How Real Estate Agents Can Build a Human Brand Using Consumer Empathy Strategies

Christine George
Apr 2
4 min read

The question I ask agents to consider is, How do I want my clients to feel when they work with me?

Not what do I want them to know about me? Not what credentials do I want them to see?

What do I want them to feel?

That question came up in one of my favorite conversations on this podcast with Scott Coligan, fractional CMO, brand consultant, and someone I've known since I hired him at Miller Coors back in 2007.

Scott went on to build something called the Human Experience Method, a consumer research practice that was the opposite of a focus group. Instead of asking people manufactured questions in a sterile conference room, Scott's team embedded themselves in consumers' lives. They went into their homes. They went to work with them. They attended sober raves. (Yes, really.) The goal was to understand people, not targets, not demographics, people - as full human beings with rich, complex emotional lives.

And what surprised him most from all of that research was their vulnerability. When people felt safe and heard, they opened up in ways that were closer to therapy sessions than interviews. That kind of trust-building, Scott realized, had enormous implications not just for consumer brands, but for any brand trying to build real relationships.

So what does this mean for a real estate agent?

Your Client Is Not a Lead

The biggest mindset shift Scott talks about is moving from transactional thinking to human thinking. A buyer or seller isn't just a deal in your pipeline. They're a person going through one of the most emotionally charged experiences of their life.

Scott's advice is to have real conversations with recent clients. Not a post-closing survey. An actual conversation. Ask them what they liked, what they didn't like, what they wish had been different, and how the experience made them feel. And then actually let that information change how you show up.

You Are the Product. And the Packaging.

One of the most useful frameworks Scott brings to this episode is the idea that for a real estate agent, the agent IS the product. The house isn't what you're selling. The house is the result of the product's promise.

He uses Heywell, the functional beverage startup he now leads as a fractional CMO, as a case study. With no marketing budget, they had to rely on word of mouth and product experience. So they overinvested in the one thing that would do the most work: the packaging. It stands out on the shelf. It communicates what's inside. It builds immediate trust.

For an agent, that's your website. Your social presence. The one channel that is the face of your business. Whatever it is, Scott says, make it look as good as it possibly can. Make sure it feels like you. And make sure the experience of navigating it is as easy as the experience of working with you — because every signal you send through that channel is either confirming your brand promise or contradicting it.

Look Outside of Real Estate

This is the part I think every agent needs to hear. If you're trying to figure out how to stand out, and you're doing it by looking at what other agents are doing, you've already lost. You're going to come up with something that looks and sounds exactly like what's already out there.

Scott's approach is to look sideways. Look at hospitality. Look at concierge medical. Look at interior design. Look at bereavement services. Anywhere someone wants to feel cared for and advocated for. What are those brands doing to create that feeling? And what's missing in real estate?

He points to Liquid Death as a favorite example of distinction done right. A canned water company that looked at rock bands and craft beer instead of other water brands and built a brand with actual personality. Real estate, he argues, has the same personality deficit. There's a lot of performative professionalism and not much realness.

The question to ask yourself: Are you someone your clients would want to ride around with all weekend, looking at houses? Because that's the energy your brand needs to communicate.

The Scrappy Research Hack That Costs Nothing

One of my favorite practical takeaways from this conversation: create a separate Instagram account just for research. Follow the people, brands, places, and spaces that are connected to your ideal client community. Let the algorithm do its work. Spend a few minutes each week scrolling through that feed and absorbing the cultural conversation happening there.

It's free, it's always with you, and it's a constant source of insight about what your people actually care about.

Own What Makes You Different

I'll leave you with what Scott said when I asked him for the best piece of career advice he ever received: Be yourself and lean into your strengths.

He talked about spending years in a hyper-masculine corporate culture, feeling pressure to be someone he wasn't, and how the moment he stopped doing that and started owning his sensitivity, his empathy, and his creativity was the moment things clicked. Those weren't weaknesses to manage. They were his differentiation.

I say this to my clients all the time: your weird is your wealth. You don't have to be for everybody. You just have to be unmistakably, consistently yourself.

That's how you build a brand people trust.

Scott Coligan is a fractional CMO and brand consultant currently leading marketing strategy for Heywell, a functional beverage startup. He previously developed the Human Experience Method at Miller Coors, a groundbreaking approach to consumer insights that changed how the organization understood its customers.

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