The Ultimate Real Estate Branding Checklist

August 2, 2023

Real estate branding is about creating a professional image that makes you immediately distinguishable from the multitude of other agents in your local market.

You want prospective clients to recognize you from your signs, social media posts, and newsletters. And you want the whole community to know that your brand stands for quality.

DEVELOPING A POLISHED REAL ESTATE BRAND IS SURPRISINGLY DIFFICULT. YOU NEED TO:

Give your ideal buyers and sellers something they can instantly connect with.
Coordinate your values, message, colors, fonts, and design elements into a cohesive package.
Keep your branding consistent across your real estate marketing tools (both online and in the real world).

Luckily, there are lots of ways you can get an edge when it comes to real estate branding. This real estate branding checklist is the key to developing your unique real estate brand quickly and easily!

THE ULTIMATE REAL ESTATE BRANDING CHECKLIST

1. KNOW YOUR BROKER’S RULES AND LOCAL REGULATIONS

Your real estate branding should reflect you, not your broker. If you were to switch brokers, you’d want your clients to still recognize your brand in your marketing materials for your new brokerage.

You don’t need to use your broker’s colors, fonts, or images. But you do need to follow your broker’s branding rules and make sure your branding is compliant with local rules and regulations. This might mean including your broker’s name or logo on your marketing materials. Or you might need to include the Equal Housing Opportunity logo on your marketing materials and online profiles.

Get your broker’s approval of your branding early in the process. The last thing you need is to find out there’s a problem after you’ve ordered your marketing materials.

2. START WITH YOUR IDEAL CLIENT IN MIND

Your real estate branding is just as much about your clients as it is about you. Yes, you want to be authentic in your branding. But most of us are multi-dimensional, and some of our dimensions are more appealing to people in a professional setting than others.

As you develop your real estate branding, imagine how your ideal client will perceive it. Will your branding resonate with that client?

You may even want to spend a few minutes creating a client avatar. An avatar is a representation of your ideal client. Marketers often name their avatars and list their characteristics to get in the mindset of the ideal client. When you can explain what your ideal client values, fears, and hopes to achieve, you can better serve your client.

3. DEFINE YOUR BRAND MESSAGE

Even before you get to the fun things like colors and fonts, you need to clearly define your brand message. What does your brand stand for? How do you want people to feel when they encounter your brand?

It helps to do this before you start choosing colors or designing a logo. Your visual elements should support your brand message, not the other way around.

Here are the five parts of your brand message:

Brand Values. Choose three to five “power words” that represent your brand’s values. Words like honest, fun, friendly, empathetic, professional, hard-working, or knowledgeable.
Brand Mission. What drives your business? To help buyers find a dream home? To help sellers transition quickly into the next phase of their lives? To help investors maximize their ROI?
Origin Story. Clients love to connect to your origin story. How did you get into real estate? And how does your origin story affect your clients’ experience today?
Your Differentiator. In a competitive industry like real estate, it’s critical to set yourself apart from your competitors. What do you do exceptionally well for your clients? What skill or service do you provide that other agents just can’t match?
Personality. If you’re fun and friendly, own it! You don’t have to be stuffy. If you are more serious, own it! You can be warm and inviting while still being all-business.

4. TRANSLATE YOUR BRAND MESSAGE INTO A DESIGN

The term “branding” is often used as a short-hand for this one step. Your brand design is what will jump out at prospective clients.

Getting the design just right is difficult for many agents. And that’s understandable; you’re a real estate expert, not a professional designer. Here’s where it helps to get a boost from a design professional.

Insider tip: you don’t need to hire a professional designer to get a professional brand design! We offer professionally crafted branding templates at affordable rates.

Here are the five parts of your brand design:

Mood Board. A mood board is a visual representation of the tone you want to hit with your brand design. It includes images that evoke the feelings you want your brand to convey.
Brand Colors. The trick is to get colors that complement one another, flow well, but still stand out.
Brand Fonts. Make sure your fonts are easy to read.
Logo. You can purchase modern real estate logo designs here.
Headshot. The clothing in your headshot should work with your brand colors.
Design Elements. What patterns, lines, and shapes will you use in your branding?

5. MAKE YOUR REAL ESTATE BRANDING CONSISTENT

To help prospective buyers recognize your brand, you need to be consistent. Once you decide on your brand design, incorporate that design in every aspect of your online presence and real-world marketing efforts. Here are the marketing tools that should include your branding:

Your Digital Branding

Digital Business Card
Email Signature
Website Design
Images on Your Website
Icons on Your Website
Landing Pages
Newsletter
Watermark Badges
Profiles on Industry Sites

Your Social Real Estate Branding

Instagram Posts, Stories, and Highlights
Facebook Posts and Stories
Twitter Images
Pinterest Pins
YouTube Thumbnails

Your Real-World Branding

Business Cards
Signs
Physical Newsletters
Brochures
Flyers
Door Hangers
Postcards
Presentations
Letterhead
Promotional Gifts
Pop-By Tags

GET BRANDING HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT

You can get lots of free real estate branding advice on the Pinkpops blog. And investing in a few inexpensive designs for your business can save you hours of time and frustration.