Successful Real Estate Branding: How To Elevate Your Listings & Stand Out
Real Estate Branding: How To Elevate Your Listings & Stand Out
Location, location, location. It’s the rallying cry of realtors everywhere. But, what about branding, branding, branding?
After all, it’s a competitive market, and real estate sales involve many moving parts. Branding for real estate agents is essential to ongoing success, yet it’s often seen as a secondary priority.
Not convinced?
While 69% of realtors have websites, those websites are also typically five years old. In website years, that’s pretty ancient. When it comes to branding for real estate agencies, there’s a lot more to it than simply having a website and sticking a flashy sign in a front yard.
All that said, real estate agencies can gain a competitive advantage in even the most competitive markets with the right technology, and there are some quick and accessible ways to put your best brand foot forward and level-up your real estate marketing game sustainably.
How digital twins enhance real estate branding
While virtual tours aren’t new, they are difficult to implement well and have quickly become the industry standard alongside audio, photos and videos. Oftentimes, virtual tours require too much clicking around, have cropped or pixelated images, and simply don’t do the property justice.
Here is where digital twins come in as an elevated 3D experience of a physical property.
Digital twins allow listing agents to bring context to each property in a way that isn’t possible through traditional real estate visuals like photos, videos, and virtual tours. With Matterport, realtors can present listings in a way that allows buyers to understand a property as they are doing their research.
For example, Real Estate by Design, based out of Texas, used Matterport digital twins to power 3D tours. Both home buyers and sellers took notice:
Average days on market dropped from 30 to 21 days
Average sales price to list price jumped from 93% to 97%
The team at Real Estate by Design could even use digital twins as a way to show buyers other properties, while visiting a different property in person. This level of accessibility saved them precious travel time, and helped them match their customers with the perfect property.
3 reasons to update your real estate branding for a digital-first audience (and how)
The way people communicate and receive information is changing rapidly and can make real estate branding an overwhelming task. This section will dive into some reasons why it’s worth investing in building a strong brand and also how you can do it in a smart and modern way.
1. Build credibility and attract the right clientele
In an industry that is as competitive as real estate, your go to market strategy has to be on point in order to impress, retain, and even regain clientele.
The old adage of “first impressions count” is never truer than it is today where information is ever-available on everyones’ screens. A clean website with a nice photo gallery has become the baseline expectation.
Information is the key to building trust and credibility in this digital age, and having a strong online presence is one way to do that.
How to do it:
With the Business Card and Quick Link plugin in Matterport’s digital twins, you can now embed your business details within the listing and highlight your brand to buyers (and sellers).
This is a non-invasive opportunity to include all relevant information for your agency and customize information for each unique property. While Matterport already helps you track traffic and engagement metrics for your virtual tour, plugins like Business Card and Quick Link give you a new way to generate qualified leads.
2. Stand out from competitors with unique listing experiences
Expanding on the theme of “information,” another way to differentiate your listings is to go above and beyond when providing context about a property.
Real estate photos, videos, and even 3D tours are now the industry standard. A typical listing will already include the basics like:
Property size
Number of bedrooms
Number of bathrooms
Features specific to the property
An impactful differentiator is to provide context with your real estate marketing assets and Matterport’s digital twins do just that. Digital twins are the best way to give buyers information, context and even a visual idea of the property as they are going through their search.
This means that listings that can give buyers more than this basic information will be more competitive.
How to do it:
Matterport digital twins can deliver more value with real estate marketing add-ons and plugins that add an experiential layer to your listing. They are:
Compass & Minimap plugins
Detailed floor plans
The Compass and Minimap plugins enable buyers to navigate a space as if they are on the property (at any given time of day — yes, you read that right). These plugins are yet another way to bring the listing to life by giving buyers a sense of the physical space and even help them envision interior design and furnishing options to best utilize natural light.
This both looks and feels like a polished experience for the modern-day home buyer in a way that is very different from typical real estate 3D tours. It also leaves a strong impression on potential clients by showing that you’ve considered all aspects of their buying journey.
You can also differentiate with something as simple as a detailed floor plan that includes your custom logo design. The floor plans can also be customized with furniture placement or color scheme, giving your clients yet another way to explore a property. Some listings typically include square footage, year built and a rough scan of a black and white floor plan. With Matterport, you can create a schematic floor plan directly from a 3D scan, helping your listing feel unique and build your brand.
Learn more on our Winter Release page
3. Reduce ad spend
Running ads, whether in the local paper or online, gets expensive. Fast. While investing in branding for real estate business takes time, it doesn’t have to be the same financial sink as advertising. And, it can offer ongoing real estate leads over time.
Social media profiles are free to make, and websites can cost less than $100 per-year to maintain. Sure, you can invest in advertising to drive traffic to either of these channels, but you don’t have to.
How to do it:
Leverage free resources available. Create social media profiles for your business and join any local real estate and home groups. Get involved and interact with your audience to drive engagement without ad spend.
You can also consider setting each of your agents up with professional, branded profiles so they can interact with your target audience as well. If you go this route, make sure you have brand guidelines established and that everyone is representing the agency well.
If you’re not web savvy or can’t afford a graphic designer, consider purchasing an affordable template that gives you an eye-catching site without all the development costs.
Best practices real estate businesses should follow for greater reach
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to branding for real estate agencies. Every market is unique, as is every agent. And, your brand should reflect what makes you and your team unique. That being said, there are a number of unique real estate branding ideas that you can draw inspiration from to build a strong real estate brand of your own.
Keep branding consistent across all marketing channels
No matter what type of branding you go with, make sure it’s consistent across all your channels. Your audiences on social, your site, in-person, and so on can vary. But, your branding still needs to stay consistent. This means consistent brand colors, the same core values, and other branding elements everywhere your target audience can land.
When you’re consistent, your real estate brand strategy benefits in a number of ways:
Your brand identity is stronger and more recognizable
You look more professional and established
It’s easier to build trust when your brand is consistent
You build brand awareness through repetition
Your visual identity is stronger, benefiting local digital marketing
If you want to ensure branding consistency in any homes you’re showing, Matterport digital twins make it easy to quickly tour your properties and make sure staging is accurate. Real Estate Analytics (REA), a Singaporean property technology company, makes real estate data accessible to consumers, professionals, and institutions in order to make informed decisions regarding their properties. Since then, the company standardized their online property listings using Matterport digital twins and managed to increase their online listing engagement by 50% and sales by 20%.
Gabriel Mejia, Chief Strategy Officer at Real Estate Analytics says that their brand has benefited from this by providing a unique user experience:
“Since working with Matterport, we have been awarded the best Online Services in Real Estate by the Singapore Business Review for our work in aligning technology with our company mission and values.”
Read more about REA’s Matterport experience here.
Make communication easier than the rest
Oftentimes, buyers have to put in an email, phone number, and a message when trying to contact a real estate agency online. This is not only intimidating to many first-time home buyers, but also makes things far more complicated than they need to be.
Stand apart and market your agency as one with an open door. Give your audience a number of ways to reach you:
Feature your phone number and email prominently on all branding
Give users the ability to fill out a form on your site if they wish
Include contact information on any virtual tours
Respond to questions and queries on social media posts
Both home buying and selling processes are lengthy, complicated, and stressful for many people. Any steps you can take to make it easier for your audience will help you stand apart from competitors, and give people a great reason to refer your services to others.
