A good property manager is an expert juggler, with many plates spinning in the air. From attracting tenants, to maintaining properties, to promoting safety, their responsibilities are non-negotiably important — and non-stop. And although they may want to prioritize branding, it often falls to the wayside due to sheer lack of time. But smart branding is the most effective way to differentiate your services from the other guys and keep all the plates spinning high. Here’s how you can do that with finesse in the ever evolving world of real estate brand marketing.
First, we need to recognize that branding is far more than just a logo or tagline. It captures the essence of your promise: your company’s values, mission, and the experience you’ll deliver. One of the key elements of successful branding is keeping consistent messaging.
Here, we’ll explore the ABCs of commercial property branding and how to make your offerings stand out, so you can keep those plates spinning high!
Related: What Is a Brand Audit?
- Authenticity
- Brand Voice
- Consistency
- Differentiation
- Engagement
- Next Level Commercial Real Estate Branding
A is for Authenticity
Authenticity is the cornerstone of a strong brand, and this rings true for all relationships. Authentic commercial property brands build trust with their audience, something that’s especially important in an industry where clients entrust you with their valuable assets - and many times, their day-to-day lives.
How to Achieve Authenticity:
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Define Your Core Values: Good commercial real estate branding starts with a solid foundation of values. Clearly articulate what your company stands for, and keep it short and sweet. Whether it's reliability, transparency, or customer-centric service, these values should come across in all your communications.
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Tell Your Story: Narratives have the power to move people. By sharing the journey of your company, you’ll evoke an emotional response, which is essential to attracting people to your property. You might highlight the experiences and challenges that have shaped your business. You can focus on the stories of the people that use your properties. Both of these strategies humanize your brand and foster a deeper connection with your audience.
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Be Genuine: Keep it real and do not exaggerate or make false promises! Your messaging should be honest and realistic, setting expectations you can meet.
B is for Brand Voice
Your brand voice is how you communicate with your audience. Think of it like your personality — it’s the tone, style, and overall feel of your messaging. A consistent brand voice helps to create a recognizable, relatable identity, and brand voice provides an excellent opportunity to set your properties apart from the rest.
How to Develop a Strong Brand Voice:
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Know Your Audience: When you understand the demographics, preferences, and pain points of your target market, you can customize your communication to resonate with their specific needs and expectations.
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Choose Your Tone: Here’s the fun part! Decide whether your brand voice is formal, casual, professional, friendly, or a mix. Ensure this tone is maintained across all channels, from social media posts to email newsletters.
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Create Guidelines: To keep all team members on the same page, it’s important to develop a real estate brand marketing style guide that outlines the preferred language, tone, and style for your communications. This will keep the voice consistent. And speaking (again) of consistency….
C is for Consistency
We can’t emphasize it enough: Consistency is the glue that holds your brand together. It ensures your audience receives a uniform message, regardless of the platform or medium. This uniformity reinforces your brand’s identity and fosters trust and recognition.
How to Maintain Consistency:
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Unified Messaging: Keep everything on brand by ensuring your key commercial property branding messages, slogans, and taglines are uniform across all marketing materials. This includes your website, social media, brochures, and advertisements.
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Visual Consistency: This goes for graphics too. Use the same color schemes, fonts, imagery, and logo placements in all your visual materials. This visual continuity creates a cohesive brand image.
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Regular Updates: Keep your real estate brand marketing up-to-date with the latest developments in your company and the industry. Regularly review and refine your communications to ensure they remain relevant and consistent with your brand identity.
Related: Best Practices of Developing Brand Consistency
D is for Differentiation
Standing out in the property management sector can require clear differentiation from your competitors. Your commercial property branding should highlight what makes your company unique and why clients should choose your services over others.
How to Achieve Differentiation:
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Highlight Unique Selling Points (USPs): Once you’ve identified that special something that sets your company apart from the competition, you can communicate that to your audience. Whether it’s exceptional customer service, innovative technology, or a focus on a particular type of property, calling it out will help you define your most important benefits — and draw people to your properties.
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Showcase Testimonials and Case Studies: There’s nothing more powerful than word of mouth, and these formats employ a similar strategy. Use client testimonials and case studies to demonstrate your successes and the tangible benefits you offer. Real-world examples add credibility to your claims and make your messaging more compelling.
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Engage With Your Audience: It’s incredibly important to keep a dialogue going. Foster two-way communication with your audience through social media, blogs, and forums. Engaging with clients and prospects not only builds relationships but also provides valuable insights into their needs and preferences, gives you opportunities to customize offers, and helps spread those oh-so-valuable word of mouth reviews!
E is for Engagement
Engagement differentiates your commercial real estate branding. It’s all about building and nurturing relationships with your audience, since an engaged audience is an impassioned one — and far more likely to become loyal clients and advocates for your brand.
How to Enhance Engagement:
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Create Valuable Content: Produce sparkling content that educates, informs, and entertains your audience. This could include blog posts, videos, infographics, and webinars on relevant topics in property management. When property managers give this freely, people respond with their interest and loyalty.
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Leverage Social Media: Use social media platforms to interact with your audience, share updates, and showcase your expertise. Consistent, meaningful interactions on social media can significantly boost your brand’s visibility and credibility.
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Monitor and Respond: Again, it’s important to engage in a meaningful dialogue. Make sure to pay attention to feedback and comments from your audience. Respond promptly and professionally to queries and concerns, using your brand voice to ensure your audience’s needs are met. This proves you value their input and are committed to providing excellent service.
Next Level Commercial Real Estate Branding
These ABCs may be the basics, but they’re the most important foundations on which to build your property management branding and set your plates ‘a spinning! Savvy property managers know effective branding with consistent messaging is crucial to standing out and building a strong reputation. By focusing on authenticity, maintaining a consistent brand voice, ensuring consistent messaging, differentiating your services, and engaging with your audience, you’ll build powerful commercial real estate branding that sets you apart from the crowd and attracts a loyal following. And remember, consistency is key – it reinforces your brand’s identity and fosters crucial trust and recognition.
Ironmark has been keeping property managers’ branding consistent for decades, helping them nail the ABCs and go beyond for truly groundbreaking work. Let us know how we can level up your commercial real estate branding to keep your plates spinning successfully — and build your brand from A all the way to Z!
