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Does this sound familiar?
It’s Monday morning and you open your weekly sales meeting with an expectant “How was traffic this weekend?” Your top sales associate beams and waves her hand.
“I had 54 people, rather than my usual 20, with nine sits!” she exclaims. “A story about our Carlisle model ran in the newspaper and people came in actually carrying the article. I took deposits on three Carlisles, as well as one Bedford and one Ashton!”
Ah, yes. The power of publicity. The credibility of the PR story far surpassed the ad you ran last weekend.
Publicity is affordable. Dollar-for-dollar, public relations is a sensible buy, especially for small-volume builders who might be on a budget. You need no sophisticated technology to do PR. If you want to advise your local real estate editor about Beacon Ridge’s grand opening, you can pick up the phone and call, or send a well-executed news release.
Publicity is credible. An article resulting from a news release has roughly 10 times the impact of an ad. Consider the difference in credibility between a 300-line display ad and a publicity article of the same size. Then consider the cost.
Publicity creates qualified traffic. It attracts people who have taken the time to read about your community. Because of the publicity article, they are better informed and favorably predisposed to your homes.
Publicity supports direct mail and advertising. Reprints of positive publicity stories are credible additions to your direct mail and advertising campaigns.
Publicity runs in many places. If you target your news releases carefully, they many appear in many different publications. Some stories are even picked up by wire services or syndicated columnists, and printed nationally in dozens of newspapers.
Publicity establishes you as an expert. Reporters are always on the lookout for statistics, “reacts” and industry sources to call upon for their stories.
If PR is so wonderful, then why do anything but PR? Because, publicity is not guaranteed. Editors are under no obligation to use your publicity; therefore, you will never know if or when it will run. Unlike advertising, publicity does not control the message.
Ironically though, publicity depends on advertising. The more ads purchased in the real estate section, the more space there is for publicity. Advertising dollars support PR. That’s not to say, however, that if you run an ad you’ll get a story. Although some publications do offer “play for pay” (run your publicity when you run an ad), most keep advertising and editorial departments separate. Editorial decisions are based on news value, not on how many advertising dollars a builder spends.
The other drawback of PR is also its strength. It is a soft sell. Well-written news releases will not use adjectives like “dramatic,” “spacious,” or “unique.” Those words are saved for advertising.
The following are a few examples of when publicity can work for a home builder:
Deborah Johnson is owner of Taylor Johnson Associates, specialists in real estate advertising and public relations.
