"I can handle my own PR and marketing"

I hear this often. But, my question to those who make this statement would be “Is that the best use of your time?” Usually, the answer is no.

Let’s take the one I hear it from the most often, a real estate broker. She is the owner of one of the most successful agencies in my city. There are two reasons for that. First, she and her agents actually canvass neighborhoods, asking people if they want to sell their homes. Second, for those listings they already have, they provide excellent customer service to the sellers. Third, they provide excellent customer service to people who contact them about buying a home. Fourth, she also has a strong advertising campaign, both on real estate websites like Zillow and in media local readers will see, like the advertisements in the movie theater.

Yet, she could do a little bit more. A few months ago, she gave a free seminar to other real estate agents on how to market. She took the time to draft a flier and send it to about 100 agents, title officers and escrow officers whom she personally knows. About 15 people came to her seminar. Not bad, and I could in no way promise her I would have produced better results.

But if she had asked me, every agent, title officer and escrow officer in western Riverside County probably would have known about her seminar, because I would have likely convinced the Press-Enterprise newspaper to run a short announcement about it in the Real Estate section.  I also would have sent it to the local Board of Realtors, as well as the boards in surrounding areas. And, I would have freed up her time spent designing that flier. She was a bit frantic in the days leading up to the preparation of that seminar, even though at the time she didn’t have a huge number of active listings. I could have saved her some of the frenzy.

If you can handle your own marketing and PR, but find doing so has put you into a frenzy, give me a call at (951) 333-0169. I’ll listen to your ideas, provide you with a few of my own, and then take the added pressure of marketing away from you for a reasonable fee.

Next week, I’ll tell you more about clients and/or potential clients who know they can’t handle it themselves.