Realtor branding: Tick All the Boxes with These Steps

If you own a real estate business, you probably need more than a good marketing strategy and people skills to grow brand awareness. Here are some branding ideas from some of the best real estate brands on the market.

In the real estate market, trust goes beyond good marketing and fancy social media posts. You need to make yourself look reliable, trustworthy and professional.

Here are some key elements of good real estate branding that you’ll want to check.

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Name

As with any brand, the name is the first step to approachability and a memorable impression.

If you are a real estate agent. Your surname can be a perfect pillar of your brand since you’re building the brand around your own persona.

Such is the case of real estate professional Julian Pilarski, whose surname is the basis of the brand name Pilarski Real Estate Group. His initials, “JP”, are also used for an elegant and memorable monogram logo.

If you want to approach home buyers based on your key value proposition, you can think of a smart name such as AmeriHomes Realty, accompanied by a tagline saying: “Realty of New York”. This realtor company puts the main service in the spotlight, making it easy for the target audience to understand what the business is about and where it operates (the state of New York).

It is also another simple but evergreen example of a good real estate logo.

Whether you decide on using a name that is creative and quirky, or a reminder of who the real estate agent is, make sure it’s close to your brand identity.

Visual identity

Whether it’s the logo design, marketing materials, website, or even business cards, your visual identity has to be consistent, concise and memorable.

The best way to make sure that you’ll have aces all across the board is to create a branding guide. All branding assets you will create afterward will be based on that.

It needs to include:

• Logo design and its use
• Brand colors
• Typefaces
• Use of photography
• Value propositions
• Branding elements for digital use
• Other key details

Based on your real estate branding strategy, you can develop visuals and copies needed for any step of your marketing plan.

Here is an example of real estate branding from designer Kati Forner on Behance.

It’s important to note that the above examples are just a scratch of the surface of marketing materials that will be developed based on the branding guide. Your assets will encompass print marketing materials like lookbooks and brochures; online and offline advertising (billboards are an important marketing tool for strong real estate brands); internal branding assets like stationery, business cards, customized interior design; as well as yard signs, signage outside of offices and other needs.

Since real estate marketing also needs to reflect the mission statement, social responsibility and employer branding, you will also need to consider building a strong corporate identity. You can learn more about that in our guide.

Yard signs

The real estate market is probably the only one that deserves a whole chapter for open house yard signs. It is a staple for real estate marketing, and it’s the simplest way to make your target audience turn their heads while looking for their next home.

A simple design with the headshot, logo and most important contact information for reaching the real estate agent goes a long way.

Or, if your branding is more based on minimalism and simplicity, like Compass and all its members, you can opt for a simpler version.

Internal and personal branding

Whether you are a business owner of an up-and-coming agency or a solo real estate agent, your personal and company brand are both very important.

Your potential clients will probably rely on word of mouth, customer testimonials, previous experience, or just a regular deep dive into your company or profile.

As a business owner, make sure you appear respectable and professional. You can achieve this by nurturing your personal brand on social media, especially LinkedIn, communicating openly and honestly with customers and being reliable.

When it comes to the internal branding of a bigger brand, you will need all your employees on board and respecting certain brand guidelines. Employer branding is one way to enhance your corporate image, so you need to stay true to what you promise your audience. It goes way beyond fancy uniforms, modern offices and nice employees.

Website

When it comes to your personal website, it goes without saying that you need to make it clean, straightforward and easy to navigate.

As we already mentioned, it also needs to be in line with your branding guide and visual identity.

A good example of a real estate website is that of Brown, Harris and Stevens. All the most important details, from the main cities and states they sell properties in, to prices of listings and the agents’ contact information, are all very easy to find.

Apart from the main elements, they also incorporate yearly Market Reports (some extra credit for the longevity and integrity of the company), Fair Housing disclaimer (a way to show corporate social responsibility), as well as useful information for the selling and buying process.

As a member of a rather busy market, it would also be a smart idea to spend some time creating an SEO strategy. If your real estate agency is operating only in a certain area, make sure you make it obvious what your local market is. The more you manage to narrow down your target audience, the better.

Social media marketing

In this day and age, it seems it’s impossible for any business to prosper without an online presence.

Create social media profiles on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, where you can showcase your listings and organize open house events.

You probably already have many beautiful photos that you can use for paid promotion on social media. The Corcoran Group, for example, uses photos of both the exterior and interior of their listings for their Instagram feed, attracting more than 100 thousand followers.

You can also use video marketing, or well-thought-out lead generation magnets, such as register-only viewing events for some listings or registration forms where people can sign up to learn more about future vacant listings in an area they’re interested in.

Luckily, there are plenty of marketing ideas online today, and you can simply google things and come up with simple solutions.

Final thoughts

We hope this simple guide on how to ace your real estate branding will help you. There are plenty of other companies with good branding that you can search for on realtor.com, NAR, or LinkedIn, to name a few.

However, keep in mind that there is a certain code of ethics and rules for using the term realtor and the realtor® trademark.

You can learn more about the usage of the realtor® trademark use in this guide by NCP Realtors. Keep in mind that in the USA, this term and trademark can only be used for realtors that are members of the National Association of Realtors.

When it comes to the graphic design part of your branding, look no further than ManyPixels. You can visit our FAQ page to learn more about our unlimited graphic design service.