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Last spring, Raymond and Louise Wolshon walked into a Chicago sales office carrying a newspaper article and said, “We want to buy this home.”
Publicity, buzz – whatever you call it, it’s that delightful sound you hear when people are talking about you and your product. A successful public relations program relies on a strong combination of publicity, Realtor incentives, and promotion. Builders see the greatest benefit when all the components work in concert.
“Many times people come into our sales office with a publicity article about a specific home. The implied editorial endorsement we receive from out publicity is incredibly valuable,” says Jill Lieberman, sales manager at Inverness, a Zale Homes single-family-home community in northwest Chicago. The article that piqued the Wolshons’ interest ran in Chicago’s Pioneer Press newspapers; the couple signed their contract 12 days later.
Leon Joffe, president of Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based Zale Homes, says he is a firm believer in public relations. “If market conditions were to turn south, I would decrease my advertising budget and increase my public relations budget,” he says. “It simply brings a more qualified, more informed buyer.”
But, while publicity has sturdy legs of its own, it cannot run alone. It needs the support of other marketing tools, like advertising and special promotions.“We can’t guarantee when or even if our news releases will run, so we advertise to get the word out. But we always see a noticeable spike in traffic when a publicity story runs,” says Joffe.
Identifying good stories to publish is intrinsic to generating publicity. And the best source of ideas is sitting right in your sales office. Your sales staff knows what kind of stories your buyers want to read. They might be interested in articles about grand openings, interior design ideas, best-selling models, sell-out promotions, spec homes, special amenities, the selection process, and saving money on options.
The newspaper story itself is just the first step in creating buzz. It can also be reused as a handout, brochure insert, sales office plaque, and a direct-mail piece. And don’t forget your Web site. Many builders not only scan in newspaper clips and post them in a “News” section, but also provide all of their sites’ news releases to the media, Realtors, and the public. Or, consider a “What’s New” column that might inspire reporters to write their own stories. The possibilities are endless and growing. Just be sure to promote your site to reporters so they know something valuable is there for the clicking.
How much does a good public relations program cost? It depends on how you go about it. Most public relations agencies work on monthly retainers starting around $1,500; retainers vary depending on the amount of time spent on your account. It’s smart to budget another 10 percent to 20 percent in expenses on top of that.
The goal of any public relations program is to put your project’s name in front of your audience. And one of the most important audiences for most builders is the brokerage community.
“Almost 70 percent of our sales [are] Realtor-driven,” says Laura Carroll, former marketing director of Atlanta-based Morrison Homes. Carroll teamed up with her ad agency to develop a broker-response campaign that publicized the fact that Morrison builds two furnished models for better comparison shopping. Most competitors build a single model. “You don’t have Realtors’ attention for very long, so make the most of what you give them,” Carroll advises.
Carroll put Sibet Freides, president of Atlanta-based Idea Associates, on the project. “We developed impact gifts that were sent quarterly to 25 of the top brokerage firms,” says Freides. “We wanted to call attention to a home’s different rooms. So one quarter we sent a basket of freshly baked bread and jars of jam printed with the Morrison Homes logo to illustrate the breakfast room. The next quarter we sent a huge bowl of popcorn packages and snacks to reflect the family room. For the owners’ suite we sent small velvet pillows with mints. And, of course, all gifts were accompanied by sales literature.”
Did it work? “Yes,” confirms Carroll. “We had record sales.”
Houston-based Newmark Homes is known for building energy-efficient homes. To capitalize on this, locally based Goswick Communications developed a promotion that garnered a landslide of television and print publicity. Dubbed “Power to the People … Free Juice,” the promotion promised to pay new-home buyers’ energy bills for a year if they purchased within two months.
“The resulting publicity was every builder’s dream,” says Steve Treece, Newmark’s president. “One reporter visited our site and held up our full-page ad in front of the camera to describe the promotion. Basically, we got a free three-minute television commercial that showed our ad, our homes, and a very happy customer. It was priceless.”
According to David Goswick, president of the firm that bears his name, publicity, not advertising, drove the campaign. “We wanted broadcast journalists to get a jump on the story. We sent TV stations press kits with a copy of the ad that would run the following weekend, and they used it in their spots. Because of the overwhelming amount of publicity we received, we only had to run a few ads. That, of course, kept the builder’s cost down,” he says.
During the two-month campaign, Treece reported a 25 percent increase in traffic and a 12 percent increase in sales. Newmark spent about $20,000 for newspaper and Web site ads, direct-mail pieces, on-site displays, and public relations activities.
These are just a few examples of how builders make public relations work for them. Today’s consumers are knowledgeable, sophisticated, and cynical; they may not believe your advertising claims, but chances are they’ll believe your publicity. Credible editorial placements, good Realtor relations, and high-profile, traffic-building promotions will go a long way toward supporting your advertising message and building brand awareness.
Deborah Johnson is co-author of The Builder’s Publicity Builder, published by Legacy Publishing.
