In today’s real estate environment, branding is integral to your success. Real estate remains a highly competitive business. In this tumultuous landscape, your brand will set you apart from the crowd, put you on track to long term growth, and help you become a trusted and recognizable voice in the field. If you’re a real estate professional and you’re not bolstering your brand, you’re falling behind.
It’s important to think your brand through before you begin developing a visual identity and a content strategy. You should begin by conducting internal research—take a look at your organization and ask yourself, earnestly, what makes you different, and what you have to offer that the competition doesn’t. You may not be the best judge of yourself, so consider hiring a nonpartisan third party branding consultant to objectively assess your strengths
You’re not the arbiter of your brand’s success—your audience is! You might love your brand, believe in it, but if it doesn’t have traction with your audience, it’s pretty much a non-starter. A great brand relies on knowing your audience. Figure out what their expectations are, and suss out their positive and negative experiences with real estate have been in the past. By taking the time to hear their concerns and pain points, you’ll avoid guesswork when developing your brand.
After you’ve scrutinized both your organization, and the wants and needs of your audience, it’s time to create your brand. It starts with a visual identity, which refers to a consistent logo, color scheme, and typographic palette that is used consistently across your organization. Sometimes it’s okay to take care of this kind of thing in-house, however for best results consider involving a branding agency that specializes in real estate. If you do choose to go it alone, avoid the clichés of the field: stock graphics of houses, trees, and your company’s initials.
The foundation of your brand will also include developing a website and a social media presence that you can use to connect with your audience. With most of your engagement coming from mobile platforms, it’s important that your brand shines on a small screen, but don’t neglect print, either—your brand should work offline and online.
You should continue to try to play to your strengths—if your organization has had a presence in your area for a long time, you should talk about your legacy of success. If you’re a new business, frame yourself as a disruptive up-and-comer with everything to prove. If your business specializes in lifestyle properties, showcase the kinds of exciting activities that you’ve been able to provide access to.
After you’ve created your brand, you have to continue to develop it by creating content daily. A robust content marketing scheme is the cornerstone of a successful brand, and the single best way to assert your authority in the field. Providing your audience with relevant content that enriches their understanding, you’ll engender loyalty in your customer base—one of the most difficult and desired qualities in a customer.
Building a successful real estate brand is not a straightforward task—and it certainly won’t happen overnight. Great brands are built from the ground-up, and are felt in every aspect of your organization—from your visual identity, to the tone of your copy, to how you interact with your audience online. It’s not just about a logo, nor is it about a clever slogan—it’s about every aspect of your business coming together to communicate something authentic and distinct.