How a Real Estate Publishing House Grew Its Subscribers 150%
Snap Shot
Average of 20 media appearances monthly – interviews, stories, and by-lined article placements – in U.S. real estate, financial, travel, retirement, wealth management, and financial TV and radio.
After retaining Razor Sharp PR, the client more than doubled its North American subscription rate from 200,000 to 500,000 people looking to invest and/or retire overseas.
Client Description
Live and Invest Overseas (LIOS) is a real estate and retirement publishing house and events company based in Paris, France, and Panama City, Panama.
Objective
LIOS needed to expand its visibility, credibility, and brand to increase subscribers’ interest in real estate investment, travel, living, and retirement overseas.
Challenges
Purchasing real estate or retiring overseas was seen by many in the media and by the population at large as completely foreign. And by some, even extremely dangerous.
Services Deployed
Razor Sharp PR developed key messaging to address the fears and other negative sentiments held by media, investors, and would-be retirees. We integrated these messages, as well as highlighting the positive aspects of overseas life, into all by-lined articles, press releases, infographics, and other media documents.
For example, some believe Colombia to be extremely dangerous due to the drug trade that was largely decimated in the mid-1990s. Explaining how the country is now relatively peaceful and technologically advanced – and that Pablo Escobar has been dead for more than two decades – made this contrarian story very attractive to the media.
Razor Sharp also helped to develop and publicize the annual Retire Overseas Index and other “Top 10” lists, like the “Best Places in the World to Work Remotely,” that play exceptionally well with media.
In addition, constantly monitoring real estate, travel, and retirement news trends made it possible to insert LIOS founders Kathleen Peddicord and Lief Simon into the news as expert sources. For example, when the Panama Papers were leaked, and many well-known personalities were implicated in dubious activity, we could place articles and land multiple interviews for Lief, where he talked about how the headlines only focused on a small percentage of people who were doing illegal activities offshore. Most offshore bank accounts and transactions are legal and beneficial for average Americans. The “it’s not just for the rich” angle was very interesting to the press.
Lastly, with regular travel comes the opportunity to meet with reporters and editors one-on-one, which is somewhat of a lost art in public relations, but quite useful in building lasting relationships.
Results
Regular placements in top-tier TV, radio, print, and digital media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, BNN Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business, New York Times, Forbes, CBS News, MarketWatch, USA Today, Associated Press, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Financial Advisor Magazine, MSN Money, and many more.
Massive increase in LIOS customer base from 200,000 to more than 500,000.