In the real estate industry trustworthiness, reliability, and credibility are among the most important and desired traits for real estate agents.
After all, real estate agents are the client-facing factors that make the first contact with the prospective leads that when carefully handled, could end up in lasting and long-term professional relationships.
In order for real estate agents to thrive in the highly competitive real estate market, it is necessary to acquire these traits in building their professional and client networks, which can be achieved by mastering their personal branding.
Developing a personal brand is essential in the real estate market as it can result in success or failure, which is why many successful veteran real estate specialists make every effort to build and nurture their personal brand.
Let us share with you how personal branding can always work for your benefit and here are some of Australia’s leading real estate experts sharing their thoughts on personal branding.
Be true to yourself and stay unique
It takes a lot of effort to mimic the qualities of another person however, you face the risk of ending up not being able to meet your own and others’ expectations.
Personal branding is established in everything that one does- both professionally and in personal endeavours. There should be no disconnect between the personality of agents and how they are branding themselves, both should be aligned.
Agents need to stay connected at the community level to ensure their visibility, and when talking with people at events and schools to make sure they stay consistent in their mindset with what is presented on social media and in print.
This is why authenticity and uniqueness in one’s own personal brand help people relate with the agent because people relate more with an individual rather than an agency. More so, with those who have gone through a bad experience with an agent or agency, which makes it all the more critical to push your brand and let people see you as an alternative.
Being authentic lets one stand out from the rest, especially if the branding is considered unique and different.
For instance, one enterprising real estate agent invested in a coffee trailer that serves ice-cream and slushies – all branded with the agent’s team name. He takes the trailer to all open homes and creates a street party-type atmosphere.
Always put your clients first, then yourself
Personal branding is all about putting clients first then what comes next is you.
One of the best personal branding strategies is making clients happy. They will talk about you, and it will be a natural and organic growth of your personal branding. The market is fed up about advertisements about how agents are the best in the world, but nowadays what works best is to let the results speak for themselves. It is all about doing the work and making clients happy.
When personal authenticity is coupled with the sincere desire to help others out is what people most often relate to.
Master your drive and passion
Make every effort to develop yourself by mastering what you do best in your chosen field of endeavour and build your personal brand in a way that adds value to people, especially clients. Become an expert in your field and develop a passion for your skills and talent.
One of the ways to do this is through content marketing, where you keep your database and network informed of everything that is going on. Become the expert in your area instead of blowing your own trumpet which could put off people and clients.
Let go of your ego
Social media can be a very useful tool for real estate, however, it must never be used as a tool to brag or promote oneself too highly.
In order to be effective in personal branding- you need to understand that is not about the ego, but present yourself with sincerity and noble intentions.
An effective form of personal branding using content is through video. It gets the message across, and people can see and feel the warmth. When this is pushed out to social media – Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, it is good to mention that you won an award, but do so through a third party that people will relate to and not in a self-boasting manner.
If you intend to spend money on your personal branding, boosting your social media posts can be an effective way of doing so. However, take caution that these posts should not be about boosting your ego, rather one that adds value to your clients has engaging content, and must resonate with the audience.
For instance, it can be tough to self-promote on Facebook without the ego coming into it. But it’s about being creative in how you do it, such as the classic photo of the agent with the vendor in front of the ‘SOLD’ sticker. Don’t post it yet, rather send it to the vendor and have him post it, saying what a great job you did as the agent and tagging you. Then you’re not only reaching your network, but your vendor’s as well- all without being too bashful or bragging about it.