How to Create a Real Estate Agent Personal Brand

Brands aren’t just for businesses. We all have a personal brand, whether we realize it or not. A personal brand takes conscious and intentional effort to create and a good personal brand can influence how others see you. This is why a well-honed personal brand can be an invaluable career tool. Marketing yourself as a real estate agent will be a whole lot easier if your real estate agent personal brand is already doing a lot of the leg work for you. 

To help craft the direction you want your personal brand to go in, ask yourself, when your colleagues and connections talk about you, what do you want them to say? For example:

[Your name] is a really skilled [your job title] who specializes in [your specialty]. Anyone would be lucky to work with them on a [project type]. They are really [adjective].

While you don’t have to follow that exact ad lib format, you get the point. Try to envision the personal brand you want to be associated with and then take the following steps to make it come to life. 

Keep reading for more insight into how to create a real estate agent personal brand. 

Step 1: Build a Website

Building a website isn’t as complicated as it sounds, platforms like WordPress, Wix, and Weebly allow you to build and host a website for free and provide easy to use drag and drop templates that require no coding experience. Starting with a free version of these websites is fine while setting up your website, but you’ll eventually want to upgrade to a paid version so you can unlock features that will make your website look more professional.

For example, you’ll want to pay to have a custom domain. If you use a free version of WordPress, your website domain will look like this: www.mywebsite.wordpress.com. 

If you pay for a custom domain, it will look like www.mywebsite.com. Having a custom domain sends a message that you’re committed to your business and running it as a professional. 

If you aren’t content with the free template options provided by your web hosting platform, you can always pay for a pre-designed template or can hire a web designer to help you out. If you do decide to hire a web designer, you need to do your research and make some key decisions that will help the process go smoother. 

1. Define your budget for the project and research the average cost for this type of project
2. Identify your end goals and pull together examples of websites and design features you like
3. Ask friends and colleagues for references
4. Get quotes from multiple designers
5. Schedule times to check in throughout the project to make sure you’re on the same page

If you purchase a custom domain, you’ll also want to pay a little extra to have a custom email address (no more @gmail.com for you!). This small and very inexpensive step (it usually only costs a few dollars a month) will make your business look more professional. If you choose to create a business name instead of using your personal name and want to extend your brand to social media, you’ll also want to grab the coordinating social media handles before someone else does! That way, you have a consistent brand presence across web, email, and social media. 

Step 2: Clean up Your Social Channels

While there are plenty of horror stories about how bad social media manners can ruin your career, for the most part any major mishaps are easy to avoid. If used responsibly and strategically, you can use social media to build your personal brand. Posting updates about your work and achievements, starting thoughtful conversations about your industry, and connecting with other professionals are all great ways to build your brand. But before you start posting about your career on social media, you need to take the following tips into consideration and to clean up your act. 

Decide on public vs. private. You may want to keep your work life separate from your personal life. If that is the case, you should make any social accounts you don’t want your colleagues or clients to see, private. That doesn’t mean you can’t post about your personal life on public accounts, but you’ll want to make sure your personal updates are chosen carefully.

Delete, delete, delete. You’re going to want to avoid sharing anything that can make you appear unprofessional on social media. While you’ll likely be on your best behavior moving forward, you’ll also want to take a careful look at old posts and delete anything that could put you in a bad light. Say goodbye to any posts that could be considered offensive, that include negative comments about any former employers or clients, and it may be time to archive any photos with red solo cups in them — no matter how old they are.

Be consistent. Across all of your social channels, you should consider using the same photo or logo and include a similar bio about yourself. That way, if someone becomes interested in your content, it’s easy for them to find you across multiple platforms. 

Step 3: Become a Thought Leader

Now that you have your website and social channels polished and ready to share with the world, you can begin to establish yourself as a thought leader in the real estate industry. That sounds intimidating, but we promise, people want to hear what you have to say. If you want people to see you as a serious player in your field, showing off your passion for the industry and how thoughtful you are about your work will go a long way. 

Join a few local or industry networking groups so you can connect with new people and can expand your reach. The more people you talk to, the more your reputation as a thought leader in your niche will grow, and ideally your conversations will lead to gaining valuable new insights and perspectives. 

Are you ready to create your real estate agent personal brand and to start meeting all of your career goals? Then you’ll love our upcoming course Set Your Goals: How to Create a Real Estate Business Plan!