Property Management

What"s All This Talk About "Branding"

You hear so much today on the web about "branding"*. While that "buzzword" usually deals with a tangible product, understanding how it applies to a Realtor® is critical to effective marketing. When applied to a product or service, "branding" could be described as the process that a manufacturer or producer or service firm undertakes in creating degrees of identification between the traits of a given product or service and the resulting perception by the consumer. But branding is not simply blasting out tons of advertising impressions to make a point. Branding, at its best, relies upon creating a "personal relationship" between the product and the consumer. Here are some branding connections that firms have built up over the years between their products and consumers. Perhaps this is how you have been programmed to perceive these products: Marlboro - Robust life: Marlboro Man Coke - The companion to a fun life Mercedes - Solid Engineering – A reward you deserve Microsoft - Software leader McDonalds - #1 in Quick-Food Products (But of course in our hearts we know that McDonalds is really: "Consistent mediocrity, but count-on-able enough to be acceptable; good-tasting plastic food--FAST and cheap") Note that what you come to think about a product is a "feeling" that you get, and of course it occurs only in your mind. Thus, branding works on the psyche of the consumer and often involves "humanizing" the product and that"s where you get the Marlboro Man, Ronald McDonald, and, in a way, the success story of Bill Gates. In marketing, "branding" is closely related to the word "positioning." Both occur in the mind of the consumer. If I take a statement from a typical consumer marketing statement and insert the word "Realtor®" it becomes easier to understand how branding works for you. Check this out: "For branding to work, the identifying marks (logos, product pictures, name, individual products, etc) of the brand or product line (or Realtor®) AND what the product (or Realtor®) stands for need to be driven home simultaneously through frequency and clarity to the consumer. "The various ads, commercials, TV spots, etc. always portray the product (or Realtor®) IN RELATION TO what the product (or Realtor®) itself delivers or purports to deliver. The features of the product (or Realtor®) are seldom listed without the accompanying benefits that result from each feature." But here is a far easier way to understand all that technical marketing gibberish: Let"s say that you live on a ranch in Montana. Your neighboring rancher, old Bob, has a circle L brand, like this: (L). Now you know from many discussions (impressions) with old Bob that he puts that brand only on steers that are prairie-fed and that have NOT gotten shot up with all kinds of hormones. You also know that old Bob has top veterinarians check his steers regularly for mad cow and other diseases. Bob once rode 12 freezing miles in a blizzard to extract a steer from a crevasse. In short, Bob is a terrific herdsman and you have seen that proven over and over again. Thus, every time that you see an (L) brand, you are reminded of what you"ve learned that it stands for (ergo, the personal relationship). And so when it comes time for you to buy some extra steers from a source for YOUR ranch, that (L) brand, having been seen time after time (repetitions/frequency), will remind you that old Bob has the best steers around to buy. When you look at it this way, branding is pretty easy to understand. Now in case all that is still too cryptic, consider this: A product travels through four steps before it becomes #1 in its marketplace. And it is branding"s ability to create a personal relationship between the product and the consumer that has much to do with moving the product through these four stages--or not. The four stages are: Awareness Acceptance Preference Insistence So how do you apply all this newfound understanding of branding to your daily realty marketing efforts? Well, for one thing, make yourself unique among your Realtor® peers by saying that YOU stand for something, or that YOU provide some unique service, or that YOU are the "Beach Property Realtor®" or the "Web-Savvy Realtor®" or "The Arizona Property Realtor®" or whatever. Then back up that branding/positioning statement with facts that prove it to be true. Get away from those boring "Another Home Sold" and "Just Listed" ads and flyers. Make YOURSELF a brand with unique characteristics that people can grasp and eventually remember. Such as: " Arizona--Alice Held"s Relocation Buyer"s Guide." (Incidentally, if you want to see one of the best Realtor® sites on the web, go visit Alice"s site right now!! http://www.come2az.com . Notice how she uses terrific graphics of indigenous cactus characters (personification/humanization/personalization) to assist in creating her own Alice Held "brand.") Just as Alice did, on your ads and particularly on your web site, greatly minimize any emphasis you might place on that fact that you are a Realtor® with a famous national realty chain. Who cares, because.... SO ARE THOUSANDS OF OTHER REALTORS®!! Instead, make yourself the dominant feature. Make yourself a brand by citing highly memorable and unique traits that only you offer. In short, be sure that you stand for something. Then make people remember it. That"s how you become an expert in real estate "branding." *(Note: All "branding" comments above assume the existence of a high quality product to begin with.) For more on branding go here.

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