or would it?—who would doubt that multitudes of people would adopt Scooter in a heartbeat?

 When your own St. Cloud house is soon to be readied for listing, I hope you’ll give me a call to discuss the non-stunt promotional campaign we should prepare. Our proven approach works! 

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