E-news May

Welcome
The official E-Newsletter of Custom House Publishers is your monthly guide to maximizing the potential of your custom newspaper. Each month we feature our most successful publications and Realtors® to provide helpful tips to the rest of the Custom House family.

Inside the June Issue:

Lovin’ Those Listings: Making your listings more than just listings
Adding a Touch of Community: Tips on including local content
Making the Phones Ring: Calls to action that really sell
A Week with the Stars: Where you can catch up with the Custom House team
Feedback: Help us serve you better
This Month’s Special Offer: Free listings page if you publish in June

Lovin' Those Listings

Getting people to read the listings in your custom paper is important. As we all know, highlighting your best properties will undoubtedly help your business grow. If you’re not careful though, your publication can start to look jumbled and confusing, ultimately making the publication less effective. more...

Try It for Yourself!
All clients publishing in June will receive a free listings page to highlight a featured property, “solds” or current listings. Call your account executive today to get details and reserve your discount.

Adding a Touch of Community

People love to read about what’s going on in the neighborhood, and the more local interest you can include, the greater your readership. Here are the top five ways to add a little community to your custom publication:

Incorporate a local landmark or popular community site on your cover.
Publish a community or school calendar.
Ask a local dignitary (politician, teacher, fireman) to write a short column for you about an issue facing the community.
Take photos at a local festival or event and include them with captions.
Make it known to local charities and organizations that you will accept press releases.

Remember, our editorial team is here to help. Talk to your account executive about submitting a story idea to be written by our staff. Typically, our writers need only the basic concept, a contact name and number (as well as email) to get started.

Make the Phones Ring
Tell your customers what you want them to do, and they’ll do it. Seems simple, but coming up with a call to action that really makes the phones ring is sometimes a challenge. Here are three offers that have proven successful for other clients.

Give ‘em what they need: Offer a free home or market evaluation, or better yet, develop a package of tips and ideas for new buyers or those interested in selling that they can request by phone or email.

Local heroes: Hold a contest to find local heroes. Ask people to submit a paragraph about a local hero they’d like to honor. After collecting all the entries, profile the chosen hero in your next edition and give away a prize.

Register to win: Develop a drawing featuring a unique and valuable prize such as tickets to a local professional sports team or a two-night stay at a local hotel or resort.

And remember to always include your email, Web address and basic contact info wherever it may be necessary in your publication.

Feedback
At Custom House Publishers, we are always developing new products. Please take a moment to help us decide whether we should proceed with this project.

A Week With the Stars
For all of you Howard Brinton Stars out there, look for us at this month’s conference beginning July 19. We’ll be available to discuss ideas and there will be a special offer for conference attendees. Be sure to stop by our booth.