Why Your Personal Real Estate Brand Matters – Real Estate Branding Series

From the moment somebody comes into contact with your real estate brand, a perception and relationship starts to develop. It starts off simple, a logo here, some marketing there? but ultimately, this relationship is something that could decide if your real estate business is a success or failure. So it’s up to you to make sure you are sending the right real estate branding signals.
That’s easier said than done considering all the different times and places people interact with your real estate brand. You could spend all day, every day closely monitoring your branding and marketing messages, but mistakes will still happen from time to time. As an property agent you might print out flyers with an old, outdated logo, or one of the negotiators in your team might mistakenly use a pixelated photo in the latest property report.
In this real estate branding series we hope to illustrate how to build your real estate branding, by laying the foundation for great branding and giving you a chance to evaluate and reflect on where you are today, and where to go from here.
This branding series is for real estate agency brand owners as well as property agents who want to protect and elevate their real estate branding. The decision makers who understand the power of a story well-told.
Your
real estate brand matters
. And if you’re ready to build and grow that brand into a consistent, compelling force that drives your real estate business, then this real estate branding series is for you. Here is part 1 of 7.

Branding Questions You Need To Ask Yourself
So which areas of branding should your real estate brand focus on? To start the series, here are some questions you need to ask yourself to help you evaluate your real estate brand’s strengths and weaknesses. You will use the answer to these questions to help you find out where you need improvement in your real estate branding. You can also reference these questions during the series as each set of questions are directly related to each part of our real estate branding series.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR  BRAND IDENTITY
You need to answer these questions
What is brand identity design to you?
Does your real estate brand consistently use the same logo and colour theme?
Do you have access to all versions of your brand theme?
Are all client communications delivered using the same brand theme?
Do all marketing materials(ads, print, digital) share a similar look & feel?
Are your personal core values & mission statements prominently displayed on your
real estate website
?
How developed is your brand’s voice?

DOING PROPER BRAND MANAGEMENT
You need to answer these questions
What is real estate brand management?
Does your agency use online software to store & share brand assets?
On the whole, how well do partners & vendors represent your brand?
Do you provide partners & vendors with brand assets such as logos & colours schemes?
Is your brand represented consistently on social media?
When you consider your agency’s brand, how well known is it in all the places and markets that you serve ?
Who in your agency/team has primary responsibility to manage & protect how your brand is used?

HAVING THE CORRECT  BRAND CONSISTENCY
You need to answer these questions
Consider the consistency of your real estate brand in all the places it appears. Is it consistent or inconsistent?
How would you rate your branding guide lines in the following areas?
How current they are
How easy they are to find
How effective they are
How easy they are to follow
Have you discovered instances of you or your team creating materials that don’t conform to your branding standards?
How often are materials created that don’t conform to your branding guidelines?
Are your branded materials protected from unauthorised changes ?How so?
In what formats do your branding guide lines exist?
If your brand was always presented consistently, how much do you estimate that your real estate sales would increase?

EFFECTIVE SALES ENABLEMENT
You need to answer these questions
Do you or your team have access to
branded templates
 that they can update and use during the sales cycle?
How much time do you or your team members spend on updating existing marketing materials?
Where is the biggest bottle neck in your current creative branding process?
How long does it take you or your team to design materials for new marketing initiatives?
How long does it take you or your team to deliver on updated or customised materials?

MANAGING PRINT & DIGITAL COLLATERAL
You need to answer these questions
Which of the following print materials does you and your agency
regularly use
Brochures
Postcards
Flyers
Letterhead
Business cards
Which of the following digital materials do you or your agency regularly use?
Banner ads
Social media graphics
Slide presentations
PDF documents
Newsletters
Does your agency provide you and your team with consistent branded material like business cards or business card templates?
Who is responsible for creating social media content including graphics?
Do your brand guide lines cover digital colours (RGB) and print colours (CMYK)?
Does you or your agency use online software to create marketing content either for online or offline?
How often does your brand update its printed materials (manuals, banners, brochures, posters, etc.)?

REVIEW YOUR ANSWERS
How did you do? Were some areas more problematic for your brand than others?
Important note!
These questions are not meant to be taken as a pass or fail assessment of your brand’s value. Rather, they’re designed to gauge the challenges and opportunities your brand might be facing today in order to provide the best recommendations.
Now that you have answered these questions, please have them with you for the next parts of the series.  We will be releasing the next parts of the series every week, and for each topic in the series, you will be able to relate your answers to relevant parts of the series in our branding guide series that will help you with each of the issues you have uncovered today.
So please stay tuned to the next part of the series where will explore in detail on how to properly manage your real estate brand.
  Here are the topics in the series:
Brand Identity
Brand Management
Brand Consistency
Sales Enablement
Print Collateral
Digital Collateral

Stay tuned with the
realestatemy.com/blog
 for more up-to-date tips and guides for real estate marketing professionals.


How To Write Great Property Listings – Infographic

How To Write Great
Property Listings
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How To Write A Great Real Estate Negotiator Profile To Help You Make More Sales

How to write a great real estate agent profile
If you’re like most people, writing your real estate agent profile is probably as awkward as going for a job interview with spinach stuck between your teeth. It’s just really unnatural to write about yourself in the third person, isn’t it? However, the reality is, as the real estate market shifts towards online media, your professional profile becomes an important part of your marketing arsenal. Aside from generating sales, it is a part of your
personal brand
 where potential clients in Malaysia can make a meaningful connection with you.
The key is to understand the formula for writing a great real estate agent profile. Check out our 12 tips below with examples from real estate gurus to get you started on your own stellar profile.
Use a Sophisticated Photo
Skip cropping out a photo from your Facebook albums and hire a professional real estate photographer instead. Your face is a major part of your personal brand and helps people make a visual connection with you during their online searches. So, you want to make sure the photo that you use is one that conveys a positive impression and actually looks like you in real life.
Phil Gutowski’s photo immediately draws the eye to it. With his genuine smile, he feels like someone you’d be comfortable to spend your time viewing homes with as he guides you through the buying process.
Be Truthful
Sincerity will go a long way in getting people to trust you. When someone is making one of the largest purchases of their life, you can be sure they will be scrutinising you for truthfulness. Tell them about how you’re a straight shooter, a hard worker and that you love doing your job.
Greg Noonan’s profile summarises his qualifications and experience with bullet points. This is a great way to showcase important information without padding it with unnecessary sales jargon.
Show off Your Skills
Just like when you meet your future in-laws for the first time, highlight only the best parts about yourself. You want your readers to believe that you can meet their needs, so share some of your real estate background without going overboard. Walk that fine line between humility and boasting. Keep the information in digestible bits and use welcoming language. If you’re new to the real estate scene in Malaysia, explain why you got into it and how much you love what you do.
Keith Darby first lists down his major accomplishments. Then he goes on to share about things that make him so good at his job.
Share the Love
What makes you stand out from the thousands of other real estate agents in Malaysia? The answer: your passion in the work that you do. Tell your readers what gets you excited to wake up in the mornings. Share a little about what drives you and your readers will catch on to your enthusiasm.
In Travis Greene’s profile, his family photo and work slogan reinforces his drive to put his family’s and client’s needs first.
Stop Selling
It’s tempting to slip into a salesperson mode when writing your profile – but don’t. Your profile should be a written account of your life, not an advertisement. You will come off as phoney if you sell in your profile and this is a sure-fire way to lose clients quickly. Instead, be authentic and allow people to see what kind of person you are. People are more likely to trust you this way.
Tom Daves makes you feel like even before you’ve met him, you already know him.
Keep it Clean and Quick
People are unlikely to spend more than a minute reading a profile. A good profile should be between 200 – 300 words and have 2 – 3 paragraphs. Keep the language simple and straight to the point. Use short sentences, professional font type and size.
Jonathan Wilson’s bite-sized profile gives all his essential information in a way that anyone can understand.
What if Longer Works for You?
Even if you have a lot of things to say, be prudent. Keep in mind that the average person reads 250 – 400 words a minute. If your profile runs longer than this, you risk losing your audience. Begin each paragraph with a strong sentence that hooks your readers’ attention. Other than using personal touches and listing your accomplishments, video or audio dialogues are an added advantage.
Shay Hata’s long biography is attractive with its catchy paragraphs and personal anecdotes.
Make it a Video
Distinguish yourself from the crowd by creating a video profile. Quicksprout reveals that videos increase people’s understanding about brands by 74%. In the real estate business, your personality is a huge part of your brand and videos are a terrific way to present this.
Lisa Archer’s video profile is how to do it the right way.

Group Mentality
For a group profile, make sure to convey the idea that there is no “I’ in “team”. No one likes to be caught up in bureaucracy and tossed between different agents. The potential client must feel like he will benefit from the expertise of the group.
At RE/MAX NE, each real estate agent has an individual profile within the “Meet Our Team” page. This presents a unified front to the client.
Where are You? How do I Reach You?
Include your geographic location in your description to make it easier for search engines to generate hits for online searches of your area for
lead generation
. Don’t forget to say how long you have lived or worked there. People prefer an agent who knows the area well.
Invite people to get in touch with you by providing your contact details in your profile –address, phone number and email. Use calls-to-action like “Do you have a question I can help with?” to get your reader to engage with you.
Tracy Campion’s profile immediately tells you that Boston is her forte and how you can contact her.
Keeping it Fresh
Things are constantly changing in your business and your real estate agent profile must keep up. Make it a point to update your profile every six months or once a year.
Edit Over and Over
Once you have written your profile, get a fresh pair of eyes to look at it. Weed out any spelling and grammatical mistakes, long-winded sentences, bombastic words and anything else that could misrepresent you. Show your potential client that you are a professional. Mistakes in your profile reflect a careless attitude which will turn clients away even before they’ve met you.
Stay tuned with the
realestatemy.com/blog
 for more up-to-date tips and guides for real estate marketing professionals.


A to Z of Real Estate Branding

a to z on real estate
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realestatemy.com/blog
 for more up-to-date tips and guides for real estate marketing professionals.