Everything A Beginner Realtor Needs To Know About Personal Branding
If you are going to lead the real estate industry, personal branding should be your top priority. Really, if you want to be relevant in the real estate industry, personal branding should be your top priority. In a culture where smartphones, social media, and tweets dominate how consumers view the world, your brand has to stand out amongst the competition. You have to convince your target audience that you have something that competitors don’t. You have to find a way to show them that you offer a unique skill set that they can’t find anywhere else.
Creating a personal brand can seem overwhelming and daunting at the beginning. Especially for new Realtors, defining who you are and where you stand in the market can seem like a monumental task. But if you break it down into steps, you can create a personal brand that is uniquely you. And more importantly, you can create a personal brand that makes buyers and sellers want to choose you over the competition.
What is personal branding?
Personal branding is a way to market yourself. It is the way you choose to advertise yourself and your services to your target audience. Your website, your business cards, your billboards; all of your marketing materials come together to create a cohesive personal brand. When done correctly, you create an identity that generates widespread recognition.
Who needs it?
You need to focus on personal branding if:
- You’re new to the real estate industry
- You want to generate more high-quality leads
- You want to grow your business
- You want to strengthen your reputation
- You want to stand out against the competition
It’s safe to say that personal branding is a must for anyone in the real estate industry.
How To Build Your Brand
Effective personal branding starts with an authentic analysis of yourself. Your brand should be uniquely you by showcasing your strengths.
Find Your Niche
Your personal brand should start with a focus. It is a lot more effective to be the best in a particular niche than it is to try and be the best at every aspect of real estate. Think carefully about your niche. What aspect of real estate do you enjoy the most? When you say to yourself, “When people want to buy/sell _______, I want them to think of me,” what goes in the blank? First-time homes? Condos? Waterfront property? Luxury real estate? Homes in The Tri-City area? When you find your niche, your brand can help you market yourself as the person to go to for this particular aspect of real estate.
Consistency Is The Key
The goal behind personal branding is to be the one name that pops into people’s minds when they think of buying and selling real estate. This requires consistency across the board to avoid confusion. From the color schemes in your marketing materials to your social media posts and communication styles, your audience will begin to expect certain things from you. If you’re going to stay relevant, you must continue to give them those things. Whether it is a catchy slogan or an adorable mascot, it all has to remain consistent. If your goal is to be recognizable, you have to give your audience the same vital elements to recognize. This can get tricky, which is why so many real estate professionals hire branding specialists to help them keep it all flowing smoothly.
Engage In The Community
Once you’ve decided on your niche and how you’re going to market yourself consistently, it’s time to get out there and put your brand to work. Professionally designed websites and flashy business cards don’t do you any good if people aren’t seeing them. One of the best ways to start introducing your personal brand to your target audience is by getting active in the community. This is a smart business move for Realtors anyway, since this is the way you network and meet interested buyers and sellers.
But once you’ve established your brand, you can’t just turn it off and on. You are the brand whether you are working or on vacation with your family. This means it is essential to leave a positive impact on your community whenever you can. This could look like sponsoring a city event, volunteering at a local school, or being a vendor at a local fair or festival. If your brand is going to work for you, you’re going to have to do some work too.
Be A Storyteller
People love feel-good stories. They like tales of the underdog, of triumph, of personal struggles and victories that they can relate to. Your brand needs to tell a story. Your story. You need to showcase an image that people can relate to and get behind. Your brand is a delicate balance of marketing strategies and authentic human connection. Buyers and sellers in your area have hundreds of Realtors to choose from, but they want to work with someone they can relate to and trust. What story is your brand telling? When people see your social media content or business card, what is their first impression of you? This is where you make yourself stand out.
One of the easiest ways to showcase your personality and share your story is through video. In an age where everyone has a camera in their pocket and the ability to broadcast it in seconds, Realtors who want to create an authentic personal brand should take advantage of video marketing. Videos show your personality in a way that a still shot can’t. Document different aspects of your life that give consumers a peek into you who you really are. This is your brand.
How To Put It All Together
Your personal brand will not come together overnight. It happens through a series of intentional decisions and strategies. You can do a lot of the work required to create a personal brand, but to make it all come together flawlessly, you need the expertise of a professional and reliable real estate marketing team.
RealtyBloc is a leader in the real estate marketing industry. We have extensive experience bringing seamless website design, personal branding strategies, and SEO together in a way that can completely change the trajectory of your career. If you’re ready to stand out, make a statement, and finally declare your role in the real estate industry, connect with us today!