Marketing collateral is all about the branding. No matter how great the piece is, how useful or clever, if the recipient doesn’t know who provided it, then it’s bound to be pretty ineffective.

So, how should you brand your collateral?

Getting Started

If you work for a national broker, use their logo when you’re new to real estate. The company has already spent millions trying to cultivate brand recognition, and you’re the new kid in town, so use that to your advantage. Leverage the recognition and trust associated with your brokerage’s brand while you work on building your own.

Building Your Brand Alongside the Broker Logo

A personal brand is one of the top ways to be remembered by past clients and prospects, second only to the service you provide. When you start to cultivate that brand, the first thing you should start with is a logo. It shouldn’t be intricate or busy, just make it simple and memorable. The more minimalist it is, the better—as long as it stands out and makes sense. If your brokerage already provides you with certain marketing collateral, then by all means, take full advantage of it. Start using your personal brand alongside your broker’s.

Once You’re Established

By the time you have a strong pipeline, you should start investing in some personal campaigns independent of your brokerage. As you continue to build your business and your brand, the logo that you commissioned can quickly become recognizable in your community. This also allows you to make moves independent of any one brokerage. You have as much freedom as you want, because wherever you go, your brand goes with you.

If you do go to another brokerage (most agents do at some point in their careers) you can dodge a lot of the profit loss that other REALTORS® experience when they make a switch. The disruption can cost you 20% of your sales volume, so you want to mitigate the loss by having your own branding on lock.

4 Basic Tips 

• Make sure to get a vector image of your logo. This will allow it to be printed on any item of any size.
• The fewer colors, the less expensive it will be to print on items like t-shirts.
• Make sure it will work in black and white, since it might not always end up in color publications.
• Try to incorporate your name somehow. Never make a viewer have to work to figure out who the brand represents.

If you don’t a have a creative bone in your body, have no fear. Our creative services team is filled with incredibly talented graphic designers that can work with you to create an amazing logo. From there you can brand anything you want with it.