REALTOR® Magazine Online: 8 Steps to Creating a Winning Public Relations Plan

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Marketing your brokerage
Developing Public Relations Strategies

Setting Marketing Strategies

Analyzing the Business Climate

Creating Your Market Identity

Planning Your Advertising

Coordinating Company and Salesperson Marketing

Developing Public Relations Strategies

Enhancing Customer Service

To be effective, a company’s public relations efforts should be integrated with advertising efforts in the marketing mix and should be directed to achieving the same promotional goals.

TIP: Don’t underestimate the value of public relations. A survey by Inquiry Handling Service Inc., revealed that in a balanced program of advertising and public relations, advertising resulted in 30 percent to 35 percent of leads, while public relations generated 22 to 24 percent of leads. (The remaining leads were generated by direct mail and 800 number calls.) —Roger Cruzen, “Add Public Relations to Your Marketing Plan of Action,”in The Real Estate Professional, January/February 1996

8 Steps to Creating a Winning Public Relations Plan

Begin your public relations program by creating a detailed public relations plan.

List your long- and short-term goals for public relations. For example, your short-term goal might be to increase public awareness of your company, and your long-term goal might be to improve your company’s reputation.

Identify the audience you hope to reach. Do you want to focus on buyers, sellers, companies with relocation needs, cooperating brokers?

Develop a budget. Include the costs of news releases, long-distance calls, and consultants as well as the time you’ll need to coordinate tasks or carry them out yourself.

Review your past public relations efforts to see what worked and what didn’t.

Assess your resources. Decide what particular assets (such as skill at public speaking or an interest or hobby) you can use for public relations purposes.

Write the actions you’ll take to reach your target audience. These may be as simple as writing news releases or as complex as presenting an all-day seminar.

Set a realistic timetable for achieving your goals. Assess your progress on fixed dates and revise your goals and actions as needed. Public relations professionals advise that it takes at least three months to see results.

Portions adapted from Michael D. Lee, “Build a Name for Your Company with Public Relations,” in Real Estate Today®, September 1990

Tips on Working With the Media

Becoming a media darling requires a little research, a little skill, and a lot of persistence.

Get copies of the publications in your area and see what sort of real estate issues they cover. Are there regular features—such as an investment column—that you could contribute to?

Identify the people who can get your publicity pieces published or broadcast. At newspapers and magazines, these may include business and real estate writers and editors, special events reporters, and feature writers. At TV and radio stations, key contacts may include news and public affairs directors as well as program and editorial producers and real estate or business producers.

Network with your media contacts by regularly sending them short notes containing story ideas. Follow up with phone calls, and always express thanks if a contact uses one of your suggestions.

TIP: Always keep calls to media brief, and always ask an editor if he or she is on a deadline before launching into a discussion.

Focus on providing information that people in your community want and need to hear from a real estate professional. Topics may range from pending local legislation to statistics on interest rates to how to spruce up a house to make it easier to sell.

Practice responsiveness—be ready to give out quotes, statistics, opinions, or whatever is requested of you by media people. Reporters are often on a deadline and don’t have the time to wait until you’re not busy to return a call.

Portions adapted from Roger Cruzen, “Add Public Relations to Your Marketing Plan of Action,” in The Real Estate Professional, January/February 1996

TIP: Find out your local publications’ deadlines and busy days, and respect them when submitting stories. Whenever possible, send items well in advance.

TIP: Collect all your published stories and put them in a scrapbook that you can leave in the reception area of your office. Use videotapes and audiotapes of past media appearances to promote future appearances.

How to Write News Releases Like a Pro >

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