As a real estate professional, creating a strong personal brand will allow you to stand out among the competition. However, gaining a voice in an often oversaturated market can be easier said than done.
Without a doubt, boosting brand visibility and promoting the brand that is YOU is tricky.
If wading through the massive amount of marketing and advertising options leaves your head spinning, consider these four tips designed to increase brand awareness and convey a powerful personal message to your target audience.
1. Social Media
With the increased use of the Internet by homebuyers and sellers, having an online presence is an essential element to building your brand.
Real estate professionals can gain by establishing a social media presence where they can discuss local events, answer frequently asked questions and provide insight into the homebuying and selling process.
To attract fans, followers and subscribers, consider the following:
• Visit Facebook pages where your target market hangs out. Spend time commenting and interacting within that community and bring awareness to your page. This is not about being spammy and selling your product or service. It is about offering valuable feedback and building a solid reputation for your personal brand.
• Like pages belonging to other local businesses. Be sure to post and comment on other pages to increase activity on your page!
• Host a sweepstakes or contest of your own. Contest ideas could include a photo contest where fans must identify where the photo was taken. You can use a real estate sign or any brand identifier in each picture and make the location easy to spot. You may also ask fans to share their best tips. Or, if your brand is running a national sweepstakes on the brand’s Facebook page, simply share it with your fans. Make sure you read the strict Facebook contest guidelines before getting started.
• Share content created by your brand such as videos, blog posts and whitepapers.
2. Email Marketing
A monthly e-newsletter or drip email campaign will keep you top of mind and potential clients abreast of what’s new and what’s to come. Always remember to follow appropriate can-spam laws before adding any names to your list.
You can also use these emails to promote your online profiles on a consistent basis.
3. Website
A website can help establish credibility. It will allow you to showcase your individual talents as a real estate professional while allowing prospective clients to easily connect with you on a local level.
If you have a website, use it to complement your business endeavors and branding efforts. It’s also important to know where you rank among your competition. Google your name and business name often.
If you don’t own all of the sites that come up on the first page of Google, you will need to adjust your strategy to better build your online presence.
4. Offline
Although business appears to be more Internet-based now than ever before, one can never neglect the importance of traditional marketing.
Continue to use brochures, flyers and direct mail campaigns to reach your prospects alongside your online marketing campaign.
Don’t forget to include links to your online profiles so consumers are able to find you no matter where they spend their time
Join us on Facebook for tools to power your real estate career into the New Year!
Rebekah Radice is the Manager of Industry Engagement for Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate and serves as “the voice” behind the brand.
