Brand Yourself to Success in the Real Estate Industry
How do you separate yourself from the thousands of other agents in your area?
To separate yourself from your counter parts and achieve success in the real estate industry you need to brand yourself, and I am not talking about choosing a particular broker franchise. In order to build your brand you need to understand what a brand should be and what it should do for business.
Brand Defined:
- A name, symbol, logo, or other item used to distinguish a product or manufacturer from its competitors.
- A product’s attributes — name, appearance, reputation, and so on, taken collectively and abstractly.
The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:
- Delivers your message clearly
- Confirms your credibility
- Connects with your target prospects emotionally
- Motivates buyers
- Encourages User Loyalty
So how do I build my real estate brand?
The first thing that you need to do is know as much about your target audience. If you desire is specialize in condo/lofts in your downtown area. Then go to the developers of new projects and ask them who their target market and then spend as much time as you need to to understand why people are buying downtown. Take that a step further and understand where they are moving from. The more you understand your target audience the more success your marketing and branding will be.
Build your brand to be consistent in every interaction with clients. What does your voice mail say? We work with a local real estate auction company whose voice mail does a really good job at this. Their voice mail encourages people to go to their website, then lists out the website, to find out how to sell you home in thirty days or less for top dollar. They have branded themselves as a way to sell your home fast and in the market they are busier then ever. As you have read building a brand in more then just working with a designer to create cool flyer’s. Building a brand is about your clients interaction and experience with you.
So are you reflecting the right image?
Your brand will be judged and represented by the following:
- Business cards and stationery
- House flyer’s
- Newspaper/Magazine Ads
- Website
- Answering system/Voice Mail
- E-mail address
- Your Professionalism
The above is just a sample of what needs to be looked at in order to build a brand for success. Here is just some of the questions we ask our clients to answer. Take some time to answer them, be truthful and highly critical of yourself. The more effort you put into this the more you will get out of it.
Action Steps to Building My Brand
Answer the following questions:
- Who is your target audience?
- Where is your target audience located?
- What do they think about your current brand?
- What would you like them to think about your brand?
- How will you attract them to your products or services?
- Who else is competing for their loyalty and devotion?
- Draft a statement about the relationship you would like to have with your clients.
- Be as specific as possible
- Review ALL of your marketing materials
- Your Website
- Magazine Articles
- Buyer/Seller’s Packets
- Listing Presentations
- Business Cards
- Brochures
- Review your competition
- Solicit feedback from your best customers
- Make appropriate changes to your brand and business
