Branding is the name of the game.  Getting your business and name out there are crucial to your business survival.  Unless you are fortunate enough to have been in business long enough to enjoy a full schedule of clients, and I doubt many of us do, you have to keep your name out in front. And I do mean FRONT.  That brings me to the latest coup that I have pulled off. 

I have been a member of the local Board of Realtors for over a year now, and in business about that long. It’s one thing to be a member and it’s another to being a participating member. I am on the education committee and the affiliate committee. Note, I said participating, not just member.  There are many functions that can be participated in, from being a sponsor to being an exhibitor (stay tuned for next blog on this). The Newsline magazine that I’m going to redirect you to later, is a weekly publication with WIDE distribution.

There are 7000 Realtors in San Antonio and they get the subscription as part of their yearly dues. Is that the kind of audience you would like to get in FRONT of?  Now before I go on, I must tell you that advertising in the Newsline is $500/month. MUCH more than I have in my limited advertising budget. The editor and I are friends through the board and while she sympathizes with me concerning the cost, she is not able to put even ONE picture of me in the paper. I was determined to somehow get around this, at least to some degree.

The editor sends out photographers for many events, however; they can’t get to all the events. I have learned that when I go to an event, I take at least two things; 1) the camera and 2) my cowboy hat (for branding purposes). I’ve gone to a couple of events at which I took pictures, the Newsline photographer was not there, and I submitted them to Newsline.  The editor was jubilant that I had gotten pictures for them, but alas, the pictures could not be credited to me!. Shot down again, I thought.  But I didn’t give up. I kept submitting pictures and lo and behold, the editor came up to me and said that while I could not Brand myself in the paper because I was not an advertiser, she would like me to write an article about virtual tours of about 700 words.

I of course agreed and set about getting that accomplished. I submitted, the article was reviewed and I was told it would be IN the May 1st edition. Now when I say IN, I thought that my article would be relegated to an inside page somewhere between the want ads. Little did I know or even hope for what happened nor was I told of it beforehand. The newspaper came out and WHAT a surprise, FRONT PAGE in front of thousands of Realtors.

What exposure, and while I was not supposed to brand the article, other than putting my name and phone number at the end, the editor did in fact put the company name under my name at the top!! Now I would like to redirect you to that article. You can be sure that I have downsized the front page and will use it to the max in my advertising campaigns.

NEWSLINE ARTICLE     http://www.realestatenewsline.com/back_issues/2011/ren5111.pdf
(be patient, it takes a little time to search and come up)

Virtual tours are here and growing. Are you getting BRANDED?????

James Hoback
San Antonio Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 210-325-2675

Business linked on Google and #1 on Google search for San Antonio Virtual Tours out of 3.5million hits