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Architecture Guide
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Take a Quiz
30 under 30
Young Professionals
REALTOR® Emeritus | | 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 | Community Service for Public Relations When real estate companies give back to their communities, they gain good public relations, and the individuals who participate gain a sense of well-being. Here are some activities that will benefit both you and your community.
TIP: For more ideas and advice on volunteering in your community, visit the Good Neighbors Tool Kit.
Adapted from Jeanne Grainger, “Giving Back,” in Real Estate Today®, June 1992 TIP: Select a theme for each year’s community activities, such as helping youth groups or the disabled. Focusing on a single theme will add cohesiveness to both your projects and the public relations programs that should accompany them. —Jeanne Grainger, “Giving Back,” in Real Estate Today®, June 1992 In Real Life: Public Service, Plus Great Company Publicity What could be a better—and potentially more successful—than combining fundraising for a terrific cause, a hobby you love, and some great publicity for your real estate brokerage company. Thomas Donegan, broker/owner of RE/MAX Premier in Fairfax, Va., was able to score this winning hat trick with the First Annual Children’s Miracle Network/RE/MAX Premier Motorcycle Ride-a-thon and Festival. Annually, the office is a top RE/MAX contributor to the children’s charity, but when Donegan and fellow Harley rider and sales associate David Harbour came up with the idea, it caught fire. The ride began with a motorcycle escort by the Virginia State Police. The Fairfax County Police assisted with traffic control, as well as presenting child fingerprinting and drug awareness programs for attendees. The 75 riders who participated in the 62-mile ride through the Virginia countryside were just the beginning of the event’s impact, says Donegan. More than 500 residents came out to cheer on the riders, eat Memphis barbecue, and buy raffle tickets to win prizes donated by local merchants and celebrities. A basketball autographed by Michael Jordan netted $1,000 in a silent auction. Attendees also could take home one of the ride’s signature T-shirts—the Children’s Miracle Network teddy bear astride a Harley-Davidson. To get the word out, the local radio station, WTNT, 570 AM ran 60 public service announcements in the weeks leading up to the event. Flyers were distributed by local motorcycle stores and rider clubs. At the event, a film crew compiled a videotape to show at the charity’s annual meeting in June 2003. The event raised more than $10,000 for the Children’s Hospital of Washington, D.C. A check for $1,072 also was presented to the HEROES Inc. fund, which assists the children of police and firefighters killed in the line of duty. The amount adds to the more than $100,000 raised by the company and its agents and staff over the last five years, says Donegan. Plans for next year’s event are already underway, says Donegan. A Motorcycle Ride Web site is under construction, and Donegan expects the 2nd Annual Ride to attract even more participants, community attention, and dollars for the Children’s Miracle Network and HEROES Inc. “We planned this event in four months,” says Donegan, who estimates that he and other company members spent 50 to 60 hours planning the ride. “Think what we can do in a whole year.” Enhancing Customer Service > | |