Effective branding can catapult a small business into an empire. The key to creating a winning, personal brand is to combine creative and valuable content, a strong social media presence, and regular interaction with your audience to deliver a genuine message.
Here are a few ways that successful real estate agents use branding to stand out from the competition.
1. Find Your Audience
A good first step is to evaluate the competition and determine who yourtarget audience is. If the market is saturated with high-end specialists, maybe it pays to become an expert in condos or homes for first-time buyers. Or, if there’s an opportunity to market beachfront properties or cottages, that will certainly influence who your target clients are. Most agents agree that it’s better to focus on one core area or listing type and become a specialized expert as opposed to casting a wide net.
You always want to have a customer persona in mind when you start developing your brand. This will help you speak to your audience’s needs and help potential clients connect to you naturally.
2. Get Personal
The goal of every brand is to create an emotional connection with an audience, and the best way to do this is to be sincere and genuine.
It’s actually really difficult to genuinely brand yourself, as it requires you to put the real you out there, but it should go into everything you do: your business name, your tag line, your marketing campaigns, and your social media presence. The fact is, clients don’t just want to know what they’re buying, but who they’re buying it from. This explains why videos with agents showing homes always get more views than videos only showing homes.
3. Think Like a Startup
What’s something that differentiates startups from established companies? According to Ginger Wilcox, a former Trulia exec, “Rapid, insane, incredible growth.”
Once you know your audience and become an expert, it’s time to think outside the box and set big goals. Then, create actionable steps to help you achieve those goals. A good place to start is by deploying targeted, personal social media campaigns that you can measure.
4. Use Social Media Effectively
Using social media effectively is a great way to build an audience and engage with it. From creating targeted ad campaigns through programs likeChime and then engaging with those leads, creating compelling–and personal–content on Facebook and Twitter is key.
Some examples?
Oakland-based agent Kenny Truong #FastAgent has built a name for himself by mixing creative offline marketing with savvy social media-targeted campaigns. He claims that 75 percent of the deals he closes come from online leads.
Boyenga, a husband-and-wife-duo, are extremely active on Facebook and Twitter and regularly post content about the real estate space to establish themselves as industry thought leaders.
Robin Milonakis, one of the top agents in Orange County, is known for posting everything she’s thinking on Facebook. While her uber-personal approach may be too much for some, it seems to have resonated with many, as her clients feel a personal connection with Robin the person, instead of just Robin the agent.
5. Get Inspired
Check out your local real estate champions to get ideas of how they brand, and look at the tone and frequency of their posts! Keep an ear out for what your audience is talking about, and add onto your brand with relevant topics that caters to your demographic.
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April Wong represents Appsurdity with a passion for leveraging technology in all industries. For the last 10 years, April has honed her expertise in IoT, smart home tech, consumer electronics and is constantly on the lookout for the next big thing. When she’s not immersed in the world of big data, AI and VR, you can find her running, climbing and riding mountains around the world.