One of the biggest mistakes I see agents make is failing to build their personal brand. Instead, they choose to rely on the broker’s brand. This is a huge opportunity loss. Done well, it can generate more consistent revenue and often lead to more repeat business, which is the holy grail for agents.
So in this article, we’ll detail how to build a strong personal brand that will help you attract and retain customers.
What is (and is not) a personal brand?
First of all, a personal brand is more than just a nice logo or a polished website. This is just the basics, and this is an important component, but there are some other important components that are even more important.
Your personal brand is a distillation of what you specialize in, what you stand for, and why you do what you do. You also need to convey your personality. This will help you attract the right prospects and repel the wrong ones. The latter is more important than many people realize. Because the wrong outlook wastes time, destroys productivity, and undermines positive thinking.
Core elements of your personal brand
Aesthetic and visual aspects
The visual side of your personal brand is the first step in your personal brand, but unfortunately, it’s also where most agents stop.
Your personal tastes will influence the look of your personal brand, but it’s even more important that it appeals to potential customers. This should consist of a personal logo with text, either in typeface or signature. I prefer the latter, but that’s not your true signature. Instead, hire a graphic designer to create your signature so that others cannot easily forge your signature on your documents.
It also includes a color palette, professional headshot, and cover photo. These should be consistent across all platforms, but cover photos should be tailored to each platform as they all have different size requirements. You also need to make sure your cover photo looks good on both the desktop and mobile versions of each social media platform.
what you specialize in
Real estate agents are a product. With around 1.5 million agents, potential clients have many professionals to choose from, so you need to give them a solid reason to choose you.
Deep specialization is a powerful way to achieve that. Good examples include first-time home buyers, luxury homes, and military personnel, but the options are virtually endless. The more specific the better. Focusing on your own city is an example of insufficient specialization, since all agents should already be experts in their own city.
Your specialty gives prospects a clear advantage in working with you and is a powerful differentiator because you understand unique situations that few other agents can offer.
what you stand for
People want to work with people they believe share their values.
Your character plays a big role, so elements like honesty and integrity are important, but it goes deeper than that. Your social and political beliefs come into play as well, as people want to work with people who share a similar worldview. That’s why what you believe in and the organizations and causes you support are also a factor.
This is how the world works today, and with so much information at our fingertips, it’s easy for prospects to find out where you stand. The days of being agnostic in this sense are long gone, so accept that.
why do you do that
You need a strong “why” behind your actions. No one wants to work with an agent who is just there for the money. They want to work with people who have a deeper mission behind their work.
For example, my own personal brand is based on the principle that I believe the model most brokerages follow is bad for both agents and clients. That’s why I built my brand on a model that provides far more value to agents and clients. And our results speak for themselves.
We retain our agents longer and close more trades than most brokerages, giving our agents greater experience in a wider variety of trades. This increases your value to your customers and they stay longer, so you get more repeat business.
The “why” is the basis of almost every Hollywood movie you’ve ever seen, so you should follow a pattern you’ve already seen thousands of times. The key is to distill your “why”, also known as the hero’s journey, into a concise and powerful message that sets you apart.
How to express your personal brand
Elements of your personal brand should be reflected in every aspect of your marketing, including your website copy, emails, and social media content.
It’s not just your expertise. It’s also about your area of expertise, what you stand for, why you do what you do, and most importantly, your unique personality. It should clearly show potential customers who you really are.
The mistake most people make is making their content boring. You try to make your content appeal to everyone (which is impossible), or you try to alienate no one, which is equally impossible.
It’s important to remember that an effective personal brand can both attract the right prospects and repel the wrong ones. Most people are pretty good at the former, but frankly most people are bad at the latter. If this happens, the effectiveness of your marketing efforts will be diminished.
You need to prove your expertise, but you need to be clear about who you want to work with, and most importantly, you need to be who you are.
Achieving all of this will allow you to consistently attract the right prospects and repel the wrong ones, resulting in more consistent revenue.
March is Marketing and Branding Month at Inman. As the spring sales season begins, we examine the proven tactics and new innovations that are driving results in today’s market, and celebrate the industry’s top marketing and branding leaders with Inman’s Marketing All-Star Awards.
