BrandPoints – How successful Real Estate brands win

Let’s be honest, most real estate brokers realize the importance of marketing but just as many agents. fail to stay consistent with their own branding. They might rely on online templates and choose a new postcard or social media style for every post. Or often it’s simply using the brokerages provided materials and skewing it to the point that it doesn’t have a professional appearance. Still other real estate professionals are pretty good at gaining traction but lack creating consistency and a unified vision can create confusion with the customer which inevitably hurts the brand.

But what does this mean exactly and why is building a strong unified real estate brand more important than ever?

Well, it means that most real estate businesses seem to be caught up in the likes of advertising and paid promotions as opposed to creating a meaningful image and reputation. More specifically, these marketers or decision-makers are busy trying to sell, and distracting customers from the actual brand in the process.

As for the increased importance, the online world and competition means that branding is essential for businesses to not be lost in a sea of new content daily. After all, most products or services are replicated elsewhere and how can a business stand out when there is little to distinguishing this brand from the competition?

With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at the importance of consistent branding:

The Importance of Consistent Branding

When you encounter customers (be it home owners or sellers) at any interaction point, this is a clear opportunity to create an impression. Do this right, get one step closer to gaining new business. Wing it, and fail and this is a wasted opportunity and one that leads to little more than confusion for the customer. In other words, inconsistent branding is bad for business and a common downfall for those which fail to understand the importance of consistency.

On the other hand, brand consistency can create a sense of trust, reliability and familiarity with customers. While this certainly takes more investment and effort for any business, the long term benefits of brand consistency are undeniable. With this in mind, branding is most certainly a long term strategy and not something which paid promotions or advertising can establish.

Either way, the return on investment for a Strategic Real Estate Brand System™ is not just a familiar logo and will include some extremely valuable rewards such as customer loyalty and brand recognition.

The Problem with Inconsistent Branding

Inconsistent branding is most often a waste of time and even detrimental as this shows a distinct lack care or attention.

But why is it such a problem?

The quality of your product or service is important but branding says everything about what you do and what customers might think of your business. Inconsistent branding fails to create trust and familiarity with customers which inevitably has a negative impact on the balance sheets.

What’s more, if advertisements or marketing efforts are not a true reflection of the business, customers are less likely to have any interest or trust for the brand. As for the consequences, inconsistent branding can cause the business to lose sales and credibility with customers.  

Taking Responsibility for Brand Effectiveness

Branding was once the responsibility of a marketing and advertising but the truth is, every singly part of your entire business is now responsible for the effectiveness of branding. Every aspect of a business needs to be focused on branding and taking the reputation of your real estate brand into account at every turn.

For example, your customer service need to nurture the relationship of a brand with its customers. When managing social media, you then are required to convey what the company believes and demonstrate awareness in terms of social or environmental issues. As if that’s not enough, in local reviews and listings you need to be on top of your game and ensure the best possible  friendly interaction and one that maintains the reputation of your real estate brand through reviews and feedback.

Now, these are merely a few examples of where the responsibility of branding lies but as you can see, this is now a collective effort which impacts every area of the business. Indeed, direction starts from the top but branding should be part of a core value which everyone in the business moves toward.

Why Brand Consistency is Essential for Long Term Growth

According to the Harvard Business Review, quality is far more important than quantity when it comes to interactions with a brand. It’s true, and in many ways, brand consistency is the moral version of marketing. That is to say, instead of selling to the customer, you are creating a meaningful connection which can generate future sales without having to ‘sell’. At this point, brand consistency has customers thinking about your brand with a mere glimpse of a name, tagline or logo.

On the other hand, consistency makes your brand so synonymous, that customers trust and depend on you not only for a home purchase, but also to ask you how the market is going, or to actually pay attention to the posts and video content you create. What’s more, customers are more likely to purchase from a brand they recognize and brand consistency creates this sense of familiarity. This brand recognition can make a meaningful connection with customers and as you know, making a purchase of a home is more of an emotional decision rather than one which is practical, as is choosing a talented real estate agent.

Finally, creating a consistent experience across all communication, social media channels, websites and user experiences will make customers feel comfortable with the brand, and much more likely to make a purchase through you at another time.

About Unlocking Your Brand’s Effectiveness

The truth is, marketing and branding has changed a great deal in recent years. While marketers are still just as influential, the process has changed and branding is now very much a collective effort. That being said, the focus of branding is also very different nowadays and savvy marketing, paid promotions and relentless advertising is simply not enough to sustain the longevity of a personal real estate brand.

But how can a business unlock its brand effectiveness?

As already mentioned, consistency (especially in the Real Estate Industry) is key to unlocking the full potential of branding. However, this consistency relates to much more than the company logo or instilling matching colors on the website.

In other words, unlocking the effectiveness of a brand is all about listening to the customer, defining a core message, providing outstanding service, creating excellent products, and nurturing  meaningful relationships with your clients and friends who can help you create an unstoppable brand.