Branding with your name in real estate? Come on, you can do better than that

Effective branding is at the heart of virtually every successful business, yet it is a rarity in the real estate industry. If you’re branding your business with your name, it may be time to take a different tack. Over my 30-plus years in the industry, I’ve been affiliated with several of the major brands in the business. The standing joke in Coldwell Banker is that people often think that they’re in the banking business. At Century 21, a common question is “Are you the people who have the great deals on car insurance?” And by the way, exactly what does Re/Max and ERA stand for? (Real Estate Maximums and Electronic Realty Associates.) Effective vs. ineffective branding The challenge in each of these examples is that the branding doesn’t meet the three simple criteria for having an effective brand. An effective brand does each of the following: It's memorable It immediately brings the product being sold to mind. It identifies a specific target market. ...