Educate

Branding To Create Credibility And Confidence

BY MICHELLE GAMBLE

of itself can play an important role in business growth, and it is strategic to implement a branding campaign for future prosperity, especially when the competition may have already done so. Just creating a slick and professional brand can give your business that extra edge over your competitors.

“Your brand becomes your unique selling proposition,” said Hardy Selo of Property Guru. “It sets you apart from the hundreds of other property owners in your neighborhood and defines who you are. You make your property special, and renters will be willing to buy into that.” Branding also increases the perceived value of the properties by establishing the business as an industry leader.

sion-making habits of your targeted demographics and create and execute a campaign accordingly.

“When creating a brand for your rental property business, it is important to think carefully about how you want people to perceive your business,” said Leonard Ang, CEO of iProperty Management. “Do research into what other successful rental property businesses are doing, gather feedback from customers and other professionals in the field, and use elements of design that reflect the advantages of renting with you.”

Most property ownership and related businesses understand the value of creating and differentiating their brands. An effective branding campaign builds credibility and defines “messages” about the business that makes it stand out from the competition. The right kind of market positioning (your business’ identity communicated to the public) can attract high-quality renters just because they like what they see and feel about your brand. Lack of branding and an amateur-looking image can do the opposite, which can make the business appear unprofessional, less trustworthy, and seem second-rate.

Larger property owners who have bigger budgets and larger revenue streams tend to invest in their branding campaigns. Smaller owners sometimes put their funds into other areas and don’t give branding credence to help them grow their businesses. Branding, though, in and

Getting Started

So, how do you go about creating and or even re-imagining your current brand and updating it? First, consider your position in the market (e.g., apartments versus houses). For example, if your primary audience are middle- to-upper-class renters, then your look and feel of items like your logo, your company colors, and choice of imagery need to reflect what appeals to this audience segment while communicating your values and mission.

If you don’t understand how to approach it, hire a branding specialist versus a graphic artist or copy writer to do your work. A qualified marketing brand expert understands the impression of imagery, color and words. Marketers, who have already researched the marketplace, will come to the table and deliver what is called a Creative Brief designed to communicate their ideas and suggestions. They should already understand the reactions and deci-

“The priorities for a rental business when creating a brand should be clarity, relevance and consistency,” said William Hogsett, owner at Essential Home and Garden “The brand should clearly convey the business’ values and the benefits of the properties, be relevant to the target audience, and be consistent across all platforms to ensure a clear, recognizable image.”

Everything in what the brand’s logo, colors and messages needs to be broken down and analyzed for its impact on the audience’s perception of that brand. What kind of fonts do you want for the logo? Different fonts speak to contemporary, old-fashioned or classic looks. Serif, sans-serif or script fonts look unique and communicate different impressions. Perhaps your rentals are primarily older homes or even historical properties. Then you might select an old-fashioned look and feel that implies those are the types of properties you rent.

Your color choices should follow suit. Different color choices send different impressions and symbolism. Color creates feelings. In marketing, for example, the color red conveys passion, love or anger. Orange sug- gests energy, happiness and vitality. Yellow conveys happiness, hope or deceit. Green can transmit new beginnings, abundance or nature. And blue communicates calm, responsible or sadness. The same concept applies to any imagery added to that logo. The look and feel needs to align with the message you’re trying to project.

“When it came to designing a brand for my rental/property management business, my top priorities were making sure that the logo was eye-catching and memorable; coming up with a tagline that captures the essence of what is offered; selecting colors and fonts that represent the company’s mission and values; and creating visuals (such as photographs) that evoke positive emotions in viewers,” said Cody Neumann, real estate entrepreneur at Turbo Cash Home Buyer.

“The biggest thing you want to do with your branding is to help yourself stand out,” said Jarrett McCraw, co-founder and CEO of Mighty Branding. “You want to be different and really ‘pop’ while among a crowd of others, so doing that is what you are trying to do. After a while, and as you continue to build your brand, you hope your brand will take a life of its own and grow. You want your brand to be connected to things like logos, colors and fonts, but you also want your brand to be connected to specific qualities like ‘reliable’, ‘trusted’, or ‘high-quality’.”

“One of the key components of effective branding is consistency, which is defined as the even application of concepts or beliefs,” said Sheila Stafford, CEO at TeamSense. “Businesses should make sure that all marketing materials link to the company’s main message to develop a recognizable brand. Your target audience will be reached through a consistent real estate brand, which will also convey the company’s essential principles. Utilizing the same logo on all marketing materials, selecting a company voice, and connecting all promotions to the organization’s primary objective are a few straightforward (but essential) steps to building a consistent brand. When developing your company’s brand, keep in mind that consistency should never be a justification for using the same marketing tactics repeatedly.”

“To communicate my brand to prospects and current renters, I make sure to use consistent visuals across all marketing materials such as website design, print ads, email campaigns, and social media posts,” said Neumann. “Additionally, I always strive to use messaging that reflects what makes me stand out from the competition – such as offering personalized customer service or flexible payment options – in order to create an emotional connection between potential clients and the company. Finally, I do everything in my power to ensure that my existing customer base is aware of updates or changes made to the brand so they can feel confident in their continued patronage.”

Once you’ve cemented your brand and consistently delivered and communicated it to your audience (renters), you’ll discover its effectiveness. Your business will begin to grow, but only if you stay on it. An old marketing saying says, “Outflow gets inflow,” and the more you communicate your brand, the more likely you will see responses from the marketplace.

Michelle Gamble is the editor of Rental Housing Magazine and wrote the book A Smart Girl’s Guide to Marketing and PR.

Ebrha Rebranding

We are very excited to release the new EBRHA logo! Why change it? Well, we felt it was important to update the look and feel of the East Bay Rental Housing Association so that it truly represents our mission.

Immediately you can see the hand at the bottom of the new logo, which was a perfect addition to represent the support that EBRHA provides to its members, and the focus our members have providing services that benefit the housing community at large.

We are a “people-centric” organization that cares about more than just rental properties. Our members provide tens of thousands of homes in the East Bay and we are here to support their needs and concerns. So, we felt the new logo had to include that human element. EBRHA supports all sized rental communities, but we recognize that in many cases the smaller owner operators are our strongest focus, and the ones with the most needs. We wanted to reflect that in our new logo to make sure that all our members, from the large providers down to even the single-family home owner, is given all the tools and protections necessary to thrive.

We are very excited about the New Year! You are not alone as a rental housing provider at EBRHA. We will continue to be your essential rental housing resource.