Every brand has a persona, an image or lifestyle qualities that it might communicate to its customers base. Big brands spend millions of pounds a year trying to get into the minds of their potential customers, trying to anticipate what it is that they might want to see or hear in terms of messaging. A great example of this is the annual John Lewis Christmas campaigns.
As an estate agent, the challenge is to keep your brand messaging consistent with being able to communicate all the benefits of people using your services, but at the same time you don’t want to alienate your audience by becoming too ‘spammy’ or sales focussed in your messaging. Another challenge for agents is fighting the stigma or negative connotations that the public tend to project onto estate agents and our industry.
Research has shown that it helps when a brand can be seen to be central and involved in all the major events happening in their community. Agents that champion local causes do particularly well at winning the hearts and minds of their communities and here are some easy to implement tips to help you get there.
Digital Mayor
The concept of the digital mayor has been talked about by industry experts such as Christopher Watkin for some time, but how do you quickly build that following and how do you become the go to person in your town?
Social media reach is easy to harness these days and setting up a local forum or local area page can be done with a few clicks and a small amount of time invested. Imagining you lived and operated in an area called Townsville, why not open a group called ‘Love Townsville’ and use it to encourage locals to promote all the good things happening in your area. Start to add your friends and customers to the pages and start to deliver content that is not just about you or your agency, but more about what is going on in your local area. Start interviewing local celebrities and heroes, the people that helped others during lockdown, perhaps an interview with your local lollipop person – say thank you for their years of service helping your kids get to school safely. There is so much that you can do and cover, and after a while the group builds a momentum of its own.
Local Schools and Charity
Recent campaigns such as the computers for schools efforts run by agents, were really popular with the public. There are so many ways that you can get involved in raising awareness for your local schools and charities and they will be super grateful for your help. Your office can become a drop-off point for local food banks, presents for disadvantaged children at Christmas, it can even be the venue for a Macmillan coffee morning, raising money and awareness for these vital cancer charities.
Don’t be afraid to stand out
Video is a great medium for getting your personality and message out there. As our high streets open up and we get back to business as ‘new’ normal, why not do a short interview with all the local businesses on your high street. Who they are, what they offer and how the public can access their services. Maybe they run a delivery side to their business that can still help people who are more vulnerable and not sure about venturing into public again at this stage. It’s quick and its simple, and people won’t forget your support for local businesses and when it is their time to move, perhaps they will support their local agent.
What have you had success with local community engagement? Let Veco know how we can support you and your campaigns.
