This is a great article I found from Marie Youngblood Krebs on her site GhostBloggerMarie.com. In the article she highlights the importance of investing in your brand as a Real Estate Agent and being able to separate yourself from all of the other Real Estate Agents in your area.
So here it is. Let me know what your thoughts on this topic are and if you think that you are investing enough on your personal brand.
You’ve passed the test, signed on with a brokerage and now you are ready to open for business. Or, are you? Ready, I mean?
As a real estate agent, how many different hats will you don throughout the process of serving your clients best interests?
Like Darren Stevens, the husband of Samantha on the old Bewitched TV series, you will take on the role of advertising executive. Part of the excellent service you provide to a client is finding the best ways to market their property for sale to the general public.
Only, most of those methods have been generalized throughout the industry, and you are able to simply follow those patterns for a successful resolution. The job gets done and everyone is happy. If and when something new is introduced, everyone is quick to assimilate- and so the cycle continues.
With that being the case, in the eyes of the general public, one agent is just the same and as good as the next, no? We know that isn’t true, but if we are all following the same patterns, why should the public perceive us any different or any better than any other agent they could hire?
Are you taking the time to “brand” your real estate business, apart from the brokerage where your license hangs, in any meaningful way that shows potential clients how you stand out?
The “herd” mentality has prevailed for so long that agents – most agents anyway – just accept it. They go along happily looking exactly the same as everyone else – and wondering why they aren’t generating more leads!
Whether to save money or because boiler plate advertising makes it look so simple, many agents never seek or get the advice they need to develop their own ‘brand’. I am not advocating expensive, build from scratch website software purchases, but I am advocating developing your own branding.
The issue with boiler plate marketing, the standard web pages and do it yourself fill in the blanks offered by brokerages and most support agencies are that the very features that makes them quick, easy and cheap to use are also the very things that keep YOU from standing out when you use them.
At best you have 3-7 seconds to make an impression online before a visitor moves on unless there is a compelling reason for them to stay. Get away from the herd, and give visitors that good reason!
BOILERPLATE WEB SITES OFFER THE SAME TIRED “VALUE” ITEMS:
A FREE COMPARABLE MARKET ANALYSIS; a click or two on the internet and anyone can access that information without ever speaking to any real estate agent
A FREE REPORT OF REAL ESTATE STATISTICS; *YAWN* oh, excuse me! Statistics? Really? When I want to buy a house, I don’t really care what 43.7% of OTHER people are doing.
EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE; tired and now meaningless rhetoric shouted from every webpage- what’s in your claim FOR ME?!?
DO YOU HAVE TO REINVENT MARKETING?!?
No. But you do have to take the time to truly personalize your marketing.
Not pick your own colors.
Develop your own BRAND, set your own style. Discover what makes you different and convey that to the buying and selling public in clear and obvious ways.
The general public is so used to being constantly bombarded with the same claims, a unique approach is far more likely to capture the attention you are seeking.
Getting out of the “BOX” opens up a world of possibility. I’ve said it before, tweeted it often and I’ll say it again. Forget the whole “think outside the box” mentality.
GET OUT OF THE BOX AND START THINKING!
If every agent in your office is using the same tired format for their advertising, why should anyone choose to work with YOU over them?
BE STARTLING! BE PROVOCATIVE! BE BOLDER! BE OUTRAGEOUS!
Above all ~ DON’T BE AFRAID!
Whatever you do, just be YOU while being different from all the others.
Yes, it takes more effort. Yes, it means you have to invest in marketing your business. But if you don’t, WHO WILL??
What did you think?
Are you still using a tired old stock standard website?
Or even worse. Is your only online presence a page on your agency’s website?
It’s time for you to take your branding seriously and get a professionally designed custom website today.
Click here to make your online brand stand out and see all the benefits of a personal website.
