personal brand: Single Property Sites Are Unique Interesting Websites That Distinguish Sellers' Properties - 12/05/10 10:29 PM
Without a doubt, real estate is a very competitive business.
What Distinguishes You In The Marketplace
Regardless of which market you serve, there are dozens if not hundreds of other agents chasing the same leads and seeking the same prospective clients as you.
Both the quantity and nature of your competition are factors totally beyond your control.
You can however control your response to the competition.
Consistently, one of the best and most effective responses is to distinguish yourself from the competition.
This distinctiveness is based on your personal brand and your brand promise.
By effectively identifying, articulating and promoting your … (4 comments)

personal brand: Move Beyond Promotional Advertising Specialties Products - 12/06/09 10:09 PM
Promotional advertising specialties products are intended to serve as reminders of you and your services.
But do prospects and contacts really want these things?
Promotional advertising specialties products are items such as a bags, calendars, baseball caps, pens and similar items that businesses give to prospects, clients and contacts. They carry your name, office and contact information.
Intended to serve as reminders of you and the services that you provide, these items are also known as 'advertising novelties', 'promotional products' or simply 'trinkets & trash'.
You can include these things in mailing to clients such as surveys and newsletters.
Since they add … (7 comments)

personal brand: How To Develop Your Market Segment Strategy - 12/06/09 09:51 PM
When developing your market segment strategy, there are four key issues to consider:
market segment specific needs that you can satisfy strategy for satisfying needs communicate your ability to satisfy these needs What Is Your Market Segment?
A market segment: is distinct from other segments is composed of clients who have common needs can be reached by a effective marketing communications.
To all intents and purpose, a market segment is the same as a market niche.
What Specific Needs Can You Satisfy In This Segment?
The very foundation of your market segment strategy is identifying specific needs in the … (5 comments)

personal brand: How You Demonstrate Your Distinctiveness - 09/30/09 09:38 PM
There’s really nothing that’s new in the real estate business.
New ideas come from old ideas.
“What if...”
As a result, you can develop different scenarios simply by asking “what if…?” What if this or that happens? 
What you do with the answers to the 'what if' questions is innovation...creating new ideas.
Very success brokers and owners can tell you everything there is about running a real estate company. There really aren’t any secrets.
What is important is what you do with the information that is available. That’s what distinguishes you from others who do things differently.
There are dozens...perhaps hundreds … (4 comments)

personal brand: Show & Tell What Distinguishes You From The Competition - 09/07/09 11:33 PM
If you want to succeed in real estate, it is essential that you not only distinguish yourself from the competition...you must also tell others about this distinction.
What better way to launch Best Real Estate Marketing...my new e-zine or emailed newsletter...with a series of articles about this topic.
Specifically the contents of the September edition are:
Show & Tell What Distinguishes You From The Competition The DOs & DON”Ts of Showing and Telling What Distinguishes You The 3 Stars That Distinguish You The Most If you have already subscribed to e-zine...you can look for it in your email inbox tomorrow.
If … (4 comments)

personal brand: 20 Tips For Preparing Good Newsletter Content - 08/12/09 12:18 AM
In terms of website content, it is generally agreed that content is king.
Realistically, newsletter content is equally important...but for whatever reason does not always receive the care and attention it deserves.
Perhaps that's because preparing content for newsletters e-zines...which are newsletters in electronic format...can be challenging.
To assist with that challenge, here are 20 tips to help prepare good newsletter content.
1. Identify and stick to an editorial focus
Your readers have a limited amount of time to read your newsletter.
To help clarify readers expectations, develop a clear focus and editorial approach for your newsletter and follow this approach … (9 comments)

personal brand: 10 Things You Can Give Prospects To Help Them Remember You - 08/06/09 11:58 PM
Yesterday I wrote about a forgettable door hanger  that did nothing to distinguish the agent from the others who canvas our neighborhood.
One of the comments raised the question:“What other products would you use to distinguish yourself from your competition?”
Before responding to this question, let's clarify the purpose of items like the door hanger I referred to.
Purely and simply these items are intended to help prospects remember you so that when they are ready to buy or sell, they will contact you.
To help prospects remember you, three ingredients are required:
some element of your personal brand to … (13 comments)

personal brand: How To Distinguish Your Listings From Comparable Listings - 08/04/09 11:26 PM
Photographs represent a key element of real estate marketing.
Real Estate Photography
Virtually any element of an agent's marketing communications that can accommodate a photograph of the agent has at least one such picture
Similarly, one of the first things that happens after the listing agreement is signed is to take pictures of the property.
While a great deal of care and attention is exercised for agents' business portraits, the same cannot be said for photographs of clients' properties.
The quality of pictures of listed properties seems less important than the speed with which the details of the new listing...including … (4 comments)

personal brand: Good Marketing Whets Prospects' Appetites - 08/03/09 12:34 AM
Marketing means different things to different people.
To most sales people, marketing and promotion mean much the same thing.
Regardless of which term is used, it refers to virtually everything that is done to promote a business.
Unfortunately, this understanding ignores the importance of two elements that are critical factors in successful marketing.
Marketing Includes Research
Market research allows you to identify who and where your clients are...as well as what they need, want and expect from you.
Without this knowledge, it would be difficult, if not impossible to prepare promotional activities that connect effectively with prospective clients.
By default, … (2 comments)

personal brand: How To Prepare A Brochure That Is As Good As Your Client Service - 07/23/09 11:47 PM
Your brochure is the first of many marketing communications elements based on your personal brand and brand promise.

 
The main purpose of a brochure is to introduce you...and explain how you help clients.
Ideally, the brochure will present you as sufficiently competent and trustworthy that prospects will be contact you...or be willing to talk to you if you contact them.
Choosing The Right Words
The best brochures are short and to the point.
This means carefully choosing the fewest words possible to accurately tell prospects who you are and how you can help them.
Purely and simply, these … (5 comments)

personal brand: A Time to Shine - 07/23/09 11:05 PM
In case you missed it, Jim Sedgwick,  made the following comment in response to my blog post about distinguishing yourself from the competition. 
Jim's comment contained some good points...so I am reposting it.
...The Market Will Get Stronger...
“...Agents MAY even want to take it a bit farther.
“Many agents have left the industry and many have cut back on their marketing expenses...now is the time to shine...not only in getting your name out there, but taking that leap to specialize.
“As the market gets stronger (and it will) so will you.
“By specializing in one or two segments of … (3 comments)

personal brand: Presenting A Compelling Reason For Prospects for Hiring You - 07/23/09 12:27 AM
Your brand promise reassures clients that you can...and will...help them.
What Is A Brand Promise?
Your brand promise tells prospects what they can expect you to for them as clients.
In effect, it offers them a compelling reason for choosing you as their real estate agent.
It reassures them that you can...and will...help them with their real estate transactions.
Like your personal brand, it is an important promotional element of your marketing communications.
However, unlike your personal brand, your brand promise is not created from a self-assessment or based on a high level of self-awareness.
It is not a pronouncement you … (2 comments)

personal brand: How To Distinguish Yourself From The Competition - 07/21/09 11:44 PM
Your personal brand is your unique combination of attributes that distinguishes you from the competition.
It also helps attract prospects.
You Really Are Distinctive
As a real estate agent you are distinctive...no other agent has the same combination of skills and resources that you offer to clients.
Many factors contribute to your uniqueness.
These factors include:
your combination of personal traits and characteristics your interests and values how you serve clients differently than anyone else the value that you deliver to clients the benefits that you deliver to clients what you do better than anyone else. 'Me-Too' Marketing & … (54 comments)

personal brand: The Hi 5 of Effective Networking - 07/19/09 11:26 PM
Before offering another list of tips to help with your marketing, I'd like to thank you very much for the response to my post about connecting with new niche markets.
In every way, it was a record-breaker: readers, comments and visits to my website.
Both in quantity and quality...it was all good. Thank you ...I appreciate your feedback and comments.
What started a stand-alone blog post listing niche markets A-Z has now become a series of 3 posts (so far) all intended to help you generate new business.
Since many of the ways of connecting with niche markets involve networking...either on … (5 comments)

personal brand: Stop Wasting Money On Ineffective Advertising - 07/10/09 12:00 AM
I continue to be amazed at the amount of of money that real estate agents spend...and in far too many cases, waste...on advertising.
Wasted Advertising Dollars
For some, the money is wasted as a result of making advertising decisions for the wrong reasons.
For example, many agents continue to advertise heavily in print media because that's what they have always done.
Somehow these people seem to have missed the fact that the major of buyers...upwards of 85%...now start their search for a new home online.
Although it is invariably difficult to make abrupt and sudden changes, perhaps it would be … (3 comments)

personal brand: Branded Text Messages Offer Mobile Branding - 06/24/09 11:51 PM
Branded text messages allow you to apply mobile technology to attract more prospects and generate more new business.
Your Personal Brand As A Competitive Advantage
In a competitive market, it's a major challenge for one business to distinguish itself from its competitors.
This is particularly true of real estate sales.
In any given market, there are many agents competing to attract clients to whom they can provide similar services.
Regardless of what market you serve, the best way to distinguish yourself from the competition is to develop and consistently apply your own personal brand.
deally your brand communicates what what … (6 comments)

personal brand: Identifying Client Patterns Can Help Improve Your Marketing - 03/15/09 11:35 PM
Recognizing client patterns that others miss will help distinguish you from the competition.
A Series of Good Questions
“Am I even asking effective questions?
“Or, are there other more pertinent ideas to explore?”
Those are last of a series of questions that Andrew Haslett  raised in response to my posting about seeing the whole forest and not just the trees. 
Because all of Andrew's questions raise good issues, I will answer all of them...but not in this posting.
Are Andrew's questions effective? Yes...very much so.
Any question raised to generate information, clarify something or learn more is a good … (2 comments)

personal brand: Marketing Communications III: A Compelling Reason For Prospects To Hire You - 02/15/09 11:35 PM
Your brand promise reassures clients that you can...and will...help them.
What Is A Brand Promise?
Your brand promise tells prospects what they can expect you to for them as clients.
In effect, it offers them a compelling reason for choosing you as their real estate agent.
It reassures them that you can...and will...help them with their real estate transactions.
Like your personal brand, it is an important promotional element of your marketing communications.
However, unlike your personal brand, your brand promise is not created from a self-assessment or based on a high level of self-awareness.
It is not a pronouncement … (1 comments)

personal brand: Marketing Communications II: How To Distinguish Yourself From The Competition - 02/08/09 10:34 PM
Your personal brand is your unique combination of attributes that distinguishes you from the competition. It also helps attract prospects.
You Are Distinctive
As a real estate agent you are distinctive...no other agent has the same combination of skills and resources that you offer to clients.
Many factors contribute to your uniqueness.
These factors include:
your combination of personal traits and characteristics your interests and values how you serve clients differently than anyone else the value that you deliver to clients the benefits that you deliver to clients what you do better than anyone else 'Me-Too' Marketing & Client Service … (5 comments)