Recognize newsworthy moments

Selling a home in a down market is hard. No kidding, right? Every Realtor and seller is looking for that magic bullet to get a buyer to take at least a second look at their home. Many people call these things gimmicks. But hey, gimmicks when done right can produce results. If you question that, look at McDonalds (two all beef patties contest in the 70s...) , Dr. Pepper (Free Dr. Pepper when...), Just about any car company willing to make your payments if you lose a job, Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction, all of these are gimmicks at one level or another. But a gimmick is only good when it captures attention.

Congratulations to Tina Haisman of Tina Haisman public relations for recognizing the news value of her client offering a million dollar coupon to sell his house. It will go to local media outlets as well as points north. The gimmick is doing exactly what it was meant to do... create buzz. Bloggers are already lambasting the idea on the Web site. I'll bet more than one forwarded it to someone else. Now I'm writing about it on my blog. That's how viral marketing works. Will it sell his house? Who knows. Maybe some reporter at The New York Times will pick it up.Maybe he'll end up on Letterman. It's the "maybe" part that's exciting. Maybe nothing will happen and he'll just get a bunch of publicity. Regardless, he created a buzz and with the help of a professional public relations counselor, that buzz is spreading.

Remember, it's not the gimmick that brings in the buyers. It's the buzz. Recognize the newsworthiness of a unique idea. Just be careful not to overpromote the ordinary. Journalists don't like that. Run it through the "Who cares" test and see if the response is, "Well, that's pretty cool." If the answer is, "Nobody cares" you may want to rethink the gimmick or the medium for communicating it. A run-of-the-mill idea won't get picked up by media. That's when you have to pay a bit more money to advertise.

I kind of hope he does sell the house with the million dollar coupon. It will accomplish many things.
1) Proves newspaper ads can work
2) Justifies the need and value of public relations (professionals)
3) Suggests coupons still work
4) Improves the sales figures for this year in Lee County
5) Proves that there are people willing to part with their money on a large scale

Here's the link in case you are interested.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009905310432