When people think of a certain niche in your area, you want to be the first person that comes to mind for their particular situation. If you have a passion for investing in condos, you can potentially build your brand around them. If you have found success participating in tax lien auctions, you should focus your attention on that side of the business. Accordingly, whichever area you are passionate (and knowledgeable) about you can build your brand around. It is far better to build a brand that you really enjoy than to try to ride the coattails of whatever is currently hot in the market. You will come across more genuine and people will be more inclined to work with you.
In building a brand, you need to put yourself out there. (This even includes coming up with a set of real estate business names that deliver the exact branding message that you want.) Brand building is all about repetition and making yourself known. Begin by saturating your market with emails, social media posts, marketing and networking. With everything you do, there should be some mention of your niche. Done correctly, you will gain the reputation you desire. It may be uncomfortable to take the plunge, but once you make the commitment, you need to do it wholeheartedly. Perhaps even more importantly, however, is the amount of time you give it. Building a good brand takes time. If you put in the work and dedicate yourself to the craft, your real estate business will benefit immensely.
As it is in any business, education is a critical component to brand building. You need to know everything about how, why and where you should brand in your local market. You should be prepared to answer almost any question pertaining to your niche. It is equally important to educate those around you as well. Think about how badly you will look if you are the tax lien expert and don’t know, step-by-step, how the process works in your state. Negative word of mouth travels faster than you may think. Your local network will expose you as a fraud in no time if you are ill equipped. Take the time to go to seminars or talk to people that you think could help educate you. Constantly stay updated with any changes and local trends that can impact business. The more you know, the easier it is to brand yourself an expert in whatever niche you choose.
Branding and investing in a specific niche can be independent from one-another. You can brand yourself by including your family and pets on your business card or website. This will give people the impression you are a family man with integrity. You can reinforce it by making blog posts on your personal website about a family vacation or something similar.
Conversely, branding your business can be done in a similar fashion, or at least with the same ease. I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention how important real estate investment company names are. That said real estate business names are tasked with one specif job: to make a good first impression. Of course, branding goes beyond just the name of your real estate business. Something as subtle as having a picture of a shark on your business card will give the impression that you are an aggressive investor. You can have this as your logo and put in on every email you send out to your network. You can make your brand whatever you want it to be without investing in a specific niche.
The quickest way to grow any brand is by cementing it with your local contacts. You need to go to networking events and local investing meetings. While in attendance, participate and hand out your cards to as many people as possible. Your business cards say a lot more about you than you make think. If it is simple and generic, your business will be viewed in the same light. If your card is sleek and modern looking, you give the impression you are at the cutting edge of business.
Your business card has to say what you do on it and how you do it. You can create a tag line under your company name that leaves no doubt as to what kind of an investor you are. The more people you meet at these events, the more people that will have your card and the quicker your brand can spread. If you do this enough times, your brand will spread and slowly start to gain recognition.
Small things, like going on a local radio show or speaking at a real estate office, will further accelerate your brand. If your brand takes off and people start to call, you will reduce the amount of marketing you need to do every month. This money can be spent in areas that will grow your brand and keep deals coming in. Large companies like McDonalds and Coke don’t have to chase new business, but rather spend money cementing existing customers. By building a brand for your investing business, you will create your own name and reputation in your investing area. This will do more for the growth of your business than anything else you can do.
