In today’s marketplace, a brand should be at the center of most professionals’ marketing efforts. Your brand captures who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. It helps prospects get a sense of what they can expect from you, and it’s a visual representation that can speak for you as your reputation grows. A strong brand can both aid and support business growth. The better your brand, the more visibility you’ll have. As your business grows, that brand will be a voice for your services across multiple platforms. No matter what size your business is right now, investing in a strong brand is key. Here are some of the most important elements to creating a great brand:
Stand Out
A brand needs to be recognizable. If yours is blending in with other loan officers, it’s not going to help prospects make the distinction of why they should work with you. This doesn’t mean you need to be flashy and jump on all the latest trends. It means that you need to highlight what makes you unique. This may start on a conceptual level — is there a niche that you cater to? Which values are most important to you? What kind of service do you deliver? — then it moves to a more visual level. Your brand needs to take these bigger ideas and translate them into your color schemes, graphics, and content. It needs to communicate in a clear and concise way the things that define you.
Cohesive
Just as important as standing out, being cohesive is also key to maximizing your brand. It’s great if your website draws visitors in, but if it doesn’t have the same branding as your Facebook page, twitter account, or business cards, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to strengthen your brand. When your audience encounters your brand in multiple places and recognizes all instances as your brand, they start to develop a sense of familiarity with it. Though you may never have met them in person, this familiarity works to build a foundational level of trust before you even meet. Think about all the places where someone might encounter your brand — your website, social-media profiles, in-print materials, and in person — and ensure that they all work together to convey the same image and message.
Live Your Brand
We often think about a brand in the way it’s represented online or in print materials. These iterations are absolutely important, but they aren’t the only places that communicate and strengthen your brand. You are an equally important messenger. Living your brand means upholding all the things your brand represents. From your values to the type of service you deliver, if you’re not delivering the things your brand suggests, you’ll quickly start to lose consumer trust.
Expand
Your brand has the power to reach more people than you as an individual, and that’s where so much of its power lies. You want to design and build a strong, cohesive brand, and then you want to help it to expand. This means making it easy for people to engage with it. Make your website user friendly and interactive. Keeping a regular blog, for example, can help keep visitors interested. When they read a particularly useful article, they may forward it to a friend, and then another person is introduced to your brand. The same is true on social media. By staying active on social media and connecting with more people, you allow your presence to grow.
Your brand is a tool for growth. Mortgage Entrepreneurs who harness the real power of their branding understand how valuable it can be for their business. Whether you’re in the earlier stages of refining your brand and getting it out into the world, or you’re looking for ways to improve your current branding work, check in on these four areas to help maximize your efforts.
Kirk Brewer
Branch Manager | The Loan Geek | NMLS #150287