Sub-marketing gone wild!

Vegetarian real estate agents? Yes, in the push to find new clients, one agent in Palo Alto is reaching out to fellow veggies and vegans.

You couldn't make this stuff up. A Bay Area real-estate agent is marketing himself as a "vegetarian broker". This being his unique selling proposition, presumably he hopes to reel in like-minded veggie lovers as clients.

"Are you a vegetarian or vegan preparing to buy or sell a house? Are you dreading the thought of the contact you will be forced to have with real-estate agents, as part of the process (the same way most people dread upcoming encounters with used car salesmen)? You are not alone!" broker Daniel Berman from Pacific Century Realty writes on his website.

Berman addresses the obvious question -- what difference does it make to have a real-estate agent who is vegetarian as opposed to a meat eater -- head on. "Simply stated, it's a matter of shared values, an approach to life and a way of relating to others," he says. Adding: "If you've been a vegetarian (or vegan) for any length of time, you know what I mean."

I find this to be a noble, interesting tactic. The only problem is how to get that message to your targeted audience. Advertise at Gratitute Cafe? Possibly. But is that money well spent? That's the trade off he's willing to take, if he is advertising his veggie-ism.

Oh, and being 70% vegan myself (more for health and environmental reasons than animal-cruelty), I would never hire a vegetarian. I find milk products to have more negative health aspects than a steak. So call me, the steak-eating vegan, for all your real estate needs!

SOURCE: SFGATE