First I want to encourage all of you out there to read this book - Whether a new blogger or a seasoned veteran - Realty Blogging will have something for everyone - from explaining techie terms to helping you with your marketing and even SEO (search engine optimization). This book simplifies the concept of blogging and guides you on how to do it successfully.
These are the items that popped out at me with regards to Blogging and Branding:
- "Integrating blogs into your mainstream marketing strategies is a successful branding technique for the small business owner"?
- "BRANDING IS MORE THAN JUST A BUSINESS BUZZWORD"
- "Blogs enable you to establish your brand as the trusted source for local real estate"
- "Build a partnership with Your Customers: be transparent and personal, speak clearly and with a high degree of relevancy and speak passionately"
Think about it, the reason a lot of us are blogging is to increase our business. But we need to have a strategy in order to achieve this. We understand that people don't want to do business with a business but with an individual - we understand that we don't want to sell a product, but sell ourselves. So what do we need to do to achieve this?
Mariana already talked about finding your voice Your Blogging Voice... Where is it? (Realty Blogging Review #2) - And it is the most important concept when blogging. Make blogs entertaining - engage in conversation - encourage personal interaction where consumers get to know you, like you and trust you.
- Blogs enable you to establish your brand as the trusted source for local real estate
- When faced with a large number of agents from which to choose, consumers will select the agent who has the strongest personal brand presence in the area.
- Most agent sites on the Web have similar claims. So how can you build your personal brand and separate yourself from the competition? One sure-fire way is through a blog!
Once you establish a blog and internet presence, you need to start setting yourself apart from other bloggers - because face it - there are a lot of us out there! The authors, Natch and Chaney suggest making sure your blogs are "reader-focused".
"Your blog has to provide value if you expect readers to engage in conversation" - always stay focused on the interests of readers."
One very fun concept in Chapter 4 is "blogs are word of mouth supercharged!" How much more fun can this get? We write what's on our mind, we don't have to worry about formal and stiff - we invite our customers to know us on a very personal basis and join in the conversation. And by the way, WOM (word-of-mouth) is the best marketing ever!
Finally I will end with a quote from a blog post found at http://www.smallbusinessbranding.com/
Small business branding is not a good logo, a rhyming name, or special font. Small business branding is the owner. It's what the owner does, says and how the owner's traits come through in every aspect of the business. It's the way relationships are built and maintained, the way a person does business and treats other people. It's how rapport is established at an individual level, where trust and comfort exist as human characteristics, not from theme music, models or slogans.
AS BLOGGERS - WE ARE AT THE TOP OF OUR INDUSTRY, APPLYING THE BEST MARKETING TECHNIQUES BY BEING OURSELVES! Can this get any better?
Ines Hegedus-Garcia - RICK & INES
Don't forget to read the other blog posts about this book including:
Carole Cohen's I Think Therefore I Blog: Realty Blogging Says Be a Groundbreaker...Blog Now!
Ann Cummings' So Far to Go, So Much to Learn........ (Realty Blogging Review #3)
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Ines!!! You put this post together so wonderfully! You are so right ... WOM is the best, hands down, so it is only natural that blogging would be a great "portal" to that kind of advertising. :)