Susan Lipston.com

When wielded correctly, public relations can help generate marketing impressions and increase the flow of potential customers into your sales pipeline. While we might have the notion that PR is a response discipline — something that you resort to when you have to deal with bad news — it’s actually a proactive tool for getting your name (or product, or company) in front of your marketplace.
 
Moreover, public relations offers a terrific bang for the buck. If you have a limited budget or marketing resources, public relations is an activity that doesn’t require considerable overhead. Just keep in mind, if you are in a larger organization there may be certain channels you’ll need to run any PR efforts through before distribution.
 
If you have some time, a little talent and the kind of tenacity that most salespeople inherently have, you can use PR to great effect. The key is to understand the essentials:

• Start with a list. You want to develop a breakdown of all the media outlets in your marketplace and the reporters, editors and producers who are the key contacts for each. You can also pick the brains of your marketing department or a friend or business acquaintance with PR experience. Once you know your “universe” of editorial professionals, you’ll be able to promote to them.
• Work with the reporters. Remember the social contract: you are coming to a reporter for free publicity — and so is everybody else. Ask reporters how they prefer to receive communication, how they typically report and what sorts of news appeals to them and to their audience. Better yet, find out from someone with PR experience what method of communication and types of news tidbits can get your foot in the door.
• Be newsworthy. A good way to do this is to establish yourself as an expert. Often reporters are looking for sources they can interview on specific subjects. Do some local public speaking and participate in events related to your expertise or area of concentration. Then let local newshounds know you are available for interviews. Similarly, organize or participate in a local event or charity. Then, every time you speak at or participate in an event, distribute a press release well before and immediately after.
• Learn to craft press releases. Press releases are used to communicate pertinent facts regarding events such as corporate changes, new product releases or enhancements or activities you’ve participated in. In short: news. The key is that they need to be written effectively and formatted in a way that facilitates the journalist’s process. Go online to find some simple guidelines on how to write them, enlist the help of your in-house marketing department or get a friend with PR experience to help you out.
• Create a press kit. Have online, print and PDF versions of a press kit available for local journalists. Include information about your company, yourself, your background, your expertise and your professional mission. Include high-resolution photos of yourself, your company logo and any other pertinent art. When it comes to your photo, hire a professional to get a unique business shot of you that does not look like a standard corporate “mug shot,” but instead has some photojournalistic appeal. Editors and their art directors will jump at the chance to use it.
• Leverage social media. Many reporters are online and use social media as yet another channel to stay on top of news and newsmakers. Make sure to get on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to not only publicize your news, but also develop journalist contacts and to directly message reporters about your news.

An effective PR campaign is not something you can launch on a whim. As you can see, it takes some research and effort, but the payback is usually worth it!

Whether you are considering a first home, a larger home for a growing family, moving into your dream home or perhaps buying a second home or rental property, two key economic factors, mortgage rates and home prices, have lined up in your favor. Let’s take a look at how they are working together to give you extremely potent buying power and why you should take action now before these favorable conditions change.

Irresistible Interest Rates
When you read in the newspapers that rates are at historic lows, this is not an exaggeration. Interest rates on home loans truly are at the lowest they have been in decades. The reason for this is that due to the recent “Great Recession,” the Fed has had to lower the federal funds rate to between 0 percent and 0.25 percent. The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which savings banks, commercial banks, savings and loan associations and credit unions trade balances with each other.

The federal funds rate impacts all other rates, including mortgage loans, so, at times of slow or no economic growth, the Federal Reserve will lower the federal funds rate in hopes of making credit cheaper to all people and in turn boosting the economy. This is why home mortgage rates have remained so low. The moment the economy starts to truly grow, the Federal Reserve will start to increase the federal funds rate, and home financing loan rates will follow suit.

Right now, mortgage rates are incredibly attractive after a downward slide over the course of 2011 that ended with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in the 3.9 percent interest rate range. So far, in 2012, rates have topped the 4 percent mark, according to surveys from the Mortgage Bankers Association, but these are still historic lows.

Will rates stay like that? Well, factors such as increases in retails sales and improvements in unemployment are pointing to a recovery. After a spike to 10 percent in October 2009, unemployment rates have been on a solid downward trend since September 2011, and have been hovering at 8.3 percent.

Certainly, qualifying for loans is harder these days. More rigorous documentation is required, and down payment requirements and other lending terms aren’t as loose as they were during the 2005-2006 real estate boom, but if you are in solid financial shape, you needn’t worry. I’d be happy to sit down with you and look at what loans make the most sense for your financial position, and to work out different scenarios using today’s low rates, as well as rates after possible increases in the near future.

Home Prices
In terms of home prices, now has never been a better time to buy. After spending months at stratospheric highs during the real estate boom, homes that had doubled in price by 2006 are still below their pre-bubble values.

If anything, home prices are still in retreat. Using data from the National Association of REALTORS®, the median cost of existing single-family homes ended 2011 nearly at the same price it began the year, $158,000. And that price tag is down from 2010 and 2009.

That said, inventory might be starting to slip, which could see prices go higher. In recent months, housing inventory has been hovering around a six-month supply (at current sales rates), with roughly 2.4 million homes for sale. That might look like a lot, but it is nearly 20 percent below what it was a year ago.

Using simple supply-and-demand, it’s not hard to see that with declining inventory, today’s low prices could go up in the not-too-distant future. This is just as true for today’s rock-bottom interest rates, so it’s not hard to see why savvy homebuyers are responding to the bargains. All-cash purchases of existing homes are accounting for roughly 30 percent of transactions, and investors are accounting for more than 20 percent of purchases. The investors know a good deal when they see one, and today’s lending and real estate environment represents an amazing bargain indeed.

Make Your Move
The numbers don’t lie. You will most likely never see a better buying opportunity than now. If you are considering a purchase of a larger home to accommodate a growing family, the dream home you’ve always wanted, an investment property or any other home purchase, take the time to review the numbers. Mortgage rates and home prices have created a spectacular buyer’s market.

But remember, it won’t stay this way forever. An improving economy could foster higher rates, and declining inventory could see prices go up. If you are on the fence about a real estate decision, don’t be. Now is the time to make your move. Please contact me using the information provided on this newsletter and I’d be happy to help you develop a strategy to take advantage of this historic opportunity.