Have you ever noticed that some brokers or agents seem to get more than their share of free publicity?

What makes them so special? It's a mystery to their peers, as these pundits are usually not the biggest, nor the most profitable, or the best professionals in any other quantifiable terms. Yet, they get all the attention.

What these people have simply learned to do is work at getting noticed. Then they meet the needs of reporters.

If you want to become a pundit, here's what you need to learn to do:

1. Get familiar with news publications

2. Learn reporters' needs

3. Become the information source

The first thing you need to do is to make a list of the media where you would like to be featured.

Be bold and creative. Real estate is big business, affecting about 15 percent of the gross national product. It is one of the leading economic indicators, along with job data and consumer confidence indexes. What you have to say is important, so don't limit yourself to your local paper. Include local business journals, and the bureaus of national publications that cover economic news in your list of contacts. You can find them all online via search engines.

Next, find and catalog all the reporters that work for those publications and do stories on real estate and the local economy. Most publications will have a columnists' list. Nevertheless, you still need to read the publication and identify which ones cover the real estate beat.

Read the reporters' columns, so you can get a feel for their personal writing styles. Some are more interested in commercial news than residential. Some writers like to give opinions, others don't. Some like to stir the pot and give conflicting opinions for every story.

Now you are ready to prepare your resume and contact information. If you are representing a brokerage, the contact person needs to be the highest-ranking officer possible, preferably not a PR person. Reporters prefer to quote decision-makers.

That brings us to meeting the reporters' needs. Reporters are always on deadline so anything you can do to save them time and effort will be appreciated. Provide your e-mail address, cell phone number, and pager number for quick access. Reporters won't abuse the privilege of having these contact tools, but if they have them, they will be more tempted to use your company or you in a story simply because you are easy to reach.

Reporters are also constantly looking for fresh story ideas and new information. You can be helpful by offering ideas and topics of interest. Become the information source. Offer new perspectives and data that you come across in the industry that might not be readily available to outsiders. If the NAR has come out with a new report, make it available to your favorite reporter. If your MLS has just done the monthly DOMs and solds, make the market conditions available with a comment. This is information you are paying real estate organizations for, and it should benefit you.

However, don't expect to be the focus of the story simply because you gave the reporter an update. Be patient. You will get included in a story sooner or later.

If you are a Market Conditions Reporter(tm)) include your Report in an e-mail to the reporter. A Market Conditions Report is an easy-to-use, lead-generation tool that puts you in front of millions of homebuying consumers - regardless of your experience. The reporter will be impressed that your opinions are published on Realty Times, MSN HomeAdvisor, Yahoo! Real Estate, Lycos, and other important real estate portals.

Finally, follow-up. Call and ask the reporter if the information was helpful, or could the reporter use something else?

There's a reason why you want to do this one-on-one. If you send out a general release, it will likely be treated as a promotional piece. But, if you take the time to call, and offer exclusives, you could get better results.

What you want to do is build a relationship with the media one reporter at a time. Remember, the news media needs information, so you are just as valuable to them as their ability to give you publicity is to you.

Published: November 7, 2001

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

Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.