4 Essentials of Branding For Real Estate Agents

We know that the thought of posting, and posting regularly, on social media can give make even the savviest agents start to sweat. Not everyone grew up on the internet or speaks fluent hashtag. Getting into the habit of posting and creating online profiles complete with a lot of awesome content is a lot of hard work.

So we thought that we'd help you out. But before we jump in, we thought we'd start with some tips on branding. Social media activity is pretty useless unless it's targeted and branded. Here's why you should brand, and the four essential components of branding for real estate agents.

All businesses brand, and as a business yourself, your real estate practice is no difference. New agents can benefit from starting out their practice with a solid message in place, and it's never too late for seasoned agents to start branding or go through the process of rebranding.

Branding, in many ways, is a concept that's hard to pin down.This is how we think of it: branding is a cohesive story that you tell every client. It encompasses the design of your logo, the color scheme you use for your website and even your Instagram and Facebook page, how you present yourself on camera, what you post and what language you use with it.

Branding for real estate agents means that your choice branding should affect every piece of yourself that you put online and every channel—from your YouTube to your Instagram, to your Facebook, to your personal website, to your LinkedIn.

Why Brand?

Branding looks like it's a lot of work, because it is. It means you have to stay thoughtful, purposeful, and build time for internet posting and content creation into your already packed schedule! Here's why all your hard work is worth it.

Building a Brand Can Attract the Right Audience

You probably have a target audience in mind. If you're working with rentals, maybe you're interested in renting to young professionals or young families who'll soon become homeowners. Or maybe you're thinking about selling homes to families on a tight budget. The more granular you can get, the better. If you brand correctly (we'll go over how to do it correctly in a little bit), all of your content can act like a magnet. Your target audience will gravitate towards a brand that looks like yours and has your recognizable voice.

Building a Brand Means You'll Get Recognition

All top-of-mind products have colors and images that make them recognizable. Here's a little exercise: Think of a soup that you can buy at the supermarket. We're going to go out on a limb and guess that you thought of Campbell's iconic bright red labels and curling white font. This recognizability factor is what it means to be a top-of-mind product.

Think about how you can translate this to your own business. Branding for real estate agents is the same. What colors and images will attract your target audience? Use them consistently so when your customer sees, for example, light blue, they'll also think of your real estate company!

Look Legit

Clients searching for a real estate professional typically start their search online, especially if they're younger clients looking to wade into the home sales/rental market for the first time. An online presence confirms your existence; a great online presence is even better. If you have a solid, cohesive (and modern!) online presence with a unified color scheme and logo, you'll look highly professional to new clients searching for a real estate agent.

You don't have to be a professional (or even competent) coder or graphic designer to get a great website. Get a professional looking website with something like wix.com and see if you can outsource any graphic design work you need to a great freelancer.

The Four Essential Parts of Branding for Real Estate Agents

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to branding. There's not even one size fits most. As much as we'd love to, there's no way we could tell you how to brand yourself to attract the customers you want. We'll give you more questions than answers, but we do know that branding is highly personal. You're going to need to dig deep to figure out why you need to brand and how you can make all your hard work pay off.

1) Dig Deep: What's Relevant to Your Customer Base?

Whose business you are trying to get is central to you; make sure your branding reflects that. Have a brainstorm or get together with your team to answer these important questions: Who is renting or buying homes from you? Who do you want to be buying homes from you? If you're a listing or selling agent, what types of homes are you selling? Who do you want to buy them? Which pieces of information, or images, will be relevant to them? Who is renting and buying homes in the area?

To make stuff relevant, you really need to get granular. What do they want and need to know? How can you convey this to them:

• Try doing this exercise – Pick a brand that you think brands well and follow their Facebook. How does this business make their product relevant to you? Is it with a particular catch phrase? Is it a set of articles or videos they post that you find particularly interesting?
• Here's another exercise – When you're making a Facebook post about a local business nearby, which one will your customer be most likely to shop at? If you're targeting a woman with a lot of disposable income, maybe it's an upscale local boutique. If you're targeting young families, maybe it's a baby clothing store.

2) Figure Out What Feels Authentic to YOU

Branding works best if you stay true to you and your clients. This is especially true if you start wading into creating video content. If you're faking something or trying too hard, your target audience might feel uncomfortable and turn off.

3) What Makes You Unique?

As a new agent, maybe you don't have awards or a huge book of business to rely on, but of course you have something special to offer. Maybe it's your ability to text and connect with a millennial clientele, or maybe it's your knowledge of local restaurants?

What can your clients get from you that they can't get elsewhere? Branding for real estate agents should include some great pieces of content and advertising on your website that focus on this special something.

4) Stay Consistent

This is non-negotiable. Lack of consistency means you're not branding correctly. If you've chosen a sleek black and white color scheme to appeal to older clients hoping to find a home in a swanky home in the center of the city, then stick with that color scheme! If you've hired a freelancer to make a logo, then put that logo on every one of your social media accounts.

To view the original article, visit the Rental Beast blog.