Branding any company is a win-win. When branding you create memorability of your company, you also create loyalty, familiarity of your brand, and (in many instances) you can lower your marketing costs once your brand has been established. All of these benefits can be used to increase the presence and success of your business practice. The following are just some of the steps (outside of social media campaigns) you can take to brand your real estate practice. These things include both broad ideas and more specific details, accompanied by several examples.
#1 Stop comparing your services to other realtors
When branding, it is important to think outside the box. Adopting what makes you different is key when branding. Focus on the services your real estate business provides and how it is special from your competitors. Take, for example, industry giant New Home Source. New Home Source specializes in new homes and new construction communities. Their brand includes a vast resource of builders, new home buying incentives, and pictures to view for ideas when building a new home. New Home Source has branded their company on the fact that they focus solely in the new home niche, and they have done it well.
#2 Make yourself personable
Getting anywhere in this industry requires politeness and relatability. Realtors would get nowhere without these two traits. Without personalization, there would be no brand. This creates the initial trust needed to make consumers familiar with your brand, which in turn helps create loyalty and brand establishment.
#3 Put in the time to make it work
Building a brand does not happen overnight. Every aspect of creating a successful business needs time and effort in order for it to work; this includes a branding campaign, especially in the real estate profession. Century 21 was founded in 1971. By the end of 2012, the home page on their website (Century21.com) became the most visited real estate franchise web site. That is successful branding. But clearly the success did not happen over a short period of time. It took Century 21 over four decades to get where they got.
#4 Personalize cards, locks, pens, magnets, and any other small thing you can think of
Nowadays everything in your marketing arsenal can be personalized to your brand, making it memorable and recognizable. Business cards can be reflected to match your industry in a cheeky way. For example, there are business cards that mimic real estate signs (i.e. the card says sold and has the realtor/business information). You can also get personalized locks (specifically door key lock boxes), magnets (to give away to visitors), and pens (also to give away to visitors).
#5 Don’t spend all your time focused on your logo and tagline
Take the time to branch out into the real estate community, as well as your local community. Doing so can greatly benefit your branding campaign. Optimize your website, produce quality information in order to make your brand a thought leader, and take advantage of engagements, events, and promotional opportunities. When you type in the search word “realtors” into Google, the first site listed is Realtor, the second site is REMAX, and Zillow closely follows. Each of these sites works hard on their brand campaigns but also has local representation and advertises through several different venues.
It is undisputed that branding can greatly impact the success of a business. Making sure your real estate business is branded may be time consuming, but is easily attainable if the work is put into it. Branding makes your company memorable, and not all branding has to be done over the internet.
