In this quick talk, I gave new ERA brokers and Realtors some universal brand-building fundamentals. Follow along to add cohesion and intention to your company's brand.

1. BRANDING
THAT WORKS
Scalable Branding for Any Sized Company

2. Know Your
Brand
Storyline
• Consumers are attracted to authenticity. Your brand
must be an authentic reflection of who you are and
how you do business.
• Consistency is scalable -You're able to do more with
less when your brand has a solid, specific storyline.
Every one you know should be able to tell your story.
Your family, your kids, your spouse, your CPA, your
mother. Every agent you work with should be able to
tell your story.Your competitors should be able to tell
your story.
• Your culture is your brand in action - At ERA American,
our mission statement is "we change lives through real
estate." This is the accurate reflection of our
leadership, our short and long-term growth goals, our
commitment to training new agents, our philosophy of
agent support, lead generation, and even our splits
structure.

3. Social Media
is Your
Brand
Megaphone
• Social media doesn't care about the size of your
company. Social media ONLY cares whether you're
telling a good story.
• Every age group is on Facebook. EVERY ONE. Engage
with your customers.
• Nothing is private. Make everything public. Be the best
version of yourself. Don't just talk about work.Talk
about your life, too. Be positive online. Don't tear
people down, but don't be so white-washed that you
don't seem real. Join groups. Create groups. Make
Facebook a habit.
• Use Facebook Live to establish yourself as a real
estate expert. Answer questions.
– One good habit: when you are with a client and they ask a
good question, go to Facebook Live after and answer that
question live.
• List of video links to learn the best social media tools.

4. My Favorite
Brand Hacks
• canva.com – Free online, drag-and-drop graphic
design. If you use their images, it costs $1 per image. I
did not have to hire another graphic designer because
of canva.com.
• sproutsocial.com/landscape – Automatically optimizes
photos and artwork for different platforms
• facebook.com/business – Facebook wants you to be
successful.Their tutorials are simple and great.
• HootSuite.com – Social media scheduler. $9/month
creates an efficient workflow. $20 HootSuite University
gives you all the training you need to master social
media.
• Biteable.com - $99/year, stock video creator. Create
brand videos with high production value. No editing
experience required.
Knowledge is more important than
budget. Understanding your tools
helps you do more with less, which
is sound advice for any budget.
Create a habit to learn marketing
skills and tools every week.

5. Connect with
Mentors &
Resources
• TeamERA –Tools, resources, education, connections..
Make it your business to network, squeeze every ounce
of juice out of the ERA grape, and engage with the
tools.
• Light It Up – If it's in your budget, use the company
match! Driving traffic to Zap is a critical advantage.
Excellent way to gain market share.
• Facebook Groups –
– ERA Marketing Network: Great idea-sharing and problem-
solving. Even collaterals sharing.
– Inman BrokerWar Room: Careful screening process, you
must be a broker. Invaluable resources.
– Inman AgentWar Room: Also great, but is focused on
transactional marketing.
"Good artists copy and great
artists steal." – Pablo Picasso
"We have always been shameless
about stealing great ideas." –
Steve Jobs

6. Video Is
Your #1
Brand Tool
TOOLS
Facebook Live
Instagram video
Periscope/Twitter
YouTube
Vimeo
• Consumers get to get a sense of who you are.
• Social media and search engine algorithms favor video.
– Short video beats long video.
– Engaging video beats short video. (Your stats will tell you.)
– Live video beats everything!
• Video establishes you as the expert. Answer one
question at a time.
• Tie your video to your brand storyline.
• Don't overthink your video. Authenticity is key.
• Ideas:
– Neighborhood market report.
– "A seller asked me this question today."
– 5 Questions… (Personal info, favorite team, hobbies, etc.)
Video Is
Your #1
Brand Tool

7. Community
Outreach
Works
• Connect at local events, business and charitable.
• Volunteer with your board. (It takes take, but builds
your brand within the real estate community.)
• Engage with the right community partners:
– Align with your brand storyline.
– Align with your business model.
– Create exposure through your participation.
– Create relationships with community leaders.
• Promote everything. Focus on the charity and/or
business event, but do it through your business
resources as well as your personal resources.
• Maintain relationships outside of work and the charity.

8. Facebook
Advertising
Expands
Reach
• Facebook.com/business will teach you how to use
advertising tools.
• You control the costs. Set a budget and create a plan.
We use a week on, week off approach. People feel
we're running all the time, but we're spending half the
money.
• Always target your boosts and advertising. Facebook
allows you to use a scalpel. Use it! Narrow down by
area, neighborhood, income, affinity groups, likelihood
of moving soon, job titles, etc.
• Most social media advertising is brand-building. Pay
attention to:
– CPM - Cost perThousand Actions
– Video views –The number of people who viewed your video.
– Reach – How many people had the opportunity to see your
ad, boost, video, offer, etc.
This is the least expensive way to
reach people you are not
connected to.Your budget dictates
how many eyes see it once.Your
content dictates how well it does.

9. PR: Position
Yourself As
a Trusted
Advisor
• Read and watch all of your local news media to learn
what issues are talked about and which reporters are
covering news that fits your expertise.
• Find a few specific topics that you know and
understand at an expert level. Develop your positions.
Include positions that have a strong point of view.
Write them down. Rehearse them. Know them
backwards and forwards.
• Create a bio for yourself that gives media a place to
start doing background on you.
• Contact reporters. Mention their work. Offer yourself
as a resource for similar stories and topics. Send them
your background.
• Send press releases that do a lot of the work for them.
• Create videos and articles about
If you position yourself as a trusted
real estate advisor, you will have a
better chance of picking up earned
media coverage online and in your
local news cycles.