Having a weekly radio program to build your home staging business.
As a professional home stager, when I was first approached about being a guest on a home inspector’s radio program, in St Augustine, FL, I was both excited and a little nervous. I do presentations in front of Realtors, Builders, Real Estate Investors, and other industry professionals all the time. Radio. That felt a little more daunting. There are so many people listening. How do you convey home staging to radio listeners? After all, home staging is a visual skill, it’s not usually an auditory topic. That said, I am not one to miss out on free marketing opportunities, so I took a leap of faith that I would figure it out.
How can you talk about home staging week after week without visuals?
The radio host, Kevin Geddings, the owner and DJ at WSOS radio, along with the guest hosts made me feel right at home. Kevin asked me all kinds of questions. They were common questions; questions that are probably listed on almost every home staging company’s FAQ page. He had seen it on cable networks, but really didn’t know much more than what they show on TV. This was as easy as talking to any potential customer, maybe even easier because I knew I wasn’t going to close a deal. I was just carrying on a conversation about what I do for a living.
After the show, I asked him about what it took to have my own show. It turns out, it’s pretty easy. For less than $1000, per month, I air a live 30 minute show, and get commercials throughout the month. Since I have started, I’ve had more inquiries and actual closed deals than the cost of the program. Additionally, when I’m meeting with a customer, who has heard me on the radio, I have instant credibility. They already know that I know what I’m doing, they’ve heard me talk about the business. They’ve heard about the process. They’ve heard about the results, and best yet, they’ve heard someone else they trust (who is also a local celebrity) tell them how great our company is!
Whenever we feel like we don’t know what to talk about that day, we go to some article about home staging and decide if we think the recommendations are good, or not so good. This always provides a chuckle, and an opportunity to explain my rationale and market positioning. We get to discuss how living in your home is different than selling it and all the ways that staging is really more about marketing than design. I love that.
Making the most out of your radio station marketing.
In order to make the 30 minutes that I spend on the air, I utilize social media, especially and particularly my Facebook Business Account, by streaming each Monday morning home staging radio program on Facebook live. This allows my network to pop on and talk to me while I’m streaming. Now, not only do I have local people who hear my program, but I have quite a few regulars who tune in online each week. This gives me top of mind awareness, and a great opportunity to create new and unique video content each week for my page.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel!
Of course one of the benefits of streaming live on Facebook, in addition to all the great aspects of FB, in general, is that you can then download that video to YouTube. This creates yet another opportunity for others to find you and learn about what you do. The more unique and interesting content you have on YouTube, the more likely you are to gain followers.
For me, the best part of my weekly home staging radio show, is that I actually really enjoy it. It’s the best thing about my Monday morning. Generally, I am NOT a morning person, but showing up, at the radio station, and talking to the people who are driving in their cars, who have the radio on as back ground music, and those who are tuning in online, make me feel like I’m adding a bit of brightness to their Monday also. Last week, Kevin told me that he was speaking with a listener recently, and he mentioned how he’s usually driving home when my show is on. If he gets home before the show is finished, he sits in his driveway and listens to the rest of the show. That makes me feel incredibly grateful. It’s a great way to start any week.
To catch Melissa’s radio shows, be sure to follow us on YouTube and Facebook!
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