Last week Kaydoh brought in industry experts from all around the country converging into ☝️ one audio app, the viral Clubhouse App, to talk about how to build a personal brand in real estate. What came out of it was nothing short of what everyone has been raving about, super intimate conversation with rich takeaway content.

If you missed it, don’t worry, I got you covered in this article.

It was my first time moderating along with other colleagues on clubhouse. Surprisingly everything went super smooth and got a nice amount of attendees showing up. We marketed this event on several platforms using several strategies that goes beyond this article’s focus. Follow me to get notified when I release the article, “How to market a clubhouse event using LinkedIn“, the effectiveness will surprise you.

Below is a quick recap what we discussed. We didn’t have a note taker, so I apologize in advance missing out some great content. Below are some questions asked, and answers among ours speakers.

Why is branding so important?

In general, the speakers, including myself, all came to the same general thesis. Branding creates a natural extension of who you are. This is why its important to understand before starting your branding campaigns, is to understand your “why”. Why are you passionate about what you do and how can you show that through your brand. A stronger brand will reduce your overall marketing cost. Your leads are naturally warmer because of a strong brand. It establishes your uniqueness and helps you stand out. Without a brand you blend into the crowded real estate industry. Last we check, just in the Bay Area, there are around 25,000 people on LinkedIn with the job title “Realtor”

How do you get started?

Marketers are great going from “B to Z” as Kurt Johnson, a Title rep from Fidelity, mentioned while moderating the event. The challenge most have is going from A to B. Everyone on staged agreed you have to begin with understanding yourself before you can start establishing any brand. Dig into your ‘why’ to figure out that passion and have it come out through your messaging.

Donna Castillo, a Realtor, Wealth Manager and Entrepreneur, gave her corporate marketing insights. She mentioned you need to “pin-point your niche”, in other words carve out what makes you unique and put a laser focus on that. She used the example, if you’re focused on supporting the senior real estate community. Then mold your brand around that niche, speak to the seniors why you’re the best person to help them out. Showcase your involvement in the community to bridge that trust. Do you help them move? Are you compassionate about their feelings, the attachments they carry when it comes to selling their home? Can you help them relocate to a retirement community?..etc

Start with that before you can craft your messaging, your brand presentation that speaks to your ideal audience.

What is the difference between a Personal vs Business page on Facebook?

This is a common question marketers get asked often. Many agents gravitate towards their personal page because of their ‘engagements’ are higher. What many don’t understand, is this is by Facebook design. Facebook’s organic reach on a business page is no longer friendly. It’s more of a ‘pay to play’ environment. Facebook wants your money to push your content out, but its still affordable and still cheap compared to other marketing channels.

A personal page is great to solidify the relationship with your prospects but its only limited to 5,000 people. Naturally this caps your potential audience size. You also can’t run ads against your audience on your personal page. Whereas having a business page, you can have unlimited fans and can retarget them with ads that build trust and confidence in your brand. Having a business page benefits your branding and will grow it over time through paid advertising.

One of our panel speakers, Ede Obas, an all around marketing guru, shared a story how she helped a client build his personal brand using his business page and amplified it with ads to reach his community in more authentic manner. In a short period of time, the agent started to get recognized in his community, doing exactly what he wanted, establishing himself as the local realtor in his community.

What platform works best to start off your branding?

This was was an interesting question. We had different viewpoints from the speakers. Sean Pan who grew his YouTube channel on Everything Real Estate in a short period of time, says YouTube is the place to start building your presence. Video is the fastest way to create a natural bond between the agent and the visitor through video. He also mentioned, that he see’s Instagram being an integral piece to building your brand. I personally mentioned LinkedIn is the place to start building your audience due to the amount of granular data you can pull from this platform. Such as searching for prospects at companies at key positions. At the end, it also depends where you audience is at and you’ll want to make yourself visible on it. This led us to a great question by Marvin Stone, SVP at Stewart Title, who was in the audience.

With so many platforms, which do you choose to start your branding?

One of our panel speakers, Oswaldo Gutierrez, aka the “Leadgen Rain Maker”, mentions, you need to be on all platforms. We are at a critical point in our digital lives, where he says we should be on an “omni–channel”. This means to be present physically and digitally on multiple platforms with the same branding experience. He makes a great point, because your future buyers and homeowners, are on multiple platforms. It’s no longer good enough to just be on a single channel. I made point in the conversation, the more advanced agent or agent with some marketing budget would move towards such a strategy. Someone like his team or Ede’s team would be ideal to support an agent in this venture.

It is important you familiarize yourself with these social channels but find one that you like, your audience is on and go “all in” on that platform. Be the expert, the authority on that platform before moving into other platforms. I used myself as an example of being spread too thin. Many agents can relate to this as it’s generally the agent handling the selling, the relationship building, the counseling, and the marketing aspect of their business. It’s too easy to get distracted or put in efforts that may not have the right results. Putting a laser focus on a platform will help expedite the growth of your brand. I myself started on LinkedIn before moving into Facebook and now Clubhouse, Instagram.

There is no easy way to build your brand

Nothing will happen overnight and nothing will happen if you don’t start building your brand.

With all the tools available, and with the constant challenge of maintaining the relationship with your existing clients and prospecting new ones, you definitely need what Julio Orozco, the VP at Intero and a Top agent in the Bay Area, he calls “balance.” When he first started out, he stayed focused on the area he was most comfortable in and as he starting growing his brand, he started to “evolve and adapt” to the marketing landscape. He eventually progressed and moved into higher end markets and expanded his offerings. He understands what works today may not work tomorrow and staying nimble is key. Without the basic fundamentals of understanding your ‘why’, it hampers the growth of your brand.

Final Thoughts

In short, make sure when you’re looking to build your real estate brand, understand why it is what you do, and amplify that with your branding through messaging, overall look, voice, video, and content. Determine your niche focus, your ideal audience and craft your messaging around that along with your WHY. Doing those things puts you on the right path to growing your real estate brand. Read more tips in marketing and branding over in our blogs.

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