When you first got started in real estate, branding might not have been one of the first things that came to mind for your to-do list.
However, it’s a vastly undervalued part of real estate success. If you think about the most successful colleagues in your field, there’s a good chance they have made real estate branding a high priority. Here’s why:
Branding helps foster communication
Some of the best branding campaigns are noted for their earning power simply because they go the extra mile when communicating with clients.
In an era when social media has the potential to expedite earning power greatly, this is all the more important.
For instance, according to CIO, Coca-Cola’s #ShareaCoke campaign became a viral hit specifically because of its message of personalization and robust social sharing.
On the nonprofit side, the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS awareness was an excellent example of clever branding that’s fun and helps those in need. In fact, the Ice Bucket Challenge has helped the ALS Association to raise $115 million.
Though your branding strategy might not reach the worldwide status that these campaigns did, there are key lessons to be learned from their success stories.
Define what you do to a target audience — and make sure assets look spectacular
For one, they clearly defined what they did to a targeted audience. In the real estate sector, this means that you need to be posing the right questions, highlighting the differences between your agency and your competitors and communicating your values at the same time.
Branding lets people get to know your agency on a visual level. The message you want to deliver is probably the most important aspect of branding, and the message must look good too. Your website, social media pages, logo and other marketing collateral need to look great.
For younger generations who have been immersed in technology and the Internet for most of their lives, a poorly constructed website, a mediocre logo and an unresponsive social media presence just won’t work.
Being memorable means giving great consideration to the way your online presence looks and feels.
Branding offers what every successful business wants: consistency. The entire point of branding obviously exists to communicate what you can offer as a real estate professional.
However, for this idea to work, you must stay consistent with your message. Every PDF or video you share and every blog you post must communicate a consistent look and message.
Not only does this help your brand become more memorable, but it also shows that your agency cares about how it will impact clients in the long-term.
Building a brand takes time and effort in real estate, but it’s a crucial investment you must make to be successful in this industry.
Tim Swindle is the director of strategy at PointDrive. You can follow him on Twitter @timswindle or LinkedIn.