While some brokerage might require agents to use their specific branding standards, you still need to develop a personal brand for your business and role as an agent in the field. Real estate is unique in that agents are basically self-employed professionals who operate under the supervision of a broker.

A real estate agent’s personal brand is how they make money, generate leads and expand their presence in the marketplace. In essence, it’s up to you to put your face out there and work hard for those commission checks.

Why Do You Need to Have a Personal Brand?

This being the age of information, people are going to look you up. From Google to YouTube, TikTok to Twitter, there are many different avenues for getting need-to-know information on an agent. That being said, your hope is that they are going to like what they find.

Personal branding is all about you taking the reigns of how people perceive you and what they find out about you. You get to oversee the most important thing to your career and business: your name. At the end of the day, your reputation is crucial to creating a successful real estate business. By crafting and maintaining a positive personal brand and reputation, you’re taking responsibility and holding yourself accountable, which is only reflected in your potential clients.

All that said, branding involves a wide range of work including building a website, enacting a social media strategy, writing blogs, creating videos, linking up on social media, staying engaged with what other real estate professionals are doing and running print ads. The cost of creating a brand can vary, but your brokerage should provide some essential assets to lay a firm foundation for your marketing and branding efforts.

Another way you can boost not only your own brand but also the reputation of the brokerage you’re affiliated with is by investing in personalized apparel and accessories. Using a site like HomeSmart’s Team Shop provides the chance to get your brand out in the public eye in everyday situations. No matter where you’re at–industry gatherings or a sports event–you can essentially tap into free advertising with HomeSmart apparel and accessories.

Define Your Audience

After you have a good understanding of your potential clients’ behavior and who you’re trying to reach, create content (such as social media posts, blogs and videos) that truly adds value to their experience with you. The content you create should convey that you are there to improve the process of buying or selling a home. Be authentic in how you present yourself and work on building trust and relationships with your clients.

What Makes You Different?

Clients always ensure that the person they’re working with has the right personality and vision that aligns with their expectations and needs. To make sure you’re the right one for the job, it’s important to show what makes you unique compared to other agents they could easily Google.

Start by asking yourself basic questions, including:

• Why would I want to buy a home from me?

• What are people saying after they do business with me?

• How do I help people save time and money?

• How do keep this relationship going for future potential projects?

The more specific you can get, the better you can present yourself and create quality content. The better you describe and vocalize how much of a benefit it is to work with you, the more you’ll be able to attract new clients and grow your role in the real estate industry.

Build Your Blog

A huge part of building your personal brand is creating content your clients can tap into and learn something from. Publishing content on your blog regularly–even weekly–can help you stand out from competitors, build trust with your clients and get your name in front of more people through search engine optimization.

Get Your Socials Going

Whether you like it or not, social media is a definite must for the business operations of all agents from here on out. Instagram and Facebook are two options agents have when it comes to engaging with people in real-time, and platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat are helpful in adding more of a video experience for leads.

Not sure about hitting all the social media platforms at once? Start small and focus on a couple, then build out from there. You don’t have to know everything about social media marketing to start making a bigger impact on your online reputation.

In today's real estate environment of social media, live streams and visual-first shopping, an online presence that is consistent is a go-to if you want to be remembered when the potential buyer or seller is ready to work with a real estate agent. Keeping your personal branding fresh, updated and engaging will only help to boost your business in the process.