How Important Is Public Image In The Property Industry?
Most people have a deep routed physiological need to be liked, it’s hardwired into our brains to want to be of acceptance, so it’s no wonder that so many people fail in creating their own successful businesses. Good or bad, your public image will determine how people engage with you, if you have a great, very current public image then you are increasing your business opportunities, obviously the complete opposite when it is bad. So, why do some succeed and yet many fail at business?
What ever industry you are in, when making waves, some people are going to start bad mouthing you and your company, so when you’ve poured your heart and soul into your business, those bad words cut twice as deep. If people aren’t talking about you, then you haven’t made them worry about your business, you haven’t started taking their costumers, being a source of interest within their networks or appearing on their social media feeds – you are not making the right waves.
When people start bad mouthing you, then you know that you’re getting somewhere. If you haven’t concerned them, they haven’t noticed you nor said a word about you, then you should be concerned – crazy, reversed style logics, but hey it’s fact as far as I am concerned. Remember too that those aiming bad words at you do so in hope in discouraging you and eventually to make you quit, because your competition doesn’t want you to succeed – obviously!
If you decide to keep going, then you’ll reach the next level, where people start wanting to work with you, to attend your events or sharing your content, but if you think that it’s all rosy from here on out, then you’re very much mistaken, no matter how big you get, people will always dislike you and your company, but don’t worry, you’ll also have more people who will like it. Then, at a magical moment in your business, those who are still doing the hating will face off against those genuine admirers of your work, you no longer have to fight your corner yourself, others will do that for you – I speak from experience.
Marketing – Whether you’re an Estate Agent, Plumber, Builder, Carpenter, Designer or any other job in the Property Industry, you need to get you’re name out, you need people to like (and trust) you whether you feel the need for people to like you is relevant or not. If your company has a good reputation (i.e. people liking your company) then your clientele will increase.
Word of mouth provides a good source of new clientele, this does work marvellously well within estate / letting agency, but you can’t simply rely on it. Standing still in business will deliver the same results as standing still when competing in a marathon. You need to embrace current marketing opportunities which may very well take you outside your comfort zone ie podcasts, videos or simply taking time to put pen to paper and sharing daily / weekly blogs and articles.
There is still a great opportunity to make a name for yourself in the property sector and this is wrapped around your public image. Every property professional and even their pet dog, is on social media in one way or another. When you take time to research social media platforms you will undoubtedly feel quite deflated in that your competition is high. If you have a massive marketing spend and a decent adviser on how to spend it then you can make a name for yourself and your business, but this will be costly from Facebook ads to advertising on London buses or taxis which the price can start from £450 up to £6,700 for 4 weeks. But you need a brand / a face and more so an identity – You need to catch people’s attention. The big downside to general marketing, ie those taxis and buses, is that you’re casting a wide net over a bunch of mostly inedible fish stuck on their smartphones, shopping in clothes stores or grabbing a quick lunch – you’re looking for business in an area where most people are not interested in buying from you.
Jordan Belfort, one of the best sales people in the world, knows that there’s no point trying to sell you someone who doesn’t want to buy.
Not marketing to your target audience directly means you rely on off chances that someone glances up / scrolls past and sees your advert or you have a strong public image and they take note of you / your brand for future reference ie a follow on Twitter or a subscription to your newsletter.
Your Public Image
So, we can agree that you need the confidence to accept criticism and worse, you need to build and understand your identity and core USP, you need to embrace target marketing over general. As you stand in front of the mirror and look at your reflection, you may doubt your ability to face your brand – You need to get over this notion and here you will fail or succeed.
“Halfway through writing this article I was called by a new client wanting to make a name for themselves in the property sector. What a task and they have no marketing expertise or current audience, more or less impossible right? I went through the topics we covered above and already they accepted the need for sudden changes required in order for them to venture successfully onto scene – I told them to imagine taking the lift down to the floor where the Dragons Den investors sit, what are you going to say to them? Are you prepared? Do you really know your worth?”
Taking a look in the mirror is a great way to start when it comes to your public image. Also, I throw in at this early stage, you studying the competition and especially those on the same public image trip as you either within your sector or gain yourself ideas by looking at other sectors also. Decide upon the public image for you and be consistent as much as you can to include your profile images across social media.
But you can’t just send out one message, that’s not going to work, you need repetition. Now you will find out what public image you really have as repeated messages can mean your audiences will quickly get sick of you and remove themselves from your newsletter, Facebook page, YouTube account etc. Repetition is only good when you have something amazing to share, ask yourself the question ‘how many adverts on television are you genuinely happy to watch over and over again between the shows you really tuned in for? Most are rubbish and boring right? Rarely does an advert come along that we love to watch as it is refreshing and different, very few go on to be referred to as a memorable classic‘.
People do not mind seeing you on a regular basis if you are sharing something new and worthy of their attention – They only believe your content is worthy of their attention if you are consistent and you are in deed sharing valuable content for your audiences to engage with.
Key tips to improve your personal public image in business:
- Set yourself a profile / character.
- Decide upon a theme of presentation and what subject you are going to concentrate on.
- Prepare a diary of content so that you are regular and varied, try to avoid repeated content.
- Your face and personality is your public image – There are amazing opportunities online to engage with video content (both pre-recorded and live).
- Share your content out to relevant target groups online and at relevant face to face networking events.
- Don’t expect to be first or unique, get yourself prepared to be better.
Teaming up is always great for expanding your network reach – Not only should your profile be seen on your own channels, but be bold enough to investigate relationships with large channels which have direct access to the market you are after which might mean paid for guest slots. Your public image can aid you becoming quickly an influencer in your sector, the name to go to when people require your service, the profile people are comfortable in dealing with. If you have mastered your public image then you will escalate things to receiving invites to be a guest speaker at events or to chat about your topic on radio or even television – Again, I speak from experience.
One of the best options to promote your public image is to get your content onto big websites / social media groups and channels, especially ones focused on your part of the industry, then start a vigorous social media campaign alongside this. Your aim, when paying for presence on third party platforms, is to not only gain instant business enquiries, but also to pull over audiences to your (social media) channels which in turn must be seen to be current and holding the three E’s (Educational, Engaging, Entertaining).
Advertising has a ripple affect on people’s point of view, if a person / company has the money to spend on advertising, people will start to think that it has a good reputation, because to be able to advertise, you first have to make money, to make money you need customers. So if they see your company name often, they will associate that you have a strong and happy clientele.
If you’re currently trying to promote your business and need some help, then email me at christopher@stagingsite.estateagentnetworking.co.uk we have over 100,000 Property Professionals, one of the biggest Property News Channels in the industry, all that is available to help you promote your business.
https://discoverycreativelondon.com/advertising/how-much-is-london-underground-advertising.html
Title image credit: Pixabay
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