MARKETING Good relations
How effective are your public relations campaigns? You may be missing a trick, thinks Rosalind Russell.
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state agency PR used to be seen as something for girls to do between leaving college and getting engaged. The agency top brass didn’t really take the job seriously and just
looked for a pretty ‘gel’ to top up the champagne glasses at launch parties and chat up newspaper hacks. Then the industry got real. Takeovers and mergers cut out the frills, the Good Old Boys were pensioned off and PR developed muscles. Whether it’s boosting the client’s image,
or doing a fire engine job on a potentially damaging story, marketing management has seen a remarkable upward shift in importance to firms. But how do you measure the cost against result? And when the big hitters like Savills and Knight Frank consistently get their name in lights with their mega-million mansions, is there any point in trying to compete when you are selling suburban semis? According to the Chartered Institute for
Public Relations, traditionally, PR has been evaluated by measuring the total media coverage achieved. But counting column inches does not give the whole picture nor does it quantify changes in attitudes or behaviour amongst your target public. Other aspects may be easier to measure, through increased sales, better margins, or cracking new markets. How you measure success, says the CIPR, depends on what you seek to achieve. There’s little doubt some estate agencies could do with training in PR. There is
‘We have uncovered really remarkable stories behind the properties and that
is down to our team of journalists here.’ eRIc dIxoN dIRecToR, PRoPeRTy PubLIcITy
‘We look at cross branding. I always explain that journalists want
to write about people, not property.’ LANA WRIGHTMAN LANA WRIGHTMAN PR
nothing more irritating to a journalist than to ring up to ask for an example of a pretty cottage to be met with a suspicious, “How much is this going to cost us?” Or worse, a smug, “No, we’re not interested, we don’t speak to the press.” It happens,too often, and if the vendor knew he had just kissed goodbye to several hundred pounds of free editorial, he’d be tearing up the sales contract. Even for comment for this feature, one West Country PR I called was “too busy” to speak to me and didn’t call back. Another opportunity blown.
PROPERTYdrum APRIL 2011 35
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