Archive for Real Estate Brands
Your marketing needs to focus on your prospect, their concerns, and how you will help them address those concerns. This focus needs to carry through how you talk to prospects, your marketing materials, and especially your real estate website. But, in the real estate industry, it’s easy to fall into a couple of marketing traps.
The first trap is promoting yourself based on the benchmarks set by the industry. For example: Member of the Millionnaire Club for 12 straight years, or Top Producer in the XYZ office for 3 years.
While those types of achievements are something to be proud of, your prospects or Internet visitors will not view them as a clear benefit. For one thing, many people assume that if you’re a member of a broker’s Millionaire Club, you’re receiving a million dollars a year in commission. That can make you very intimidating!
Make sure that your marketing message focuses on the benefits that you offer to your clients. For example, the message you want your Internet visitors to take away from your website is something like “Wow, that agent really understands me and my concerns, and I think h/she’d be great to work with”.
The second trap is creating a brand that puts too much emphasis on the “personal” in personal branding. Keep in mind that you are running a business - a real estate consulting practice. And a brand is important - every company has one.
But, if you’re focused on “personal branding”, it’s easy to end up with a marketing message that focuses on who you are rather than what you can do for your clients. Certainly in real estate, like in any consulting business, clients will work with professionals they like and trust.
So, depending on your market, it may be OK if your logo plays off your love of fishing or unique hats. But, the underlying definition of your brand had better focus on your prospects.
No one ever bought a house from a fish.
There are various schools of thought on the topic of how personal your brand should be. Some experts in the field think strictly personal branding is passe. Others think home buyers and sellers select their agents mostly because of the agent’s personality.
My view is that you should create a brand that can outlast you in the marketplace. If you structure your brand all around yourself, you’re locking yourself into being around to represent the brand forever.
Most agents I know plan to retire at some point. And, many of them want the option of gaining something back from the real estate business they’ve built with a lot of hard work over a number of years. It’s a bit difficult to turn a personally-branded real estate practice over to someone else when you’re ready to hit the links full-time.
The other factor to consider is that prospects are looking for WIIFM - the old “what’s in it for me”. Just because you’re a swell person, that doesn’t mean that you’re a good REALTOR®.
So, my advice is to structure your brand to highlight the competitive advantages that you bring to the marketplace. And, to make a very direct connection between the services you offer and the benefit those services bring to your prospects.
If you can combine part of your personality with your brand, that’s a good idea, as long as you aren’t the focal point. Here’s an example. One of my clients has identified a niche in the EMS/Firefighter/Law Enforcement/Health Care Provider population. He himself is a Paramedic/Firefighter.
The brand we developed for him is: First Response Real Estate Services. Take a look at the description of his First Response Real Estate Services brand, and you’ll discover how the connection is made between who he is and how that benefits his target market prospects.
The Brand Solution to MLS Listing Services
· CommentsIf you’re a full-service real estate agent or broker, how can you respond to the companies offering a low-cost MLS listing service?
The low-cost providers are promoting the concept that selling a home is easy. Put a sign in the yard, put a listing on the local MLS, and wait for the offers to come streaming in. And, it can be tough selling against that concept - everyone would like to think it is really that simple.
So, should your listing presentation try to burst the bubble? I don’t think so. It’s fine to say “My experience has been that it just isn’t that simple”. But, that’s just an opinion.
Your presentation needs to define how your approach is different - and better! That’s where having a clear definition of your brand can make a big difference. When you can clearly describe the reasons why someone should work with you as opposed to any other agent, you’ve got the MLS listing service beaten by a mile.
Avoid common real estate brand pitfalls. And, let us know if we can help!
Real Estate Brands Aren’t Personal Brands
· CommentsSometimes when I mention creating a real estate brand to some agents, their first reaction is: “I don’t want to plaster my face all over town.”
And, I agree. If you are a real estate agent, you are running a business. It’s a real estate consulting practice. So, your brand needs to represent your competitive advantage. Which for most people, is not their face.
Your brand could be your name or a description of your company, such as ABC Realty Group. The really important part of creating a brand is defining what it stands for.
