How does a brand’s identity reflect on its credibility?

Welcome back readers, to Business Writing Etiquette 101—a one stop blog for business writing tips. This week, my class began working in more depth with our class-wide client, Nest Realty. Nest Realty is a real estate brokerage with individual locations in North Carolina and Virginia, however our client will be the Wilmington branch. Today, we want to look at the ethos used within their advertising. But first off, what is ethos? 

Purdue OWL defines ethos as, “…some variation of ‘credibility or trustworthiness,’ but it originally referred to the elements of a speech that reflected on the particular character of the speaker or the speech’s author. Today, many people may discuss ethos qualities of a text to refer to how well authors portray themselves. But ethos more closely refers to an author’s perspective more generally.” (Purdue OWL). In layman’s terms, ethos refers to how the author portrays themselves and how credible they (and their sources) are. 

Thus far, the marketing strategies for Nest Realty seem spot on with the millennial ideal of modernity. If you look at the pictures provided, you can see that. They use sans serif fonts to display a relaxed demeanor. They emphasize large photos to point out the beauty of the areas they are selling. They tend to focus on specific aspects of the areas that focus on either historical significance, fine dining, or outdoorsy activities—all things, that while enjoyed by everyone, often appeal to a specific demographic.

To the same degree, their video advertisements use language that creates a sense of trustworthiness. For example, they emphasize the use of words such as: innovative, creative, well designed, fresh, forward-thinking, and fun. They even include a blooper reel to show just how “fun” and “care-free” they are. I’ve provided the link below, it’s pretty convincing stuff. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkMAdf1v3qs

So think about it, after seeing that video and scrolling through their website, they seem to be a pretty reliable group of people right? You would have to at least check out their services, because we all know an innovative website must mean an innovative realtor team. Which brings me to my point, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. If it looks credible, its identity is trustworthy, and it looks like a good group of realtors, it’s probably a good brokerage. Nest Realty does a good job of displaying such characteristics.