You can’t build an attraction based business WITHOUT having a brand. Once you can dial in what your brand stands for, using video is the best real estate branding strategy you can implement. In the rest of this post, I’m going to explain why.
“I work for a broker and they are my brand…”
NO, The agent is the brand. The broker is not. Helping build your broker’s brand does you NO BUENO. As a matter of fact less than 4% of consumers actually chose their agent because of the brand they were affiliated with.
What does this mean?
It means that buyers and sellers don’t give a shit what company you work for. Company brand used to matter as the public perception used to think they needed to work with an agent at a big brand name. In today’s brokerage world, that is no longer true for the most part because 96% of consumers reported they hired the agent vs the brokerage they affiliated with.
Real Estate Branding Strategy Step 1- Determine Your Brand Story
Over 60% of all agent business is derived from referrals and repeat business because people seek out agents they know, like, trust, or are referred to. You don’t get referrals and repeat business from strangers, you get them from the relationships you have in life, but only when you are remembered.
Which is more memorable?
NIKE
OR
I think we know the obvious answer here, but the question is why? Over time we’ve been trained to associated Nike with their logo. When I see it, I don’t just think of the company, but I think of what the company stands for. Instantly I get images in my head of:
Michael Jordan
Basketball
Sports
Just Do IT
Adrenaline
Competition and so on….
That logo has the power to trigger all those thoughts and emotions in my brain. That’s the power of branding. Over time I have been exposed to a consistent combination of marketing campaigns where Nike associated their branding with the stories of well known athletes. They didn’t need to put their shoes or apparel in the ads, they just placed their logo next to the athletes stories. Therefore, over time, my brain was programmed to associate that swoosh with athleticism. It was the consistency and branding of the Nike’s logo that created that association in my brain.
I understand Nike is a billion dollar company and we are talking about real estate branding here so let’s go through my own branding from when I still practiced as an example.
Mike Cuevas, Realtor
OR
The logo is more memorable than saying Mike Cuevas, Realtor. Images are more power than straight text and why I use my logo in everything I do because I know my logo resonates more than my name. Over the last few years I have built up the Chicago Real Estate Dude brand so that I was known as the “dude” amongst my network. I purposely did this because I get how the mind works. I knew that if I kept my brand in front of my database that it would turn into business because it’s a numbers game and I just wanted to be thought of first. I’m fighting for attention, not leads.
When you have the attention of your database you’ll attract clients
My only goal in real estate branding is to be the most known Realtor amongst my network.Once that is accomplished, it’s just a numbers game because people move. The more people who know who I am, the more referrals and repeat business I get. It’s that simple.
I don’t market Mike Cuevas the Realtor, I market the Chicago Real Estate Dude who’s name happens to be Mike Cuevas.
My brand also reflects my style. I’m not a luxury agent. I’m a dude. I have found that the more “real” that I am in my marketing, the more people I connect with. Connecting with people , nurturing, and building relationships is the entire goal of my marketing strategy. I don’t market my brand for leads, I market my brand to build on my relationships and stand out.
The reason this is the #1 client generation strategy in real estate is because…
The goal of marketing your brand should be to become the most well known Realtor amongst your network possible. People hire Realtors they know, like, and trust, but they can only work with you when they remember who the hell you are.
“The Realtor who is beating you in sales is not better than you, they are just more popular”
I no longer sell real estate actively, but I didn’t change my brand. Today, I’m the Real Estate Marketing Dude.
Mike Cuevas, Marketer
OR
In the last 3 years I have completely changed what I sell, but my brand remained that of a “dude” because it’s just who I am. I went from selling houses to selling video and branding services to Realtors, but my brand didn’t change, my job did. The reason for that is because your brand is not based on what you do for a living, it’s based on who you are as a person and what you stand for.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about why knowing your brand is essential before getting started with video in real estate.
Video Is The Best Real Estate Branding Strategy Because…
Using video as a real estate branding strategy is a most impressionable way to communicate. Determining your brand’s voice gives you the RIGHT scripting to get on video and connect with people on a deeper level. In other words, your delivery will be more authentic, which allows you to a better communicator.
Did you know 60% of all communication is based on your tone?
Did you ever hear the phrase, it’s not what you say it’s how you say it? Your tone is everything. If you spoke in monotone boring voice in all your videos would it affect your messaging? Of course it will. Your tone is the most important part of how you communicate as it expresses emotion. Check out what Jerry has to say…
Did you know 30% of communication is based on your body language.
When you are using video as a real estate branding strategy, you need to consider your body language as a form of communicating. When I’m directing people on video and they begin communicating with their body language all their facial expressions suddenly open up and they appear more natural.
Are you excited about what you are saying or are you doing so uncomfortably?
Don’t stand there with your arms at your side showing no emotion whatsoever. The more animated you are, the better you will execute your message. What’s more memorable? Someone jumping around or someone sleeping?
10% of communication is based on the actual content.
This is going to blow your mind. Only 10% of what you actually say will be retained. People don’t typically want to talk about real estate unless they are in the market. Therefore, when you are considering using video as a real estate branding strategy, you need to consider the content you are creating. Quit focusing on what you are saying and put more emphasis on how you say it.
Every video you create does not need to sell real estate, it needs to remind people you are in real estate.
Do you remember ShamWow?
It’s this guys tone and body language that people remember. I didn’t recall the product because it was a good product, I recalled it because of the dude! His body language and tone are what is memorable. That’s the power of video.
Can you express your tone using email?
How about body language?
(Emojis are the exception)
Video is a great real estate branding strategy because it allows you to communicate more effectively. The key to implementing a real estate branding strategy is to make a lasting impression with people in your network who are most likely to generate business for you. In real estate that’s your database because over 60% of all agent business comes from referrals and repeat clients.
Your brokerage is not your brand, YOU ARE!
If you want to build an attraction based business you need to start by defining your real estate branding strategy because that’s what people will remember! Then put it on video and watch what happens!