Exploring the Power of Brand in Property: Key Insights from Our Virtual Discussion Panel

On April 21 2021, we gathered around our virtual sofa to discuss The Place of Brand in Property. And what a discussion it was. Not only did we have the pleasure of ever-insightful guests Graham Bates, Suraiya Comunello, Ted Holden and Simon Lucey, but we also had a brilliant and engaged audience that asked us a lot of questions! Thank you.

You can catch the full recording of this session and all our sessions on our website.

In this blog, we have put together our thoughts about what was discussed and how brand can help you communicate to your customers and adds real tangible value to your business. 

What does brand mean?

We started our session with what ‘brand’ meant to our panellists. Of course, we had lots of brilliant answers with our panellists unifying around the fact that, as Graham put it: “brand goes deeper than the building name”. 

In simple terms, it was agreed that a brand is how you articulate the why. What are the benefits of your offering, not your products and services. A good brand will encapsulate your benefits and transmit them effectively to the customer. 

Experience was never far away from the conversations when talking about brand. So much of a residential experience is the living, and Ted focused on the fact that, as the heart of the experience, a brand can help create a personality for your product, building touchpoints with your customer and employees. As Graham discussed, the LIV Group brand and how they create resident-first living experiences. And all this experience goes into making the brand.

And let us not forget about the role that reputation has in brand building, and Simon reminded us the brand is the ‘bit you hang your hat on’ and what you are remembered for when you are not in the room. This is an important reminder about how an investment in brand will ensure you build a strong reputation for the right things. 

Brand and the Gen Z consumer

With build-to-rent and student accommodation, we know that our target market is primarily Gen Z. But are all those engaged with property - stakeholders, investors, staff, always fully aware of what this generation wants from a brand?

Our panel talked about how authenticity, transparency, and being true to values are fundamental to what consumers want from the brands they engage with. And is there any more personal engagement than the place you choose to live?

The Benefits of Brand

We enjoyed Surayia’s passion when talking about the value of brand, highlighting many benefits of building a globally recognised and respected brand, including:

· Increase value of the company overall

· Creating an ability to scale a business

· Support a higher price on exit

· A higher perceived value for the consumer

· Customer loyalty

· Benefits to employee engagement

We also loved her experience of setting up in a new country and someone choosing to book in a European Nido location, just because they had once stayed in a UK Nido. That is the power of brand! 

Evidence Impact

As marketers, we all know that we have to show clear return on investment on our campaign strategy, delivery, and results. This is important. Yet, a clear linkage to brand development and a commercial sale can be harder to present than a transactional digital marketing campaign when it comes to brand building. Ted and Simon were keen to share their expertise with us that brand building for three months before releasing a sales and marketing campaign and will always drive increased activity.

Graham reminded us that the build-to-rent sector is yet actually to build a nationally scaled brand. It is a young sector, and evidence of success is how best to build a brand in a developing industry. He also mentioned the success that Urban Splash has had in taking interesting buildings, often in less desirable locations and making them highly desirable. With Urban Splash properties still highly regarded today. The fundamentals of a brand is the product, and this is evidence of how successful building the right product and brand can be. 

As we always argue at The Property Marketing Strategists - marketing is a whole business approach. The more integrated your strategy in moving your customers through awareness to purchase, the more successful you will be. As Graham pointed out, a key marker for this is retention. If you have strong retention numbers, then your brand is delivering. Not only do you increase word of mouth marketing, but you can also be efficient with your marketing budget to target those customers that will stay year after year.

The Future

Our panellist talked about the future as flexible and agile. We know we have had a year of change with Covid and also the impacts of Brexit. If ever a sector needs to be agile, it is now. And the lesson to learn is about transparency. Simon rightly said that we do not have to be perfect but being honest and transparent is vital to the new generation of consumers. Like him, we believe Monzo has provided an excellent blueprint for how you do this. 

Suraiya talked about the human element and how as a sector, property focuses on tangible items. But really, when you visit a potential home, it is the gut and emotional feeling – that we cannot always articulate – that empowers our choice. We think this is an interesting element, and without a doubt, if we could bottle this feeling – that is what your brand is about. 

Graham concluded about how the value that gets built into brand and how investment in build-to-rent will stabilise assets. This means that there will be a real focus on the operational business's quality and brand. The ones that are meaningful and relate to a great product and service will command higher values. 

This is just a highlight of our discussion, but you can watch the whole session here. And if you haven’t yet booked for our next session on The Impact of Covid on Changing Priorities – then what are you waiting for?

If you want to review or build a brand in the property sector, The Property Marketing Strategists can help. Contact us to find out more