“Real estate brand” may sound like something you can postpone when you’re busy setting up your new business.
There’s so much to do! Why should you spend time on such a vague concept when there are a hundred other things on your plate?
But newbies to the real estate world should start thinking about branding early. Very early.
A real estate brand not only helps define and focus your goals but also helps streamline your decisions as you set up your business. If you or someone else in your team is unsure of a decision, try asking if it fits with your brand?
Branding is no longer an idea limited to companies and professionals like real estate agents.
Academics and other scholarly disciplines are now studying the concepts and effects of personal branding within academic fields. (When university professors are applying branding to their own careers— then you know branding is the real deal!)
Branding has become the foundation for corporations and individuals alike as a method of furthering their business and personal goals in today’s technology-driven world. Simply put: developing your brand is not only important for today; it’s essential.
Build your real estate brand with the help of our step-by-step guide.
Define Your Brand
Your real estate brand is the image your audience will have of your business.
It is the concept and the character that the public will keep in mind when they think of you. This applies to every industry, not just real estate.
You need to define and market your brand before the rest of the marketing world does it for you. This is the only way to ensure your image will be what you intend it to be.
Step one on the journey to defining your brand is to characterize your values, skills, and what niche you want to focus on.
What are your values?
Why are you an agent?
What does being a professional real estate agent mean to you, personally? First, dig deep and explore who it is that you specifically want to help? Next, consider how you can go about doing that.
Following some of the best practices of other successful agents can help, but it’s crucial also to find your own niche and target demographic—the one that best suits who you are and plays to the strengths of your real estate brand.
What are your best skills and abilities?
Being a new agent, chances are you may not have an existing reputation to rely on when the going gets tough. But, whatever your best skills and abilities are, you always have something to offer your clients or agency. And the best way to relay that to your audience is through your real estate brand.
Do you bring comprehensive knowledge in home construction to the table? Do your tech skills help you reach millennials faster and easier than others? Are you one heck of a negotiator? Think about what you do better than others and identify those talents and values that matter to you. Then promote them through your real estate brand.
Pinpoint your expertise.
After defining your passions, strengths, and values through a self-audit, it’s time to identify your expertise.
Are you a condo expert? Perhaps you’re a historical geek about architecture or the story of the neighborhoods in your city? Does your expertise fall on the technical side? Are you into data analytics or the newer ‘green’ technology implemented in modern buildings?
The reality is, there’s a lot of competition out there vying for every available real estate dollar. Therefore, it’s vital to pinpoint your competitive advantage and integrate that into your real estate brand.
Check out your competition.
Once you’ve defined your skills, niche, and values, it’s time to take inspiration from great real estate brands already in the marketplace.
Do a little research and gather examples of real estate brand elements used by successful competitive agents and brokerages in your area. Don’t forget to look at franchises and companies outside the real estate industry, but they still appeal to you. Similar techniques in branding can give you great ideas, regardless of the business vertical or niche they’re in.
Organize your elements of branding inspiration in a central file for easier review. Your file should contain a collection of color schemes, logos, website screenshots, taglines, content clips, social media posts, photos, music even—pretty much anything that inspires you.
Once you have all these gathered, you can begin to build the best real estate brand you can imagine.
Build A Website
Once you have established a brand concept, you need to have a way to show it to potential clients.
Your own dedicated website is arguably the single most efficient way to get your brand out to your ideal audience and attract new business.
A recent survey showed 93% of Americans in 2021 use the internet. Unless all of your business comes from word of mouth, not having a website to promote your real estate brand just isn’t an option.
As an individual real estate agent, your website gives you the ability to define yourself separately from the brokerage where you work. So even if you decide to leave that office at some point in the future, your individual brand stays with you.
Build Your Online Presence
Once you have crafted a real estate brand for yourself, it’s necessary to promote it. Again, there are many channels and promotion tools to help you get your message out and make some noise.
These promotion tools can include your own website, online directories, print media, open house events, community events, ads (online and offline), email campaigns, and, of course, social media.
How To Use Social Media To Build Your Real Estate Brand.
Social media usage studies in 2021, show that Americans are not giving up their engagement with online platforms anytime soon.
A good rule is to post once a day, every weekday. You can tailor your posts to fit each platform’s demographics for maximum impact.
Create Consistent, Branded Content
Whatever your brand becomes, there has to be consistency in its promotion. Whether posting on social media or handing out your business card at a party, your content and branding must remain consistent.
By providing content that offers real value, they will return to take advantage of the supply of information and value.
Staying consistent with your content’s core values and messaging will allow your audience to have confidence in you. They not only know what to expect from you, but they also count on getting it every time.
Conclusion
A great real estate brand can be the key to your success rate when it comes to closing deals and finding families their homes. To keep a leading-edge, real estate agents have to use every edge and advantage they can find.
River City Mortgage has created a partnership with real estate agents to create the famous River City Mortgage Seal Of Approval.
This pre-approval method can enable your client’s offer on a home to pop to the top of the prospective list of the seller.
Contact us today to learn more about partnering with River City Mortgage and close more deals.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
