As a real estate company, you and your team have many goals...
Getting property listing in front of potential clients 👪
Understanding what amenities tenants look for when looking for a luxury apartment 🌆
Or maybe it's simply to generate brand awareness 🎯
No matter the goal, there's no denying that public relations and marketing are essential components to being successful in an industry as massive and competitive as real estate.
What if I told you that there’s a creative way for your real estate company to increase brand awareness and build credibility while simultaneously powering a marketing campaign using proprietary data?
Imagine your real estate company’s name featured in Forbes or The Financial Times.
A public relations (PR) survey is an incredible real estate marketing technique. By investing in a custom market research PR survey, your reality company can earn media attention from major news outlets and capture the attention of millions.
So, what is a PR survey?
Even in the most competitive and crowded industries, such as real estate, a public relations survey (also referred to as PR polling) allows a company to earn media coverage.
Essentially, a PR survey is when a company, such as a real estate brand, sponsors a market research survey and uses the findings for public relations and marketing purposes.
Market research findings can be featured in major news sources, plus used to create various marketing deliverables such as social media posts, blogs, infographics, website copy, and more.
At Drive Research, our team of experts is experienced in market research and public relations. We collaborate with our real estate clients to create a newsworthy PR survey that will attract attention from top-tier, national news outlets.
Learn more about our process for PR polling in our ultimate guide.
Why your real estate company should invest in public relations market research
Whether your real estate firm works within...
- Property development
- Lending
- Property management
- Brokerage
- Sales and marketing
- Investing
- General contracting
- Accounting
- Legal
A PR market research study can benefit your business in many ways.
Some of the reasons your real estate company should invest in a PR survey include:
- Strong brand awareness is essential to being successful in real estate!
- Your company will have the ability to market your company as a real estate industry expert by contributing proprietary data to the media, your website, social media, and beyond.
- Build media relations for future public relations and marketing opportunities in real estate.
- Your competitors, such as Zillow and Better Homes and Gardens, have been using PR surveys as a marketing strategy for years.
Here is a section from Zillow's, price expectation survey they used to earn media coverage and featured in various marketing components.
How can real estate companies use PR survey findings?
One of the many reasons why public relations surveys have such a high ROI is because of the number of uses the survey findings have.
In the real estate industry, some uses for PR survey data may include:
- Obtain earned media coverage
- Press releases
- Develop a powerful marketing strategy
- Website copy and blog posts
- Infographics
- Webinars
- Social media content
- Paid digital advertising
- Promotional materials (i.e., yard signs for open houses)
Whatever your reasoning or goals for conducting an online PR survey may be, there are several value-added services Drive Research can assist your real estate company with to ensure you receive the most out of your market research investment.
What are some examples of questions real estate companies should ask in a PR survey?
No matter which sector your business falls within the real estate industry, there is a wide range of questions market researchers can ask in an online survey.
Whether you want to poll real estate agents, profile first-time home buyers, or conduct a poll to understand how coronavirus will affect the housing market, there is sure to be an objective that can be covered in a media survey.
Before writing the first survey draft, our research team works closely with PR professionals to carefully craft questions that will yield eye-catching and newsworthy headlines.
Here are some ideas for real estate poll questions:
- Which of the following amenities do you look for when looking for a place to live?
- Do you prefer to buy or rent a property?
- Would you rather have a self-guided or agent-led property tour?
- How often do you browse for houses online?
- When do you plan to move out of your current home?
These strategic survey questions can enable your real estate company to make headlines such as “25% of American plan to move within the next year” or “Home offices, window seats, and three-car garages among top features potential buyers are looking for in their next home.”
Our PR survey company will work with your company to design a custom real estate survey template that will meet your market research and public relations goals and objectives.
What does this process look like for a real estate company?
Great question! Deciding to work with a third-party market research firm that specializes in real estate PR surveys, such as Drive Research, is an excellent way to start. When it comes time to pitch the survey findings to the press, having the credibility from working with a trusted third-party will be very beneficial.
Drive Research has the PR survey process down to a science. The next steps for your real estate company include:
1. Project Kickoff Call ☎️
During a kickoff meeting, our research team will chat with your real estate firm about your specific and unique project goals.
A kickoff meeting for a PR market research study is also a great time to discuss timeline, question ideas, audiences, demographics, and answer any questions you may have.
2. Survey Design 🎨
With your research goals and objectives in mind, your dedicated project team at Drive Research collaborates to draft a questionnaire that will garner the right type of feedback to eventually shape your press release, blog post, whitepaper, etc.
3. Survey Approval & Launch 🚀
After the initial PR survey has been written, Drive Research will send the draft over to your team to check for any potential changes or approval.
Once we get the “okay” from your company, we’ll get your real estate survey programmed, tested, and launched into the fieldwork phase.
4. Fieldwork & Data Quality Analysis 📊
Through the fieldwork process, our research analysts carefully watch the data quality. Drive Research will remove the non-sense responses and stay on track to meet your real estate company’s goals for the PR study.
5. Survey Report & Eye-Catching Deliverables 👀
Each real estate PR survey project package is designed specifically for each client based on their research goals and objectives.
For our clients in the real estate industry, PR survey deliverables might be:
- A live dashboard to view the online survey responses are they are completed
- A branded infographic
- A topline summary including newsworthy headlines and data points
- An attention-grabbing press release including headlines and the PR survey methodology
- Social media posts and content (i.e., images, graphics, etc.)
- Webinar outline or template
Is your real estate company interested in a value-added deliverable or service that isn't listed here? Let’s chat!
Drive Research completely customizes our PR survey projects to meet your company’s specific research goals and objectives.
What’s #trending in the real estate industry in 2020?
Before jumping directly into a PR survey, it can be helpful to do some desk research first.
What are your real estate competitors focusing on in their marketing efforts?
Are there any gaps in the real estate market for survey research?
What about new ideas and themes that are gaining popularity in the real estate industry?
Based on some secondary research, some real estate market trends in 2020 include:
Fixer-uppers
In real estate, a fixer-upper is commonly known as a property that could probably be lived in “as is,” but might need a little love in terms of fixtures, construction, design, and decor. A fixer-upper might be a good option for a buyer looking to buy more house for their money or an investor looking to “flip” a house to earn a profit.
Millennials are first-time home-buyers
Now larger than the baby boomer generation, millennials are looking to move out of their apartments and “settle down” in their first homes.
The need for a home office
As a result of working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans realized how essential a home office is in this new era of WFH.
Tiny homes
In an attempt to downsize and save money on housing costs, tiny homes have become a major trend among Americans. According to the National Association of Home Builders, over half of Americans would consider living in a tiny home.
Whether you need help drafting an attention-grabbing press release, creating an eye-catching branded infographic, or phrasing research findings in social media content, Drive Research is there to assist you through the PR survey process from start to finish.
Interested in conducting a survey for your real estate organization? Contact us through any of the 4 ways below.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Elizabeth Sincavage
Elizabeth has a curious mind and is never afraid to ask “why?” She discovered her passion for research and exploring data while completing her bachelor’s degree at Marist College. As a researcher, she believes you’re never truly done learning.
