Re-branding in a new branded online world
By Anthony Longo 24 11 2008
So the past few weeks we have been looking into some re-branding for CondoDomain. Our websites and business model have been great to us thus far, but in interviewing many of our clients the past few weeks, we have found some MAJOR LEAGUE gaps in our BRANDED EFFORTS & MARKETING SCHEMA and need to resolved them immediately.
Link to our Boston website is – http://Boston.CondoDomain.com
Some constructive feedback from our clients include:
1. They were unclear what we were at first: Ad website? Referral Site? Actual Agent/Broker?
2. Many did NOT know that we gave a cash refunds back to our clients until AFTER they purchased? (Oh my god…talk about bad design on my part!). These clients bought a condo with us and were not expecting anything and then we showed up with a huge cash check and they flipped out. Crazzzzy!
3. Another group of people found out about the refund after being on the website for more than 3 days. This is something I feel that should be conveyed within the first 3 seconds!
4. Most said once they found about the refund they did not understand it? Did not get buyers brokerage or that commissions were paid by the seller. We need to educate better on how traditional brokerage works!
5. Almost everyone said that we have the best product (website) & service (people) available and they did not know it until after the fact. All mentioned that we need to do more advertising and make it known our business proposition as its “one of a kind”.
So what to change/modify/implement?:
1. Branding & Logo: Maybe the “.com” at the end of our logo makes people think we are more of a website rather than a real live, local, “people on the ground” company. Remove the “.com”?
2. Messaging: Obviously a more clear “educated” message to our audience / buyers. (a) We are local brokers. (b) We are a niche specialist working with buyers only in major cities. (c) You get cash back when you buy with us. (d) Its not only free to use a buyers broker, but, actually using CondoDomain will save you additional thousands by letting them help you.
3. Website (1.0): Crisp’en up the site to a more Web 2.0 template that conveys all of these messages.
Marketing Guru’s, Brand & Identity Specialist, Web 2.0′ers - We would love your advice & feedback. Feel free to leave a comment or email me directly!
Thank you!!!
How about using the regular emails we alls end to brand?
Companies seem to ignore the single largest online branding/advertising venue available: their own regular external emails. Why not use these emails to market the senders company?
You have a website.
You send emails.
Why not multiply your sales-staff by “wrapping” the regular email in an interactive letterhead?
No other marketing or advertising medium is as targeted as an email between people that know each other (as opposed to mass emails). These emails are always read and typically kept.
Good comment. We already do this…but its a simple email-sig. Maybe a nicer, more branded and graphic approach is warranted. Thx Rolv.
Over the years we’ve had all the same feedback at Redfin; your suggestions of where to start are good ones.
I could get into the nitty gritty but that would take hours
. In general, listen to your customers and your website users (remember, they are two different groups) through focus groups, usability studies and surveys. Once you listen to them and then you look at your website through their eyes you will know where to start. And it never ends. Every week we spend a few days tweaking the website. We’ll change the text on a button and see if clicks go up or down. And every few months we’ll try some more radical changes. Always measuring and testing.
In general what we’ve learned is that less is more and simpler is better. Users don’t catch on as fast as you think.
We can talk more at Inman; can’t wait!