By Haley Davidson

Published Jun 28, 2018

Updated Dec 22, 2023

Want to work on your brokerage’s real estate branding? Well, you’re in the right place! We’re here to give you some straightforward, actionable advice so that you can start taking steps today.

To build a great real estate brand, start with core values.

For successful real estate branding, begin by asking yourself what your brokerage’s core values are. Chances are, you already have an idea of the values you and your team have in common. You might just need to get everyone on the same page by writing those values down and posting them for all to see.

Ask your team what kind of values they think the brokerage already follows and try to boil them down to a few key phrases or words. Remember, the whole company needs to buy into your core values. If agents have your logo on their business cards yet fail to embrace the brokerage’s core values, your brand will be miscommunicated to clients.

After you decide on your core values, post them on your website in a place that’s easy to find, like an about page or with your mission statement. These values are part of what makes you unique in the eyes of potential clients.

Take, for example, South Carolina’s The ART of Real Estate. Besides having an amazing name, their mission statement clearly communicates what they value: being a community resource, exceeding customer expectations, and positively impacting South Carolina. The ART of Real Estate is transparent about the core values that drive what they do as a company. That makes their brand powerful. Partly for the way The ART of Real Estate demonstrates their core values, the brokerage was named a Ground Breaking Brokerage by Better Homes and Gardens in 2017. Now that’s something to be proud of!

Target your real estate branding to the right demographic.

Once you know what your core values are, make sure you’re directing your efforts at the right demographic. Are you leveraging the talents and resources of your team effectively? Or, are you spreading yourself too thin by trying to attract every customer in the market?

If you’re in the latter boat, you need to focus on a specific demographic, like single female homebuyers or millennials. Figure out what makes your brokerage unique and then determine which demographic you’re uniquely suited to serve. What can you offer to clients that no one else in the region, or even the industry, has the ability to? Is it the 60+ years of combined experience among your agents? Or is it your use of innovative technology and social media? Once you decide, emphasize the unique traits that set you apart in your branding.

Take some time to figure out which niche your brokerage can thrive in. Once you do that, you’ll be ready to rock the real estate branding game!

The key to real estate branding is consistency.

Ready to build a real estate brand? Now that you’ve brought together the foundational pieces of your brand through the above sections, you just need to do a bit of research, make some stylistic choices, and most importantly, remain consistent.

Building a brand is about creatively expressing what makes your company unique. You can do this through colors, fonts, and language. Don’t get overwhelmed with these details. If you’re new to real estate branding, take it slow. It’s better to start small and remain consistent than to get caught up with a total overhaul that you ultimately fail to maintain.

North Carolina’s Triangle Home Team Realty is a great example of consistent real estate branding. Branding themselves as a “home team” makes the brokerage sound trustworthy and approachable. This branding is carried through team bios that emphasize individual members’ roots in the community and sports-themed website elements and copy. Overall, everything remains congruent with the core values found on their “About Us” page: integrity, knowledge, experience, and commitment. This kind of consistency is key to strong, recognizable real estate branding.

Real estate branding requires a strong online presence.

No matter your client base, your online presence is an integral piece of any real estate branding. But wait! Don’t rush to sign up for every social media platform online just yet. First, you need to do some research on your target market.

For example, if your target market is millennials, you should know that over 80% of millennials do their real estate research online.

New York City’s Citi Habits is a perfect example of having a targeted online presence. With urban millennials in mind, the brokerage’s website features easily-digestible educational resources and an active, fun blog. They’re also active on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Brokerages with other target markets should do their research to find out where to focus their branding efforts. However, no matter the demographic, make sure your website is true to your brand, your blog is regularly updated, and you exist online where your audience is.

Help your agents with personal real estate branding.

Your agents can help or hurt your brand, so make sure they are all on the same page about your real estate branding decisions. You could consider providing your team with a branding guide that includes colors, logos, and other assets. This will help agents communicate your brand in their own materials.

Be sure to help agents develop the individual traits that make them unique within your brokerage, encouraging them to build their own personal brands. Even as they do that, however, keep reminding all agents of the core values that unite you as a team.

Most importantly, give agents the support they need to provide clients with an incredible customer experience that reinforces your brand values along the way. You, your agents, and your clients will thrive as a result.

Real estate branding can seem overwhelming at first glance. However, by asking a few key questions and remaining consistent, you can build a successful brand that will unite your team, maximize your efforts, and attract the clients that will make your brokerage flourish.

Haley Davidson

Haley is a former Content Marketing Intern at Updater. She loves helping make people’s lives a little bit easier with fun and helpful content. She’s fueled by sunshine, cold-brew, and cute photos of Pupdaters.