6 Integral Steps To Real Estate Branding
When we are talking about real estate branding first question we should ask is- why is it so crucial? We should ask this question because according to the simple logic, real estate is a very straightforward and tangible industry, sellers and buyers see the clear end result.
Because of how the Industry works, it needs the least amount of branding since ‘brand’ is usually about the emotion and real estate is all about numbers, right? No, the subject here is way more complex. I’ll try to explain why exactly is it crucial for real estate businesses to build a brand.
Digital Age
Digitalization of basically everything made even more necessary for any business to build and establish their brands. Why? Because now everyone has access to all the info, statistics, data- anyone on the market can just create the same product or a service that you have and sell it at a lower price.
So, what’s the solution? Exactly, the branding. A brand is an emotion that produces loyalty in your customers. A brand makes people loyal to a product or a service- simple as that. And this is the most important reason as to why even small real estate businesses should start working on their branding ASAP.
To find out how, keep on reading
Research
The first thing you need is all the data you can get access too. You need to know everything about your target audience, starting from their average income to what are their usual choice in hobbies.
Know your numbers, market trends, and history- the three most important parts of your research. Now, you’d say all this you can use in marketing too and that would be right. It’s just when building your brand, imagine how much more vigilant you have to be. Marketing strategies can be changed, modified, improved, but when you establish your real estate brand most likely it will stay with you for a very, very long time.
Define Your Average Client
Very Important- according to all the information and conclusions you and your team draw from the research, try to define who is your average client. As in who are you going to sell your services to- what are his/her interests, what she likes in a brand, who she trusts and how much is she/he willing to pay.
When you have your answer, it’s time to start building your brand persona according to who your average client is and what she wants and needs
Find Unique Positioning
Needless to say, there are lots of things a client needs in the real estate service she chooses. Trustworthiness, honesty, effectiveness, quickness, even personality- So, the real question what do you do when building your real estate brand?
Well, what not to do is use every single one of them at once in your strategy, you need to choose one of the qualities and make it your thing.
Everyone knows Apple is for creative people- that is the result of genius branding. If Apple positioned itself as everything at once no one would remember who is Apple as a brand. Now the words- creative, innovative, easy- are automatically connected with the brand and that’s the importance of choosing the right position.
Ask yourself, who would my brand be if it were a person? What would be its main quality, but when answering that question keep in mind who your average client is and what she likes and wants.
Name, Logo, Colors, Hook
The common mistake businesses make in branding is choosing their name, logo, colors and a hook first and defining who they are as a brand and who they target as a client. Do not make the same one. Define and then proceed
Back to the basics- when building a brand, there is no way you can do it with proper visual and verbal signals. Definitely invest in a good logo, slogan, naming, and colors- if these things go wrong, nothing will save you.
My personal advice is to hire professionals who are experienced enough, but also creative and bold.
On another note, a slogan and a hook is close to each other, but are not exactly the same. You can use a hook instead of slogan if you’d like more room to represent who you are and target your clients. But make it visible and take it with you everywhere you go – as in use it often in your marketing efforts
Showcase It
When you build your brand persona, create your own logo, hook/slogan and choose colors next step is to showcase it and a crucial one at that point. What’s the point of a great brand, if you don’t show it to the world?
Now, this step is all up to your personal preferences and can be modified to your budget, but in the ideal case- you’d have your own android/IOS app, TV app, not to mention robust website, professional social media management, SEO manager, CRM and needless to say, great marketing strategy.
All this will make your real estate brand visible and memorable. Pay extra attention to social media, to better your efforts there, here is a guide on what to do there to represent your brand in the best light
Ethics
Social proof is integral in building a brand and arguably the most important one. To create a loyal clientele to help your word of mouth marketing efforts, you definitely need Ethics guidelines for your business.
Modern consumers are very market-savvy and they cannot be enticed easily or be tricked into simple marketing schemes and techniques. What is appealing to them is honesty and value. If you provide these two things and have your agents follow certain ethical guidelines, your brand will benefit from this immensely.
If you want to know more about real estate branding for newbies, read our blog First 12 Months: How To Build Your Brand in Real Estate
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