Bringing your personal brand to life

Successful agents can be seen out in the market living their personal brand and running it through everything they do in their businesses.

Bayleys Christchurch agent, Julia Ashmore-Smith, who ran her own graphic design agency, before becoming a Bayleys Top National 5% agent, knows a thing or two about branding.

“From the get go, I’ve tried to do things that were consistent – everything speaks, it doesn’t matter what you do,” she says. Don’t send out awful cheap flyers and then tell people that you’re a high end agent, she advises.

The Bayleys agent takes care on social media not to post listings, she prefers to promote her problem solver personal brand theme online, posting recently on the new changes to the Healthy Homes Bill, informing people of the new requirements. She will also tell clients what’s happening to prices and give “time on market” statistics, which is useful for clients considering a move.

Barfoot & Thompson’s Ketiesha Elliott believes videos are important for bringing your personal branding to life – they’re a good way of people getting a good sense of you, she says. She likes humour to show through on the videos she does. You’ve got to have fun in this job, she says. Her business also has its own Facebook and Instagram pages.

Elliott has rebranded now she and her partner Frank and son Frankie are working together. The branding is very much as a family, she says, rather than a team. And the branding across all platforms, including out walking in their community, is that they’re real people.

“We’re very visible in where we live and where we work, people know who we are, our kids went through the same schools,” says Elliott.

Here are some tips on how to bring your personal brand to life:

• Apply your brand across everything you do

Think of the various channels and ways that potential vendors might see or hear of you and consider some of the things you could do to reflect your brand across all those channels. Consider the products you’re using on property sites such as Trade Me, to ensure they’re premium, position you strongly and speak to your ‘expert’ values.

Give some thought to how client referrals can reflect your brand values. And think about the language you use which might help reinforce your values and personality.

• Don’t be afraid to refine and refresh

Be prepared for your brand to evolve as you do. All the seasoned agents do this, they refresh as they go. As your business grows, so too will your personal brand. Always remember to ask your vendors what helped them with their decision to go with you, this feedback will help guide you.

• Don’t forget to enjoy it!

Take real pride in your brand and continue investing your time, energy and reputation into it. Your brand is something to treasure and look after.