7 Myths of Personal Branding

Steve Hundley of 1 Park Place offered the following concepts about Personal Branding in Real Estate. This was a good session for real estate agents and brokers who are not new to online strategy, but looking to get more sophisticated. I jumped on the call to get to know Steve and his company better in advance of joining him as a speaker at RIS Media.

5 Myths are:

1. Personal Branding will build my business;
2. Internet leads are junk;
3. Facebook and Twitter help build business;
4. A website is better than a blog;
5. Consumers want map search.

Myth 1.) Personal Branding will build my business - it is not about you it is about thought leadership, not sales leadership. Positive information - what is in it for them? The customer?

Hobbs Herder personal branding at $29,000 (discounted from $45,000) is a waste because it is designed to talk about the agent, not about the service or the product that the agent offers.

The Top 5 ways to improve personal branding are: Twitter, email marketing, informative print farming, Facebook, and blogging are good.  Other noteworthy personal branding routes are listing syndication and marketing through Craigslist.

Myth 2.) Most internet leads are junk leads. 

This is not always true; a lead is an opportunity, not a likely sale - you need to work it. Incubate your lead with information that is specific to the interest of the customer. This requires long term incubation, with regular contact. Real estate agents and brokers can measure their success at conversion, but will have to be patient.

Fact: 7.3% of a successful real estate professional's business come from the web.

Myth 3.) I need a really good website

Pick a good website with all the appropriate functionality. Make sure you pay attention to build search engine optimization (SEO) into your website so it actually shows in Google search results. What good is having a website if no one can find it?

Myth 4.)  Facebook and Twitter will help my business

Truth - You are on your own to make Real Estate Social Marketing work for you. But you can build your profile, brand your property and hire out to have your Facebook and Twitter pages designed correctly. Just be sure to monitor your online reputation.

Focus on the 4 P’s of Social Marketing: Purpose, Parts, Priority and Process. 

Myth 5.)  A website is better than a blog site

Truth - Websites are old fashioned, at least to Google.  

Consider getting a blog. Blogs have better rank, faster rank, better consumer engagement (start conversations) and are more flexible - check out http://lasvegasfinehomes.com. 

Myth 6.) Customers want to search by map

Fact - Consumers prefer neighborhood search and school district search. 

Maps with neighborhood/school district boundaries are the answer. Mapping solutions that do not define these boundaries actually generate fewer leads.

Myth 7.) A picture is worth a 1000 words. Make sure your pictures are thought-provoking, and don't overdo it. You don't see many photo blogs; the right words educate and spur interaction. 

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