It is difficult to stand out in the real estate crowd. So how do you set yourself apart from your competitors? Strong branding and recognition can differentiate you from other agents in your area. Follow this step-by-step formula to build a memorable brand and stand out to potential buyers.
Study Your Audience
Understanding your audience allows you to cater your persona to different targets. You can create a persona based on simple demographic details such as:
- First-time buyers
- Repeat buyers
- Common needs
- Income
- Culture, values, and traditions
- Other traits are based on conversations, social media comments, etc.
Define Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
Your UVP focuses on your strengths and what you do well. Ask yourself these questions to help define your UVP:
- What skills do I have that will resonate with clients?
- Do I specialize in helping niche customers such as retirees or first-time buyers?
- Do I specialize in specific properties like condos or retirement communities?
- Do I have certifications?
- What sets me apart from my competitors?
You can use these answers to sum up your UVP in just a few sentences.
Define Your Mission, Vision, and Values (MVV)
Your mission, vision, and values are the core of your brand. MVV’s tend to be short, clear, and powerful. There are two types of statements to use while writing your MVV that are distinctively different:
- Purpose: Define your primary objectives and explain your business
- Application: Define your long-term projects, goals, and initiatives
Elevate and Optimize Your Website
Many people underestimate the power of an intuitive and easy-to-navigate website. Implement features clients and home buyers want to see on a website (advanced search features and quick contact buttons/forms). Investing in SEO is crucial to ensure your business appears at the top of search results and beats other local realtors. Start by optimizing your on-page content (content listed on your website) and off-page content (links and content on websites other than your own). People want to sell their homes using local agents, down to the city name they live in. A great tip is to create location pages for local and neighboring cities to promote your business. To help potential home buyers find the homes you are helping sell, list properties on your own website and any other real estate websites you use and have an easy way to update listing images and information.
Establish Your Online Presence
The power of social media is often overlooked when it comes to promoting a business. In addition to your website, social media is a great tool to share information about your business, get leads, and stay on top of current industry trends. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube are great platforms for promoting your business and elevating your brand. It is essential to remain active on social media and share more than just your listings. Engage with your followers and give them something to do, read, or comment on.
There is more to your online presence than social media, though. Your online presence should appear across all channels available, including:
- Your website
- Social media
- Leading real estate websites
- Online ratings and reviews
Practice Brand Consistency
Ensure that your marketing practices adhere to these branding rules:
- Use the same colors, fonts, and designs
- Use the same logo, headshots, and types of imagery
- Be consistent with your MVV, tagline, and bio
- Always use the same tone and manner for your copy
These can be applied through:
- All online marketing
- Print materials
- Signage
- Email campaigns
- Other marketing such as TV commercials, print ads, videos, and more
Why Differentiate?
You can compete on other bases than price. Although in real estate, buyer- and seller-side agents (and brokers) typically share a fixed compensation amount, new entrants to the business have begun offering lower commission percentages. There will always be someone willing to undercut your fees. This means if you differentiate based on price, your advantage will likely be ephemeral.
You become more appealing to your target market. If you succeed at differentiating yourself, you will become more appealing to your prospective and existing customers. This can lower your marketing budget and reduce the amount of time your properties remain on the market before closing.
You enhance buyer loyalty. By becoming more appealing to your prospects and zeroing out substitutes, having a differentiation strategy means your customers will remain more loyal over time. Greater loyalty produces more closed transactions and profits.
As you can see, differentiating your real estate business has obvious advantages. But how do you actually become differentiated?
Potential Differentiation Strategies
- Differentiate yourself based on demographics
- Differentiate based on a specific profession
- Differentiate based on life stage
- Differentiate based on lifestyle
- Differentiate based on property type
- Differentiate based on neighborhood
There are countless other ways you might differentiate yourself in a highly competitive real estate marketplace. The key is to make sure your differentiation strategy speaks to you, that you’re excited about working with this specific group of clients, and that you share meaningful characteristics with them. It also bears repeating that your differentiation strategy should tap into a large enough prospect pool to make your marketing strategy financially viable.
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