If I told you to “just do it” you would think of NIKE. If I sang badabababa, you would finish my statement by saying, “I’m looovin' it.” These phrases, logos, and colors not only remind you of who the company is, but also what they stand for. Most agents come into real estate with an employee mindset.

They think that on day one they are going to be drowning in opportunities. For some that's true, but for many "real money" comes at the other end of branding (and hard work). The only way you can succeed in the real estate industry is to get people to remember you. Your brand means life or death for your career. So, let's dive into 3 mistakes most agents make when it comes to branding.  

Mistake #1: They Base Their Brand On Their Brokerage 

This the mistake I see done the most often. I think almost every real estate agent I know has at one point promoted their brokerages home page as their own. I even personally made that mistake in my first year.

Let me be the bearer of "bad" news: Most of your clients could care less about what brokerage your license is hung with! They work with you as an individual. They care about what value YOU add, what image you portray, your track record, and your ability to serve their needs. Thousands of agents/brokers hang their license with eXp, Keller Williams, Exit Realty, Re/max, etc. What do you do and offer that is different? What experience are you going to provide them as [insert your own name].

Your logo, brand colors, and presentation should speak to that experience. When I first created Ian Alexander Realty Group, I knew that we had to have colors and a catch phrase that represented the experience we wanted to provide for our clients. We wanted our clients to feel exclusive like they had a personal concierge to everything real estate. That's why we changed our logo colors from maroon and black, to black and gold. That’s why all of our business cards, and marketing materials sport the phrase “Focus on what matters, we'll handle the rest.”

Your brand should speak to what you can provide. Your brokerage should be seen as a tool, not your brand.  

Mistake #2: They Over Complicate It 

Many agents spend too much time on logo creation, DIY website creation, and building out marketing materials for campaigns. As a real estate professional a majority of your time should be spent building relationships with prospects. Not figuring out what color matches best with teal, or which font looks better on your website or business card. 

At the very least your brokerage should provide you with a CRM (customer relationship manager), website, squeeze pages, landing pages, and basic templates for marketing materials to get started. If they are not, I suggest finding a new brokerage – remember they are a tool/resource, not your brand.

Now there are many resources out there that can help with creating logos and custom marketing materials (graphic designers, templates, canva, fiverr, etc). 

A logo or catchphrase are only as strong as the marketing efforts, experience, and relationships that support it. You should spend a majority of your time creating a kick ass experience for your clients and prospects. Leave the creative creation part to the professionals instead of over-complicating the building of your brand by going full-on DIY. 

WANT TO A HEAD START ON CREATING YOUR BRAND CHECK OUT OUR BRANDING BOOK >>>> 

Mistake #3: Over Promising, Under Delivering  

Nothing is more detrimental to a brand than over promising and under delivering. The popular phrase is actually: Under Promise, Over Deliver. For example, you shouldn’t offer to sell someone's house in 30 days or buy it if you actually are not going to buy it.

You should never offer something that you can not deliver on. This can and likely will muddy up your brand. It can take years to build a good reputation, and only a moment to ruin it. Nothing is worse than having a brand that is associated with lying and shady business practices. So, remember when promoting a service make sure your irresistible offer can be delivered upon. 

Remember you are your brand. You don’t want your name associated with negativity because it will follow you and it is a sure fire way to fail out of the business. 

If you are interested in learning more about building your brand and avoiding additional mistakes that were not named above check out our free training on branding your real estate business – you can access by CLICKING HERE.

Go out there and start branding what you can bring to the table. You have the skills to pay the bills. So, stop promoting your brokerage and start getting YOUR name out there.