Core Values

Hawai‘i.Life.Style

otherwise known as the H.L.M.O

We are Hawai‘i Life
And so we have an obligation to understand this place, the culture and people.

Empathize.
Listen. Be present. Walk a mile.

Smile.
The results are instant, contagious and powerful.

HL Style.
Hawai‘i Life has its own style. We strive for beauty, quality and functionality in all elements of our company.

Logos

The Hawai’i Life logo, colors and typography are essential elements that should be used consistently across all marketing communications to establish and reinforce brand recognition. Do not alter colors. Learn more and download Hawai‘i Life logos

Looking for other logos?

See Forbes Global Properties, Military Specialized Team

Colors

Keeping our brand colors consistent differentiates us from the competition and heightens brand recognition.

Accent Colors

Typography

Oversized headlines and concise copy paired with beautiful white space. Left Alignment. While you may not have these fonts, whenever you utilize our creative services we’ll use them along with professional design to present your message.

Company Voice & Taglines

When writing about Hawai‘i Life, consider using the following phrases.

Hawai‘i Life is the state's leading brokerage firm in high-end listings and sales. A statewide company founded in 2008, Hawai‘i Life is 100% locally created, owned and operated. Hawai‘i Life has a team of close to 350 real estate agents statewide, and together they achieve more than $3 billion in sales annually. Hawai‘i Life is a founding member of Forbes Global Properties, as well as an affiliate of Luxury Portfolio International®. To learn more about Hawai‘i Life, please visit the state's most trafficked real estate website at HawaiiLife.com. 

Hawai'i Life remains the only statewide, full-service brokerage firm that is 100% locally owned and operated. Hawai'i Life is the exclusive Hawai'i brokerage of Forbes Global Properties™ and is one of Luxury Portfolio International's® global network of premier, locally branded real estate companies. The company also provides short-term and long-term rentals, streamlining the process for homeowners and tenants statewide. HGTV's Hawai'i Life series, now in its 14th season, draws a national audience of 22 million+ viewers. To learn more about Hawai'i Life, please visit the state's most trafficked real estate website at HawaiiLife.com.

These are some of our registered trademarks. Repetition of these taglines is good for marketing…

• Hawai‘i Real Estate Lives Here

• Smart Marketing. Solid Representation

• Global Reach. Local Style

• Hawai‘i.Life.Style

Listing Photography

Excellent photographs increase your chance of selling a home. Our research shows nearly 95% of buyers search online for homes, while only half that number visit open houses. Most buyers today conduct their preliminary research at home — reviewing online photos.

Hire a professional photographer that knows how to shoot quality images. Online listings are now the most popular source for finding a home. Low quality images are not supported. Contact the Create Team if you are looking for recommendations.

Photos should accurately convey the selling points of a property. Ensure that the best image are first in the sequence of images in the MLS. Do not apply special effects, frames or filters to images. Include the best shots– you don’t need to include all elements of a property (that can be disclosed later).

Descriptive Copywriting

The descriptive text for your listings should accurately convey the selling points of a property, while still maintaining truth-in-marketing standards. Make the descriptive text descriptive- in the MLS record remarks it is appropriate to describe what differentiates the subject property and to sell the attributes, but it is not a good idea to write fiction or to include the usual adjectives.

We suggest avoiding

• Use of language that is cliché and contrived to evoke fantasy thoughts or visions without consideration to the client / user’s world view. This language may alienate people who call Hawai’i home. Here are a few classics we have all seen before:

  • “Making your dreams come true”

  • “This is your dream home”

  • “Shangri-La”

  • “Must See!”

  • “Piece of Paradise”

• Use of inappropriate or deceptive photography and copywriting.

  • Example: “Expansive Ocean Views” when in reality only a peak of ocean is visible in the distance.

• Follow Federal Fair Housing laws when advertising, writing MLS remarks and when talking with clients. Here’s a list of words to avoid:

  • Family, Ohana, School

  • Turnkey

  • Investment or Income (even if you’re selling a rental with great history, this is risky territory)

  • Hawaiian (unless you are talking about a specific individual, which is unlikely)

Signage

Hawai‘i Life provides options for sign styles and ordering. Our signs feature a clean, legible design that is easily recognized. Our objective is to help you order beautiful signs that work for the given environment. Learn More

COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH SIGNS

Hawai‘i Life provides options for sign styles and ordering. Sign design services are provided free of charge. Hawai‘i Life pays the cost for the main listing sign and posts. A $40 deposit is required for each set, which is refunded upon return of the sign set in satisfactory condition.

Headline Signs, Riders, Open House Signs and Custom Design signs all incur additional production and shipping costs. A quote will be included when ordering.

CARE, INSTALLATION & MONITORING

Agents are responsible for the care, installation and monitoring of listing signs provided to them. Please ensure that signs are in good order and standing straight (a crooked or damaged sign sends a negative message).

SIGN PRINTING

We offer Bulk Sign Orders or Rush Production (Local Sign Vendor).

PROHIBITED

Do NOT create your own sign styles. This is a violation of company policy. We do not recommend agent photos on Hawai‘i Life signs.

SIGN OPTIONS

We offer Standard Listing Signs, Sign Riders, High Wind Signs, Open House Signs, Headline Signs, and Custom Signs.

Advertising

Hawai‘i Life offers comprehensive, in-house advertising and creative services that can help you target your desired audience with professionally produced marketing and advertising materials. Simply provide clear, concise objectives and content, and our team of pros will turn your ideas into effective tools to help you achieve your goals. Learn More

Approvals

You are responsible for reviewing the accuracy of your ad content. All content must adhere to applicable real estate and civil laws. Copyright infringements are strictly prohibited. Please ensure you have the rights to use content for your ad. All content in your ad must must be approved in writing by your BIC. Hawai‘i Life must approve all ads and content. Advertising and marketing without approval is against company policy.

Ad Sharing Program

Hawai‘i Life's ad-sharing program shares advertising costs with you. Simply choose great places to advertise, produce your ads with the Create Team, and Accounting will reimburse your ad-sharing costs. Learn More

Social Media

Hawai‘i Life has a Social Network of nearly 175K+ people who are engaged friends, fans and followers interested in real estate and lifestyle in Hawai‘i. We have built this audience of trusted followers to market Hawai‘i Life, our agents and listings. Take advantage of the trust we’ve built with our audience by using our in-house social media services. Learn More

How To Do Social Media The Right Way

• Like and be friends with as many relevant people as possible (ie. clients, classmates, friends, and family).

• Never push listings. It's much more effective to occasionally post a new listing photo and lightly mention something like "Check out this pool. It's amazing!" Periodically remind your audience you are in real estate, but don't over do it.

• Stay in touch with clients – past, present, and future. Find your friends who know how to engage (life of the party kinda people). Promote others content 10 times as much as your own. It's important to listen, join in, and add value.

• Include as many solid photos as possible. Text posts are not as effective.

• What's the goal? Start conversations, build a community around your message, build a following among supporters, stay in touch with your community, get more participation from your followers.

How You'll Identify Yourself

It’s Hawai‘i state real estate law and our company policy that you, as a Real Estate Broker or Agent, must include the following on each of your social media accounts where you actively (or have ever) discussed real estate:

• You are a licensed REALTOR© by trade (ie. John Smith is a Big Island REALTOR©)

• Name of the real estate brokerage you are with and link to brokerage site (HawaiiLife.com)

• Your work email address or telephone number

Read our full Social Media Guidelines and FAQs here

Printing

Our goal is to create “Smart Print.” We advocate quality printing using sustainable practices. The Create Team actively researches and works with sustainable printers (preferably local). Unless otherwise agreed, commercial printing costs are payable by the agent.

When using our office printers, try to conserve and use quality paper.

Smarketing & In-House Creative Services

Our Smarketing system, company collateral and website tools are highly effective. Many of the materials you require may have already been designed. All of the core print products are available to you at no cost and we are always expanding the available print templates. Your challenge is to come up with meaningful content. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions. We’re here to help.

*Smarketing system may only be used for company listings uploaded to Salesforce.

Custom Marketing from our In-House Creative Team
Custom Marketing services and expenses are billable to the requesting agent. If you wish to have custom work outside of what is already developed, our services are available at the discounted rate of $80/hour.

Custom Websites

What We Do

We build beautiful, simple custom websites to showcase your property’s unique needs. Our goal is to showcase the unique features that make your listing stand out. In addition to building websites, we offer custom vanity URL and redirect services as well as technical assistance at HawaiiLife.com. Learn more

• Property feature websites that showcase unique aspects of a property in a manner that can’t be done at HawaiiLife.com. We cannot build websites that duplicate content that is present at HawaiiLife.com

• Content sites that provide link-juice to HawaiiLife.com

What We Don’t Do

Hawai‘i Life discourages use of personal websites and encourages the use of your HawaiiLife.com bio page to maximize the impact of SEO. If you need a website other than outlined above, thank you for using an outside resource other than Hawai‘i Life.

If you still want to build a site outside Hawai‘i Life to promote yourself or your property, here are the legal requirements for your page if you are promoting your affiliation with Hawai‘i Life.

• Hawai‘i Life logo guidelines and downloads - Click Here

• Use our Web Style Guide - Click Here

• Only use standard Hawai‘i Life logos, do not modify in any way

• Conform to Hawai‘i Life marketing policies and brand guidelines

• Links to Listings and Blogs on HawaiiLife.com (this will increase your website’s SEO)

• The following things must appear on every page (usually in the footer):

  • “Hawai‘i Life Real Estate Brokers”

  • License or company license number

  • The state you are licensed in

  • License status i.e.: Realtor, Realtor Associate, Realtor Broker or Realtor Salesperson

You are responsible for paying for all fees if you order services from us. You are also responsible for reviewing the accuracy and functions of your website. Hawai‘i Life monitors the server, network and HawaiiLife.com features, but we do not monitor the accuracy and functions specific to your website. All content must adhere to applicable real estate and civil laws. Copyright infringements are serious and strictly prohibited.

Personal Photo Usage

You’re a person not a brand. Your clients are looking for real estate experts. Many agents feel that using their photo constitutes “personal branding”; however, our market research shows that you may get more negative reactions to your photo than positive – which is why we do not advise using it. Success is not related to how attractive your headshot is, but rather that you are an expert at selling real estate.

Personal Photo Guidelines

• Candid, authentic photos are best. A polished, professional photo is not necessarily as effective as a snapshot that conveys your energy.

• Avoid including children, spouses, pets or vehicles in your photo.

• Do NOT use personal photos on listing signage or open house signs.

• Personal photos are optional on business cards.

Developing Your Own Custom Marketing

All print ads, custom marketing, signage, etc. created outside of the company must be approved by the Hawai‘i Life Create Team prior to being distributed. Please email Create@HawaiiLife.com with approval requests and questions.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on what works vs. what doesn’t. We are all on the same team and everyone benefits from quality, effective marketing systems and open communication. If you have some constructive feedback or would like to develop something new please contact us at Create@HawaiiLife.com. We will listen

Mahalo!