Branding is everything when it comes to growing your real estate business and consistently generating new leads.
Is your brand established?
Do you have recognizable brand assets?
Do people in your community recognize your name?
There’s so much that goes into creating a unique brand, and we know how overwhelming it can be.
Whether you are just getting started or looking to improve your brand, take a gander as we walk through some key steps to build an effective real estate brand.
What is a personal brand?
It's how you connect with potential customers and make them want to commit to you. Your reputation as a real estate agent and the staying power of your business depend on how well you manage your personal brand.
Personal branding isn't just about saying, "Hire me, I'm the best agent", it's looking further into the experience someone has when they work with you.
Why real estate branding is important
Your personal brand is what sets you apart from the competition. It represents how you connect with your clients and the messages you send about yourself and your business.
Your brand is how your community comes to recognize you and what you stand for.
Your brand is your reputation.
It helps you to build trust and respect with customers.
Every business needs branding.
But this is an even more important step in your journey as a real estate business because your personal reputation and name are associated with your brand.
And when it comes to large purchases, like a house or property, your customers need to feel confidence and trust in you as an agent.
That’s what good branding can do.
How to build a standout real estate brand
So, how can you build your brand to stand out from the competition and inspire confidence in your clients?
It starts with realizing what you stand for as an agent, what you’re looking to achieve, and ultimately how well you establish yourself in your community–online and in person.
Let’s get into it.
Look to successful agents for inspiration
To get started, you need to know what you want.
Take a look at other successful agents’ websites and social media channels to gain inspiration for your own brand.
This is also a great time to scope out what the competition is doing.
Take notes on:
- Their messaging.
- What they’re doing well.
- What clients are responding to (pay attention to reviews).
- What you love about their brand.
Pay attention to what popular agents embody.
How does their website make you feel?
Can you relate or engage with their copywriting?
Understand your values and mission
You need to nail your messaging.
And that starts with understanding your values, mission and, commitments to your clients.
Ask yourself:
- What first impression do you want to potential clients to have of your brand?
- What take away experience do you want people to have?
- Is your brand going stand out in a sea of agents?
- Is my brand enough for someone to pick up the phone?
Think on these questions for a second.
Consider the reputation that you want to build in your community.
Think about the traits that you want associated with your name and brand.
More importantly: what do you want clients to say about your brand when you’re not in the room?
Those should be your values.
Use your values to fuel your mission and the messaging you establish throughout your brand materials.
Once you know what you stand for as an agent, it will be much easier to get started in creating your brand assets.
Decide which brand assets you need to get started
Now that you’ve established your values, you need to determine which brand assets you’ll create.
There’s a ton that goes into establishing a successful brand.
Whether that’s the yard signs you use or the layout your Instagram has; it all has to work together.
And it can get overwhelming as you try to decide where to start.
Professional headshots
You are your brand.
Professional headshots will allow potential customers to get to know you before they’ve ever met you.
Find a photographer who can help you get the perfect headshot for your brand materials and website.
Use that photo to help guide the first impression that you want to exude (friendly, professional, formal, etc.)
Logo
Most real estate agents incorporate their name or business name into their logo.
But, do you want to brand yourself like everyone else?
Decide whether you want a logo that is all text or if you feel like it needs an icon or image associated with it.
Think about the colors and fonts that you want to use.
A professional designer can take you brand values and help create something that uniquely fits your brand.
Your logo design can help drive the design for the rest of your brand assets.
Business cards
Some might say business cards are a thing of the past, but in real estate you deal with people every day and a business card is a helpful reminder that you’re just a phone call or text message away.
Website
A website is 100% necessary when establishing your brand.
Think of your realtor website as a 24/7 sales person.
It can answer questions for your clients when you aren’t available.
And oftentimes, your online presence is the first interaction prospects will have with your business. Make sure it’s a good one.
Social media channels
Figure out which social media channels your ideal client spends the most time on: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc.
It may be more than one.
Take some time to set up profiles for your business on all relevant social media channels and invest in creating content for those channels.
Those are just some of the essentials that every realtor should have.
If you’ve already spent time building your personal brand, there’s always opportunity for growth.
Doing the same thing as everyone else will only make you average.
Think about these branding ideas.
Start a local newsletter or email campaign
77% of marketers have seen increased email engagement in the last 12 months1.
And for good reason.
Sending out email campaigns or newsletters can give you the opportunity to regularly connect with clients who aren’t necessarily in the market for new home (right now).
But this doesn’t mean you can’t become a thought leader in your space.
Remember, single sales are great. Recurring deals are better.
Emails are your opportunity to stay top of mind for longer.
Write local content and guides (blogs)
Blogs provide additional value to your clients.
You can share helpful advice that builds trust and establishes you as an authority in the industry.
It’s also a sign of trust. If you’re actively creating and distributing useful content, it says to a potential client, ‘hey, we care about our market and the area we’re in’.
Not only that but companies who blog get 97% more links to their websites2.
And, if you’re familiar with real estate SEO, you’ll know that content and links is the recipe for online success.
Digital ad campaigns
Digital ads, right now, are the quickest way to get eyeballs on your brand.
Ad campaigns are pay to play. It’s that simple.
But, just because you spend your hard-earned dollars on a campaign, it doesn’t mean it’ll work well.
With platforms such as:
- Google Ads
- TikTok
- Snapchat
It can be easy to put budget into everything and see what works.
Or, you could save time, money and, headaches, by letting Curaytor set your PPC campaigns for you.
We recommend employing two people to really nail how your brand is perceived.
- A graphic designer for your campaign’s assets.
- A copywriter to make your ads stand out.
And, if you’re comfortable on camera, you can even leverage video ads.
They’re great for showing who you are as an agent upfront.
You might consider a two-phase approach to building your brand.
Start with the basics to establish a strong message and brand aesthetic, and then move into ongoing brand-building tactics.
Hire a graphic designer
If you have an eye for design and the skills to create your own designs, by all means, carry on.
But, if you don’t want to spend hours scouring the internet shopping for brand elements that suit your message or learning how to create some designs yourself, outsourcing this job to someone with that expertise can save you a lot of time.
You might want to consider hiring a graphic designer to help with a number of design materials:
- Logo
- Business cards
- Website
- Digital ads (for Google Ads or social media ads)
- Promotional materials like newsletters, flyers, brochures, or even stickers
A good graphic designer will be able to take the brand values that you’ve established and provide ideas and direction for your brand assets, including colors, fonts, icons, and more.
Quick tip: Graphic designers love when you have ideas for what you want. Spend time preparing ‘the perfect brand’ for your real estate business.
Set a timetable for yourself
You won’t be able to do all of this in one day.
In fact, in can take several months to come up with your brand ideas, find the right designer, and receive your finished brand assets.
Set realistic goals for yourself, and have an idea of when you want everything to be completed.
Start planning well ahead of time.
Finding a good designer can take weeks (if not months), and you may be subject to their timeline, depending on their workload.
Here’s a sample timetable for some of the basics in the beginning:
Creating additional assets like your business cards, website, and other branding materials can add even more time, so schedule monthly and quarterly tasks to hold yourself accountable.
Manage your online reputation
Your brand is larger than the logo and creative content you put out there.
It’s also your reputation and how potential clients perceive you.
Your online reputation can make or break you.
So you need to make sure you are listed in important online directories and working towards growing your online reviews.
Here are a few of the big ones that you should create profiles on:
- Google Business Profile
- Yelp
- Zillow
- Realtor.com
- Trulia
Best practices for managing your online profiles and reviews:
- Add your logo and professional headshot to your profiles.
- Make sure your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent on all the profiles that you create. This is important for a consistent brand identity as well as SEO.
- Set up notifications to alert you when a new review comes in.
- Respond to all reviews (negative and positive) within a few days.
- Ask clients for reviews and come up with a strategy to continue to get more reviews on a regular basis.
Getting positive reviews online helps establish trust and confidence in your brand, and it can also set you apart from the competition if you are consistently growing your online reviews.
Real-world examples of phenomenal real estate branding
You can never have too many examples for inspiration.
Take note of the things these agents and real estate groups are doing well for their brands.
Something may just jump out and inspire the brand decisions you need to make.
1. Brad McCallum, Calgary Realtor
2. Joe Taylor Group
3. Veronica Figueroa
4. Tammi Montgomery
5. Park Group Real Estate
What should you do when you’ve established your personal real estate brand?
Your brand isn’t a one-and-done task that you can just check off as you get started.
It’s a constant part of your business that you should always be feeding and improving.
Engage in these strategies to continually improve your brand.
Invest further in your online presence
Word of mouth can only get you so far.
You need to create brand awareness.
And doing that is a constant battle.
New customers may not be familiar with your brand the first time they meet with you or visit your website.
You need to always work on your brand, improving your online reputation, putting out regular content, and helping your clientele see the benefit in working with you.
Good tactics for improving brand awareness include:
- Local press releases.
- Sponsoring charitable events.
- Sponsoring local sports teams.
- Provide commentary on local developments and news.
If you’re not sure how to get started on these, look for a good marketing team to help you out.
Continue to produce high-quality content
Content is king.
Content–be it videos on social media, blogs on your website, helpful infographics–helps you establish your authority.
Continually producing more content helps you keep that authority and trust with past, current, and prospective clients.
Share high quality content on a regular basis to keep moving your brand forward.
The problem agents have is coming up with creative content marketing ideas (consistently).
This comes down to:
- How badly you want to develop your branding.
- Your ability to get creative.
- Your unwillingness to compare yourself to other agents.
- Being fearless about trying new campaigns.
Summary
We know, it’s a lot.
But you’ve got this.
Take your brand implementation strategy one step at a time. Determine what you need, set a timeline, and get started.
Keep checking off the boxes until you have brand assets that you are proud to share with the world.
Make sure you have an online presence that makes a good first impression and establishes your brand voice and expertise.
Continue to produce top-quality content to provide value to your customers, and engage in brand awareness campaigns.
And if you need a little extra assistance along the way, Curaytor’s team of experts is ready to help.
