For those that aren't in the Chicago area, the Chicago Association of REALTORS has one of the most brilliant marketing opportunities out there for member agents.  The funny thing is the idea almost didn't fly - because they didn't see it as a marketing opportunity when they first started it.  Then lightning struck (I believe from a guy named Ted Cucuro (who is with Sheldon Goode & Co., the auctioneer firm).

Years back Ted got a call from someone at CAR asking him to contribute some money to a cause - a local school project.  Being a generous guy he was willing to do so (it was something like a few hundred bucks) but he asked what the point of it all was.  Apparently CAR was in a bind because they couldn't get enough agents to sponsor an essay contest at a few local schools.  Ted saw the brillance of the thing, pointed it out to CAR and it's been sold out for years, with a long waiting list.  Here's how it works:

One member of CAR per school in the Chicago metro area sponsors a once-a-year essay contest for the school entitled (I think) "Why I want to own a home when I grow up".  The title makes the obvious tie to the REALTOR sponsorship.  Now the drudgery of it is that the sponsor is required to read and judge all the essays, from second graders I believe.  That can be hundreds of essays!  Patience, though, folks, there's a payoff. 

The sponsor's money pays for a prize of some nominal value to the winner (maybe it's even the top three winners?).  The sponsoring agent, though, presents the winner award(s) in front of an audience of the entire second grade classes and their parents - all of them, of course, potential clients.  This is the payoff.  The sponsoring agent gets exposure to the parents of every single second grader in the school, EVERY YEAR (sponsoring agents get first dibs to renew their sponsorship if they choose each year).  How's that for community involvement and great (almost) free exposure.  One client a year pays for the time and money several times over. 

This is easy to duplicate in every market in the country.  It's easy to do in more than just this way, too (schools are an obvious one, though).  This could be expanded to have a follow-on sponsorship of, say, a $500 or $1,000 college scholarship for a similar essay contest or someone that says they are interested in entering the real estate industry (it doesn't have to be for a four/five year institution).  This gets the exposure then again at the "kids moving out" stage in life 10 years later.  There has to be dozens of other iterations on this, all of them low cost, easy, valuable and appreciated to the community and far more effective than another couple rounds of postcard and flyer mailings.  It's easy to get involved, and noticed.  Of course, please share other similar great brainstorms and variations on this theme.