Look Who's Talking Real Estate On the Web

So newspapers are shrinking, magazines are shuttering and newsroom staff is being cut at even the most prestigious mastheads. But while the Tribune nixes yet another section and another long-time staff writer hangs out his freelancing shingle, a number of positive new-media developments have caught our attention as well: new blogs, social networks and web sites that are making waves in the Chicago real estate community.

While there’s still plenty of room for more voices in the chorus, we’ve been impressed with the depth and breadth of coverage thus far, especially considering some of the new sites are solo acts. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the new new-media offerings on the scene. Let us know your thoughts. And if you’re not mentioned, but want to be, shoot us an email.

• Bisnow, a Washington, DC-based media venture, has launched Bisnow Chicago with local correspondent, Maureen Wilkey, providing real-time coverage and lively commentary on commercial real estate in Chicago. We’re amazed at the number of industry events occurring each day – and Maureen’s ability to make it to just about all of them.

• The Tribune just launched Rent or Buy, a residential real estate blog within its ChicagoNow.com network. Like its print parent, you can expect quality coverage, including Realtor-led tours of Chicagoland neighborhoods.

• The Real Corner looks like it’s on its way to becoming the go-to social networking site for commercial real estate folks. Membership is at 500 and growing. The site features everything from blogs and forums to news feeds and job postings.

• Chicago magazine’s Deal Estate columnist, Dennis Rodkin, has added a Twitter feed (@DealEstate) as an extension of his online column and monthly print section. Twitter also provides local real estate pros with a new way to send Dennis breaking news.

As these sites grow in popularity and new ones crop up, it’s one more reminder to get in on the conversation. Contribute to blogs; read what others are saying; create your own forum. Choose a medium that works for you (blog, Twitter, video, etc.) and make a commitment to stay connected. Ultimately, what you say and how you say it is up to you. The key is to make sure your message is getting out there.

Are You Creating an “Aha Moment” with Your Customers?

No doubt you’ve heard of the “aha moment” – when something happens that makes you think “so that's what it's all about.” One of my “aha moments” was when I started working with a new client called Dry Greening – a reusable dry cleaning bag that is both a tote for dropping off your dirty clothes at the cleaners and a hanging garment bag for the clean clothes you pick up from the cleaners.

A 100 percent recyclable bag, Dry Greening eliminates all those plastic dry cleaning bags that end up in the trash. Needless to say, I was inspired. Then I learned the bag was created by a stay-at-home mom who wanted to help the environment. I was impressed. Next, I found out Dry Greening was going to be the official “swag bag” for an Oscar after-party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Now I was ecstatic.

The Academy Awards plus helping the environment? I was in PR heaven. Here was a product that needed to be shared with the world. So we issued a “search-engine optimized” press release over the newswire, contacted local and national news outlets and sent bags with personal notes (who does that anymore? Us!) to the media – lots and lots of bags. Plus, we believed so much in the product we told everyone we knew about it – friends, neighbors, colleagues, etc.

The results?
More than 2,000 reads of the press release on PRWeb
A 300 percent increase in web hits
International, national and local media exposure (from Googlenews.com to Entrepreneur.com)
Consumer and trade press coverage (from Family Circle to American DryCleaner)
Calvin Klein™ called the company’s founder about a partnership (!)
Direct sales from PR efforts -- while our goal was to create exposure, it’s always nice to know consumers bought bags based on specific stories we placed.

I truly believe a big reason for the success of this PR campaign had to do with the “aha moment” media and consumers felt when they heard about the product. Reporters felt good writing about it and consumers/dry cleaners felt good buying the bag.

Now if you’re wondering “how can I create an ‘aha moment’ with my customers?” and are finding yourself stumped then contact us. You’d be surprised how one person’s “aha moment” can have a ripple effect on your company.

For example, after I started using Dry Greening I wondered ‘what other items could have a positive impact on my life?’ First, Costco reusable shopping bags; next, reusable water bottles for work; and finally, a bike. Instead of driving to work, I could bike weather permitting. Of course the bike purchase led to a helmet, basket, lock and pant guard. And now I think I need new casual clothes for biking.

No one said “aha moments” were cheap. But I don’t mind because it’s worth it for me to realize ‘this is what it’s all about.’

Deborah Johnson Gives Commencement Address at UW-Whitewater

Our very own Deborah Johnson was asked by her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, to give the keynote address at its commencement ceremony on May 16. Ever the marketer Deborah emailed the students a survey beforehand in which she asked the graduates what kinds of things they’d like to hear about from her. The grads responded that they were most concerned about finding a job and paying off debt – so those become the main themes of her speech. While offering insights from her own life experience, Deborah gave the graduates tips on finding a mentor, finding a job, excelling at that job, networking, managing finances and setting goals. The speech was well accepted, and Deborah continues to receive requests from students and parents for copies of her address. Having personally benefited from her words of wisdom over the years, we know the graduates received valuable advice. Deborah has been a mentor to us all and has helped us develop the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in business and life. Thank you, Deborah!

Never Underestimate The Power Of Ma Bell Or Beyonce

Earlier this year I was contacting a reporter at the Daily Herald about one of our clients’ new products. Like most of society nowadays, reporters usually prefer to get their information online, especially if they’re being pitched a story idea. There are many reasons why reporters like receiving pitches via email, but I believe one reason is because email can be so impersonal. It makes it easier/less offending for them to turn down an idea via email.

But that was the problem. I didn’t want to make it easier for this reporter to turn me down or ignore me. How could she truly understand how great this product was if she didn’t talk to me? I needed to get personal with her. So I stopped typing in mid sentence and picked up the phone. Guess what? The reporter loved the story idea, and my client ran on the front cover of the Daily Herald’s business section and online, http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=273404.

Now I’m not saying we should stop using email to reach out to one another, but, with all the buzz about social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, it’s easy to think of the phone as a marketing tool that’s past its prime. But don’t fall into that trap. Never forget how powerful a phone call can be.

For one thing, phone calls usually don’t result in a misunderstanding. On the phone you can hear someone’s tone, inflections and emotions. The same can’t be said for emails. People are also usually more courteous over the phone. And it’s not just me who thinks people need a reminder about the benefits of the phone, check out this story from the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/realestate/26cov.html?scp=1&sq=buying%20a%20home%20via%20e%20mail&st=cse

Even Beyonce prefers the dial-up method. During a recent interview on The Late Show with David Letterman, Beyonce said she doesn’t tweet or text people. When she wants to get in contact with someone she uses the phone, http://www.haveuheard.net/beyonce-on-david-letterman-4-22-09/ (see 2:25 minutes into interview).

Who knew Beyonce and I had so much in common?

You Mean This Stuff Actually Works II

Building Equity is a small player in the big arena of Chicago commercial real estate brokerage. Though they’ve done some notable deals and represented some major institutions, the company has a fraction of the marketing budget of its larger, better-known rivals. So when they came to us looking for ways to level the playing field, we recommended social media as a low-cost, high-value alternative. Lo and behold, it’s working.

Building Equity’s new blog, www.CommercialInvestmentPropertiesChicago.com, gives the company a platform to share its expertise, talk about deals, build relationships, offer advice and promote listings – all in one neat little cyber-package. And because it’s strategically designed and maintained, the blog is elevating Building Equity’s online visibility while also providing some extra juice to a concurrent PR program.

By virtue of keyword-rich content and social media tagging, Building Equity has begun appearing within the first two pages of Google search results for a number of relevant search terms. Recent news coverage of the blog on Globest.com sent Building Equity’s page views soaring by more than 600 percent and resulted in a page 1 ranking on Google for the competitive search term “Chicago Commercial Real Estate Brokers.”

It’s still early in the game, but Building Equity is already gaining traction online and building on its reputation as an underdog that can hang with the big dogs.

The Power to WILB

Workers rejoice. A new University of Melbourne study has concluded that surfing the net at work for pleasure actually increases our concentration levels and helps make a more productive workforce.

The study, which was conducted by Dr. Brent Coker with the University’s Department of Management and Marketing, says that workers who engage in “Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing” (WILB) are more productive than those who don’t.

According to Dr. Coker, “People who do surf the Internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office - are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t.”

Luckily, TJO provides you with plenty of online outlets in which to spend time WILBing. So get to work and follow us on twitter at @tjopr or friend us on Facebook.

Want to learn more about the study? Click here.

Happy Birthday, HARO

HARO celebrated its one-year anniversary this month. In this time, the web site (which gets its name from the acronym for Help-A-Reporter-­Out) grew to more than 70,000 subscribers, posted nearly 25,000 queries from more than 10,000 journalists, and was mentioned in more than 500 print articles and blog posts. All great for founder Peter Shankman, but not bad for the TJO team and our clients either. As a result of this start-up web service that links journalists and PR pros at no cost to either party, we were able to build great relationships with new media contacts and score some serious coverage for our clients.

But the purpose of this post isn’t only to shower HARO with kudos. Rather, on this anniversary of HARO’s launch I think it’s important to realize that Shankman is truly living and breathing the key elements to a successful online presence. He’s creating valuable content, as well as building credibility with and a community for his key audiences. And while we’re constantly advocating these elements to our clients, it’s always nice to have one more solid case study to back up what we preach.

To PR and media folks, the HARO name is synonymous with credibility. We trust and respect it. That’s why reporters – once tried-and-true fans of the competing pay-for-play ProfNet service – quickly jumped on the HARO bandwagon. And it’s why PR pros don’t hesitate to reach out to new contacts in the media to discuss why a client would be a great fit for their stories. This isn’t something just anyone can achieve with a free service. It takes an expert voice using an honest and transparent approach, as well as a track record of results to get here.

HARO also does a great job of building a sense of community. From its start as a Facebook page to now providing urgent media queries via Twitter, member posts on LinkedIn, and three-times-a-day emails, HARO is a non-stop social media experience. The result? Members feel like they’re part of something. Something that’s cohesive and meaningful, despite the barrage of messages that flood the inboxes of the many online apps you’ve downloaded to your Blackberry or iPhone in an effort to keep up with the media’s demand for sources.

It’s this cohesive messaging that brings me to my next point: content. HARO is constantly generating new content across a variety of mediums – whether it’s online video about daily media happenings on WHOH.com (What’s Hot On Haro), blog posts about Shankman’s adventures at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin or teleconferences that connect sources with NPR and Crain’s New York journalists. The content builds on itself, while maintaining a clear message: PR folks and journalists can play in the same sandbox and enjoy it. That message is reinforced with continuous feedback from both PR pros and the media. It’s good content like this that informs its audience, draws them in, and tells them something they want to know.

So hats off to you, HARO, and happy birthday. I’m certain there will be many more to come.