I have been the Marketing Coordinator at a Florida real estate brokerage, EXIT 1 Stop Realty, for four years. Last year I oversaw a total brand redesign at the company. The company already had an established corporate brand, EXIT Realty International, but as a locally owned franchise the brokerage wanted to further develop their individual brand while still maintaining several key aspects of the EXIT Realty brand.
I began with research, I was particularly inspired by the marketing of Compass real estate company. After the research process, I met with graphic designer, Alysia Dailey of Afox Creative, to incorporate elements of the current EXIT corporate brand, such as the signature EXIT teal, and the trademark logo into a new brand for the brokerage. I have outlined some highlights from this brand redesign below with a few insights I obtained from the process. Lastly, I’ll discuss some key takeaways from the project, which I plan to use to further establish my personal brand as a marketer.
Logos & Symbols
A particular element of the EXIT brand we decided to utilize was their use of iconography, such as the house icon which is in their logo. One aspect I liked about the Compass brand was their use of a compass icon and other images such as branded dashes and dots. I found the juxtaposition of icons and brand colors along with modern lines and fonts to be particularly successful in creating a modern real estate brand with a fun, fresh personality.
The graphic designer and I worked together to develop a full package of branded symbols which were made into both GIFs and png image files. The branded symbols are in the signature EXIT teal, and reflect the fun, whimsical style of the company’s brand personality.
The company’s brand purpose is also reflected in the icons for example, the agent at their desk, the house, keys, etc. Inspired by my research, we also created several brand marks such as dashes and dots in our brand colors. These elements are used in everything from our office signage, printed materials, website and email marketing.
Signage
Another part of our brand redesign was a complete office makeover which reflected our new brand. We created several pieces of signage that are displayed in the office. I worked with our graphic designer to design several canvas prints which are displayed in the office. Our brand mission and vision, brand photos, fonts and other elements are all incorporated into the prints.
URLs
The brand redesign also resulted in a new landing page to recruit new real estate agents to our brokerage, www.joinexit1.com, which has been one of the company’s main marketing goals of both 2020 and 2021. The page incorporates all of the new brand elements and fresh verbiage. There is also a call to action button located at the top of the page, “count me in,” which is designed to get leads in the form of sign ups at the bottom of the page.
The areas I mention above are just a few highlights from the complete brand redesign process I oversaw at EXIT 1 Stop Realty in 2020 and 2021. There are several takeaways from this experience which I plan to use as I further establish my personal brand as a marketer. First, research is an essential first step in a new brand design process. Second, it’s important to have a clear understanding of core aspects of the brand such as the brand identity, target market and purpose in order to incorporate those things into the brand design. Lastly, I learned not to be afraid to be bold and creative in choosing brand elements. For example, I was determined to get a series of GIFS for the EXIT 1 Stop Realty brand because I saw that trend on several social media platforms in the real estate industry. Items like these are what distinguish a company’s brand design in a sea of digital content put out by their competition.
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