Are you looking for a way to stand out and garner your business? The best place to start is by developing your personal brand. Defining what makes you, YOU and what value you provide to your clients defines the meaning behind your brand. Although many real estate teams and brokerages will already have their own set of brand standards, that shouldn’t overshadow what you create as your brand. To put things into perspective, there are over 1.5 million licensed realtors in the USA (as of May 2022) – this is your chance to get creative and build trust with your followers and leads to rise above the competition. Here are some ways you can get started: 

Define your audience

Your first step will be to describe your typical clientele, both demographically and their real estate needs. Try to be specific when identifying your target audience and the problems they face so that you’re able to provide value and the proper information to help them along with the home buying or selling process. Find that niche market that you can tap into; is it first-time homebuyers? Business owners? Investors? It may be helpful to list out your last few clients and find their similarities to see where you can hone in. 

Create eye-catching visuals and be present on social media

When you start to think of the visual elements for your brand, it’s important that you stay consistent with the color palette, fonts, and the types of graphics/images you use. During these initial stages, take the time to think about how you want potential clients to feel when they see your branding. Once you have established your branding, you’re ready to begin building a social presence. Holding onto your brand identity will allow you to gain brand awareness and a reputation. There are so many ways you can spice up your social presence, here are some ideas: 

• Take videos: Get comfortable on camera and post 30-second to one-minute videos (i.e. open houses, new listings, homebuying tips, myths vs. facts, etc.) 
• Create your own name/team logo: Try to avoid cliché images and symbols. Think of something outside of the box. 
• Create your own mission statement and culture: Your mission is a formal summary of your value and intentions. Incorporating this into social posts will help clients understand why you do what you do and how you do it. This mission statement will allow you to build a collective personality your team displays to customers and the greater community. 

You’ll also want to do research on proper hashtags to use and come up with a catchy username or page title. Brands take time to establish and gain recognition, so don’t keep changing your real estate brand assets, even if you think it’s not working. Give it time. Stay consistent in your look and voice to build that trust. 

Develop unique content. 

Sure, including your name, photo and contact information are important elements to add to anything you post, but that’s only surface-level content. Keep in mind that you need to create deeper content that has an emotional or personal connection with your audience – that’s the key. You want to be viewed as approachable, trustworthy, relatable and a realtor that any homebuyer can go to for sound advice or help. Here are some examples on the types of content you should focus on: 

• Content to Build: Create your own video or blog articles that educate or provide solutions for your clients. This will help build impressions (views) on your content. This should make up about 30% of your content. 
• Content to Grow: Incorporate photos and moments from your personal life. What do you enjoy doing outside of work? What are your hobbies? If you’re comfortable sharing photos of your family members and pets, clients can relate to you on a different level where they feel that they know you. This will help increase your follower base. This should make up about 50% of your content.  

• Content to Sell: Content that has a call to action and offers a link, sales pitch or next steps. This should make up about 20% of your content. 

You want to have more of the connection-based content than the selling and building content to gain trust from clients or potential clients. You want to be able to clearly understand their needs and embrace the transparency you can provide. 

Next Steps 

Now that you understand the importance of building a personal brand, go ahead and get started! Think about what makes you different from the competition and work on reflecting that in your branding. For assistance with building your personal brand, submit a request to the marketing department!  

*This material has not been reviewed, approved or issued by HUD, FHA or any government agency. The company is not affiliated with or acting on behalf of or at the direction of HUD/FHA or any other government agency.

This information is provided for convenience only, and Family First Funding LLC and its affiliates (“FFF”) make no warranties concerning the accuracy or completeness of any of the information. Information is subject to change without notice, and FFF is under no obligation to provide updated information. This is not financial, tax, compliance or legal advice and should not be taken or relied upon as such. Each individual should consult with his/her financial, tax, compliance or legal professional. Mention of product, process or service shall not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation by FFF.