It is natural when thinking of branding to immediately think of your logo, or how one might visually recognize you. When it comes to branding, a lot of companies put a great deal of focus into consistent brand guidelines, colours, fonts, styling, imagery, etc… to create recognition of the brand. Some of the big real estate brokerages are great examples of a significant investment in branding. That aspect of branding though deals with visual branding – but what about perception of your brand as a professional?
What do you want to be known for?
• Education and experiences?
• Professionalism?
• Knowledge of a particular area?
Aren’t these all common sense? The real estate industry is extremely competitive and to rise above the pack one must have an edge and something about them that creates a draw.
Millennials represent a large window of time (2nd largest to Baby Boomers) with birthdates spanning from 1980-2000. That makes our youngest millennials around 15 years old and our oldest around 35 years old. In the next 15 years, millennials will not only dominate the workforce but will also represent your buyers and your competition (whether you are a millennial or not).
The Globe and Mail recently released an article about Gen Y characteristics in the workplace, which actually ties in nicely with why your tools impact the perception of you. Gen Y is the most educated and diverse generation in history. Millennials represent 1/3 of Canada’s population, or 12 million people, and by 2028 will represent roughly 75% of the workforce: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/the-future-of-work/the-six-ways-generation-y-will-transform-the-workplace/article9615027/.
This is a large market that should be considered when planning how you want your brand to be perceived. Millennials are impressed by technology, have no problem learning new technology and incorporating it into their daily lives. Fast multitaskers, they are attuned to their mobile devices, using their tablets and computers to perform most daily tasks, and many expect the same from the people/companies they do business with.
What do you think a millennial thinks when their real estate sales professional says that they need to drive back to the office to fax out offers? Or when their real estate sales professional shows up with a handful of paper? It is a new world and no matter the generation you are in, it is important to embrace technology and tools, especially apps and mobile technology, to do more for your clients and to be more relatable to a client who may be more technically savvy than you.
The more you can do to be more digitally accessible, the more you will become known for and increase the perception that your brand is one that is connected and up to date on current technology!!
GeoWarehouse provides the tools to make you the expert. For more about doing more, please visitwww.geowarehouse.ca or call 1-866-237-5937.
