RICS and Savills: Does your brand compare?

• RICS Superbrands
  In March of this year, the RICS was acknowledged as one of the UK’s top 100 Business brands in the annual Superbrand listings. It’s a prestigious accolade as brands do not apply or pay to be included in the Superbrand rankings, but instead are voted for by the Superbrand Expert Council and a panel of the UK’s leading business professionals.
  
  This is no mean achievement; thousands of brands are considered across 50 business sectors. But while this RICS achievement is great and should be celebrated, it does mark somewhat of a contradiction to the use of branding by Chartered Surveyors and the wider Commercial Property market.
  
  
• The Poorly Branded Chartered Surveyor
  A simple Google search for Chartered Surveyors and Commercial Property Professionals websites in any region will throw up an alarming array of poorly branded websites, trading under naive, amateurish and frankly unprofessional brands. Furthermore, any UK High Street will be littered with instantly forgettable commercial boards.
  
  But, as we all know, the commercial property professional always knows better and any mention of branding will be met with the well-used mantra of “our business is about relationships”. That may well be true, but how can you start the new relationships that will drive your commercial practice forward, if you have poor presentation?
  
  
• Set The Right Example
  No Chartered Surveyors in their right mind would meet a prospective client dressed in a “FRANKIE SAYS” T-Shirt, paisley print shorts, black socks and sandals. Yet many are happy to present their services under woefully out-dated brands, and not just to one prospective client, but to the whole world via their commercial agent website.
  
  Your brand has the power to influence potential business relationships at an early stage. Your brand identity conveys a personality about you, your staff and the unique way you do business. Prospective clients, even the most impassive, will have some sort of emotive response to your brand, that will effect whether they contact you or not.
  
  
• Savills – The Superbrand
  Consider this. Your new commercial property client is a consumer who is engaged by Guinness, connects with Apple and stays faithful to Mercedes-Benz. So why should this be any different in their commercial life, where brand attributes and values really do mean something?
  
  It perhaps comes as no surprise that one of the commercial property sectors most successful names understands this and the power of the brand. The 2011 Superbrand chart also featured Savills at number 71 in the top 500, higher than brands like Panasonic, Deutsche Bank, AVIA, Yellow Pages and even the RICS.
  
  
• Smarten yourself up
  So take an objective look at yourself. Look at your leading competitors. Is it time you re-branded, built a new website and refreshed your marketing collateral?

Philip Burrows – Marketing Consultant