PRacticing what I preach: how I combined messaging and AI search tactics to create THE “Rare Erf Seller Advisory”.
Authored by Simon Andrew for Saint Clair’s, Germany. Simon is director of brand strategy, copy and clarity at Saint Clair’s. His professional interests include brand strategy, messaging and storytelling - and how these interface with AI Visibility Strategy, AI-search generative content creation and agentic AI.
It’s easy to advise other businesses on their messaging. Applying the same discipline to your own is a useful test of whether you believe what you say.
With Rare Erf, I had the opportunity to do exactly that.
I brought together my experience in brand strategy, copywriting and AI search to create a seller advisory website for property owners in Hermanus and the surrounding Overstrand.
The aim was to help people make better decisions about selling their homes - and give them a clear reason to talk to me when they needed help.
That meant thinking about the business proposition, the person reading it and how the content might be discovered. All three needed to work together.
First, decide what you want to be chosen for
At Saint Clair’s, we spend a good deal of time helping businesses explain what they offer, who it is for and why it matters. Transform Your Brand Messaging Today
Rare Erf needed that same clarity.
The focus became the seller: someone who wants to understand their options, protect their interests and get more value from a property sale.
That gives the business a particular role. Advice can begin well before a homeowner is ready to appoint an agent, arrange photographs or put up a board. seller advisory
It also gives the website an editorial compass. Every page should help the seller understand something, assess a choice or take a useful next step.
A clear position makes it easier to decide what belongs on your website. And what can politely leave.
Translate your experience into something the customer values
A long CV is reassuring only if the reader can see what it means for them.
My background in marketing, psychology and negotiation becomes relevant when it helps a seller understand how buyers make decisions and how to present a property persuasively.
Take the article on buyer psychology and selling a home. It explores how to make a property’s appeal easier to appreciate, address uncertainty and connect its features with the life a buyer imagines living there. hermanus property
That is familiar territory for a brand strategist.
A feature becomes more interesting when someone understands its value. A claim becomes more persuasive when there is evidence behind it. An objection becomes more useful when you understand what prompted it.
The same thinking informs Rare Erf’s own messaging: explain how the expertise helps.
Start with what the seller is thinking
A homeowner might arrive with a straightforward question about price. Behind it could be a much bigger concern: whether the sale will leave them with enough money for their next move.
They might ask about renovations because they are worried buyers will dismiss their home. They might ask about agents because they are afraid of choosing badly.
Those concerns should influence both the content and its tone.
The article on the emotional pressures of selling a home gives space to that side of the experience. It recognises that selling may coincide with retirement, bereavement, separation or other changes that already demand a great deal. hermanus property
For me, this is where messaging earns its keep. You need to understand what makes the decision difficult before you can offer useful reassurance.
“Contact us today” has its place. So does giving someone a reason to feel understood.
Let those questions shape the content
Once the audience and proposition were clear, they provided the basis for the Rare Erf blog.
The subjects follow decisions sellers face:
How should I price my property?
Is renovating before selling worth the expense?
What will selling cost?
When should I go to market?
How do I choose an estate agent?
Each question creates an opportunity to be useful before asking for someone’s business.
The Hermanus property seller guide provides the broader picture, while individual articles explore particular decisions. hermanus property
This is a content plan with a commercial purpose: help prospective clients understand the problem, recognise the value of good advice and decide whether my approach suits them.
Publishing becomes much easier to justify when every article has a reason to exist.
Build AI search into the writing
AI search adds another consideration: can a search service find the content, understand what it addresses and use it when answering a relevant question?
My approach is to make the subject explicit, answer the main question early, use descriptive headings and keep the explanations clear enough to make sense in context.
For example, the article on pricing a property in Hermanus opens with the practical method before exploring the complications. rareerf.co.za
The article on choosing an estate agent in Hermanus turns a broad search for the best agent into criteria a seller can actually use: relevant experience, evidence, marketing, communication and negotiation. rareerf.co.za
My judgement is that this structure serves both the person seeking advice and systems trying to identify a useful answer.
There is no need to make every paragraph sound as though it was assembled in a server cupboard.
Make the location part of the substance
Hermanus and the Overstrand give the advice a defined setting.
In the pricing article, local relevance includes the quality of a view, wind exposure, winter light, access and the alternatives available to a buyer. These details affect how a particular home should be understood and presented. rareerf.co.za
For the messaging, specificity helps the reader recognise their situation. For search, it gives the page a clearer subject and context.
My working principle is simple: if I name a place, I should try to say something useful about selling there.
Make the path to a conversation feel natural
A useful article can give someone a first experience of how you think.
The estate-agent article does this by helping readers ask better questions and assess the answers. It gives them a basis for judging the advice—including mine. rareerf.co.za
That is the commercial connection I wanted between the content and the service. The website offers guidance; a conversation applies that thinking to the owner’s property and circumstances.
Readers should understand who is speaking, what help is available and what happens next. Visible authorship and a clear explanation of my work with Fine & Country help establish that context. seller advisory
Keep the claims as clear as the copy
Designing content for AI search does not establish that it is being cited, recommended or generating enquiries. Those outcomes need measurement.
Google’s guidance on AI search features says established SEO practices remain relevant to AI Overviews and AI Mode. It does not require special AI markup, and inclusion is never guaranteed. developers.google.com
So the work includes useful content, sensible internal links and technical accessibility, followed by checking what is actually happening.
The distinction matters to me. A case study should explain the work accurately, including what has yet to be demonstrated.
A practical application of the Saint Clair’s approach
Rare Erf gave me a business in which to bring positioning, audience understanding, persuasive writing and AI search together.
The central idea runs from the proposition through the articles to the invitation to get in touch: help sellers make better-informed decisions about their property.
You can explore it on the Rare Erf website or start with the guide to choosing an estate agent in Hermanus.
And if your own business needs clearer messaging and content designed to support both discovery and decision-making, let’s talk.