Targeting your market with a strong personalised brand
Setting your conveyancing business apart from your competitors is key to any successful branding strategy, according to marketing industry leader Kat Kelly

SETTING your conveyancing business apart from your competitors is key to any successful branding strategy, according to marketing industry leader Kat Kelly
“Being clear from a brand strategy point of view including: where you are, where you want to get to, and how you’re going to get there, is critical,” says Kelly, the founder and strategy director of Melbourne-based creative consultancy East of Everything.
“People usually think of a brand as ‘branding’, like a logo or a colour palette. And, yes, that is part of it. But, more importantly, it’s who you are. What you stand for. Your point of view in the market. Our whole philosophy is that great brands are built from the inside out.”
Kelly says that knowing – and utilising – your competitive edge will differentiate your business from the competition.
“We live in a very commoditised world,” she explains, “and lots of businesses do very similar things and they spend a lot of time talking about all those things that they do and how they work. They forget that, from a customer’s point of view, it all sounds the same. Really, there’s other things they can do to set themselves apart to be different.
“Most of the conveyancing brands we look at will talk about speed and productivity. They talk about efficiency. Which is very functional and that is important but it is just one part of the story.
“They could be talking about how they are trying to move the category forward. How they are trying to raise professional standards in conveyancing by building relationships.”
Kelly says the world of conveyancing is undergoing considerable change and conveyancers should think about “the problems, the changes and the opportunities at a category level and what their role is within that”.
“Technology is changing the way conveyancers do things,” she says. “But from a customer’s view it can bring about a lot of fear about what’s happening. The customer is worried where’s my money going? Do I have all the documents? Do I have all the information?
“So there’s a category conversation that conveyancing brands could start to have. To play back that they actually understand what customers are going through.”
Providing the personal touch, Kelly advises, is also more important than overloading your social media.
“I would have thought that word-of-mouth is more of an important channel to invest in for conveyancers,” she says. “Maybe use social media to talk about something that your team is passionate about, instead of thinking that you should advertise about your services all the time. Even social media experts say you don’t have to post that much, nobody cares about it that much.
“And, when you think about a conveyancing client, they are in the market quickly and then they leave again. So spend time talking to your own customers now. They are your best place to find insights and information.
“Ask them: How did they find you? Who told them about you? What was it that made them feel good about the process? Was there something missing they would have liked? What would they say about you to somebody else?”
Conceding branding and marketing can be daunting for conveyancers focussed on their core businesses, Kelly says bringing your team together can help share the load.
“Every single person in the company is the brand,” she explains. “The process to think about who you are, what you stand for and why you do it, should be a really motivating, exciting and inspiring thing for a business to come together around.
“It’s a great way to create ownership, no matter the size of your business. Your brand strategy should be there to serve your business strategy. Bring everyone together around you and make it fun. And start with the customers you already have.”
KAT KELLY’S THREE INGREDIENTS TO CREATING A BRANDING STRATEGY
- ASK YOURSELF: Why does your business exist? What motivates you? What’s your purpose? (It’s not what you do but why you do it.)
- EXAMINE: How you work. What your values are. What drives your unique ways of working.
- CONSIDER: How do you want to position yourself? What’s the benefit you want to stand for? What’s your competitive stance in the market?