Branding for business is about identifying who you are and what you do. It’s about establishing you and your business as a known, trustworthy and reliable presence in the marketplace. “A strong brand is more than just your logo,” it is about how your employees represent you, how your customers perceive you and most importantly, about whether you and your brand are seen as authentic. When authenticity matters most, what’s your branding saying about YOU?
First and foremost, your personal brand should be consistent across all your social media platforms and your image, words, actions and pictures MUST be a true representation of you in order to be considered authentic. Outdated 10 year old photos have to go! Your tagline needs to be memorable, short and engaging but also speak to your “value add” and more importantly, to your values. To build trust in your brand and be perceived as authentic people will first look to see if you are being true to yourself and faithful to your own values and the views you espouse. Your brand is a promise to your customer and before they can know, like and trust you as authentic they will ask:
- Who are you?
- Who do you say you are?
- What differentiates you from everyone else?
- How do others perceive you?
- Is both truth and perception consistently aligned with one another in real life?
Presenting an image that is transparent and consistent across all five of these criteria will allow the consumer to develop a level of trust in your service, commitment and yes, in your authenticity. This also means wherever your customer finds you – whether that’s on facebook, your website, your twitter account – they will see the same person and consistent value statements across all your social media platforms.
Here are a couple of examples we’ve seen that might help explain what we’re talking about:
- Stating, as part of your brand that you believe in renewable energy sources and green energy conservation efforts while tooling around town in the latest eight-seater, gas guzzling, expensive SUV suggests you are not being authentic.
- Branding yourself as accessible 24/7 but not returning a call for 3 days straight is not an authentic representation of you or your business.
- Promoting fitness and the importance of clean eating during a video chat while an Iced Cappuccino beverage from a local coffee chain sits on the corner of your desk screams of being inauthentic!
- On the other hand, if you say you donate a portion of every sale to Sick Kids Hospital and you keep a running “thermometer” of total donations on your website and a current certificate from Sick Kids recognizing you as a donor – potential customers will see you as authentic. If your reason for supporting the hospital is because of a personal experience with it – share that story on your website too. Your personal story matters to customers who are right-brain thinkers, people who form an emotional connection as part of how they do business with others.
Brand, image and authenticity are intimately tied together. If you need help building your brand, the kind of help we like to call getting “Real Ready,” you need realspace Media. Our “Real Ready” system is a complete real estate marketing solution offered by our dedicated team of specialists who really are available 24/7 to help you establish and maintain authenticity while reaching your real estate branding goals. We’re like having an entire marketing team behind you, dedicated only to your success. Check out our website to see some of the real estate agents and companies we’ve worked with. Read our testimonials that say things like “Their quality of work, professionalism and transparency are unparalleled” and you’ll see what we mean. There’s no BULL here. Establishing an authentic brand presence for real estate professionals is what we do and we’ve been doing it since 2015. Ask realspace Media about our strategic branding “Real Ready” program for real estate agents and we’ll make sure when authenticity matters most, your branding accurately reflects YOU!