Essentially personal branding is branding yourself — or building a brand around yourself as a real estate agent. An important part of personal branding is developing and maintaining a trustworthy reputation of you and your real estate business.
This is critical, because of what we already know about reputations in general: it’s essentially impacted by what other people say about you behind your back. Think of it this way: what would you want your customers to say about you when you’re not in the room? Let's be honest, real estate agents don't have the best of reputations- and I am here to change that!
I like to say branding is:
How you see yourself, how you THINK others see you, and how others ACTUALLY see you.
It’s also not just about a logo and color scheme, although those are important (and fun) factors in branding. It’s about defining and sharing a unique set of values that represent your character as a brand, what the consumer can expect from you, the quality of your product, your ethics and what you stand for. Put simply, good branding builds trust.
“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room” Jeff Bezos Founder of Amazon
Think about your mission statement, if you haven’t got one then spend a little time creating one, figure out what it is that you want to be known for. If you already know that, then work on making it as powerfully concise as possible. Brevity is required here, think of it as your 15-second elevator pitch.
When creating your mission statement, think about the following.
- What do you do?
- How do you do it?
- Who do you do it for?
- How does it help them?
Once you know what your mission statement is, it will help to guide you through difficult business decisions such as which clients to pursue and which to pass on. Keeping you focused when you begin to feel yourself pulled in a million different directions. Having a strong mission statement means the difference between creating relevant and ‘on brand’ content and just spewing words out into the worldwide web, willy-nilly.
Once you have finished writing your mission statement, it's time to see how it fits into your current identity. Take a few moments to look at all your various platforms and assets to see how they support your statement. Do all those separate elements support your mission statement? Are they telling people clearly what it is you’re about, or could they do with some editing to make sure the overall picture is a cohesive one? What small steps can you take to tighten things up?
3 EASY STEPS TO BETTER BRANDING
- Go through your wardrobe and decide on a style, develop a uniform, if you will. One that you feel immediately shows people (potential clients / collaborators) what you’re about. One that makes you feel powerful and like you have your shit together. I like to think of it as "dress for the job you want, not the job you have.
- Look at your social media accounts, can people see instantly what you’re about? Do your channels show off your USP? What does your bio say about you and what services you offer? If it’s not adding up, edit your bio and start adding in content that makes it clearer.
- Are your accounts named in a way that’s easy to remember, spell, find etc? Do they relate to you as brand or are they a mishmash of names and personal references that only your mum and best mate will understand? Having all of your accounts synced will make it much easier for people that are trying to find you. Again...this will build TRUST.
Branding is an extremely important area of business development that deserves your time and attention. I would love to hear how you can improve your brand identity in the comments below.