Press releases are a classic media tool, but real estate investors are using them in whole new ways to get great results online. Today’s post will tell you how!
Have you heard how real estate investors are getting great results online from press releases?
Today’s post will explain how it works and what you can do to take advantage of this classic media tool, updated and refined for the modern age.
8. Generate New Leads
Your customers are searching for help, and a press release can be a great way to reach them. A well-placed release can inspire a reporter to pick up the phone and write a story about your business.
If that reporter happens to work for one of your local market’s biggest media outlets, a great story could bring in a ton of new business.
You should be asking yourself one big question: What’s gonna get someone to contact me?
Here’s a hint: you have to focus on the person you’re trying to attract, not yourself.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not news that you’re in the real estate business. If you want to get great results, you’ll have to come up with something better than that.
7. Know the Process
A great press release should tell a newsworthy story. It used to be that once upon a time, your press release would only be available to reporters.
These days, your press release is the story – you are writing the article that you want to appear, then submitting it. There are a lot of places you can submit a press release, and some are better than others (more on that in a minute).
What’s important to realize is that the quality of your content matters, a lot. If it’s not a newsworthy story, it won’t get shared.
But wait… what if you don’t have a newsworthy story to share?
Make one. Let me explain.
6) Dig for Your Story
Do some research – what’s happening in your local market? Are there statistics that illustrate a situation that might be important to your target audience?
For example, if you’re trying to reach Motivated Sellers in the San Diego market, is there something that is unique in your market that might be particularly important to sellers? Can you use data to explain the current state of the housing market, and help it make sense to the average person?
Citing statistics from larger research sources such as Zillow, Trulia and your local MLS helps bring you credibility. It shows that you are a real estate investor who is driven by data, not by impulse.
Talk to other experts, and quote them. It’s a great way to make friends in your market that may lead to future referrals or joint venture opportunities. I wouldn’t quote anyone who was competing with me, but I’ve often called upon lawyers, title companies, appraisers and other expert sources to help me make sense of a particular situation.
Remember, when you’re writing a press release, you’re the journalist… so do your homework!
5) Know How to Lede
No, that’s not a typo.
A lede is the lead paragraph in a news format, and its job is to pull the reader into the story.
In news writing, a journalist will start with the most important part of the story, then work backwards through the details. Readers tend to “drop off” during an article, so it’s important to capture their interest early and often throughout a story.
Can you really empathize with your ideal reader? Do you know what will hook him or her into reading your article? If you’re unsure, write down a few versions of your lede and test them out on some friends. Ask around and get feedback to improve your writing and communication skills.
Being able to attract your target audience is one of the most important skills any business owner can possess.
4) Write a Compelling Headline
The headline is the most important part of any piece.
8 out of 10 people will read a headline, and only 2 out of 10 will read the article.
A headline grabs readers and commands attention. You will want to spend a lot of time making sure your headline is powerful.
Here are some of CopyBlogger’s sure-fire headline formulas:
- Who else wants [blank]?
- The secret of [blank]?
- Here is a method that is helping [blank] to [blank]
- Little known ways to [blank]
- Get rid of [problem] once and for all
- Now You Can Have [something desirable] [great circumstance]
- [Do something] like [world-class example]
- Have a [or] Build a [blank] You Can Be Proud Of
- What Everybody Ought to Know About [blank]
If you’re thinking to yourself that those headlines look overused, you’re right – it’s because they work. Get creative with your headlines if you want, but don’t work too hard to be original. It’s better to use something tried and true that will grab your readers than it is to be super clever and risk losing your target audience.
3) Create curiosity, but be direct
Don’t be vague or cute, and certainly don’t hide your true message. It won’t come across as clever – people just won’t read it.
Be direct with what you’ve got, and if you’ve got something they want, they’ll go after it.
Is there a little extra something that you can add to sweeten up your offer? Anything that tips the scales in your favor is a good thing… and if you can get people curious about your offer while being direct, that is the sweet spot to be.
Your goal is to drive them back to your website, right? So you wanna get ’em curious about what you can do. Could it really be this good, they wonder? Will I qualify for this service? Can I make the cut?
You won’t create curiosity by being bland, so make sure to use exciting words.
Don’t just repeat things like Awesome! Amazing! Stupendous! Spectacular! — those won’t create curiosity, they just make you sound like a huckster at a carnival trying to rip people off.
Remember that your goal is a real estate transaction, so people are highly skeptical of your claims.
But you can create a lot of curiosity with a real-life example, just by being direct.
Can you use one of your previous transactions to create a compelling headline like “How Madylin K. Jennings was able to Sell Her House Faster Than She Thought Possible”?
Great, write it up.
2) Hone your pitch
What makes your business stand out from the rest?
What are you doing for the community?
How does your business create impact on the world?
These are tough questions to answer… but they’re some of the most important. The key to great marketing is reaching people where they feel it – in their emotions. If you can hone your pitch so well that people feel the impact your success will have on their lives… then you’ve got a great pitch.
Don’t be cheesy or fluffy, and don’t exaggerate the truth. Less is always more.
Work hard to get your pitch perfect – it will pay off online, and in person.
Include that pitch right at the end of your release, and make sure to include your contact information, including your address, phone, email, and website link.
If you’ve got a special offer to make, write it up on a Lead Page (your Carrot websites include unlimited landing pages, posts and content, so take advantage of it!) — then use the link straight to that landing page in your press release.
1) Choose the right distribution method
This is where the rubber meets the road. Your story might be great, but if no one sees it… they can’t read it.
Plus, you might miss out on a ton of search engine benefit.
Did you know that press releases (when done right) can be a great source of credibility for search engine ranking?
That’s right… you can get tons of awesome backlink juice from powerful websites when you chose the right distribution service. Plus, if you do your keyword research and write the darn thing well, you can align your website across the internet with a bunch of the terms used by your target audience.
That’s freakin huge news, dude.
Along with good onsite optimization and as a part of implementing a top-notch keyword-based search marketing strategy, quality press releases can help you move up the rankings on some of the toughest, most competitive keywords.
Booo-ya! Powerful stuff there.
