This is part fifteen of our blog series entitled: Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning form American Idol. It is a fun and easy way to learn the principles of personal branding. You do not have to be an Idol fan to enjoy!

The Triumph of Authenticity

This American Idol season finale confirmed what was evident last year as well: The triumph of authenticity. Authenticity in personal branding for real estate agents is the most important lesson from this show.

Both finalists are genuine and unpretentious which is what America responded to with a record breaking 100,000,000 (approximately) votes. The fact that more people identified with, and voted for, Kris did not take away from Adam’s success. Nor, did it take away from the other contestants in the top five-- Matt, Alison and Danny who also exemplified authenticity. Certainly, last year’s “Battle of the Davids” was not a war between opponents, but two distinct styles, each with an authentic brand signal.

All five finalists this year were clear examples of distinct brand categories:

  • Kris – soft rock
  • Adam -- hard rock
  • Danny – pop
  • Alison -- rhythm & blues- female
  • Matt -- rhythm and blues-male

The nature of the American Idol competition is such that only one person wins. That is not the case in the real estate marketplace. They could have structured the Idol competition so that there was a winner in each brand category. This would then better mirror the competitive landscape in real estate where there can be a market leader in each niche such as condos, waterfront properties, individual neighborhoods, etc. It would also mirror the voting public who votes with their dollars when they actually buy songs or albums. Those who prefer rhythm and blues would not necessarily buy Adam’s albums.

In your real estate practice, always keep this in mind: The fact that people like to do business with people that represent their personal values means that there is always room at the top. There is plenty of business for excellent real estate agents. The key is to make your brand signal so clear and strong that you attract your ideal clients and make it easy for them to identify you as their ideal agent as fast as possible. Simply stated, personal branding, done right, accelerates the match making process and is especially satisfying when that signal is authentic.

This concludes our American Idol series on personal branding. We hope you enjoyed it!

Check Out Personal Branding Case Studies

GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!

JOIN OUR LANGUAGE OF LUXURY GROUP ON:

Proxio, BrokerAgentSocial, Plaxo, Linked In, ActiveRain, RealTown, Facebook

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: LuxuryMarketing

COMMENTS? Please use form in left column