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Leading company adjusted to stay fresh

By Lyall Russell
18 December 2019 | 6 minute read
Tom Russo reb

Elders Real Estate has continued to be a trusted brand, but when the agency sought feedback, people felt the brand was “tired”.

Several years ago, Elders reviewed its business structure and decided to invest more in real estate, which triggered Elders Real Estate general manager Tom Russo to go back to basics to understand the brand.

“You can get very close to your own brand and apply unconscious bias when assuming how the world sees you,” Mr Russo said.

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The next step was to get extensive independent market research.

“There were three very compelling and consistent themes that arose from the research.

“Firstly, our brand recall was off the charts and at a level that most brands in Australia would be very jealous of. Secondly, the brand has extremely high levels of trust and integrity associated with it. Finally, people felt we were ‘tired’ and in need of modernisation and innovation.”

Mr Russo took on the challenge to refresh the brand, remaining true to its history while leveraging the recall and trust that came with it.

“We refreshed the look and feel of the brand, specifically in the residential market, and delivered a suite of hundreds of new brand assets to the network to implement this,” the GM said.

“We then turned our focus to digital, rolling out what I think is the best large agency website in Australia, coupled with a well-executed social media marketing strategy.”

As the Australia-wide agency injected new life into its brand, it has done it without overdoing technology.

“I think this industry is guilty of a lot of bluff and bluster, and at the end of the day, while tech and marketing etc is very important, it is how you engage your customer base that really results in how successful you are,” Mr Russo said.

“For us, it is all about the customer experience, and we want to look outwards, not look inwards... we want to make sure we delight our customers every day.”

As a result, with the agency’s 68 per cent brand recall, and the customer-focus approach, Elders Real Estate was awarded the coveted Canstar Blue’s 2019 real estate agency for having the most satisfied customers in Australia. It was also the only agency to get five stars in each category.

“Coming out with top marks in all categories of communication, problem resolution, knowledge and advice, as well as overall satisfaction, this award recognises Elders Real Estate as a nationally trusted brand,” Mr Russo said.

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