Top 5 Reasons a Real Estate Agent Needs a Personal Brand

Perhaps you've heard of personal branding and have been intrigued. Maybe you even know some agents who have successfully branded themselves and considered it a fluke. Certainly in years past, only agents who were ahead of their time chose to create a personal brand.

But now more than ever, having a personal brand is one of the most important things you can do to pave the way for success in your real estate career.

Here are five reasons it is becoming imperative that real estate agents develop and maintain their own personal brand:

1. Social media levels the playing field between large and small companies, so your own personal brand enables you to look as knowledgable, local, or unique as you like — and compete with the big guns.
2. Real estate firms change hands and policies routinely, so where you are today may not be where you are tomorrow. Having your own brand enables you to remain constant in the eyes of your client even if you transition from one company to another.
3. Having your own brand allows you to be as transparent and personal as you like with your clients. Clients recognize you by name, and the more they know about you, the more they feel they know you personally. This builds credibility and trust as potential clients see more than an impersonal company name.
4.  Ever hear of the cobbler's shoes? A client who sees you as an expert at branding and marketing yourself will trust you to do the same with their biggest commodity - their house!
5. Personal branding is the best way you can set yourself apart from the crowd and ensure clients know what matters most to you. Personal branding allows you to be more than a logo — it's the best way to differentiate yourself from the other real estate agents in your area.

To learn more about how personal branding can help you grow your business and find out whether my branding services are right for you, please fill out the contact form on my website and I will be in touch within 24 hours!

Case Study: The Conover Team Logo Design

Client: The Conover Team is a Denver, Colorado-based real estate team created by Ryan Conover with Madison & Company Properties.

Goal: Create a logo that represented both the downtown aspect of Denver real estate as well as the residential neighborhood side.

Execution: With direction from The Conover Team, a logo was developed that depicted two iconic buildings in the Denver skyline - Republic Plaza and the Wells Fargo Center, known locally as “Cash Register Building” – and the roofline of a bungalow-style home popular in many Denver neighborhoods, such as the Washington Park area.   

Results: Emily Fogelman Designs was able to create an effective logo for The Conover Team that will be used in all of their supporting marketing materials – website, business cards, etc. 

Case Study: Optimize Spaces Logo Design

Client: Optimize Spaces is a feng shui company that is currently in the stages of development.

Goal: Create a logo that represents the feng shui system, but not in the traditional Chinese aesthetic. The tagline for the company is “Optimize your spaces so you can thrive.”

Execution: Being an artist and art teacher, the owner of Optimize Spaces had a fairly firm grasp of the design that she wanted for the logo. She provided a sketch of the concept that she was envisioning (below). After collaborating on the concept, name, and overall goal of the logo, we decided to remove the yin-yang from the original idea, change the name from “Optimize Feng Shui” to “Optimize Spaces,” and use fonts that were modern and clean.

Results: Emily Fogelman Designs was able to support Optimize Spaces in their business development and create an effective logo that will be used in all of their marketing materials and throughout their online presence.

Case Study: Coco Belle Creations Logo Design

Client: Coco Belle Creations is a new company that specializes in personalized children's CDs, CD storybooks, DVDs, growth charts, and more.

Goal: Create a “cute and fun” logo for Coco Belle Creations that would be representative of their children’s products.

Execution: With direction from Coco Belle Creations’ owner, a logo was developed using the likeness of the owner’s chocolate miniature schnauzer puppy, Coco Belle. The company’s website (www.cocobellecreations.com) had previously been designed, so the look of the website was considered when developing the logo design.

Results: Emily Fogelman Designs was able to create an effective logo for Coco Belle Creations that will be used in all of their supporting marketing materials – business cards, order forms, etc.

Testimonial: Obskure Influx logo & book cover

"Working with Emily Fogelman Designs was nothing short of professionalism and sheer vision at its finest. I am in the process of assisting a new author and my business partner with releasing her first book -“Rhythmic Words” - along with simultaneously starting our company. I had been in contact with a few other graphic designers to commission the design of our new logo, but decided to work with Emily. Emily was the consummate professional throughout the process and working with her was effortless. She remained in continuous contact with me throughout every stage of the design process and, I am pleased to announce, the finished product is spectacular! I told her what we envisioned and she literally brought it to life before our eyes. I can’t wait until the end of the week to unveil our new logo to the world!

More recently, my business partner and I also commissioned Emily to create an updated book cover for a re-release of our book and once again, working with Emily was a pleasure. The communication and attention to detail in designing the cover really come through on the finished product. Our increased sales over the last month can be directly attributed to the re-designed book cover.

If you are looking for quality in design, vision, and professionalism for your next design project, I wholeheartedly recommend Emily Fogelman Designs."

Takesha M. Latham, Partner and Chief Operating Officer
Obskure Influx, LLC.
www.obskure-influx.com

Case Study: Home Energy Resource Solutions Logo and Brand Design

Client: Home Energy Resource Solutions (HERS) is a family run, environmentally-friendly home improvement and energy savings start-up company. They are in fact a new company, but they have a long history dating back to 1978 when they started as a small window replacement company. As their replacement window company took off, they started to look into offering other home improvement services. Today, as HERS, they offer a wide variety of products and services that include their own custom manufactured replacement windows, siding, gutter protection, sunrooms, patio enclosures, roofing, decking, house insulation, energy savings, and more.

Goal: Create a fresh, modern, “green” logo for HERS that would communicate their services and their eco-friendly approach. In addition to the logo, design supporting branded materials including an Every Door Direct Mail mailer, a door hanger, an envelope, and a business card.

Execution: With direction from HERS’ owner, a logo was developed using a simple roofline silhouette, “step” down lettering for the company name, and the company tagline – using gray and four sequential shades of green.

Once the logo was complete, the next piece was the 8.5” x 11”, 2-sided Every Door Direct Mail mailer. This piece’s design was inspired by HERS’ newly designed website. A refreshing design of green and blue on the mailer, along with complimentary images, supports the company’s “green” look. The layout effectively highlights their special offer and lists their products and services. The mailer design was carried over to the 4.25” x 11” door hanger which presented the same content as the EDDM mailer. HERS’ marketing plan was to mail out the EDDM mailer and then follow up door-to-door to the same recipients with the door hanger.

To go along with HERS’ new look, we also created business card and envelope designs. The business card was given a rounded corner treatment to give it a bit of an edge.

Results: Emily Fogelman Designs was able to create and establish a powerful and effective brand for Home Energy Resource Solutions. The branding has been followed by an increase in new clients, as well as giving them an identity to successfully compete in the marketplace.

What your graphic designer wants you to know about images and resolution

As a professional designer, it is my job to know everything about graphic design in order to produce a beautiful, high quality product for my clients. However, for a good portion of projects, my clients provide me with the content, including the image files. This is where issues can occur because most non-designers do not know about ideal file types and preferred resolution. When my clients send me files that aren’t usable, it is my duty to explain to them why I cannot use their images and what file types they need to seek out for me. I am more than happy to provide these explanations, but I thought it would be beneficial to explain everything in detail and in a way that non-designers will hopefully understand.

IMAGE RESOLUTION
The first thing that a non-designer should understand about images is resolution. Image resolution refers to the crispness or sharpness of an image. It is measured in dpi or ppi. Image files that will be used in print should be 300 dpi. Image files used on the web are usually only 72 dpi.

The difference in high and low resolution can be seen in the example below. The images are displayed at the same size. The logo on the left is at 300 dpi and the logo on the right is at 72 dpi. The logo on the right would be described as "pixilated”, a term you have probably heard previously. This pixilation causes images to look blurred and sometimes distorted.

Today, most digital cameras take photos at a resolution and size that is high enough for print. If you shoot photographs that will be used in your marketing materials, simply download the photos from your camera and send those files to your designer. All professional photographers should be able to provide you with original high resolution image files as well.

The main issue I run into when receiving image files from clients is when photos have been pulled off the web for use in print projects. First of all, there is always the issue of copyright infringement when a random photo is pulled from the web. Secondly, the image is most likely at 72 dpi and will print “pixilated” like the above right example. When spending money to have your company’s materials printed, you want to make sure that you include high resolution images. This ensures that you are attaining the best print quality for your images and that you are representing yourself at the highest level possible. Having pixilated images on your materials can look unprofessional and low budget.

LOGOS AND VECTORS
A company logo is included in just about every project that I design. Having your company logo available in the correct file type is crucial. After all, your logo is the key visual element that represents your company. You need to keep it consistent, prominent, and crisp in all of your marketing materials.

When I create a logo for a client, I use the design software Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator allows me to “draw” a logo and save it as a vector file. A common vector file that you may have heard of is .eps (encapsulated postscript). Vector art is always at the highest resolution and is comprised of points and paths, not pixels like photographic images.

The most important reason to have your logo in vector format is that it can be scaled in size and it will not lose any resolution. The example below shows a vector image and an enlarged portion of that image. Notice there is no pixilation occurring. The image is crisp and sharp even when enlarged significantly. This is beneficial when you want to have your logo printed in large scale, such as on a billboard, sign, or banner. Also, certain printing techniques, like silk screening, require graphics in vector format.

If you do not have access to your logo in vector format, I highly advise obtaining the vector files from whoever designed your logo. If you are not able to acquire the vector files or your logo was created with non-vector graphics, I highly recommend having your logo recreated in vector format. You may not currently need it, but it is likely you will in the future.