In talking about the ideas around the next generation brokerage, it’s impossible not to notice that we are facing a world where we have less direct control over our brand touches to consumers and influencers, while at the same time the pace and volume of those touches is increasing as we exist in an expanding digital world.
What’s a brand professional in real estate to do? How do you protect one of your greatest assets? One way I believe to take an ‘insurance policy’ out on your brand is to embrace brand building best practices. Brand foundations have to be solid now – no one is exempt from classic brand blunders. The following are my thoughts in a page – in my experience if you internalize these principles, you are 80{0a8e414e4f0423ce9f97e7209435b0fa449e6cffaf599cce0c556757c159a30c} there.
Brand – more than meets the eye
What is a brand? Is it a logo? A name?? A graphic design? Identity standards? A color scheme?
Well it’s all of them. Your brand is the entire experience your prospects and customers have with your company. It’s what you stand for, the promise you make, and the personality you convey. Sure, creative elements are certainly part of the equation, but your brand also manifests itself every day with every interaction you have with your market.
- The images you convey
- The messages you deliver on your website, proposals and sales materials
- The way your employees interact with customers
- A customer’s opinion of you versus your competition
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This is why I describe brands as being a 360° entity. Every brand touch, makes an impression….
All You Need to Build a Brand
By the same token, I don’t want to scare anyone and make building up a brand message and look and feel sound overwhelming, because there is a simple way to look at it. In a nutshell (see nutshell below) this is my summary view of the basic conversations you need to have, before you put pen to paper on a logo, brand promise or begin messaging.
- Know what business you are in
- Know how you do it, and who for and how they benefit
- Describe your way of doing it…. Then the rest should flow our naturally.
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7 Deadly Sins of Branding
(Matt Haig, Brand Failures 2005)
One of my favorite books about branding, is actually about brand failures. By looking at the big mistakes you learn subtleties about how to get it right. Matt Haig listed the 7 Deadly Sins of Branding in his book, “Brand Failures: The Truth About the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time” and I have summarized them below. For more read the book, or just think about how these could apply to your business or a business that’s part of your universe?
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Learn from the Pros
- This will be my next blog post… some easy examples that you can follow to get branding right, and avoid the most common pitfalls…
- In the meantime, if you only have a little time to read a couple of other books, these are the ones I would consider invaluable and a great way to get to the point quickly! They are written by Allen Adamson, Managing Director of the New York office of brand consulting giant, Landor Associates. He has boiled down his 25 years of experience into these two easy to read books on branding, one dealing specifically with branding in the digital world.
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View Camilla Sullivan’s Inman Presentation: Building A Brand |
