14 Amazing Real Estate Branding Ideas To Distinguish Yourself

Many real estate agents find themselves beholden to the branding of their brokerage. Especially when it comes to large, national chains, it’s easy to rely upon their real estate logo, their brand awareness, and their media kit.

But that can’t last forever. What happens when you want to branch out on your own?

As a real estate agent, you shouldn’t rely upon your brokerage’s real estate marketing as a crutch. You need to develop your own real estate branding.

Today, we’re going to take a look at fourteen of the best real estate branding ideas. I’m not going to talk about abstract ideas or generalized branding concepts; I’m going to give you actionable ideas you can start using now.

If you would rather watch or listen to this content, check out the video or podcast below!

1. Start a Podcast

Authority is everything in the real estate business. Starting a real estate podcast is a great way to expand your reach. Target it to potential buyers or other prospective clients. You’ll be able to keep access to your target audience until they’re ready to commit.

This branding strategy can take some time to pay off. But it’s valuable because it builds trust in your audience long before they know that they need you. Creating a podcast that’s all about the real estate market in your town, for instance, can draw people in who are at the preliminary stages of home buying.

2. Write an eBook

If you don’t have the time for a weekly podcast, consider an eBook. You can write an eBook once and then let people access it through your website. An eBook will also establish trust with your audience. It serves as critical marketing material and an extension of your personal branding.

And be creative. A thousand real estate agents have already written:

• Buying Your First Home
• Getting a Home Loan
• Renovating a Home

While this does create the foundation of a great content marketing campaign, you want to be the best. Consider:

• 10 of the Most Luxurious (and Affordable) Homes in Key West
• The Pros and Cons of Buying a Loft in New York City
• Moving to a Farm: Are You Ready for a Texas Acreage?

These show niche potential. The target audience for the book needs to align with your own target audience — that’s it. Think about the things that your prospective clients actually want to know, not just the things that are easy to write about.

3. Create a YouTube Channel

There are few things as effective for your personal brand as a YouTube channel.

Create a YouTube channel to discuss changes in the real estate industry, questions a prospective buyer might have, or just the listings that you have now.

Video is great for realtor branding because it introduces your audience to you on a more personal level. People can see the earnestness and enthusiasm in your eyes — and will consequently trust you more.

4. Start Streaming on Facebook Live

In addition to YouTube, you can also start streaming live. Facebook, YouTube, and even Twitch can play into this type of marketing strategy. Even Twitter has live video functionality now.

Live streaming helps to build a brand because it makes it easier to interact directly with your audience.

Consider hosting a weekly Q&A session. Maybe prospective buyers want to pick your brain about the current real estate market. Maybe prospective sellers want to know what they can do to make their properties more attractive.

Once you start a conversation with a potential customer, you’re already well on your way to securing them as a client. And, if nothing else, you’ll be extending your brand recognition.

5. Find an Unexpected Niche

Real estate professionals have operated in some surprising areas. Of course, there are agents who focus their real estate business on old or historic properties.

But there are also real estate agents who specialize in “haunted” houses. Or agents who specialize in off-grid cabins.

If you’re just an “agent,” you’re in competition with tens of thousands of other agents. But if your personal brand is more specific, you’ll have less competition and (therefore) greater access to your target audience.

Think about what you enjoy selling. Is there something you’d really love? Think back to, perhaps, your favorite client to work with. What was special about what they were looking for?

6. Start an Instagram or TikTok Account

Social media is a type of content marketing. Like eBooks, it’s designed to bring in an audience that looks a lot like your client demographics. Instagram and TikTok have both proven to be spectacularly useful for digital marketing.

These social media channels prioritize images and video respectively.

With Instagram, you can start posting about enchanting houses in your area. Eventually, you’ll get an audience of people who love interesting properties. You can direct them toward your real estate agency.

With TikTok, you can take short videos about the real estate market to further develop your real estate branding strategy. Millennials are increasingly using TikTok, making it a fast-growing social media marketing opportunity.

7. Get Yourself Interviewed

Services such as HARO (Help a Reporter Out) make it possible to connect with reporters looking for sources. Consider signing up for sites like this to build upon your branding efforts.

By being interviewed as an expert, you don’t just expand your brand identity. You develop your authority. People reading the news will be aware that you’re a resource. People who look you up will see you in the news.

Apart from getting interviewed, you can also send in opinion posts, blogs, and articles to venues such as Business Insider, Forbes, and Entrepreneur. While these periodicals are highly selective, getting into one of them can dramatically increase your search ratings.

You can then funnel all that traffic through your real estate website and social media platform of choice.

8. Make Creative Business Cards

Have you ever seen a business card so great that you said, “I need to keep this”?

It happens.

Creative business cards may have an interesting shape (such as a key) or be made out of great material (such as wood). Either way, they capture attention and serve as both a keepsake and a brand mark.

Eventually, most people who have your card will be buying or selling a home. If they still have your marketing in their wallet, they are all the more likely to call you.

Cards that are also refrigerator magnets are a great example of something that’s designed to remain persistent.

9. Hire an Image Stylist

An image stylist is a professional whose sole focus is to make sure that your image matches your marketing.

Not only will they go over traditional things like your wardrobe, but they’ll also talk to you about your online presence.

They are experts in how people react to a person’s image — much like a public relations manager. If you aren’t sure how you’re coming off to your audience, an image stylist can help.

Especially today, many find that they aren’t able to accurately present their tone online. They may sound sarcastic when they’re being earnest. They may be perceived as being short with customers when they’re trying to be efficient.

An image stylist can help you break through any issues with your marketing so you can start developing the real estate branding that you want.

10. Connect With a Brand Influencer

Influencers are social media experts with huge followings.

Often, you pay them and they can mention your company. Look for influencers who mesh with your brand — who have the same values and mission that you do.

Brand influencers can be very effective with real estate because real estate is so local. Find an influencer who is followed by people who live in your area, and you’ll have access to a huge audience of prospective customers.

Brand influencers are a type of word-of-mouth marketing. Work with an influencer enough, and they are able to extend your brand and its awareness.

Just make sure you connect with an influencer who is trusted in your area — getting a “shout out” from an international star might bump up your traffic without increasing your leads.

11. Install an AI Chat

An AI chat on your website or your Facebook business account will capture leads for you even when you’re not around.

More to the point, you can program an AI chat to match your brand.

If your tone is fun and confident, your AI can sound that way. If your tone is serious and professional, your AI can be programmed that way, too.

You train your AI on its scripted responses; the AI just figures out when to give each scripted response.

This doesn’t just improve your real estate branding. It can collect contact information for your leads and even help your leads schedule meetings with you.

12. Invest in Highly Targeted Ads

While you’re building your brand, consider the benefits of paid real estate marketing.

Targeted ads can be sent on Google or Facebook to exactly the type of audience you’re looking for.

For instance, if you focus on helping small business owners find commercial real estate, you could target your ads to small business owners making $1 million or more in your area.

Design your ad around your branding. Incorporate your colors, logo, and image. By targeting these ads, you’re increasing brand awareness specifically amongst the audience most likely to be interested in your services.

Over time, you’ll be able to refine your audience and your ads, so that you can distribute your real estate branding directly to those who will value it the most.

13. Hold a Lifestyle Photo Shoot

Is your current headshot just a shot of you over a white background?

For some focuses, that’s perfect. But some focuses, such as first-time home buyer real estate, demand a little more personalization.

Increasingly, it’s common to hire a professional photographer to take pictures of you throughout your day.

A photo of you closing a deal with a client is likely more engaging than a simple headshot.

Litter these photos throughout your media; social media, websites, brochures, and pamphlets. They will give your potential customers insights into what they can expect from you.

14. Go National

Most real estate professionals only target their own market. But there is one reason why you might want to extend your real estate branding nationally.

You might want to capture the attention of people moving into your area.

Real estate branding is local. But that doesn’t mean local to you. Take a look at the people who are most likely to be moving to your area. If your area is growing, people are coming from somewhere.

By targeting these areas, you grow into a niche. While there may be a lot of agents where you are and where your potential clients are, there may not be many agents specifically targeting those making the transition.

Building Your Real Estate Branding — Today

Building a consistent brand is about so much more than your visual identity. It’s more than just creating a brand logo and brand colors.

Look online and you’ll get traditional, general advice: send out direct mail, build a website, start a social media account.

But you can follow all the advice you want and still end up lost. The bottom line is that you need a brand that you can believe in. Once you know what your real estate company is about, real estate marketing ideas should follow.

Read next: 24 Personal Branding Tips I’m Using From Now On

FAQs

How do realtors rebrand?

Rebranding starts with developing a strong idea of who you are and what your place is in the market. From there, it’s a matter of creating your brand voice and logo, developing your content, and managing social media accounts.

What is brand identity in real estate?

A “real estate brand” refers to the values, mission, and product that people associate with a real estate agent. A real estate agent generally wants to be perceived as trustworthy, reliable, and confident. But they also may want a potential client to see them as trustworthy within a specific area, such as commercial real estate.

Why is branding important for real estate?

If someone’s looking for a luxury property, where do they go? They look up “luxury properties real estate agent.” Your branding is important because it’s what leads clients to you within your niche — without branding, you’re competing with every other real estate agent in the real estate business.