I wrote this book in conjunction with Graham Norwood (a leading residential property journalist) and it focuses on the role of media relations within the marketing of residential or commercial property and related services to the property and commercial sector and it is to be published by EG Books in March 2006. Here’s the blurb:

PR gets a bad press. Especially in the property industry. Yet we live in an increasingly media-driven world and cannot afford to ignore such a powerful communications tool.

Media relations – when done properly – is a vital tool helping property companies to build shareholder value through stronger brands, develop reputations that drive a flow of new work and help sell and let properties faster and at a fraction of the cost of other marketing techniques.

This practical and comprehensive book – peppered with real case studies and comments from numerous people within the property industry – aims to demystify ‘the black art of PR’. It explains what it is and what it isn’t, and what it can and cannot achieve. It looks at how good media relations can help developers, surveyors, architects, agents and those on the periphery of the industry – whether in a large or small organisation, the commercial or residential market, a PR professional or a complete beginner.

Click here for a copy of a review of the book, published in Professional Marketing magazine in summer 2006, written by Georgina Power of Cushman & Wakefield.

Some of the topics covered include:

  • The strategic aims and benefits of good media relations
  • Promoting good media relations practice throughout your organisation.
  • An overview of property opportunities across the UK media
  • Understanding journalists and what they want
  • The dos and don’ts of working with the media
  • Developing a media relations plan
  • How to hire in-house PR professionals and PR consultants
  • The cost of media relations programmes
  • Managing enquiries from the media (including the unwelcome ones)
  • Identifying good stories and getting them published
  • Guidance on numerous proactive media relation techniques
  • Analysis of good and bad press releases
  • Measuring media relations effectiveness and ROI
  • Useful sources of information

The two authors represent both sides of the story – the marketing/PR professional on the one hand and the seasoned journalist on the other. The authors bring together a range of skills and experience from these and other perspectives.

The book contains the following chapters:

  • Preface by Peter Bill
  • Foreword
  • 1. Introduction
    • Why media relations is important to companies and people in the property sector
    • Why media relations is an important part of the marketing/business development mix
  • 2. How to organise for PR – External consultants and in-house professionals
  • 3. Understanding journalists and knowing what they want
  • 4. Reactive PR – Responding to enquiries from journalist
  • 5. Proactive PR – How to use various tools and approaches to maximise positive coverage
  • 6. Measuring effectiveness and results
  • 7. Useful information sources
  • Glossary

Graham Norwood’s biography

Graham writes on the residential property market for a range of UK newspapers including the Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer and The Independent as well as three international editions of The Wall Street Journal.

He is also a contributor on property and personal finance issues to magazines including Vanity Fair, GQ, The Tatler, Homes Overseas, What House?, What Mortgage? And What Investment? He regularly writes for property industry publications too, including Estates Gazette and Show House.

He has also written for the Guardian Unlimited and the Channel 4 Homes web sites. Until 2000, he was a journalist with the BBC.

Further information is on his web site at www.grahamnorwood.info.