In a world where companies and agents all “know” that they need to have a “brand” to help the consumer differentiate them from other providers of the same products or services, what are you willing to do to build your brand?
Do you establish yourself as a technology expert? Do you provide in depth information on housing statistics? Are you creating a community on line by exchanging links with other businesses in your area? Are you handing out flyers in front of the Piggly Wiggly every Saturday? Are you really doing something different or do you just crave differentiation without taking the steps to actually be different?
Its hard sometimes to recognize that an idea that might be new to us may just be someone else’s old idea wrapped up in a new ribbon, or facilitated by a new technology. We blog today, we used to send out newsletters. We send e-flyers to other agents where we used to put flyers in the MLS book each week. We create extensive static websites displaying out listings, where we used to display them in the windows of our offices, or in Homes Magazines – but are we doing anything really different?
I would love to know how you put yourself on the line – What do you do that is really different from the other professionals in your marketplace? What was your epiphany about how you practice your trade?
1 response so far ↓
1 Bob // Sep 11, 2008 at 2:09 pm
When I went online in 1998, I built a brand around a site – SanDiegoHomes.com. I leveraged search engine traffic and for several years the only real estate sites that had more local traffic was Realtor.com and the online real estate section of the local paper.
I enjoyed a comfortable lead until last year, when the sheer numbers of local RE sites caught up. As the market turned, I launched a new site. I focused on writing content that was pertinent to the market and did a series of posts on the mortgage debt forgiveness bill winding through congress.
What followed was quite unexpected. There are now over 600 comments on 4 posts and they keep coming. It has led to a unique position in the short sale market here by branding me as a step above most when it comes to short sale knowledge.
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