Do you know what one of my favorite stories of personal branding is? How Wendy Heath, a Realtor in Long Beach, CA, increased her daily website traffic from 2000 hits to over 20,000 hits last year.
Wendy, a former personal trainer, dared to be different. Wendy erected a personal billboard with the phrase "Got Real Estate?" . It features Wendy by a dock, with her dog. It is very California and if anything, it's so..., well, so...LA.
There is, however, a certain problem in they eyes of many South Bay Realtors (Los Angeles area); Wendy is featured in a bikini on the billboard. She has been accused of playing the blond bimbo card. It turms out that Wendy has a bachelor's degree and was a former personal trainer. She's married, and is a mother to six children.
In an article on the conservative WorldNetDaily (which I read avidly), Ms. Heath told Joe Scarborough of MSNBC:
"I wanted to set myself apart and kind of shock the shore, and, you know, drive people to my website and increase my business. There are many, many real-estate agents in our area, and it's hard to break through and set yourself apart. ... I am absolutely amazed that one billboard could cause so much attention, but I am absolutely elated."
It turns out that Wendy's broker, First Team's Rick Rector, did not care for the enterprising Realtor. He stated, "It is absolutely not something that First Team can be a party to. It is totally unprofessional. Would you look at this billboard, and ask, 'Is this the person you would want to represent you in the biggest purchase of your life?" Wendy has since moved on and works at Long Beach Brokerage. She's been licensed as a real estate salesperson in California since 2002.
Wendy received tons of calls from Realtors berating her for "unprofessionalism". She also received just as many calls supporting her. Her website traffic went up 10 times.
Now, THAT is an online presence.
