Branding sucks. It’s probably one of the most challenging aspects of starting any business, including a real estate biz.
Coming up with your unique selling proposition, brand values, colors, logo, and tagline – who has the time and energy for all of that given the number of things an agent does in a typical day?
This is why too many agents either lack a brand identity for their real estate business or have half-heartedly gone about building one. Most have what one marketer refers to as “nonsense branding.”
It’s really rather sad. After all, branding is supposed to help you stand out, right?
The reality is that as long as real estate agents refuse to delegate to experts the marketing aspects of their business that they aren’t good at, there will be embarrassing listing descriptions, really bad blog posts and they’ll use lame real estate slogan ideas.
Be sure you read my home staging guide after you finish with this one!
Do you really need a real estate slogan?
While answering the question “Can a Tagline Help Communicate More About your Brand?” the folks at Franke+Fiorella, brand identity designers, claim that “Your tagline should educate and reinforce what’s unique about your brand.
And if you can do it on an emotional, impactful level, all the better.”
But, wouldn’t the space you use for the tagline be better filled with a kick-hiney testimonial? Or, as the folks at KendallCopywriting.co.uk ask: “Why give people riddles when you can give them answers?”
Then there’s the fact that with the explosion in mobile devices used to access the internet, your marketing space is much smaller than it used to be. Are you going to fill that dinky spot with your opinion of your services (which means nothing to consumers) or with a client’s words, singing your praises?
A brilliant testimonial will do everything Franke+Fiorella hopes your tagline will do, only better.
It will educate and reinforce your brand. And, because it comes from someone who has actually used your services, it’s more believable than some made-up slogan that may not even convey what you hope it does.
However, if you feel you simply must have a tagline, let’s dig into ways to come up with one that doesn’t suck.
3 Reasons to Avoid Real Estate Slogan Generators
When marketing your real estate business, you want to be sure that your slogan is catchy and memorable. However, it can be tempting to take the easy way out and use a slogan generator. While these tools can help generate ideas, there are a few reasons why you should avoid using them for your final slogan.
1. Generated Slogans Can Be Clichéd
Because slogan generators rely on inputting keywords and phrases, the resulting slogans can often be clichéd or overused. If you want your slogan to stand out from the rest, it’s important to come up with something original that accurately reflects your brand.
2. They Can Be Expensive
While some free slogan generators are available online, many more robust tools can be quite expensive. If you’re on a tight budget, it’s important to consider whether the cost of the generator is worth it for the quality of the slogans it produces.
3. You Might Not Have Full Control
When you use a slogan generator, you’re typically given limited control over the final product. This means that you might be unable to make changes or tweak the slogan to fit your needs better. If you want complete control over your slogan, it’s best to create it yourself.
If you’re looking for a great slogan for your business, it’s best to avoid the temptation of the generator and come up with something original on your own. With creativity and thoughtfulness, you can create a phrase that perfectly represents your company and sets you apart from the rest.
What your realtor taglines should do
Realtor taglines aren’t meant as a vehicle to do cute stuff with your real estate business or to promote your hobby. It doesn’t matter that your last name is “House,” or that sailing is your passion. Some of the worst real estate taglines are plays on the agent’s names or allusions to their hobbies. “Allow me to sail you into homeownership?” Come on.
Done right, a tagline “can help a company communicate its purpose, difference, and value.” Since taglines should be short, replace the word “and” with “or” in that sentence and Gary Slack nailed it at B2BMarketing.net.
You can’t do all three, so pick the one that you feel is the most important to convey when you’re looking for ideas. Hopefully, you’ll choose “difference,” because it is truly one of every agent’s most sought-after qualities.
To stand out in a sea of other cellular service companies,
Verizon set itself apart by being the one with the clearest reception:
“Can You Hear Me Now?”
Now, compare that to “Everything I Touch Turns To Sold,” “I’m never too busy for your referrals!” and “Coming soon to a closing near you!”
See what I mean? Lame, lamer and lamest.
Differentiating yourself and your real estate business is important, but it’s not easy. Especially if you do things the same way everyone else in your market does them. If, however, you do something different, then your tagline should convey that.
For instance, you provide full service to your listing clients. You don’t just mention staging, you pay for it. You pay for a pre-sale home inspection. You may even hire a handyman to fix stuff for your client or a house cleaning company to get it ready for the market.
What you do different is that you provide “Full Service, not Lip Service.” Yeah, you can have that one for your collection of slogans.
Let’s talk about the best real estate slogans
Real estate slogans… The right one can be so hard to find, and oh-so-crucial for your real estate business. Your brand is a foundational part of your business, but it’s more than just a few words in a slogan. The best real estate taglines present a picture of a local authority, a market expert that can help people with one of their largest lifetime transactions. Nothing provides this better than a good real estate website – one that works for you – a LeadSite.
64 Real Estate Slogans To Inspire Your Brand
Trying to brand your new business? Use these FREE slogans to give yourself a head start!
…whether you’re just starting
…rebranding
…or heading up a huge real estate team
The best real estate slogans are here.
Below, you’ll find a list of marketing ideas, generators, famous slogans, and other helpful information to pick real estate taglines!
When it comes to brandingor social media marketing, real estate slogans matter. Your real estate tagline is the message you want your potential clients to remember when they see your website.That means these real estate branding slogans ultimately end up representing a lot more than you’d initially think.
In fact, we’ve seen clients who use our LeadSites generate as much astwice the amount of leadsjust by having quality real estate taglines.
Here are the things to consider when picking real estate branding slogans:
The BasicGuidelines ToConsider When Crafting Your Real Estate Slogan:
- Identification:Your real estate branding slogans have to match your brand and your logo. These three things should work together to help separate you from the crowd.
- Memorable:The best real estate slogans last for years and have a musical memorability to them.
- Beneficial: Keep it all about your potential clients. Your clients are the same way. Keep your real estate slogan all about them and you’ll keep them around longer.
- Differentiation:Real estate is a crowded market. Be sure to look at what others are doing around you and then be different from them.
Now that we have the basics covered, let’s talk about actual real estate branding. The key here is to find something that works for you.
Real Estate Slogans – Ideas And Examples:
So, what goes into real estate branding slogans?
Real Estate sloganstypically are short memorable phrases that help keep you in the customers’ mind. Dictionary.comrefers to them as a distinctive cry that separates you from everything else. They can help you with paid ad campaigns, Pinterest, or FSBO’s.
For example, our Leadsitesare built to convert your website traffic into more leads for your business. And part of how we do this is by branding you as a helpful real estate agent through an auto blogger that automatically posts helpful blogs twice a week.
But more than that:
The websites tie your slogan, logo, and brand together into one package. This makes a memorial experience that helps you stand out in the ‘sea of white’ that is the internet.
Branding Tips: Get Your Realtor Taglines Right!
Seth Godin – How To Win At Business:
In this video, Seth teaches some fundamentals on how to stand outside the box when marketing. His stories are great and should inspire you to find a creative angle for your real estate slogan:
An Overview Of Branding:
Additional Resources For Real Estate Taglines:
- 5 Tips For Writing Your Slogan:This article by INC Magazine focuses on five tips (or benefits) to consider when building your real estate taglines. It’s worth a read to make sure you are implementing a real estate slogan that will actually resonate with your readers.
- How to Write a Great Tagline or Slogan: These are timeless tips to consider when it comes to any type of branding, not just real estate taglines.
- 10 Clever and Effective Series of Advertisem*nts: There are tons of great examples in this article that highlight the effectiveness of branding and could help you in your search for the perfect real estate slogan.
- Can a Catchy Slogan Make You Stand Out?: Realtor.com discusses whether a real estate slogan can actually help you stand out in the marketplace.
- landlordtips.com has some great advice for working with a digital marketer for your real estate business
25 Real estate slogan examples for your real estate business
Since my sincerest hope for your real estate taglines is that they aren’t boring and that they’re different from everyone else’s, I refuse to regurgitate the stuff from the various and vacuous online lists.
OK, so some of these ideas are tongue-in-cheek, but, hey, they might work, if differentiating yourself is your aim.
- I’m Really Good at What I Do
- Because sticking a sign in the yard isn’t enough
- Something wonderful is about to happen
- When Average isn’t Good Enough
- Real Estate Made Simple
- Home Selling Made Simple
- Home Buying Made Simple
- It’s Not Full Service if you have to Pay for Everything
- Lucky You — Your Search for a Real Estate Agent Just got a Lot Easier
- I Return Phone Calls
- Hope Doesn’t Sell Homes. Marketing Does
- Forget the Rest, You’ve Found the Best
- Let’s go Look at Houses
- My Past Clients Say it Best
- Simply Accomplished
- I’m Fun to Work With
- The Only Proactive Realtor in Town
- Real Estate, redefined
- Home Selling, redefined
- We put the ‘Real’ in Real Estate
- I’m Different
- Because Not all Real Estate Agents are Alike
- Taking your Home from Staged to Sold
- Ask me about my Brilliant Marketing Plan
- How can I Help?
Remember, a tagline or slogan won’t help anyone decide whether or not to use your services, but it may help them remember you.
Cliches to avoid when working on your REALTOR taglines
We get it, it’s tough to break away from the crowd. Sadly, when agents do come up with a fresh, innovative way to market him or herself, it is immediately copied.
First, there’s one copycat, then another and, if the differentiating tactic is cheap enough and easy enough the copycats multiply like bunnies.
Then, because everyone else is doing it, the tactic becomes ineffective and no longer innovative
In fact, the general public makes fun of it. From agents using their vehicles as video broadcast studios to the ubiquitous headshots on their business cards, there’s a lot to ridicule. I mean, nothing screams “unique!” like having your dash-cam video show up with 300 similar ones online.
Most of all, the cookie-cutter-agent myth is perpetuated.
Promotional music videos
It takes a very brave (or deluded) soul to attempt to copy the more brilliant real estate promotional videos. Unless you’re loaded with talent and money, this is a practice that few can get away with.
If you’ve tried it and you aren’t getting rave reviews from anyone other than your mama and those you work with, realize it’s not doing you any good and you should probably dump it.
If you can’t sing like Des Moines agent Meghan Hill Mitchum (or hire someone to sing for you), reconsider the Adele parody video you’re so keen on doing.
If you can’t pull off the attitude like L.A. agents Cherrie Brown, Zach McReynolds and Sara Spalione, ditch that rap video idea.
“I want to make one but don’t know where to start. Is there an alternative to hiring a video production company?” asks an agent online.
No, not if you want to avoid looking lame
The same holds true for those Hollywood-style listing videos. If you don’t have the budget, stick with the crowd and make them straightforward – after all, listing videos don’t stay alive forever (unless your clients overpriced the home), or unless you happen to be Brian Keith Lewis whose videos are watched over and over.
By the way, if you want to cop someone else’s ideas, check out more of Lewis’ listing videos.
Agent photos on biz cards
Unless you are Eric Lavey, whose face is apparently his brand, your face has no business being plastered all over your business card and marketing materials.
Yet, despite all the talk of the importance of branding, agent headshots still take center stage on the one marketing material they hand out most often.
“ … it’s a business model that hasn’t changed in a century to keep with the times,”
bemoans a consumer in an online forum about lame real estate agent headshots with accompanying cheesy real estate slogans (but more on those in a minute).
There are arguments for and against. St. Paul broker Teresa Boardman presents some interesting thoughts on the topic at Inman.com.
We rather like the way The ONION treats the debate in “I Wasn’t Going to Buy This House Until I Saw The Realtor’s Headshot On The Sign.” Author Sam Cone even manages to work in the cringe-worthy agent tagline “You’re my No. 1 priority!”
“I guess what I’m saying is that it’s just such a relief when professionals take the time to demonstrate a true respect for my intelligence,” he says.
Before ordering your next batch of photo-embellished business cards, check this out: the Google search term “lame real estate agent photos” returns about 5,220,000 results. In many cases, adding these photos to your cards is a mistake.
Then, if you must go through with it, use a professionally snapped, updated photo, leave the weird hat and/or companion animal at home and consider putting your headshot on the backside of the card and reserve the front for the professional-branded stuff.
Ok, let’s get back to those real estate slogans
Why do so many agents not know that so many real estate taglines, so prolific decades ago, are viewed by today’s real estate consumer as smarmy? That there are websites devoted to poking fun at them?
Like closing gifts, it’s something only those in the real estate industry feel they need to do to attract and keep clients. (And much like slogans, we have a guide for closing gifts too)
Real estate slogans can be a shortcut around providing amazing customer service
So, what are agents finding when they enter “real estate slogans and taglines” into the magical Google search box?
You don’t want to know.
“To Buy or Sell Call Mel!” was actually chosen by a writer at fitsmallbusiness.com as a “fun, memorable and straight to the point” tagline. “What’s not to love?” the author asks.
We don’t even know where to start to answer that question.
Another site tells us that you need real estate slogans because it’s not good to “make your customer base work to find out who you are and what you do. Tell them loudly and clearly and start building trust and loyalty at first contact.”
Wait.
Don’t agents’ business cards and websites typically have the name of their brokerage emblazoned across them? And, don’t the vast majority of real estate brokerages have the word “realty” or “real estate” in them? And, don’t most agents who are members of the NAR put the word “REALTOR” after or below their name? Clients want to know how you’re going to help them buy or sell, not that you can come up with a catchy slogan.
It’s safe to say then, that agents are pretty good at identifying themselves as such and that real estate slogans typically do nothing toward that end.
But, we’ll play
Imagine you are a real estate consumer trying to nail down who you will hire to represent you in a real estate transaction. Will “Everything I touch turns to SOLD” instill trust and loyalty or will “A Local Expert” be the tagline that seals the deal for you?
“They are awful and the reason why people think agents are idiots and like used car salesmen,” claims one agent in the comments section at fitsmallbusiness.com.
Avoid sounding like an idiot or used car salesman and hire a company that specializes in branding to help you come up with one.
If it’s cheap and easy, it’ll be cheesy (someday)
If you’re tempted to copy another agent’s marketing technique, understand that it isn’t going to make you stand out from the crowd unless few others are doing it. And, you can count on others picking it up if it’s inexpensive and easy (like the aforementioned dash-cam videos).
On the flip side, the more expensive or labor intensive a real estate marketing method, the less the chance it will be copied. For instance, branded real estate-oriented newspapers sent to a geographic farm can get pricey, so if you decide to go this route, it’s doubtful others in your market will copy you.
A ghost-written, agent-branded real estate book (not an e-book – that’s too cheap and easy) to hand out to buyers or sellers offers the same rip-off protection.
But, in the end, the cheapest, most effective marketing vehicle is word-of-mouth. And you’ll get that by providing your experience, knowledge and a dash of charisma to all you do business with. In other words, plain, ol’-fashioned excellent customer service.
Ready to stand out with a professional real estate website? Learn more about LeadSites.
For marketing ideas that will help you stand out from the crowd, be sure to check out these marketing tips.
Need more ideas for great branding? Learn from the top 10 real estate websites.
Looking for some great examples of real estate branding done right? In this special webinar, we explore how some EAP clients branded their businesses in creative and unique ways:
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