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Don't call us we'll call you...

ambiance staging home staging boulder Are you patiently waiting by the phone for your local newspaper to suddenly call you eager to write an article about you and your company in their news column?? Yeah, so was I.... but somehow they never called.

Well, wait no longer. CALL THEM yourself.

I did just that, and spoke to Greg Avery in the Business department of the Daily Camera here in Boulder.

I said "Hey Mr. Newspaper man, you should write about home staging." and Mr. Newspaper man (aka Greg) said "how fortunate that you called, we were just talking about doing a segment on preparing your home for sale; your timing is perfect!"

Here is the result:

Your Home is a Stage: Buyers want to see House, not Clutter!

So fellow real estate professionals, pick up the phone and call your local newspaper, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

I'm still trying to convince Greg that vacant home staging is particularly newsworthy; so that is also in the pipeline.

Another alternative is to write an article about staging and submit it to them to see if they'll run it. At the very least contact your local board of REALTORS with an article and they'll surely publish.

I haven't received any direct business from the article, however, it has helped tremendously with name recognition with REALTORS. I'm starting to get my branding out!! I'm also taking a hard copy of the article with me on presentations to add to my arsenal. You'll find that being in the newspaper suddenly makes you an expert!

P.S. I also helped the Camera by recommending another (fabulous) stager, Macky Bennett of Rearrangements & More so that they didn't have to research it; saving them time. When the photographer came to take the photos he was supposed to only shoot a 'before' and 'after' photo of the home we were staging, but we got him to take our photo as well, and buttered him up a bit ;) The end result is that WE were pictured!!! That was a huge score.

The only downside was that we had not planned to have our photo taken, and as you can see we were NOT prepared! Oh, well the opportunity far outweighed any potential embarrassment.

Posted by Jessica Hughes on 04/19/2007 12:48 AM

Comments (35)

ambiance staging, newspaper, boulder colorado, home staging

35 Comments on Don't call us we'll call you...

APR

2007

This is a great point to make. My wife happens to have a background in PR so she is keenly aware of how news items get generated. We should ALL develop relationships with the local paper. Create press releases when we add agents to our office, open a new office, do an event, whatever. You would be surprised how often you can get yourself mentioned in the local paper when you join a new real estate office.

Jessica, you nailed this one right on the head. In fact, they DEPEND on people calling them. Nicely done.

I've been thinking about doing this, only relating to different subject matter. Thanks for the encouragement : )

Jessica, this is GREAT!!! This is very impressive, and just think how great this will be when you talk to Realtors about staging, too! I hope this gets you a lot of business! Good for you for making the call -- then for telling us about it! (Always share those teaching moments, we love it!) Thanks for this!

Jessica, Thanks for the reminder. When you establish a relationship with the media and give them good articles, tips etc.; they tend to remember you when a quote is needed.

Great news Jessica. Congrats on the article. I think it can kind of spiral too. You may find that you start to get contacted by them now.

Neat post Jessica, thanks for sharing.

Jessica, Fantastic! Press release is OK, interview is MUCH better! You Go Girl! You even got top billing in the article. You are correct, now your name has been seen one more time. It will be remembered.

Media can be your friend once it sees you. Great job of opening their eyes!

Congratulatiosns, I hope it's only the first of many! Media is definitely a way to get your name out there and people will remember it! Great post :)

Wow that was the coolest thing ever, now that is marketing

Ben

Hey I wanted to ask you if you would please join my AR Group. I would be honored to have you there. It is called:

http://activerain.com/groups/KentuckyProfessionals

Thank you so much and look forward to seeing your post there soon

Ben

Thanks guys!

Benjamin, I'll certainly look into it :)

Jessica, That's awesome news! Sometimes all it takes is a little initiative!

Now that's how you create your own opportunities!

You weren't prepared to have your photo taken? It doesn't show...that was a great photo.

Thanks for sharing this idea!

Veronica

Select Home Staging

Denver, Colorado

www.selecthomestaging.com

Jessica, good for you initiating the article. Well done!

Jessica - your ideas are great. Now I need to get up the courage to call........

Thanks for coming to our office to teach the home staging class. It was very informative and I hope everyone uses your services in the future!

Jessica, I already have similar info on this topic, but I would like to print the article to hand out at times. It is organized well. I can think of a few situations in particular where your lists would have been helpful (not hearing it from me) - who knows, maybe you'll get a call.

This was a great opportunity. I did the exact same thing last year with 2 newspapers, and while it did not generate business, it did get my name out there. That is the name of the game.

Best of luck and continued success

Phyllis Pafumi

Jessica, this is fabulous, congratulations. I've e-mailed my articles but never thought about calling them. You are soooo smart.

APR

2007

Good advice, Jessica. I took this advice several years ago and I am now on speed dial for several of the local media when they need quotes and information about the mortgage market.

Steve~ I have a 'home preparation list' in PDF format that I can e-mail you if you're interested, it's pretty comprehensive.

Phyllis~ Thanks and the same to you.

Steven~ I hope to be in the same position as you several years from now! Thanks for the inspiration

Dena~ I don' think I would have called if I hadn't read your blog about e-mailing your articles to the press.

Chrissy~ Thanks and I hope so too! I also hope your Beautiful Historic Longmont Home sells.

Veronica~ You are too kind! I actually think the photo didn' turn out too bad, but believe me we were grubby!

APR

2007

Despite our addiction to the internet, people DO still read the paper! Thanks for sharing your success story!

APR

2007

Way to get out there and make it happen Jessica.

Best,

Sean

Awesome story Jessica! I guess I should STOP waiting for my phone to ring as well???!!!??? :)

Thanks,

Abby

APR

2007

Great post! I never had thought about calling them, it only makes sense that out of 7,000 agents they may need the help how to choose and I'm sure they hate making calls just as much as most agents. If we make it easier for them, they just may take you up on your offer.

Jessica - awesome blog. i am a newbie here; i don't quite understand 'staging'. nonetheless, i think i shall by the end of the day. thanks. ron

Abby~ Pick up your phone and CALL!

Todd~ You got it! Call especially if you have some newsworthy idea or helpful information. Make yourself of help to them.

Ron~ I'm sure you will know all about staging soon! It's the 'secret weapon' of top producing agents!

Jessica: Thanks for your post and congratulations on your article. Ever thought of emailing a copy to all the Realtors in the area? All it will cost is time and it is great PR for you.

Thanks for the push - now I just need to do it instead of thinking about it

Jessica - OUTSTANDING!!! Great for you guys. I will pop back later to read the entire article, but the thing that caught my eye right away was the very negative comment someone made at the bottom of yoru article. What the %$%^#? Someone seemed a bit crabby about the concept of Staging.

Keep up the wonderful work and don't let the crabbies out there get your down. We ARE doing a wonderful service for many, many people and your recognition is well deserved!

All the best,

Beth