REALTORS®: How to Make PR Work for You

Whether it’s brand building, promoting new listings, or introducing yourself, public relations can be an effective way to get and keep your name out in the community — and another way to drive more business to your online marketing efforts.
A Public Relations Strategy
There’s more to PR than press releases. Building rapport as a real estate expert with journalists, tv and radio personalities, newspapers, industry leaders, news websites, magazines, weekly and monthly newsletters, and real estate and financial blogs can “explode” your business. While building these relationships can take time, the end results are well worth it.
Expertise and Connections
When it comes to building successful relationships with the media, its important to acknowledge upfront that it’s all about what you can do for them. This can be as a source of information, your expertise and understanding of the local real estate market, or your connections and online followers.
Perhaps the biggest benefit you can offer media sources is name recognition. This will help generate traffic to their sites, programs, or publications and, in turn, increase potential advertising revenue. So, the more Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat followers you have, the better.
Subject Matter
By offering knowledgeable content based on your experience and place in the community, you can prove yourself to be an expert and a “go to” source for:
- Current market conditions
- New listings and local sell rates
- Charity and other local events that you participate in or sponsor
- Real estate-related educational events such as first-time homebuyer or rent vs. buy seminars
- Interviews on the real estate market, zoning, new construction projects, etc.
Consider looking into the website Help a Reporter Out (HARO). It provides journalists with a robust database of sources for upcoming stories and daily opportunities for sources to secure valuable media coverage.
Share and Share Alike
PR is an outbound strategy to develop mutually beneficial relationships. These outbound efforts are not simply another channel to maintain. Managed correctly, these relationships can complement your online presence. So, always be looking for ways to reciprocate. Guest blog for a financial blogger and ask them to do the same for you. Post, like, and share your media partners’ content.
Always be sure any of your online content includes share buttons for all your social media channels. When sending to printed publications always provide a brief bio and mission statement along with all of your contact information.
Finally, don’t overreach. Don’t spam your sources or post overtly sales-oriented pieces. You’ll never gain the trust or respect you’re looking for. By being reliable and professional you’ll earn the trust and respect a real estate expert deserves — and the chance to greatly expand your audience of potential clients.