How to build your personal brand

There are thousands of real estate agents all around Australia, competing for the same listings, deals and business opportunities. The question is, what makes you different from other agents and why would clients chose to work with you over your competitors?

This is where branding comes in. A common misconception is that branding strategy consists of a catchy motto, the type of car you drive, attractive business cards and a fancy logo, but branding is so much more than this. 

Successful branding is about having control over the identity and messages you convey to your audience. Think of your personal branding in terms of what consumers think of you and how you’re perceived publicly (both in-person and online).

Your brand is an invaluable asset that if fostered right will mean past clients will be loyal to you regardless of which agency you work at, so you’ll never have to start your client base from scratch again.

Building, maintaining and marketing your personal brand requires unwavering commitment and consistent attention. After all, the better you’re perceived by your clients and potential clients the more business you’ll gain and success you’ll achieve.

The aim when building your brand is to enhance your credibility, trustworthiness and authority as a real estate professional with new, current and old clientele. Focus on the following areas to develop and demonstrate your personal brand.

Keeping up appearances

The first cues clients will use to judge your competence as an agent when they first meet you or view your profile online will be based on your appearance. Being professionally dressed and well-groomed instantly enhances your authority and credibility by indicating to clients you’re ready for business and that you take your role seriously. 

Taking the time and money to hire a professional photographer or videographer to shoot promotional images and videos of you for marketing materials makes you look reputable in your audiences eyes, shows that you’re extremely serious about your business and that you’re willing to go to extra lengths to achieve the best results. 

So, whether you’re showing clients through a home on a public holiday as a favour or holding an open for inspection on a Saturday morning, you should always be looking neat, professional and clean cut.

Define your specialty

As the old saying goes ‘a jack of all trades is a master of none’, and it’s important to keep this in mind when it comes to your branding strategy. While you’re skilled in many aspects of your job, when it comes to branding it pays to hone in on one specific specialty area to stand out from your competition.

When deciding on your specialty think about not only what makes you unique as an agent but as a person. Different specialty areas to choose from could include:

1. Your expert local knowledge: It’s all good and well to say you have ‘extensive local knowledge of areas X, Y and Z’ but that’s probably the same thing every other agent in the area is claiming too. So, this does you no favours in terms of personal branding or getting leads.

Instead actually demonstrate why and how you’ve acquired this extensive local knowledge. For example, if a lot of your client’s value high quality dining close to home brand yourself as a foodie by posting and sharing reviews of your favourite local restaurants and cafes on your social media accounts and your Premier Agent Showcase (this can also work wonders for acquiring commercial leads too).

2. A particular life stage: Use your own authentic real world experience as a new parent, a professional single, a property investor, an empty nester or a renovator to your advantage to attract new clients by allowing them to relate to the real you. Clients will be eager to work with the agent that shares and understands their priorities at their particular stage of life.

For instance, branding yourself as the best agent for growing families looking to be close to childcare, parks and good schools is an easy way to stand out as the go-to family oriented agent in your area. Post images of you supporting the kids at Auskick to Instagram, get involved/ sponsor a stall at your children’s school carnival and refer to your family in your professional profiles.

3. Home type or location: If you specialise in selling a particular type of home (Victorian houses, off the plan apartments, beach houses, luxury townhouses etc.) or in a certain area (Bayside, the CBD or a rural town) this is a great and unique way to frame your professional brand.

Make it clear across your social media channels, your newsletter, your website, YouTube channel and professional bio the particular type of residence/s or location/s you specialise in. Achieve this by having a section of client testimonials on your website for all of the clients you have sold townhouses for with accompanying images. Alternatively, add an album of all the high end apartments you’ve sold to your Facebook page.

4. Hobbies: Use your unique set of interests (cycling, music, pets, crocheting, antiquing, wine tasting, beekeeping etc.) to make a personal branding statement. If you think about it every potential client has their own different hobbies and they’ll be drawn to agents with interests that align with their own.

Talking about and sharing your story and passions on your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages and in your website bio provides a subtle statement that generates empathy and trust in a future clients’ minds, and can even act as the deciding factor that you’re the right agent for them. At the very least you’ll give the client a talking point to get the discussion flowing, help them get to know you better and build up a rapport before you’ve even met.

Be authentic

It’s ok to draw inspiration from and emulate other top agent’s brands and branding strategies, but when it comes to personal branding remember the words of Oscar Wilde ‘Be yourself; everyone else is already taken’.

It’s extremely hard work pretending to be somebody that you’re not and clients can easily identify a disingenuous sales person when they see one. Building a powerful brand is all about showcasing your unique set of experiences and talents, your personality and the special energy you bring to each and every job to set yourself apart from the crowd.

At the end of the day developing your brand requires patience and persistence. Once you find your own unique brand that draws in customers and establishes trust, you and your business will reap the rewards.

Did you know that Homely Premier Agent is a powerful way to build your brand by incorporating the tips we’ve mentioned in this post all in the one place? With Australia’s number one Agent Showcase you have the ability to connect with over 550K community members via Questions and Suburb Reviews, share your bio with My Story, and highlight your Performance Stats on your Success Map.