Humanitarian and U2 front man Bono can now add “columnist” to his list of accomplishments. He published his first op-ed piece in the New York Times this past weekend.
Considering his access to the world from places unattainable to most of us, I’ve been wondering why he would choose a newspaper over the stage, his band’s website, One.org or the myriad social networks that span the web.
Bono chose the Times.
Granted it’s a well respected newspaper. But it’s still a newspaper. And for those of us here in real estate, it’s a medium many in our industry have all but forsaken.
What does Bono know that we don’t?
I know real estate’s experience with newspapers has not been all that congenial or rewarding over the last decade. But perhaps your lack of success runs on a two-way street. Consider how, over the last decade, despite massive shifts in consumer interests and branding and communications practices, real estate continued to use the newspaper as it always had.
With double trucks framed by agent faces, generic copy, empty messages and pointless Realtor of the Month ads, what did real estate advertisers honestly expect from the paper? After all, what exactly was it your ads were trying to say? And toward whom were they geared?
Certainly not consumers.
Perhaps what Bono understands is the simple fact that people still read the paper. Lots of people. And while they may not always respond well to the array of ads within it, they might respond well to a thought provoking editorial.
Crumbs
Real estate leaders. You know so much. Some of you have lived lifetimes in the housing business. You understand the cycles, the ebbs, the flows. You have a vast understanding of how markets trend up and down.
Is it too far-fetched to believe that newspapers might be the perfect medium to carry your occasional op-ed piece? Think of them as a platform to share your feelings, analyses, sentiments and, perhaps, even a vision.
All these years you have tried to build a brand based on modes of communication that offered only crumbs from your table of real estate knowledge. Perhaps going forward, you might want to take a page out of Bono’s book and consider another look at the newspaper and the impact you could have on your marketplace if you leveraged it properly.
Sure you can write a blog or publish a letter from the desk of the CEO on your Website. That’s probably not a bad idea. But until your blog is delivered to the door step of homes throughout your marketplace, this may very well be an option worth considering.
– Davison
Twitter: 1000wattmarc
Local, Mobile, Social and the future of real estate
20 Tools to Bring your Real Estate Business to the Cloud
15 Ways to Make Your Marketing Mobile
I'v been on the fence for about 6 months about putting an ad in, not a large metro area newspaper, but a smaller local city neighborhood newspaper with a smaller more focused readership.
So much is transitioning online but there is still a large part of the population that goes to print. I can't wait each month for a new issue of Portfolio to come in the mail even though I can read it online.
I have read many discussions online about print vs online advertising and it seems that buyers tend to be more online, but sellers come from print: at least that's what I see in my market.
Some of the most successful agents have awful websites that are simply useless but large print ads and they dominate certain parts of the market.
It seems that a well thought out and executed combination of online and print would rock.
I never see print ads with an easy url to market trends for the area the newspaper is distributed to, nor anything more enticing then photos of homes. Something like that may not only show a seller that one has listings but actually provide useful information and further cement a relationship.
I always look at ROI in the print vs. online advertising dollar. By far, the best ROI is online marketing. Blogging is free; viral marketing of your listings is free because of mass syndication. The ONLY reason I have a website is to generate leads that end up with a successful closing. If I advertised in the newspaper, it would ONLY be to draw people to my website to search MLS listings in an attempt to generate more leads to make more money. Newspaper advertising is very expensive and has little ROI, if any. With a good website and a well read blog, online advertising for me is free.
@CPRE – without a doubt and let me be clear that I believe strongly that there is no ROI in paid newspaper advertising. I agree with you there.
But I believe that as long as newspapers still exist and as long as they continue to be delivered to our homes, publishing a non paid for op ed piece that speaks to the general concerns of its readership on the issues that are most passionate to the real estate leader is a great way to build brand, drive traffic and assert value.
I have spoken to newspapers editors all over the United States stemming from a 20+years of having relationships with them as a PR company. Many are looking for good, quality, non advertorial content to publish and they do not charge for it.
To me, that is a opportunity worth looking into.
Often I see people write that blogging is free or that the cost of setting up a website i.e. basic blog can be done for $50 or so but is your time to do that not an expense?, the time to write blogs, to manipulate the style sheet, to put up photos: that all takes time -sometimes lots of time- and effort and this expense needs to be calculated in the ROI. What are you worth per hour? $200 or so. A stagnant website/blog will be just as bad as a newspaper ad and the competition online is growing and getting better so there is alway a push to improve and write more to keep ahead of the competition.
I agree that ROI on a blog effort seems easy to calculate if in fact you only look at the free expense of the blog platform.
I suppose the bigger question here is if you have a blog how are you getting people to it?
Here's a thing – I started a syndicate business 12 years ago representing real estate writers and selling their content to newspapers. Today, one of my writers is still published in over 40 papers and while those paper pay less now than they did ten years ago, this writer – a home inspector (Inspectors in the house) continues to get hired by local residents as a result of his Q&A column.
As for his ad? There is no ad. That weekly column supports his family.
So while I cite Bono as one example, I point to Barry Stone, author of Inspectors in the House as another example of how powerful the newspaper can still be.
Newspaper can generate business. There is one newspaper here in town that all the 'older generations' use. This is great for new gated communities. As far as the hip young 30's and 40's and 20 year olds? Well, we better be in the newspaper that they read…which for the most part….is online! Thats where they go to search. It depends on your target market. For me? I spend 3k a month generating traffic at http://www.utahdave.com That place gets me more business than a newspaper cost ever will.
Dave,
Good going and I concur – the web is indeed the destination to invest $'s into.
However, what I am going for is a campaign that does not cost any $s through a medium that is still viable across all age demographics. I know I can't speak for all the hip folks between 20-40's but a great many still read newspapers. But bear in mind that most papers repurpose much of their print content online.
This is not about paying the papers to run ads. This is about selectively using their distribution mechanism to your benefit.
I can't get past the number of folks who come thru Sunday open houses with the printed one line OHG guide from the local paper. Must it remain a must, or can consumers get what they really want – an inclusive platform that tells/shows them something before they drive all over town looking for the property? Can someone please invent this and then achieve market saturation?!
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future. Check out my site btw its really nice I am trying to get info all over the web about real estate leads