What is personal marketing? Think quick. Name a laundry detergent. Quickly, what is a second? Without hesitation, now name a third. More than likely, it becomes more difficult to recall a third brand name. The first laundry detergent that you think about literally owns a piece of your mind.

In real estate, your success comes as more and more people, when they think about real estate, think of you. Personal marketing is also attempting to own a piece of a person’s mind. You must be the first, or at least the second, agent that comes to mind.

According to a NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS^® survey in 1995, 82 percent of home buyers can not remember the name of the real estate agent who worked with them two years earlier. As I heard Mike Brodie, of Keller Williams in Plano, Texas, remark at a recent seminar, "It is an insult to your former clients if you do not keep in touch with them." And, remember that Joe Girardi wrote in his book, World’s Greatest Salesman, "The key to the many is the one." I also learned through a success program that there is not much money in selling. It’s in building relationships what we increase our wealth.

In spite of this fact, many of our colleagues continue to put off starting a personal marketing program. They depend on the marketing done by their company and leave the personal marketing plans on "someday isle."

Affordability is the major stumbling block that keeps many individuals from launching a personal identity separate from the company. In this article, you will find some fundamental basics of effective personal marketing. The four concepts are arranged using the word COST. Develop your campaign with a Commitment that reflects your own principals. Make your actions Outrageous enough for people to remember you. Activate your plans in a Systematic, regular basis. And, be Tenacious!

COMMITMENT

It's surprisingly hard to develop a committed marketing plan. If money were no object, it would be much easier, but you would still need to do some hard work. A great deal of money is not essential. What is absolutely necessary is some serious soul searching. To command first position in the minds of prospective buyers and sellers you must identify who you are. The two important ingredients making up that identity are the way they see your name and the statement made in your personal slogan. We’ve all heard that a personal logo and slogan are needed. We have seen the top producers develop those identity makers.

For ourselves, it may seem that nothing fits. "The other guy has the perfect name to play off of, or somebody else has the slogan you would use, but I've heard all these reasons and I’m sorry - I simply don’t agree. You have not yet taken the time to truly identify who you are and what unique service you have to offer."

Commitment to your identity takes time. One of WCR’s education courses, LTG IV: Leadership Through High Performance, gives you some tools for finding out who you are. There are many personality tests that can help to identify you. You can ask your friends and former clients to give you a statement that would best describe you to people who don’t know you. Do your homework, take the time, and when you have developed a short statement that reflects your own principals, you are ready to commit a personal marketing plan.

A personal logo is easier to develop once you are clear on your slogan. Many companies offer quick logo development. In your community, there are professionals that will take your slogan and your other ideas to develop a logo for you. In the meantime, at least select a specific font, or typeface, that you will use in everything that you do. Your customers are more likely to remember your contact with them if you simply use the same font in all ads, mailings and on your business cards. As the saying goes, "Commitment doesn’t guarantee success, but lack of commitment guarantees you’ll fall short of your potential."

OUTRAGEOUS

Have you ever pondered the number of agents in your market competing for the business that you feel you need to feed your family? It can be overwhelming to try to get people to remember you when there seems to be a REALTOR standing on every corner. The secret is simply be outrageous!

Why do you think McDonalds started out with huge, arched icons outside of each restaurant with a clown as a spokesperson? The golden arches, along with the clown made the statement that it was fun to eat at this establishment. If you can remember in the 70’s when McDonald's was beginning, this was an outrageous way to market hamburgers. After all, the real differences in their restaurant was the fast service, clean stores, smiling faces and consistent product. Why didn’t McDonald's just simply tell people how much better they were than the competition? Because that was not outrageous enough to be remembered.

Are you, as a REALTOR®, simply trying to gain business by saying you offer "Courteous, professional service?" What are you offering the prospect that sets you aside from others? Are you saying that all other competition is rude and unprofessional? If not, then why should they do business with you? Shouldn’t they be able to anticipate courteous, professional service from everyone in our profession?

"Let’s be FRANK..I’ll work hard for you!" That is the slogan I have used since 1995. In addition to the slogan, my personal brochure spells out some of the offices I have held, committees with which I have worked, published articles and such. My goal is not to brag about my accomplishments, but to reinforce that concept of hard work. I’ve also included a personal mission statement that begins. "To Honor God in everything that I do" I follow it up with a paragraph describing the blue collar work ethic that was instilled in my childhood. In a profession that is dominated by white collar professionals and a field that is known to much of the public as a career for the privileged class, my personal statement is indeed outrageous!

SYSTEMATIC

Once you have developed a committed and outrageous personal marketing concept, it is vital that you communicate those concepts in a consistent, systematic fashion. The number of people you reach and the money you spend is not as important as the effectiveness of message. The only way a for personal marketing message to be effective is through multiple touches. Ideally, your message should be in front of our sphere of influence 16 to 32 times per year. If you have not developed a personal marketing plan, stop for a few hours this week and compile a list of 25 people. These people are the ones who know you, believe n you and would do business with you if they had the opportunity. Commit to reaching this small group of people at least twice per month. The communication may be a phone call, a handwritten note, a postcard or letter. Use your personal logo (or the font you have selected to use temporarily), your slogan and your picture on every piece of written communication when you can.

It’s not always effective to do quantity versus frequency. If necessary, reduce your database to between 25 and 100 people. It costs less than $10.00 in postage to send 25 pieces of mail. If you send two mailings per month to people who know who you are, I assure you that the return on your investment will be much greater that $240.00 per year. As we are trained at Keller Williams Realty’s success Series, "There is only one risk in life that should be avoided at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing."

When I re-entered real estate as in agent in 1995, money was very tight. My mailings consisted of a simple postcard created in a word processing program and copied. Although the postcard had my logo and picture, it did not look very professional. I knew that time was of the essence, so I began creating an image in the minds of my prospects on a meager budget. Less than three years later, I have dozens of people who have stopped me in the community to tell me that when they think of real estate, they think of me. That phrase is music to my ears and confirmation that I made the right decision..to be OUTRAGEOUS!

TENACIOUS

When you first begin your committed, outrageous, systematic marketing program, you may not get immediate results, but you must be tenacious! Just when you start getting weary of seeing your logo and slogan, your sphere of influence is just beginning to think of you as the brand name real estate agent. Now is the beginning of owning a piece of their minds.

Published: September 30, 1998

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Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Kathi Frank only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.