10 Decisions You Need To Make About Your Real Estate Brand
Make these decisions for your real estate brand today… Whether just starting out in real estate, or already completing 100+ transactions a year, your brand is your most valuable asset. It is your brand which will make or break further deals, dictate conversion rates – and RO – as well as the total potential and value of your career or enterprise. If you haven’t committed the following to print yet, take a day to nail it down and secure your ongoing success… What is your brand identity and USP? What does your real estate brand stand for? Is it speed and convenience like the ‘Rocket Mortgage’, is it being the largest like Zillow, being established and trusted like Sotheby’s, green, or predictable and close by like McDonalds? Do you have a logo? You’re ahead of the game if you do. Though many brands update their logos over time, including Google. If you don’t have one, get one today. They don’t have to be expensive. Just make sure they truly represent your brand identity well. Uber recently took a bashing via Inc. for its re-branding, while others like Airbnb have invited users to pitch in with their ideas. Creating an awesome brand is one thing, keeping it can be another. A lot of thought, time, and investment goes in to creating a great brand. Yet, it can all be lost quickly if proactive measures aren’t in place to defend it. This includes protecting your web domain names, phone numbers, company name, online traffic, lead flow, and reputation. If you don’t have systems (and the budget set aside) for automatically renewing your domain name, phone numbers, and other key items, they can be grabbed by the competition. Some even acquire multiple variations of these items to fend off attempts to tap their lead flow. Ferrari recently and notoriously grabbed a fan’s Facebook page in order to control those searching for it. Proactive reputation management, such as positive content marketing, is also key for fending off malicious online reviews from competitors. Do you have a plan and schedule in place for these things? What you wear is a part of your personal and business brand. It must have synergy with your desired brand identity. Does your wardrobe match? The vehicles you drive are just as important as what you wear and say about your real estate brand. Again, a lot of this is about synergy and authenticity. If you are pushing a green real estate brand, driving a gas guzzling F 350 or Hummer probably isn’t going to fly. Just as a luxury real estate agent probably isn’t going to be seen driving a beat up old pickup with a “we buy houses” sign on it. This gets even more important if you’ll have company fleet vehicles. Mastering pulling in new customers to try you out is great. Keeping them requires a plan. How will you do that? Coke versus Pepsi may be a taste or availability choice, as is McDonalds versus Burger King. But what about Apple versus Alphabet? Google recently knocked Apple off of its pedestal to become the most valuable company in the world. How? Many argue that Apple devices are more beautiful and run smoothly. Yet, business people, and some of the largest phone and devices markets on the planet rely on Google for a variety of different things. If you’ve got Gmail for email, all your documents stored in Google Drive, and maybe even have Google Fiber internet, getting an iPhone is going to be a pain – it doesn’t sync well. How can you not only create loyalty out of attraction, but need too? Perhaps most important on this list is your verbal branding. What is your tagline, slogan, positioning statement, or elevator pitch? This is the core of your branding which carries across all mediums even when your logo, or you, are not visible. Put some thought into it. As you grow your real estate business you’ll begin to produce volumes of content. There will be blogs, articles, social media posts, PR, and more. Each needs to match and blend with your branding and your target market. How will they react to this content? Each employee, remote contractor, investor, partner, and vendor is an extension of your brand. What do yours say about you? How do their actions and customer experiences reflect on you? How will you ensure better matches in your hiring processes? How will you ensure consistency across online, employee social media, off the clock engagement, etc.? What checks and balances are in place to keep on top of this? Ultimately, it is time to figure out how to create congruency throughout your brand and stick to it.