The best way to become the REALTOR® of choice and receive referrals is to be known favorably by your targeted audience. How do you do this?

With great creativity! Of course, providing stellar customer service is one very important criteria. This hooks your potential customer and encourages loyalty - why would anyone continue searching when they found the best?

But that's only one part of the opportunity (remember, problems are only misunderstood opportunities at heart). The other is positive exposure to your audience, before they initiate the first contact.

Being recognized as an authority in consumer real estate will further your reputation like almost nothing else. Customers love the reassurance of dealing with not only a REALTOR®, but the REALTOR the rest of the town listens to!

A great way to accomplish that is your local newspaper. As you might have noticed by now, the real estate section (especially on Sundays!) is replete with ads, ideas, spotlights on homes, etc. Truly a targeted audience reads this section!

Offer more value to the newspaper. Can you solve customer blips before they become problems of Godzilla proportions? Do you have a specialty? Do you have timely, well researched advice to offer?

If so, look in your local newspaper, find the right contact, and offer to write a weekly or biweekly column. Emphasize the value you'll be offering their readership. Bingo! Instant publicity in a very favored marketing medium.

Finding your local newspapers online is easy. Simply go to NewsDirectory at http://www.newsdirectory.com, and select "United States" under "Browse Newspapers." You'll see online links to just about any publication you can imagine!

Once you have found the newspaper you would like to target, visit their site. For example, my local newspaper is the Asbury Park Press . Next, look for any section that reads "Contact us" or "Contact Staff" or "Staff" etc. Chances are, you'll have the email addresses of the editors and writers right in front of you.

From that point, select the most logical choice (Editor of Real Estate sounds great!), and send a polite introductory email that demonstrates how by including your column they will enjoy more readership. Close it with a line thanking them for their time, and informing them you'll call during the week. This way, you can mention your email as a lead-in when you initiate phone contact.

Be prepared to give the editor a businesss plan which includes the nature of the column, the target reader, sample columns ( at least three) and titles and outlines for six to ten more.

It works in Internet ways too, of course. Is your ISP a major player and provider of customer information like AOL? Find where consumer real estate information is housed, contact the webmaster for that section, and offer timely content that educates the consumer. Make sure your link and the links of any companies or individuals you reference or quote are included in any column you write.

Need help writing columns? Best Image Marketing has a special service tailored towards this need. They will help negotiate on your behalf to have a real estate editorial column included in your local newspaper.

Are you a Realtor? Of course. Are you an entrepreneur? Surely! Add that quality to your real estate career. Remember, the worst thing someone can say is No. But when it's Yes, the possibilities become unlimited.

Published: January 20, 1999

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Barbara Ling, "The Internet Virtual Coach", is an Internet business and technology writer and trainer. She is the author of "The Real Estate Pro's Internet Edge." Contact Barbara at btl@virtual-coach.com.