From the moment somebody comes into contact with your real estate brand, a perception and relationship starts to develop. It starts off simple, a logo here, some marketing there? but ultimately, this relationship is something that could decide if your real estate business is a success or failure. So it’s up to you to make sure you are sending the right real estate branding signals.
That’s easier said than done considering all the different times and places people interact with your real estate brand. You could spend all day, every day closely monitoring your branding and marketing messages, but mistakes will still happen from time to time. As an property agent you might print out flyers with an old, outdated logo, or one of the negotiators in your team might mistakenly use a pixelated photo in the latest property report.
In this real estate branding series we hope to illustrate how to build your real estate branding, by laying the foundation for great branding and giving you a chance to evaluate and reflect on where you are today, and where to go from here.
This branding series is for real estate agency brand owners as well as property agents who want to protect and elevate their real estate branding. The decision makers who understand the power of a story well-told.
Your real estate brand matters. And if you’re ready to build and grow that brand into a consistent, compelling force that drives your real estate business, then this real estate branding series is for you. Here is part 1 of 7.
Download Now: Real Estate Marketing Plan Template [Free Access]
Branding Questions You Need To Ask Yourself
So which areas of branding should your real estate brand focus on? To start the series, here are some questions you need to ask yourself to help you evaluate your real estate brand’s strengths and weaknesses. You will use the answer to these questions to help you find out where you need improvement in your real estate branding. You can also reference these questions during the series as each set of questions are directly related to each part of our real estate branding series.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR BRAND IDENTITY
You need to answer these questions
- What is brand identity design to you?
- Does your real estate brand consistently use the same logo and colour theme?
- Do you have access to all versions of your brand theme?
- Are all client communications delivered using the same brand theme?
- Do all marketing materials(ads, print, digital) share a similar look & feel?
- Are your personal core values & mission statements prominently displayed on your real estate website?
- How developed is your brand’s voice?
DOING PROPER BRAND MANAGEMENT
You need to answer these questions
- What is real estate brand management?
- Does your agency use online software to store & share brand assets?
- On the whole, how well do partners & vendors represent your brand?
- Do you provide partners & vendors with brand assets such as logos & colours schemes?
- Is your brand represented consistently on social media?
- When you consider your agency’s brand, how well known is it in all the places and markets that you serve ?
- Who in your agency/team has primary responsibility to manage & protect how your brand is used?
HAVING THE CORRECT BRAND CONSISTENCY
You need to answer these questions
- Consider the consistency of your real estate brand in all the places it appears. Is it consistent or inconsistent?
- How would you rate your branding guide lines in the following areas?
- How current they are
- How easy they are to find
- How effective they are
- How easy they are to follow
- Have you discovered instances of you or your team creating materials that don’t conform to your branding standards?
- How often are materials created that don’t conform to your branding guidelines?
- Are your branded materials protected from unauthorised changes ?How so?
- In what formats do your branding guide lines exist?
- If your brand was always presented consistently, how much do you estimate that your real estate sales would increase?
EFFECTIVE SALES ENABLEMENT
You need to answer these questions
- Do you or your team have access to branded templates that they can update and use during the sales cycle?
- How much time do you or your team members spend on updating existing marketing materials?
- Where is the biggest bottle neck in your current creative branding process?
- How long does it take you or your team to design materials for new marketing initiatives?
- How long does it take you or your team to deliver on updated or customised materials?
MANAGING PRINT & DIGITAL COLLATERAL
You need to answer these questions
- Which of the following print materials does you and your agency regularly use
- Brochures
- Postcards
- Flyers
- Letterhead
- Business cards
- Which of the following digital materials do you or your agency regularly use?
- Banner ads
- Social media graphics
- Slide presentations
- PDF documents
- Newsletters
- Does your agency provide you and your team with consistent branded material like business cards or business card templates?
- Who is responsible for creating social media content including graphics?
- Do your brand guide lines cover digital colours (RGB) and print colours (CMYK)?
- Does you or your agency use online software to create marketing content either for online or offline?
- How often does your brand update its printed materials (manuals, banners, brochures, posters, etc.)?
REVIEW YOUR ANSWERS
How did you do? Were some areas more problematic for your brand than others?
Important note!
These questions are not meant to be taken as a pass or fail assessment of your brand’s value. Rather, they’re designed to gauge the challenges and opportunities your brand might be facing today in order to provide the best recommendations.
Now that you have answered these questions, please have them with you for the next parts of the series. We will be releasing the next parts of the series every week, and for each topic in the series, you will be able to relate your answers to relevant parts of the series in our branding guide series that will help you with each of the issues you have uncovered today.
So please stay tuned to the next part of the series where will explore in detail on how to properly manage your real estate brand. Here are the topics in the series:
- Brand Identity
- Brand Management
- Brand Consistency
- Sales Enablement
- Print Collateral
- Digital Collateral
Stay tuned with the realestatemy.com/blog for more up-to-date tips and guides for real estate marketing professionals.
