Let me tell you a story of some agents that tripled their rental market appraisals within a nine to twelve months.
Grantham is a boring little
market town in the East Midlands, with a population of 35,000, and if you
include the villages, 54,000.
The local rag is called the Grantham Journal.
A boring little newspaper in a boring little
town. Everyone says its dead, local isn't where it is at. That is until you
delve a little deeper. It sells 16,000 copies a week, that's nearly one per
household, week in, week out. People pay money for this .. why .. because it
tells people what is happening in Grantham. . So, if you live in Stockport,
Manchester, London or Chelmsford, you wouldn't be interested in the Grantham
Journal, but the people of Grantham are.
Local
media was an essential business tool from the Victorian times. However, with TV
and now the 'tinterweb', the message travels around the whole country, and even
the whole of the world, so newspapers, websites and TV have no incentive to
limit themselves.
But there
are thousands of TV stations and millions of websites, so the numbers are
diluted as there is such a huge choice. What would a TV station or website have
to pay to be guaranteed almost 100% blanket coverage ? Yet, if I was an agent,
I (and you) have that medium already, it's the local rag. 70% to 80% of the agents landlords would live in Grantham ..... talk about captive market. But don't
doll out the usual 5 x 5 grid. Yes that makes you look good in your eyes, but
ask yourself. Why do nearly every household buy the local newspaper? The clue
is in the title .. local news.
People
don't read adverts, they read news ... give them some something to read, give
them a story, THEY are interested in. Why? well when given the chance, people
are a lot more interested in what they're interested in, as opposed to what
their neighbours are doing.
What of
the internet I hear you cry? Yes that is as important, even more important, but
it will be local internet. Local is everything when it comes to Google. Google
rankings are strongly based on local items eg people type in .. 'Letting agents
in Grantham' of 'Lettings agents in Hammersmith' ... not just 'lettings
agents'
Local
people writing about local things will be the real kings of media, and they
will be local in a totally different sense. They will be the narrators and
story tellers of interest for groups that actually have aligned interests. You
as an agent have an advantage, you have a subject that everyone is interested
in ...... property.
You have
such an advantage, you are an expert in a subject everyone is interested in.
Tell that story, and people (landlords) will beat a path to your door for
market appraisals.
.. but
does it work? Scores on
the doors ...
At one office,
where I saw them use the system; they had carried out 6
market appraisals per
month consistently throughout 2010, 2011 and 2012 ... all
very consistent you would say? Nine months later, that
number had risen to a consistent average of 15 to 18 per month.
Another agent I helped saw appraisals rise from a consistent 4 per
month to a consistent 14 per month .
I would say that worked .. wouldnt you?
If you wanted a chat on how to write these stories, I have been writing them for over a year. Very soon I will be starting a company that will either train people how to do these stories. However, some agents don't have the time, so we will also be offering a service where we can write them for you .. anyway .. more of that later in the month.