JULY 2020
Capturing REAL Moments in Real Estate since 1995
VOLUME 25 • ISSUE 3
Building A Brand
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Why It’s So Important
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Having a real estate license means that you can practice your profession, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that customers will be knocking down your door to work with you. There are more than 100,000 REALTORS in Texas, which makes finding new clients extremely competitive. Every agent — even if on a team — is responsible for his or her own success. That’s why branding is so crucial. For real estate professionals, it’s the best way to differentiate oneself from all the other agents out there and attract new clients. Of course, before tackling a branding strategy, REALTORS need to have a foundation in place. That means maintaining a professionally designed website. Having a blog helps, too, because it can help the site rise higher in search rankings faster.
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As far as marketing materials go, diversity is the name of the game. Real estate branding experts suggest distributing printed brochures at open house events, using lawn signs and starting social media accounts on all the platforms home buyers use early in real estate transactions, including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. One strategy that’s either innovative or common sense, depending on your point of view, is to train
customers to associate a brand with specific specialties and expertise. For example, on marketing materials, and especially online, agents should identify the geographical areas and types of transactions they specialize in. According to the Logo Company’s Real Estate Branding Guide, 69 percent of home buyers who use the internet for research start their search by Googling the name of the city or neighborhood they’re interested in. Here’s why content is important for real estate branding. During a one-week period in midJune, according to Google Trends, several dozen users searched “homes for sale Texas Hill Country.” A website, regardless of the agent’s reputation or knowledge of a particular zip code, will only come up in a web search for this phrase if there’s an SEO strategy to compete for that specific search term. And more than just SEO, blogging is a proven way to attract new business. According to a HubSpot marketing report, about 80 percent of consumers feel more positive about brands that publish content. Branding is also about promoting a well-rounded persona. Candace Comer has been an Austin REALTOR for two years and is an agent with Compass. [Building A Brand continues on page 16]
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