Property ManagementCreate Your Own Personal Online "Brand"
Dear Mr. Internet:I"ve had a Web site for several years now but I"m frustrated in trying to make it stand out from allthe thousands of other real estate sites out there --what do you suggest I do?
Michael Bray, ABR, CSP
Prudential BKB REALTORS
El Paso, TX
Dear Michael:
Differentiation is the key to successful marketing in any endeavor. This is especially true on the
Internet where it is easy to get lost in this vast, digital ocean! One of the most powerful ways to
achieve differentiation is to create your own personal online "brand" —a unique identification by
which your target market will recognize and associate the value of your services.
Applying a well thought-out branding strategy is not only a sure-fire way to set your site apart from
the growing herd of agent sites, but also potentially create a profitable "exit strategy" when you
retire! (more on that later...). Now let"s take a look at how three highly successful online real
estate professionals use branding to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack...
Ducks, Dogs, and Cacti - Oh My!
Rick Miner and his wife, Joyce, are the branding geniuses behind their tremendously successful Duckin.com site.
From the webbed feet that form the “WWW” to his site’s trademark “duck-yellow” look, visitors
know instantly this site is a duck of a different feather!
The beauty of this branding approach is that it complements his site’s target market niche of
Seattle waterfront properties. And, his branding efforts don’t stop just at his Web feet (I mean,
site). Rick and his team hand out little rubber duckies emblazoned with his site URL on its tail,
yellow duck-embroidered duck-billed baseball caps, and drive around in duck-yellow VWs all
touting the Duckin.com brand.
Even his e-mail messages to clients and prospects are peppered with a kind of “quack-talk” that is
very endearing. Now, you might be wondering if this branding stuff is all that it’s quacked up to be
in terms of generating business. Rick shared with me that so far this year, Duckin.com is
responsible for 90% of all his business. As a top producer for Coldwell Banker, that ain’t duck
feed!
"Chester", the dog is very much a central part of Judy McCutchin"s
highly successful DallasHomes.com Web site —one that generated
over $13,000,000 in closed online business for her in 1999 alone!
In addition to being a very endearing branding theme, Judy uses Chester
as a way of enhancing the context of her site content. For example,
Chester appears as a school boy (complete with knickers and
schoolbooks) when visitors view the Dallas area private school
information on her site, or as a "Maitre "d" when searching for fine dining.
In a very clever and unique twist, visitors can chat live with "Chester" for
more information or to set appointments through a service called Live
Assistance. Judy had the service customized to show Chester in the
chat window and instructed the chat operators to "think and act" just
like Chester - including throwing in a "bow-wow" here and there in the course of helping visitors
with their questions. Thanks to Chester, you might say that the DallasHomes.com is somewhat of
a "dog" - but a gold plated one at that!
Top producer Alice Held (who is anything but a "prickly" person...) uses
anthropomorphized cacti to give her Come2az.com site a uniquely branded
sense of charm and personality. Like Judy McCutchin above, she uses her
branding element in a contextual way. That is, the "look" of the cacti figures
change for each section of her site, depending upon the kind of information
being conveyed. Also, like Rick Miner"s site, her approach to branding
powerfully complements her target market of people relocating or retiring to the Scottsdale,
Arizona area. The fact that Alice has closed well over a hundred transactions generated from her
online efforts gives another reason why her friendly cacti are so green!
Five Qualities Of Successful Online Branding
The examples above share four qualities of highly successful Web site branding, in that each of their brands are:
1.Idiosyncratic - they reflect some aspect of their creator"s personality (i.e. Rick"s and Judy"s sense of playfulness and Alice"s warmth)
2.Memorably Unique - they are presented in a way that is not easily forgotten or copied by others
3.Attractive - they are pleasing, warm, friendly, reassuring, cute, fun, or convey any number of other positive qualities
4.Congruent With Their Target Market - the "look and feel" of the branding elements speak to the intended target market rather than clash with it
A fifth quality of the branding process that is missing from all of our examples however, is the use
of an identifiable "logo". A logo is a graphical element (including stylistic use of type —called a
"logotype") that becomes the primary identification element of the site and instant association of
its value for the target market. A well designed logo is unique, memorable, consistent with all
other branding elements, and creates a positive visceral (i.e. gut level) response when
seen/read/heard by your target market. Ideally, the logo will incorporate the site"s domain name as
well. With a little bit of effort, each of our online pros above could unify and solidify their branding
efforts with a compelling logo —something I suspect each is very close to completing.
How To Find The Brand Within You
Creating an effective brand is not an easy process. The most successful brands tend to reflect the
personalities of their creators. In fact, one way to approach the issue of branding is to ask the
question: "What makes me unique from all others on the Net?" The answer is the same as what
makes you different from all people on the planet —it"s you, your personality, your passions, your
sense of purpose —all that makes you uniquely "you".
Here is a simple, yet powerful three-step process to help you get started with your online branding
efforts:
1. Do a quick 3-minute personal "brainstorm" (i.e. no editing allowed and give yourself the freedom to be outrageous!) to list all of your personal passions, regardless of whether they relate to real estate or not.
2. Do another 3-minute "brainstorm" where you list all the unique ways your site can "speak" to your target market (e.g. Rick Miner"s yellow ducky)
3. Now evaluate which of your ideas (from either brainstorm) may be a possibility for a full-blown branding effort. Make sure that your choice is one about which you can be passionate —you will need that kind of energy to see it through to fruition!
You may be wondering at this point if this is all worth the effort. Well, in addition to significantly boosting your current online business, a well executed branding effort can pay off big when you retire as well...
Branding Your Way To A Profitable Retirement
At some point in your life you probably expect to retire from the real estate business. For most
agents this simply means no longer collecting commissions for their efforts. Even if they would
like to "sell" the goodwill they generated over the years, there is typically nothing to sell, because
they made the business all about them.
When you turn your business into a recognizable "brand" however, that is a whole different story.
There will always be investors looking to enter into a business that provides instant market share
through brand awareness. For example, if Rick and Joyce Miner continue to refine their branding
efforts, I would not be surprised if they received something around seven-figures for Duckin.com
when they are ready to sail into the sunset of their years. Now that"s an "exit strategy"!
There are no "magic bullets" to generating consistent business online. There are however, sound
strategies —and creating an effective online brand is one of the most powerful I can think of!
Article Resources:
Duckin.com -
probably the best example of agent site branding on the Net.
Dallashomes.com -
the home of Chester and Judy McCutchin"s highly successful
online presence.
Come2az.com
- where Alice Held creates a whole new meaning of
"sticky" site using friendly cacti.
Live
Assistance - customizable online chat service that
provides visitors with a way to interact live on your site.
Let"s say you have a great Web site (of course you do!) that generates lots of leads while it"s up.
The problem is, all sites at one time or another will "go down" and become inaccessible to potential
visitors What"s worse, you have no idea when it happens or how quickly your hosting service will get
it going again —and that can cost you dearly!
This is where ServerCheck from NetMechanic comes in real handy. For about $10/mo. this service
will check your site every 15 minutes (around the clock 24/7) for slow performance or "server down"
conditions. Once it senses one of these conditions (which you can configure) it will immediately
notify you via e-mail and/or pager of the condition.
I personally use ServerCheck to monitor all my sites. There were several instances that it alerted
me to server problems that I otherwise would never have known about (this helps keep your hosting
service honest too!). Think about it, it only takes saving just one potential lost client due to a down
server to pay years of this great service!