by Philip Barron
Fierce competition in the residential estate agency world has made it necessary for firms to pay more attention to public relations. As competition between residential agents intensifies, it becomes increasingly important to find ways to make a firm stand out from the crowd. Marketing is being recognised as a key function and advertising and public relations are both seen as vital ingredients in the “marketing mix”.
Of these two promotional tools, advertising is the more familiar to managers in the property business. It is easier to control and quantify than PR. You buy the space (or air time) and the rest is predictable: you dictate the place, time and content of your communication.
But advertising has its limitations. It is fine for short, simple, punchy messages; not so suitable for complex and subtle ones. It is also very expensive. So people are making more use of other ways of getting messages across, and these are generally lumped together under the term “public relations”.
The management of public relations has emerged as a distinct function and its practitioners like to distinguish it from mere publicity. They say that publicity tells us things, but PR listens as well. “Effective communication must be two-way,” says Amanda MacCaw, marketing manager at Winkworth. “It is as important to listen as it is to talk.
“But people do need to know, even if the news is bad,” she adds. “When organised communications fail, they are replaced by hearsay and speculation.”
One function of PR is to find out what people think of an organisation and its activities. This dialogue may show that changes are desirable, either in the activities or in how they are put across. The ultimate aim is to ensure that all groups of people who matter to the business have a clear and positive picture of it in their minds.
In this context advertising can be said to be a part of public relations, and not the other way round. Taken together, the visual messages sent out by a company make up its “corporate identity”. The way in which individuals perceive these cues and signals is the “corporate image” (these two terms are often confused).
Each person forms their own image, but if the public relations process is properly managed the images will be consistent and the firm will be known in the market-place for particular attributes and qualities.
Unlike advertising space which can be purchased, editorial coverage has to be “won” by providing the media with information or feature material which editorial departments find useful. Much of the seed falls on stony ground, and there is no guarantee that what is sent out will appear in the form or at the time that the originating PRO would prefer. These unpredictable factors often cause disappointment, but, in general, PR is found to be a cost-effective way of keeping a company in the public eye.
The concentration of estate agencies into national groups has made it economically feasible to employ full-time PR staff or external consultancies (sometimes both). It has also enlarged the stage on which the PR battle is fought out, because for national organisations the potential for coverage in national media is greater.
Nevertheless local coverage remains important, and here there is a tendency for the more centralised groups to lose out. Head office staff may offer training and guidance, but they cannot “do” the PR regularly for individual branches. At the same time, branch managers may not get round to it, especially if they have to get clearance from above for every initiative.
Many an independent agent, however, has become adept at using the local media, developing professional contacts and “being seen around”.
Contrasting approaches
Among the firms linked to national financial institutions, PR policies vary widely, from minimal involvement to a multi-faceted approach employing every technique in the book.
Prudential Property Services decided from the outset that its outlets should be clearly branded under the name of the parent. The brand was seen as a major strength and Susan Shaar, the Pru’s press relations manager, claims that name-awareness research shows the success of this decision. It followed that PR activity must be centrally controlled “in order to manage the brand image”. However, each regional HQ is responsible for local PR. Some have developed in-house resources while others use local, external consultants.
At the Pru’s London-based press office, one press officer has been designated to take specific responsibility for Prudential Property Services.
For this organisation, PR extended not only to external branch fascia but also to redesigning office interiors to carry through the corporate red and grey house style. They were made more user-friendly by removing the traditional counter which formed a barrier between the sales negotiator and the prospective client.
Next, a corporate uniform was introduced to reinforce corporate identity and “create an air of greater efficiency and professionalism”. Male staff wear grey suits and a company tie. The women now have a winter and a summer uniform. The winter look is a grey tailored suit with white blouse, red and grey scarves and a co-ordinating belt. Summer costume is a matching blouse and skirt featuring a red and grey abstract pattern of the Prudential logo on a white background.
Nationwide Anglia, Halifax, Black Horse and Cornerstone (Abbey National) are other groups whose estate agency outlets are heavily branded. The logic is easy to follow where the brand is already a household name; less so where a completely new name (eg Cornerstone) has been invented.
Legal & General, whose agencies are not owned outright, discreetly promotes its umbrella symbol in conjunction with the outlet’s original name. Royal Life and Hambro Countrywide have also been careful to give pride of place to the established names of agenices that they have acquired.
Harry Hill, joint managing director of Hambro Countrywide, is emphatic about the merits of keeping the established names: “We have paid considerable sums for businesses whose principal asset is goodwill and there are two elements in that goodwill — the trading name and the people who work in the business. By destroying the name and superimposing another, you not only confuse customers but also reduce the motivation of the sales staff who are vital to the success of the enterprise.”
Hill adds that, when looking at the alternative approach, his company had calculated that to rebrand all its branches thoroughly would have cost £20m. “We were not satisfied that the return we could expect would justify the outlay of that amount of capital.”
Nationwide Anglia used a public relations consultancy when it launched into estate agency, but has now built an in-house department responsible to the marketing controller, Peter Randall. The national media are handled through head office but the society’s “federal” system provides local autonomy.
Black Horse Agencies has been “relatively decentralised” since the group’s inception in 1982, says deputy chief executive David Woodcock. Some groups of outlets within the network use PR consultancies while others rely on in-house facilities. Woodcock believes that one important principle when talking to the media, especially during a difficult trading period such as the present, is to “encourage a realistic view” of the market.
For the past 18 months, Cornerstone has retained the Grayling consultancy. A PR manual has been produced and distributed to branch managers and training is provided for those staff nominated to deal with the media. An interesting initiative has been the production of two videos for customers, one about selling a home and one about buying. The relevant video is lent to the customer to view at leisure in his or her own home. While many firms use video for staff training, videos for customers are unusual.
Hamptons’ public relations department was set up six years ago and currently consists of a team of three. It is separate from the marketing department, but both sections report to marketing director David Thorley. Sarah Hale, the PR manager, was recruited from another firm of estate agents in 1987.
A very active media-relations programme encompasses not only the national and local press, TV and radio but also business periodicals and magazines relating to fine art and collectors’ cars (for the auction side) and housing finance.
The department also co-ordinates numerous sponsorships which have included county shows, point-to-points, air shows and, this September, the Independent Schools One-Day Cross-Country Event. Other responsibilities include Hamptons Magazine, produced in conjunction with Traditional Homes, and the production of Hamptons Horizon (a newsletter for staff).
The industry continues to spawn a wide range of periodicals, ranging from tabloid newspapers (the Prudential Property Mail has 50 editions and a print run of 2m) to prestige magazines for property at the top end of the market. These external publications are presented to home-owners as providing greater marketing muscle for customers of the sponsoring firms.
The largest of the independent chains, Andrews & Partners, does not publish its own periodical but pays considerable attention to the local press. David Hines, the group’s business development manager, detects a move away from local press advertising by some of the larger firms as they concentrate on promoting their corporate identity nationally.
This national advertising often stresses the advantages which the multi-outlet firm believes it can offer to buyers moving from one part of the country to another, yet (as Hines points out) about seven out of 10 purchasers move within the area where they are living.
People like to see properties illustrated, says Hines, and that calls for local advertising. In the local newspaper (as distinct from company-sponsored papers), the prospective buyer finds information that is immediate (not dated) and conveniently concentrated in one publication.
Andrews & Partners is unique in having all its shares owned by three charities, a fact which is mentioned in some corporate literature.
“We’ve never sought to over-promote this point,” says David Hines, “because we don’t wish to take a holier-than-thou stance, but knowing that our profits go to charity is a motivating force for our staff. They know that their success in selling houses has a wider benefit for society.”
One cost-effective way of getting editorial coverage locally is by arranging for short articles to be sent to selected papers all over the firm’s catchment areas. The existence of computerised media lists makes it possible to match papers to branches and print out address labels. Woolwich Property Services, for example, prepares articles at head office and distributes copies to each local manager, with a space where he can insert his name and branch. He is supplied with the appropriate address labels and encouraged to follow up the contacts made. Articles for this purpose usually provide practical information for readers about property-related matters.
Servicing the media
We have seen how some of the larger firms structure their PR operation, but how is media coverage obtained? What do journalists want?
A good press office provides a reliable service to journalists. This means simple things like returning telephone calls and posting information promptly and helping the scribe to get to the right person in the organisation when an authoritative statement or “quote” is required. Availability is important; journalists work under pressure, and if the only person who can speak for the company is “out until Wednesday” they may not be able to wait, and the story is missed.
While it is true that some firms do not invest enough in their PR facilities, it is not just a question of money. Even a sole proprietor can get good results if he is prepared to be positive and invest a little time and thought.
Common complaints from journalists working in this field include criticism of agents who, at the height of a slump, issue “whistling in the dark” releases asserting that the market is improving (not backed by evidence) and the “you’ll have to speak to head office” syndrome that afflicts some of the chains.
Gail Counsell of The Independent feels that firms should limit the number of issues that have to be referred in this way. “Sometimes we want to talk to local managers to find out what is happening around the country. Going through head office, more often than not, is hopelessly complicated, time-consuming and unnecessary. And it says little for the firm’s confidence in the competence of their local staff if they insist on this.”
The reluctance of many professional people to speak to the media means that there are potentially many openings for those who will; a number of firms who know this make it known that senior executives will respond positively to requests for interviews on TV, radio or in the press. Local radio, in particular, offers many opportunities.
How to recognise a potential news story is something business people learn either through training or over the years from experience and study of the relevant media. Changes, innovations, events and anniversaries all provide cues for stories and sometimes for a photograph.
Recently, for instance, the Prudential announced the introduction of a specified national format for property particulars. Previously, its chain-breaking service and “Home Check” valuation service had been the subject of widely used press releases.
Because of its visual content, design is a popular subject and the Prudential had its re-styled branches featured on TV. Its new corporate costumes even featured on The Clothes Show.
On a more mundane level, it is open to any estate agent to offer informed views on the state of the market or other matters which affect buyers and sellers of property. The personal achievements of people who work in the business can also be newsworthy. Activities such as “first-time buyers’ evenings” will often produce a publicity spin-off.
While it certainly pays to be alert to media opportunities, one must never lose sight of the importance of face-to-face contact with customers. In the final analysis, every person in the company is a public relations officer.
