Are You Building a TRUE Brand?
Are you building a TRUE brand, or a business totally dependent on spending money to earn revenue?
It’s a question each and every one of you should be asking yourself. Allow me to expand on the branding discussion I started a few days ago.
Every business has to evaluate their marketing strategy and weigh both the short and long term cost of their revenue sources to determine the best way to grow their business. Real estate is certainly no different. Where are your leads, clients and revenue originating from? Organic SEO? Zillow? Trulia? HomeGain? Realtor.com? Google adwords? BoomTown? Referrals? Or direct traffic? What do each of those sources cost you? Which of those sources adds long term value for your company?
It’s no secret referral and direct traffic are the most valuable sources of traffic — because they aren’t dependent on spending money. If you do nothing marketing wise and spend NOTHING on advertising for an entire month (or two or three), your direct and referral traffic is still going to show up day in, day out (assuming you are still giving them the same current information & a great user experience that attracted them in the first place). Even organic SEO traffic is not immune to natural business climate shifts. Google can decide to change their algorithm at any time (and they do), which could vastly decrease (or increase) your organic traffic overnight. My friend Dan’s site, Bankvibe, got hit by the Panda update and he’s still recovering. All the other sources are pay to play — once you stop spending, your leads go to zero overnight.
The importance of building a brand is growing by the day. There is simply too much noise on the web — in every vertical. The internet is filled with people trying to make a buck, no matter what it means. As much as it pains me to say it, the world is NOT filled with people building TRUE brands.
Why?
Well, that’s easy. Building a brand is hard work, and takes time. More than a month. More than 6 months. More than a year. More than 2 years. And most people quit because they simply don’t care enough to see it through (related: watch Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech from 2005). Apple has built a brand. Starbucks. Zillow. REI. One company that puts a premium on branding is Evernote — and it involves running your business fundamentally differently than most. Look at what Phil Libin at Evernote wrote when they raised $50 million [H/T to Jeff Turner]:
…when we make any big decision, whether in fund-raising, or product design, or partnership strategy, we ask, ‘would this make it more or less likely that we’ll be around in a hundred years’, and if the answer is less we don’t do it.
And THAT’S why building a brand is so important — it gives you long term strategic flexibility. Further, the bigger your brand gets, the less you have to fight tooth and nail every month to find clients to pay the bills. The business shows up at your door by itself.
A real estate broker’s online lead sources are likely to include a mixed blend of organic SEO, paid adwords, Zillow leads, referrals, and direct — but nothing other than direct and referral traffic is immune to changing business conditions.
And those traffic sources come ONLY from building a TRUE brand.
How do you build a true brand? Well, there’s no short answer. Marc Davison certainly has a few ideas on the subject worth reading. In short, your focus should be to build a destination people remember and visit over and over — on their own without Google or anyone else. Building a brand is expensive, but if you’re in your business for the long run, it’s the only way to go.
I’ll leave you with this:
Are you building a TRULY special BRAND that people will remember? Or are you just building the same crap everyone else is?
Ray Schmitz
Posted at 09:21h, 25 FebruaryNot only are there few real brands (at least nationally), but many of the ones that exist do not impress. For instance, with the possible exception of Coldwell Banker, none of the big national franchises seem to carry great weight with consumers. Nobody ever talks about which firm was behind the house they sold – or bought.
Mostly the same thing with builders, too, though some people are proud to own a Toll Brothers home.
So how well does branding really work on the national scale? On the local?
Drew Meyers
Posted at 09:29h, 25 FebruaryI think the only way we are going to see a national broker’s brand TRULY mean ANYTHING — is if a small brokerage with a passionate, vibrant, motivated owner grows big over time & finds a way to keep the culture/brand in tact while doing it.
Building a real brand is damn hard work. There’s no replacing the passion a founder can put into his/her company — no one else will care as much as they will, no matter how much money you pay them.
Ray Schmitz
Posted at 09:49h, 25 FebruaryAgreed, as far as building a brand goes. However, I think a company’s successfully build brand can outlast its founder if a firm culture is built with the brand. The irony gets deeper as brokers have the loosest of hold on their agents (who generally aren’t employees) so it would seem that firm culture is also vitally important.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 09:53h, 25 FebruaryAgreed that a brand can outlasts its founder. But who is going to take over CB, ERA, C21, etc — and CARE enough to do what it takes to transform the brand? My answer is no one. If you’re going to put in that amount of work to build a brand, you might as well build your own brand and not someone else’s. Maybe if c21 or another one of the big franchises pay someone millions and millions to care…but they don’t have that kind of cash to throw at someone.
Personally, I think all the big brands are beyond the point of no return. They are too big to change short of a massive overhaul that includes firing 80% of the agents — and I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Ray Schmitz
Posted at 10:19h, 25 FebruaryNo, most agents won’t be fired. The people who would do the firing need the split those agents generate to pay their salaries. But agents will quit for a more compelling alternative.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 10:30h, 25 FebruaryI hope agents start acting with their feet. But I’m skeptical they will. Are there even good alternatives in all markets? I know there are awesome brokers to work for in some regions, but not all I would suspect.
Greg Fischer
Posted at 20:03h, 25 FebruaryCulture drives brands. Customers and employees are attracted to brands with positive cultures. As we participate in Geek Build 2012, we not only look to build our online brand, but to create a roadmap for the brokerage as a whole. Real estate companies are local. Personally, I believe in community, enjoying the arts, eating anywhere owned locally at least once, and participating in the positive growth of my city.
Do you see national brands getting their hands dirty in the community? Do they have friends working in local industries, kids attending local schools, and do they know where the best burger in town is? A local Realtor should.
Real estate is local. Strong culture and community ties are very important to branding. I also think technology plays a major role. No one wants to look at an outdated website or a brokerage site with only their own listings. So I say: culture+local+tech.
Perth Property Investment
Posted at 10:05h, 27 FebruaryIndeed a very brilliant analysis! Great article.
Michael Borger
Posted at 19:10h, 27 FebruaryAgreed on the importance of branding. It’s a big reason why I’m such a big fan of what Gary Vaynerchuk’s doing. Legacy trumps currency, as he says, and he’s absolutely correct. If you plan on being in business for the long haul, which I’d expect, then caring about your brand, reputation and legacy should be at or near the top of your list.
Neal Cabage
Posted at 17:31h, 11 JuneA brokerage is a brand. A Realtor is not. Realtors, like other small businesses, are better off focusing their marketing dollars on direct marketing campaigns, not brand building.
In Business for 100 Years? - GeekEstate Blog
Posted at 21:30h, 13 June[…] being highlighted again. You are in the weeds in your market. Who impresses you? Who else is truly building a real brand? Leave your thoughts in the […]