Nine reasons New Jersey real estate agents should invest in personal branding
“If you’re a real estate agent or broker, you can significantly grow your leads, sales, and overall business by implementing one key marketing strategy:
Building a personal brand.”
— Gary Vaynerchuk
Those are the words of marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk to the Agent2021 Conference. As Gary Vee knows, having a strong personal brand can often be the difference between chasing clients and having them come to you.
“Focus on building your personal and distributing your content across social platforms. That way, when people think about buying a home in a certain area, they think of you.
That’s how you differentiate,” he says.
Here are nine reasons real estate agents should invest in personal branding.
Anna Marie Sasso, Remax Executive Group, from her personal branding and headshot session.
Paula Royak, Terrie O’Connor realtor, from her headshot session.
In personal branding, you use what makes you uniquely you as your unique selling proposition. In a market where the realtor can seem like the commodity, how can a realtor differentiate themselves from another? With a personal brand, you are forming relationships based on factors that are uniquely you, so it doesn’t matter if each of you provides the same deal. Your client is loyal for a different reason. You.
Reach customers when they are in buying mode. Ready to research a large purchase? What do you do? Most people turn to the internet. What’s if your content was there to answer a range of questions related to their purchase? You can publish information about neighborhoods, school systems, safety reports. For everything they want to know, if you are providing the answers, what a confidence boost for you as the trusted resource.
You can answer questions and objections proactively. By now you know what potential objections to expect from clients. Your content can address each of their issues before clients have the chance to raise them. That leads to less friction during the negotiation period.
You establish yourself as an expert even before you meet. Face it. You spend the early part of each relationship trying to demonstrate your competency. What if that was already established when you met? Wouldn’t it be great to get right to work?
You establish know, like, and trust much easier and faster. When you are taking a prospect from stranger to client, three thresholds you must cross is getting them to know you, like you and then trust you. As a prospect sees you show up consistently, you can move them through that process. When you are ready to do business, you won’t have to go through that vetting process.
You establish yourself as a trusted resource. Wouldn’t you want to be the place people turn with real estate questions? Building trust allows you to be that go-to resource.
You make it easy for others to introduce you. Looking for more referrals? As you produce content, it’s easier for past clients and prospects to forward your posts to a friend. That is the ultimate referral and introduction.
You build lasting relationships, not transactional ones. Don’t you hate people who only show up and talk to you when they want something? Don’t be that person. Establish and nurture the relationship over time, so when you do ask for the sale, you have already established a connection.
It helps with customer retention. The strength of a personal brand can also build loyalty, which in turn helps with customer retention.
