What are your best tips for branding yourself as a real estate professional?

Finding your niche in any market is always first and foremost. Not only as a point of differentiation between your competitors but also because it will force you to evaluate what your own strengths and weaknesses are. By going through this process you will understand what you do well, but also what really excites and drives you and ultimately that will lead to success. Going into a niche market just because it is there, but not necessarily something you do well can send you down a path that won't grow. But following a niche that you do well and will give you a boost of confidence that can help drive you into more difficult spaces as you go.

You quickly learn the importance of building a strong brand when you are trying to raise $50k/investor on each one of your real estate syndications. The most important thing to keep in mind is the visual identity of your brand should actually be YOU. Yes, a logo, color scheme, good slogan, etc. is great, but at the end of the day, an investor looking to invest $50k in a deal is not investing because you have a cool logo. They are investing because they trust you with your money. Get professional headshots done and try to get your face on as many of your branded assets as possible because eventually that facial familiarity will convert to someone trusting you with their next investment.

A smart investor will want to do due diligence on you as a real estate professional. Most likely they will get on Linkedin and look for mutual connections and then ask those people about you. So with that in mind, you will want to make sure that these people can speak knowledgeably of you in a positive way. Take the time to build real relationships with your network and focus on paying it forward because karma is a real thing and good karma will come your way if you are first looking to build someone else's wealth before building yours.

Warren Buffett said it best: "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it." Post the 2008 financial crisis, the real estate market was on a tear. Bad real estate professionals could still make good returns through pure luck. Those people who were winning made sure their audience knew how good they were, but they weren't willing to be vulnerable and share their challenges. Fast forward to 2023 where cap rates have doubled due to interest rates nearly tripling. This has resulted in challenging ownership situations. For example, for the first time ever, I may not be able to close on a property because my lender went under. I share that because I want people to know that real estate also has risks.

Choose varied mediums… Be consistent in graphics and actions… Don’t overwhelm the medium with too much information…just enough to get the contact

If you are posting on social media platforms then make sure you know their algorithm. For example, unless you have over 10k followers on LinkedIn, you probably only want to post 4x/week or else it might come off as too spammy. Facebook does have a shadow ban especially if you are posting too much as a brand. FB and Instagram care more about the personal side and will promote content that connects more in that way. Finally, for TikTok/IG the most effective way to get noticed by new audiences is by doing video-based assets that are: 1. Under 30 seconds 2. Using trending audio/visuals 3. Leveraging popular hashtags but not too many in the caption.