A recent influx of online estate agents, the rise in popularity of self selling and the generally subdued nature of the national property scene in recent years have all served to dilute the property marketing pond.
With all this going on agencies could be forgiven for thinking that their branding is the least of their current concerns, but the truth is that in a saluted market with a huge amount of consumer choice, a strong brand is key to securing sales.
With this in mind professional property sales firms may wish to take a look at their own public perception, and see if it is still serving them as intended – if not it could be time to consider a rebrand.
When thinking about branding for estate agencies there are a number of factors that should be taken into account.
- What does your estate agency do? This is the core question that any business needs to pose before approaching a rebrand as identifying your purpose will instruct the image you wish to purvey. Take time to look at your goals and look beyond just “selling houses” – think great customer care, good market postioning etc.
- What kind of customers are you targeting? You need to have a customer in mind before you can begin to brand. Don’t neglect market research, profile potential service users and distill this information down. It can be helpful to create a profile of your ideal customer and name them. For example:
“Claudia is a single high earning female in her mid thirties looking to take her second step on the property ladder. Claudia enjoys regular foreign holidays and spa breaks with friends. She is a keen amateur cook who also practices yoga”
Once you KNOW your target clients you can hone elements of your brand with them in mind – always asking yourself: “What would Claudia think of this?”
- Where does your property marketing firm find clients? In the modern world you need to ensure that branding will work equally well on and offline. When making branding decisions consider how well the choices will work in cyber space as well as the real world – for instance – pay attention to how your chosen colour schemes and typefaces look both in print and on a screen. Something that looks ok in hard copy can be really offputting online and can cause customers to bounce (navigate away from your website) .
- Is your estate agency’s image attractive? Do your premises reflect the same style values as the kind of clients to are attempting to attract? It’s highly likely that it’s not just your for sale signs and stationary that will need a makeover – your office space needs to reflect the inspirational interiors to which your clients (like Claudia!) aspire.
