December is the perfect time to write down your goals for 2005! Your goals should not only include how many transactions you would like to close, however, it should include your brand plan as well. Have you developed a brand yet?

Like every other aspect of your business, branding works best if you have a plan.

Branding is about your promise to your customers - what service will you provide that no other agent can or will? If you evaluate all of your branding materials in these terms you will be ahead of many other agents in your marketplace.

When developing your brand, review it by asking yourself, "What does this promise to my customers?" If it promises nothing, it's time to get back to the drawing board! Here are some examples of brands that promise something:

"Waterfront condos are my specialty."

"Meeting and exceeding the needs of working professionals."

"Expert in luxury properties."

Notice that these brands not only promise something but they speak to a specific target market.

So how to you create a brand plan? Decide if you have a discernible brand that meets the "promise test." If not, start there.

Write down your goals for your brand. Give yourself a deadline for creating your brand. Be sure to set aside time each week to meet that goal.

After you have your brand, what are your weekly, monthly, and yearly goals for that brand? Where are you going to spend your hard-earned advertising and marketing dollars? Don't just throw money away every month on marketing and advertising! It's time to run your business by design instead of by default!

Would you just pay a bill very month to your local newspaper or real estate magazine without even knowing or thinking about your return on investment? Who is your target market? Is the money you're paying to advertise and market your business reaching that target? These are questions you should be able to easily answer.

Just last month I met an agent who is probably representative of most agents. He approached me after a seminar and honestly admitted that he needs help. He recognized that month after month he has been throwing money away at a variety of different marketing and advertising sources with no real plan. Luckily, he is an agent with less than a year in business, so he learned that lesson quickly. How many of us who have been in business 5, 10, 15, even 20 plus years have been blindly paying for classified advertising, bus-stop benches, and movie-theater bills without thinking twice about what our brand plan was?

Your marketing and advertising dollars should reflect your brand…its promise and your target. Why advertise on a shopping cart if your target is vacationers? Why spend money on a billboard in an area of town your target doesn't frequent just because the price is right? Your marketing should be about more than price. Evaluate your monthly and yearly marketing plan on what will return the most for your dollars spent.

If you take this step this today and follow your plan, you will spend less money every year on marketing and advertising. It's all about consistency. Perception is reality after all. Through a carefully crafted marketing plan based on branding you can create the perception that you are everywhere.

Clearly, like your other goals your marketing and branding goals can be adjusted and revised as the year progresses. This requires, however, that you not only create a plan, but also track the results. Like everything else in life you get back what you put into it.

Published: December 10, 2004

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