Your front line of personal promotion is your letterhead, business card and signs. Don’t miss the opportunity to promote yourself professionally and frequently. Sometimes it’s something as simple as writing thanks on the back of your business card and leaving it with your tip for the waitress, hotel maid, gas station attendant … that can have the greatest response.
Paige’s Rant
Bee stings, fruit buying and real estate
With sweaty palms and heart racing, I get my daily rush from my mailbox. I’m a mail junkie and need to have my fix, so, being on a few REALTOR mailing lists helps feed my addiction. Rubber bottle openers, calendars and fridge magnets are just some of the treasures I have received. And lately, much to my delight, it seems many REALTORS have taken a liking to newsletters.
During the second week of July, one of my regulars sent me the June issue of his newsletter. Not only did it wish me a happy Father’s Day, it gave some helpful hints on buying fruit and what do for bee stings. Yikes! In defense of the material, there was good information about decking, and what to do on moving day. Overall, the newsletter was nicely presented and easy to read. What struck me was how light the publication was on real estate content.
Newsletters are an excellent vehicle to keep you in touch with your clients. It’s a classic public relation strategy. It gives you full control of the information you wish to convey and I’m a firm believer in their power. They are cost effective and will help you cultivate your client list. But, think about it. The opportunity is to promote yourself as an expert in REAL ESTATE.
What I want from my REALTOR is housing stats, benefits of moving up, services they offer, property tax updates, how to improve my investment, mortgage information, and the right time to buy and sell, just to name a few areas.
Any information you provide must be timely. Distributing stale, outdated bulletins is just shooting yourself in the marketing foot. And really, how does this convince people to hand over their biggest financial investment to you? If I want information about buying fruit, I’ll go to the grocery store; bee stings, my doctor.
Make sure your newsletter content is interesting, informative and topical. If you’re using the pre-printed kind, shop around to ensure the one you select fits your client/customer list and positions you as an expert in real estate.
Newsletters are a positive addition to your marketing program. Make sure you look at them as a public relations opportunity. You want to capture ALL your clients real estate business so let them know the depth of your real estate knowledge with your newsletter. Let someone else take care of their bee stings and fruit buying.
Public Relations Plan
Taking Care of Business
The Monday, Monday song that began this PR journey has quickly led to a chorus of TGIF. The week seemed to go a little too quickly and now the PR Plans are due. Thankfully, Paige had given all participants a fill-in-the-blank form to help them along.
Rachel and Rusty are still planning to plan, but now their motivation is more than just getting the free computer fees incentive from Broker Bob.
“I might as well get this thing going,” said Rusty. At first, he was busy adding amusing one-liners to the form. Then he started to get more serious as he tried to look at his business through a PR lens.
True to form, Rachel has created an epic volume and then had to spend some time editing.
As Rusty and Rachel worked through the R.A.C.E. formula and the rest of the Plan, they realized what Paige had been saying all week. Their marketing wasn’t wrong; it just wasn’t focused or strategic.
In order to simplify the process, Paige has given everyone an outline of a public relations Plan for each to personalize and complete.
The Plan includes the summary of findings from the use of the R.A.C.E. formula (see Chapter 1), an objective, a list of target audiences, key messages, a series of PR tactics and suggestions for evaluation measurements to see if the Plan is a success. While reviewing each section, Paige added her comments at the end to help guide Rusty and Rachel in achieving their goals.
Paige’s Tip
Media Clippings
Media Clippings: Whether you are featured in a news article or not, the article may just be the information you have been looking for to give to your clients. “If it’s in the paper, it must be true” mentality runs through your client base. When you see an article that reiterates something you have been speaking about, clip it, copy it (with permission of the publication) and send it … start a scrapbook! Rusty’s wall of fame shrine doesn’t do him any good if he doesn’t send the info to his farm lists and use it as a marketing tool.
