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Branding: We either love it or we hate it.
As real estate investors, our brand and our message can be a deciding factor in whether a seller reaches out to us to potentially purchase their home. Before you ever speak to them, your brand speaks to them.
It’s important to think about how a seller sees your business. Think about your logo, your message, your website and any other marketing you’re putting out there. You have to stand out from the crowd.
Think about what you want your potential seller to know about you:
• Do you enjoy helping others who are in tough situations?
• Do you give any of your profits to charity?
• Are you locally based?
• Do you have a family?
• Do any of your family members work with you in the business?
• How long have you been in business?
• How easy is it to work with you?
• Are you able to assist with cleaning out the property?
• Is it OK if the property needs a lot of work?
Your branding should focus on the positive aspects of your business, with the seller in mind — not the money. They want to know that they can trust you.
On social media, anytime you post or share something on your business page, consider how it will be perceived by future sellers. This is a key reason many real estate investors have two brands or companies. One is for buying distressed properties, and the other is for selling those properties. When you think about it, your audience for both brands is drastically different, so it only makes sense to separate them.
For any marketing you do, ask yourself if your parents or grandparents would look at your mailer or other marketing piece and give you a call. Get their honest feedback. They’re usually part of your target market, and if there are areas of your marketing that turn them off, it’s important for you to know and to potentially make changes.
In addition to thinking of how your parents or grandparents would react, also consider reactions from those who have:
• Lived in their home for decades.
• Raised their kids in that home.
• Inherited the home from a family member.
• Struggled with health and finances and just can’t handle the upkeep of their home.
You can impact their lives for the better if you focus on the seller and solving their problems. When you build your branding around this (and it is true), a motivated seller will be more likely to reach out compared to a brand that’s not personal.
No matter what market you’re in, you need to stand out in a positive way. Having your brand and marketing showcase how you can help a seller out provides a positive first impression. If they reach out to you, continue providing value that is helpful to the seller. You might not get every deal, but helping as many people as you can will only yield positive results down the road.
As yourself now: Are your brand and your marketing showcasing your best features?