Turn Memorable Marketing into your Money Magnet
By Denise Lones
Think about some of your favorite companies. What do they do to stay top of mind with you?
Do they send you catalogs or coupons?
Do they run commercials on TV?
Do they provide updates on social media?
Do they run print ads in the paper or in magazines?
Do they send you email newsletters?
No matter what kind of campaign they run, it likely has a strong visual component. Each company has a logo, probably a color palette or some sort of visual identifier that allows you to know in an instant who that company is.
For example, when you see a white cup with a green logo, who do you think of immediately? Starbucks, right?
Let’s do another: If you see a clothing store ad with a red star, who is that likely to be? Macy’s!
Last one: Simply the words, “Just Do It.” You know we are talking about Nike!
Those companies have all harnessed the power of memorable marketing. A color combination, symbol, or a few words instantly brings that company to mind. The examples here are national companies, but I am sure you can think of great memorable marketing that smaller companies in your area have created.
As a real estate professional, you own your own business and need your own plan to stay top-of-mind with past and potential clients as well as connect with new people. According to a number of studies, about 65% of the population are visual learners, meaning a person needs to see something in order to most efficiently process and retain that information. Therefore, for every three people that you may be marketing to, two of those people need strong visuals in order to remember the important details – such as who you are and what services you provide.
The Arguments for Developing a Personal Brand
A personal brand is a key component for real estate professionals, but most real estate brokerages would encourage you to forgo the personal brand in lieu of the company brand. But what happens when you are competing for a listing against another agent in your office? What happens when that real estate company decides to merge with another company? What happens when a company decides to change their logo? Unless you develop and utilize your own brand, you will always be at the mercy of what others decide. When you have your own brand, it is a clear indication to your clients that you are self-sufficient and you mean business.
The second important reason to develop a brand is to tell your story in a succinct, visual way. Every real estate agent brings different assets to their business. Some have specialized education, certifications, or designations while others specialize in a certain niche of real estate or have life or past work experiences that can provide compelling reasons to be hired. The uniqueness of what you bring to the table is not as powerful when you don’t have strong visuals to go along with it.
For example, what is more powerful? Designations listed in alphabet soup format after an agent’s name or a line of logos symbolizing those designations? For most people, the latter would be remembered.
Beyond the Brand
Once you have a brand, it needs to be put to work. Brand effectiveness isn’t about having a pretty logo that is used on some online profiles but when it comes to creating a house flyer or just listed card, an online easy-to-use generic template is used. It is about using the brand consistently to always provide a visual reminder of your business.
Imagine if Coca-Cola didn’t use their logo on their in-store signage because it was easier to use a generic template. It would never happen!
Build the Systems That YOU Need
Once you have a brand and are committed to using it consistently, really drill down the elements of your story to determine the systems that your business needs. Your business isn’t like the agent’s down the hall or your competition’s – you need systems that are unique to your business needs and the brand development process is a great time to be thinking about this.
For example, if you have a strong past client database, then it makes sense to build a system that keeps you connected to that database. Are you going to send them a monthly newsletter? Have an annual client appreciation event? Create a custom annual report on their property? The key is to define what you need for your system, build the templates you need utilizing your brand, and then execute that plan consistently.
If during the brand development process, you determine that your experience as a real estate investor is an opportunity to help others build wealth through real estate, how are you going to tap into that opportunity? Are you going to send targeted letters to owners of rented properties? Will you hold a class that shows your clients how they can use cash or equity to invest? Or will you target owner-occupied duplex owners and show them how to take their house-hacking savvy to another level? Each of these directions represents a different kind of campaign requiring a system, templates, and execution.
Developing a brand, applying it consistently, and building the systems your business needs to connect with clients is key for developing a Money Magnet. Lose any of those three steps and a brand can easily become haphazard, ineffective, and often forgotten.
It is time to celebrate your strengths and story with a brand that wows and develop your own strong Money Magnet.
Join Denise Lones on October 13th at the Pop Up PMN Class: Turn Memorable Marketing into Your Money Magnet to continue learning more on this subject. This virtual class is a one-time offering.