A polished real estate agent brand does not start with trendy scripts, overproduced reels or bloated newsletters. It starts with something simpler and harder to fake: authenticity.
That is the core message from Meriam Mellal, a Montreal-based real estate marketing strategist with more than 12 years of experience who has led marketing programs and training for agencies, brokers and real estate networks since 2019, including Christie’s International Real Estate.
Drawing from years of campaign work with agents and brokerages, Mellal argues that the marketing tactics that actually move the needle today are the ones that feel the most human. It’s an especially relevant argument in an era where increasing amounts of AI-generated slop are flooding social media feeds.
Trust is built on personality, not polish
For video, Mellal recommends abandoning the generic formulas that have flooded social media feeds for years.
“What I see performing best in branding videos for my clients is videos that are on-brand with the broker’s personality,” Mellal told Inman, noting that generic content like “5 reasons why you should work with me” or “3 reasons I love this area” tends to generate little engagement.
Instead, she recommends content that reflects how an agent actually shows up in the market. She pointed to one luxury broker in Westmount, a city on the island of Montreal, known for deep market knowledge and precise pricing, whose content works because it mirrors his demeanor: calm, direct and rooted in the places and conversations that define his business.
Rather than force a social strategy built on imitation, she said agents should lean into short, natural clips about their local market, neighborhood developments, notable sales or behind-the-scenes moments from daily work.
That kind of content matters because trust increasingly hinges on perceived authenticity, not just credentials. Mellal cited the Edelman Trust Barometer in arguing that consumers are more likely to respond to people whose values, communication style and personality feel genuine. Video gives agents a way to communicate those traits in a format that a headshot or bio never can.
The algorithm still needs a push
Authenticity alone does not guarantee reach. Mellal said effective video distribution still requires strategy, including SEO-minded captions and, in many cases, paid promotion.
While organic reach may come more easily to creators and influencers, she said, consumers usually perceive agents as businesses rather than personalities, making ad support an important part of any serious social media plan.
Her advice on video length is equally platform-specific. TikTok, she said, rewards quick, direct videos of 15 seconds or less. Instagram can stretch a bit longer, but she sees the sweet spot at 30 seconds or less.
“For informative content, keep it under 1 minute, especially since you can’t boost a Reel longer than 90 seconds, and the goal is always to minimize drop rate,” Mellal said.
Production style should also match the message: a natural phone-shot clip may outperform polished footage when reacting to market news or sharing a quick insight. A more refined format can help reinforce credibility when presenting a market report, introducing a team or sharing performance results.
The larger principle, she said, is that audiences decide almost immediately whether someone feels genuine.
“Talk naturally, stand comfortably and be yourself,” Mellal said. “Inauthenticity triggers in the brain the same instinct as distrust, and in a business built entirely on personal relationships, that association is important to avoid and very hard to undo.”
Email still works — if it’s built on permission and value
That same logic extends to email, which Mellal still sees as a valuable channel for agents, provided it is built on permission and relevance. She warned against the stale habit of stuffing mailing lists with contacts who never opted in, arguing that the better approach is to structure newsletter signups around useful content and genuine value.
When that happens, she said, subscribers arrive warmer and more engaged because they already feel they are getting something worthwhile in return.
“Remember that real estate in 2026, despite all the TV shows and PR, still carries a lot of stigma around unsolicited and promotional communications,” Mellal said. “Don’t be one of those who add people who never asked to be on a list.”
While U.S. law under the CAN-SPAM Act does not require prior opt-in for marketing emails, sending newsletters to people who didn’t ask for them remains a risky strategy. Agents may be legally compliant if they include proper disclosures and unsubscribe options, but unsolicited outreach often erodes trust, triggers spam complaints, and ultimately undermines long-term client relationships. This makes permission-based marketing the far more effective approach.
As for cadence, Mellal recommends restraint: no more than once a week for property-focused newsletters and no more than twice a month for more educational or informative sends. Just as importantly, she believes agents should strip away the corporate tone that still dominates much of the industry’s email marketing.
Newsletters should be short, scannable and personal, not weighed down by oversized logos, repetitive contact blocks or adjective-heavy property descriptions.
Readers, she said, respond better when the writing sounds like a real person and includes something memorable beyond listings, whether that is a local recommendation, a personal observation or a collaborator worth knowing.
“My golden rule is to drop the corporate tone entirely,” she said. “People work with a broker because they like the person. Every touchpoint either strengthens or weakens that relationship.”
The agents who stand out aren’t following trends
When it comes to measuring what works, Mellal again comes back to authenticity. The entries that generate the most response, she said, are usually the ones that feel most true to the agent behind them.
Still, she urges agents to pair that instinct with better measurement. That means using UTM parameters to track what drives clicks and paying close attention to more than just open rates.
While open rates can offer a signal on subject line performance, she noted that privacy changes have made them less reliable as a standalone metric.
Click-through rates, unsubscribe patterns, scroll depth and read time can all offer a clearer picture of whether a newsletter is actually resonating with a sphere of influence or merely landing in inboxes unnoticed.
For agents trying to decide where to invest their marketing energy in 2026, Mellal’s argument is straightforward: Stop chasing formulas. Show up consistently, sound like yourself and give people something worth paying attention to.
“Copying what others are doing leads nowhere, ever,” Mellal said. “You’ll have no real differentiator, you’ll second-guess yourself every time someone else pivots, and people pick up on that insecurity, even through a screen.”
