The Inhouse Way

Following on from our previous blog about estate agents missing valuable editorial opportunities, we wanted to also touch on market comment and property features.

Your business is property. Whether buying, selling, renting or letting…or just fantasisng, everyone LOVES to talk about, read about and look at properties.

So, you’re already advertising on your chosen property portals, perhaps also in the local rag or regional glossy magazines. That’s all well and good, but so are most other estate agent in your area. This is the extension of your shop window, it shows what you do NOT how you do it.

It’s widely publicised that PR is more effective than advertising. Why? Column inches and property features, especially if you can gain these in a national newspaper or their online equivalents, are worth more than any interest you might get from local advertising for two simple reasons. 1) The sheer volume of readers that will be seeing your agency’s name, 2) third party validation. This is what PR is all about – giving both your brand and your opinions credibility.

Property PRs will be on the distribution list of all the leading property journalists. They will know what they are writing about when, what will work and what won’t. Taking national issues relating to property and making them relevant to your potential customers is key. Not only does it demonstrate your expertise, but it also helps your customers understand how it affects them and how they can mitigate risk.

Another surprising benefit, which many agents overlook, is how impressed vendors are when their property is featured in a publication, whether that be regional or national. Their home is their most valuable asset and most people take a great deal of pride in their home. Having it featured somewhere above all other properties on the market shows them the lengths you are willing to go as an agent to make their home appear as special as they perceive it.

It doesn’t just have to be the amazing warehouse conversion, repurposed church, listed building, mega-basement or home with a breath-taking view that catches a property journalist’s eye (although these are always welcomed). Most property publications and national papers will run a different theme each week or month, it’s just about what and when they will be covering something you can help with.

And don’t forget, the growth of social media means that featuring in a publication is no longer limited to the audience that reads it. You can use it as an opportunity to plant that branded seed in the minds of your potential customers and showcase the great work you do.

There is a common misconception, particularly in the world of estate agency, that Public Relations is only carried out and required by the biggest names in the industry AND that it costs a fortune…wrong.

Every organisation, no matter how large or small, ultimately depends on its reputation for survival and success.

Yes, major corporations have in-house teams to manage their reputation and improve communications with their consumers – in fact, you would be hard-pressed to find a large corporate organisation that isn’t shelling out thousands (if not more) every year on PR. But there are also plenty of savvy start-ups and independents using the power of PR to successfully grow their brand presence and carve a name for themselves.

In fact, I can think of a very successful estate agent which, having only launched in 2014, has used PR to market its USP and since gone on to win multiple industry awards. They are now expanding globally!
I want to focus on those agents who don’t have an endless marketing budget but are spending thousands on advertising and yet passing up on free opportunities to be featured in the press every week.

Most local papers and magazines will have their own property section and the best ones will include property editorial as well as adverts. They will often reserve space for news, market comment or features from those who advertise with them. However, I was astonished to learn this week, during a phone call with the Editor of one of the leading London property publications, just how few agents take advantage of this opportunity.

“The magazines always quote the same agents” is a common complaint. Sometimes this might be true. But let me assure you, it is not because they have the largest advertising spend. It is because they have the most proactive PRs. The vast majority of publications I have ever worked with are extremely fair when it comes to space for editorial content.

However, when it comes to deadline day, editors and journalists simply don’t have the time to chase PR and marketing departments for their content. They are going to use whatever they have in front of them. If they have a choice, then, of course, they will select the best content, but if you aren’t in amongst it, you won’t even be considered. It’s up to you! Get proactive, get published.