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Can Towns Have A Brand? Cowboy Mural in Golden, CO

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Mortgage and Lending with SUNSTREET MORTGAGE, LLC (BK-0907366, NMLS 145171) NMLS 223495

Cowboy Mural in Golden, CO: Mike in Tucson, mortgage lender

Branding A Town: Cowboy Mural in Golden, CO

Welcome Arch in Golden, CO: Mike in Tucson, mortgage lenderChances are that the town where you live and work has spent money creating a Tourism Brand.  I don't know about you, but when someone spends money to attract people to come to my town, I want to make the most of the money they've invested on my behalf. 

That's the way I look at it!  I don't live in Golden (yet) but I visited there yesterday.  Coming into town, the first thing I saw was the Welcome Arch.  I actually felt welcome!

Underneath is the town's brand: Where The West Lives.

Supporting that theme is the magnificent bronze statuary which adorns downtown.  Somebody paid a lot of money to support Golden's brand!

Walking the streets after the Christmas Parade, I saw the cowboy mural on the side of an older commercial building. 

It supports the brand!

Success?  Align yourself and your business with the brand!

In the current paradigm of differentiating oneself from the rest of the crowd, many REALTORS make the mistake of choosing to be the "anti-brand."  Big mistake!  Non-conformity is fine as a personal directive, but if one's brand goes in the opposite direction of your surroundings, you're position as an expert will suffer.

"I'd rather be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond" is a strategy that misses the point, the point being that "there is strength in numbers."

The numbers here refer directly to the amount of money being spent on your town's image and brand, and on the strong reach of the internet in bringing people to you.

Ask yourself:

  1. Is my brand aligned with my town's brand?
  2. Am I doing anything to support the brand of my town/city?
  3. Have I fallen into the trap of the "anti-brand?" 
  4. Do people who are attracted to the brand of my town/city find themselves trusting me because my personal brand seems to be an extension of my town/city's brand?

That last one is your goal.  Jump on the bandwagon!

_____________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson Mortgage Lender.

NMLS #223495

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE llc ~ Correspondent Mortgage Bank
Offices (AZ) Mesa, Tucson, Sierra Vista, Nogales, and Albuquerque, NM.

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Comments (15)

Elizabeth Cooper-Golden
Huntsville Alabama Real Estate, (@ Homes Realty Group) - Huntsville, AL
Huntsville AL MLS

Mike, SO true!  We are the Rocket City and also were ranked as #2 in geek population...thus my blog header "Where Nerds Rule", LOL.

Dec 05, 2010 02:38 PM
Ernie Hernandez
RE/MAX - Cedar Park, TX
Central Texas Real Estate, NW Austin, Cedar Park

Mike, thanks for this. theres always room for improvement and this can help anyone improv e

Dec 05, 2010 02:53 PM
K.C. McLaughlin
RE/MAX United - Cary, NC
Realtor, e-PRO, Homes for Sale - Cary, Raleigh NC

Excellent points - definitely capitalize on the brand and be consistent.

Dec 05, 2010 10:39 PM
FN LN
Toronto, ON

Hi Mike - I know many towns, cities, provinces, states and countries that all try to develop branding.

Dec 05, 2010 11:22 PM
Andrew Mooers | 207.532.6573
MOOERS REALTY - Houlton, ME
Northern Maine Real Estate-Aroostook County Broker

All of us are Chamber of Commerce, Tourist Information professionals as part of our job. If you are not some kind of exciting about where your live, where your properties are, no one outside of Dodge will be either.

Dec 05, 2010 11:24 PM
Caroline Gosselin
Prominent Properties Sotheby's International Realty - Short Hills, NJ

What a wonderful post and such an important point when it comes to marketing yourself. I need to give some thought to my town's brand and really make an effort to address that in my marketing. Thanks for the eye-opening post. I also LOVE the cowboy mural. I currently live in New jersey, but grew up in Texas... would love to have a print of that! Any online stores in your town that would sell something like that?

Dec 05, 2010 11:45 PM
Aaron Seekford
Arlington Realty, Inc. - Arlington, VA
Ranked Top 1% Nationwide 703-836-6116

Golden looks pretty sweet, Mike! I have definitely made sure that my brand sticks out here in Arlington, VA--hints the nickname, Mr. Arlington.

Dec 06, 2010 12:11 AM
Bryan Robertson
Los Altos, CA

It's very difficult to co-brand and stay in one geography but I've seen agents do it.  I think if an agent were to invest in being "Mr. (insert town name here)" they'd have to be somewhat successful in that town for doing something, even if it's not real estate (perhaps volunteering or politics) and then continue to push that concept through ads, blogs, or word-of-mouth.

Dec 06, 2010 12:34 AM
Edward Peterson
eDrake - Hamden, CT
eDrake; CT

I agree, towns have a brand - they can be viewed as blue collar or blue blood, understanding the towns in which you do business will better build your business.

Dec 06, 2010 02:06 AM
Harry F. D'Elia III
WEDO Real Estate and Beyond, LLC - Phoenix, AZ
Investor , Mentor, GRI, Radio, CIPS, REOs, ABR

It is sad when a town does not have an identity. It becomes very confusing for its residents.

Dec 06, 2010 04:09 AM
T Doe
Arctic Bay, YN

That Golden Welcome sign has been there for sometime now. It was the mid '80's when I first visited there, pretty cool town.

Dec 06, 2010 04:45 AM
Moisés "Moe" Pagán
Walnut Creek, CA

Mike,

 

I'm sure my town has a brand - now I have to find it.  We have a sign similar to Goldens as you enter the New Downtown(which was built to look like an old downtown) but it just says "Pleasant Hill".  We do have hills, and it is Pleasant, but we were annexed from Walnut Creek back in the 60's.  Is our brand, Annexed Walnut Creek?

Dec 06, 2010 06:41 AM
Mike Jones
SUNSTREET MORTGAGE, LLC (BK-0907366, NMLS 145171) - Tucson, AZ
Mike Jones NMLS 223495

Moises,

That's an interesting conundrum!  Come back when you find out.

Thomas,

:)  It still is!

Harry,

What town do you live in?  What's its brand?

Edward,

Thanks for commenting!  See you on your blog.

Bryan,

It looks like that's what Aaron (@8) has done.  I'm going to check it out.

Aaron,

I'm looking forward to visiting your blog!

Caroline,

Don't you miss Texas?!  See you on your NJ blog.

Andrew,

I agree wholeheartedly!

Marc,

What about YOUR town?  Come back!

KC,

Yep!

Ernie,

You're most welcome!

Elizabeth,

You are the PERFECT person for the first comment!  Thqanks for stopping by.

Mike in Tucson

 

Dec 06, 2010 08:31 AM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Of course, in my area, the theme is almost always going to be historic.  Loudoun County where I live has more horses than any county in Virginia.  We have a number of areas with the Equestrian theme.

I love the cowboy theme. 

Dec 06, 2010 09:29 AM
Barbara-Jo Roberts Berberi, MA, PSA, TRC - Greater Clearwater Florida Residential Real Estate Professional
Charles Rutenberg Realty - Clearwater, FL
Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater, Safety Harbor

Plenty of areas use branding like that. Tampa's historic Ybor City is known as Tampa's Latin Quarter and with good reason. Settled by Italian, Spanish and Cuban immigrants, it has a charm and flavor all it's own!

Dec 15, 2010 07:08 AM