Tree decorated by Monica Bunde for her client.

As a home stager you have many creative talents that can help you make money, especially during the holiday season when there are fewer home sellers looking for our home staging services.

Staging Diva Graduate, Monica Bunde of Create Home Staging takes her staging hat off at this time of year and promotes her services decorating for the holiday season.

For example, she just completed a holiday decorating project for a local senior’s home. She says that “A tree, a Santa’s village display, exterior pillars, railings and urns were transformed into a festive winter wonderland. The seniors were so very excited, almost as excited as I was to do it … and it’s those little things that just make this time of year so special.”

You could call Monica an international stager as she runs her staging business in both Ontario and Michigan. This is not as uncommon as you might think! Several Staging Diva Graduates spend part of the year in one location or travel back and forth between cities, states (and even countries), depending on the season, where other family members are, etc. That’s why when you join the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers, you can choose up to 4 states/provinces and 10 locations to serve.

Monica will be continuing to build her home staging business in the new year with a regular home staging column for a local news website, Today’s Windsor. This is an excellent marketing strategy for establishing yourself as a home staging expert and to have your name and company name appear more prominently in Google search results. Way to go Monica, you’re off to a great start for 2012!

Have you had any success marketing your holiday decorating services? How about writing for other publications or websites? Please share you thoughts and experiences here!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould has been an entrepreneur since 1989 and knows how to make money as a home stager. She developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. There are now more than 7,000 students in over 20 countries learning from her many products and services for home stagers.

Home stagers, isn’t it great when major TV shows share why home staging works with their viewers?

Home staging marketing is SO much easier when potential clients already understand that decorating a house to sell is critical when you want to sell quickly and for more money.

I love that Barbara Corcoran, a real estate mogul with a $5 billion dollar business appeared recently on The Nate Berkus Show. As you’ll see in this clip, she tells viewers “Home staging is no longer optional in this real estate market. It’s what will make the difference in whether your home sells or not.” Then she goes on to say that home staging can add at least 5% to 7% to the sales value of a home!

Home staging tips from this segment include:

A larger rug will make a room look bigger. I totally agree with this, when you’ve got a small area rug it tricks the eye and makes you think the room is smaller.

Avoid bold patterns on walls and furniture that might turn off real estate buyers.

Update the decorating scheme for the current year where possible. This will make the home look more current to potential buyers.

Add fresh flowers, especially for open houses and important showings.

Some fun facts about Barbara Corcoran

I love celebrating female entrepreneurs! Barbara Corcoran borrowed $1,000 and quit her waitress job to start her real estate business which is now worth $5 billion.

She is the author of: “If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails” (how’s that for a title of a business book, not to mention a great analogy for what home stagers do for houses!?), “Nextville: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life” and her latest, Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business. I think this latest book includes some behind-the-scenes stuff about being on ABC’s Shark Tank. I can only imagine what she has to say about Kevin (I only love money)  O’Leary!

What do you think of this home staging video clip? Have you found it’s easier to promote your home staging business when you’re not the first to explain to a potential buyer why home staging is important? Share your experiences by commenting below.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the home staging courses to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. Prior to becoming a professional home stager in 2002, Debra bought, staged and sold 7 of her own homes.

Here my interview turned into a side-bar to a House & Home Magazine article on home staging. Note the call to action to see the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers to find a stager at the end!

This is part 2 of a post on solving 5 home stager media challenges. Last week I covered what to do about the first 3:

1. Your phone NOT ringing off the hook after you appear in the media.
2. Your name being spelled wrong or a failure to mention your company name.
3. What to do about a spike in traffic to your website.

You can read my recommendations in detail at Solving 5 Home Stager Media Challenges  – Part 1. Today we’ll tackle the next two media challenges and learn how to turn a challenge into an opportunity for your home staging business.

4. You might spend an hour on the phone with a reporter educating them about home staging and then get only a sentence or two quoting you in the final story.

Always a let down when you know you gave them so much great stuff and then you only get a brief mention. This has happened to me many times. In fact, in one story I wasn’t quoted at all; but at least the reporter interviewed one of the Staging Diva Graduates I recommended and she got coverage!

Here are some other ways to use the media interview to your advantage, whether you get the coverage you hoped for or not.

Take a broader view of your experience speaking with the reporter. First of all it gave you great practice speaking about your business and probably made you less nervous about the whole idea of media interviews. Plus, if you’ve done an excellent job providing background information the writer is more likely to come back to you for a future story. For example, I was interviewed for MoneySense Magazine and when the freelance writer did a piece for The Globe & Mail a year later, she called me again!

Consider your interview a multi-purpose event to really make the most use of your time speaking with the reporter. Record your side of the conversation and have it transcribed. This becomes content for a newsletter article or blog post of your own. Make sure if you use this technique that you wait until after the original story is published so that you don’t repeat the same content and appear to be plagiarizing the author.

5. Your home staging story won’t necessarily run when you think it will.

Despite your best intentions, you may never find out if the story actually ran, as happened to me after a long interview with the largest circulation magazine in the US! This was a big disappointment to me because it’s such a huge magazine and I had even pulled favors with two past clients so they could be interviewed for the story as well.

After many months of periodic emails back and forth with the writer, saying the story had been delayed, I eventually stopped chasing the information. I never did get around to checking every issue on the news stand to see if I was included, so it remains a disappointing mystery to this day and consequently not on my list of media coverage!

You can promote the fact that you’ve been interviewed by a certain publication but until the story actually runs, you’ll never be certain when, or if, it will. This is another important reason to get the email address of the writer. This way you can stay in touch and ask them when it will be published and arrange for them to mail you a hard copy. For other key reasons to email the reporter, see Solving 5 Home Stager Media Challenges  – Part 1.

I also connect with writers who interview me on Twitter where possible. They usually tweet when a story runs so sometimes you’ll get a link to the online version that way. This is one of many Twitter tips I share in the Home Stager’s Guide to Twitter: Building your business one ‘tweet’ at a time.

This series on home staging media coverage started with:

5 Tips to Get Media Attention for Your Home Staging Business,

5 Media Challenges for Home Stagers

Solving 5 Home Stager Media Challenges  – Part 1

I hope you’ve found this subject helpful and added your comments and questions along the way!

Please share your experience with getting media coverage for your own home staging business, or ask me related questions so that I’ll know what you’d like to see featured in future posts on this topic!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva home staging courses to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. Her media coverage is extensive in the US and Canada and she’s also been featured in Australia’s biggest newspaper!

Getting featured this way in the Table of Contents was a real bonus!

This post continues a series about home staging in the news which began with my  5 tips to get media attention for your home staging business.

Last week, I covered 5 things I learned the hard way about media coverage for my home staging business and today I’m going to share what to do to address these home stager media challenges and in some cases turn them into new opportunities.

1. Your phone will NOT start ringing off the hook immediately after you appear in the media.

Have more realistic expectations so that you don’t make the mistake of stopping your marketing just because you have a story coming out.

One of the things I talk about in Course 4, Staging Diva Sales & Marketing Secrets to Boost your Home Staging Business is that someone needs to see your name 7 to 10 times before they’re even aware of you, simply because we’re bombarded with so much information. So your challenge will be to get your name out there before and after those media appearances.

I’ve also found that the greatest value of media coverage is the “bragging” you can do about it afterwards. So someone might not see the article but when you keep talking about how you were in such and such a newspaper or magazine, or that you were featured on the radio or appeared on TV, it helps establish your authority and credibility as a home stager.

In other words, one of the biggest advantages of media coverage is how much LEVERAGE you can get out of it!

If you do find yourself in the lucky position of having too many clients all at once, raise your rates. This will cause some of these potential clients to disappear, and you’ll make way more money on the projects you have left.

2. Your name might be spelled wrong or they might forget your company name altogether.

This is always a big let down, and I’ve been there! Here are strategies I’ve developed to lessen the chance that this will happen.

Whenever possible get the email address of the writer and follow up after the call with a thank you email. This is a nice courtesy, but serves other purposes too!

In your message, include a short blurb of how you’d like to be described (with luck they’ll use that word for word!) With your name, company name and URL in writing in front of them, you improve the odds of having that information included correctly in the final story.

This thank you email is also your chance to add any additional comments you wish you made during the interview. But keep it short and sweet, or this email won’t be read at all.

Remember, these writers are humans too and have the same need for recognition we do! With that in mind, after the story appears, why not write a second thank you note? If you can express in one sentence or two the positive effect they’ve had on your business, you’ll no doubt brighten their day (and strengthen your relationship)!

3. If the article is compelling and your URL is included, you will get a spike in traffic to your website.

Make sure your website is hosted on a server than won’t crash when you get your traffic spike.

Consider this a huge marketing opportunity and don’t waste this new traffic to your website! It might cost you a couple of dollars per click to buy this traffic, through Google for example, and here you’ve got it for free! Ensure you have an opt-in box on your landing page to capture interested leads. You’ll find tips like this explained in detail in 14 Marketing Ideas to Rev Up Your Home Staging Business.

During the original interview (or ideally while you’re negotiating being available for it), make sure that you request that your URL be hyperlinked to your site from any online version of the story. Canadian media seem to always refuse this request, but I’ve had some luck with US media.

Having a CNNMoney link to my home staging business website has been very helpful for my search engine ranking. In fact, the size and ranking of the websites that link to yours is one of THE most important factors in determining your own site’s ranking!  (See also: Home Staging Website – Does Yours Perform?)

Stay tuned next week for my recommendations on how to turn the next 2 media challenges into opportunities to grow your home staging business. Namely:

• What can be done when you spend an hour on the phone with a reporter and only get quoted in a sentence or two.

• What to do about the fact that the home staging story might not appear when you think it will.

In the meantime, please add your comments below and let me know if this information is helpful, what else you’d like to know about media coverage, and share any experiences you have.

Your comments are always appreciated by our community as they make this a livelier and more educational and inspiring discussion for all!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. There are more than 4000 Staging Diva Students in over 20 countries. Debra is frequently profiled in the media for her home staging expertise and is the author of 5 guides for home stagers.

Staging Diva discusses staging with TV news anchor Ann-Marie Mediwake

The more home staging is covered in the media, the easier it is for all home stagers to sell their services. When potential clients already know what staging is and how decorating a house to sell on the real estate market benefits them, we can spend more time on why we’re the right stager for the job, rather than educating them about the practice itself.

I’ve been working to raise the public’s awareness of home staging since 2002 when I started my home staging business Six Elements Inc. Since then, I’ve been blessed with coverage in major media like CNNMoney, The Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest, National Post, The Globe and Mail, MoneySense, This Old House, Woman’s Day, and many decorating magazines.

Recently, I shared 5 tips to get media attention for your home staging business to help you get into the media too.

After all, this is basically free advertising and more exposure than you could ever hope to pay for on your own. Ads in major newspapers and magazines cost thousands of dollars. And you could never buy your way onto the anchor desk of a TV news show.

It’s not unusual for home stagers to write me and say something like:

“I’m going to be in the newspaper on Saturday and I’m expecting the phones to go crazy on Sunday! My staging business is really on it’s way now!”

Today, in part 2 of this series on Home Staging in the News, I want to explore 5 things I learned the hard way about what to expect from your media coverage.

1. Your phone will NOT start ringing off the hook immediately after you appear in the media (really, how often have you phoned someone just because you saw them quoted in the newspaper or saw them on TV?).




2. Your name might be spelled wrong (as mine was in a national newspaper, much to my dismay) or they might forget your company name altogether.




3. If the article is compelling and your URL is included, you will get a spike in traffic to your website (mine went from about 200 visitors up to 10,000 the first time I appeared in the Toronto Star).




4. You might spend an hour on the phone with a reporter educating them about home staging and then get only a sentence or two quoting you in the final story.




5. Your home staging story won’t necessarily run when you think it will. News will always trump a human interest story so you can easily get bumped at the last minute. Even decorating magazines rearrange their editorial line up depending on advertising sales and other factors.

Watch for Part 3 of Home Staging in the News, where I’ll give you ways to get around these 5 media challenges and, in some cases, use them to your advantage!

In the meantime, comment below about whether you find this information helpful. Please share your experience with getting media coverage for your own home staging business, or ask me related questions so that I’ll know what you’d like to see featured in future posts on this topic!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva home staging courses to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. Her media coverage is extensive in the US and Canada and she’s also been featured in Australia’s biggest newspaper!

Getting media attention for a home staging business has been a hot topic lately. Recently after writing about 3 Staging Diva Graduates featured in staging stories in Kenosha, Nashville and Chicago newspapers, a home stager in Alaska wrote that she was having trouble getting local papers interested in writing about her.

Here  are 5 tips to getting media attention for your home staging business:

1. Remember that YOU are NOT the story!

The local media really don’t care that you just opened your own home staging business unless you are writing to the editor of a local paper who has a column specifically for this purpose. Some community papers have columns about new small businesses, stores, restaurants, etc. in the area, and approaching them can be quite effective.

My first coverage as a home stager was from a press release I wrote (that was used word for word) in an “Eye on Business” column for a neighborhood paper. You can see how I hooked the editor in by looking for the story on my media page (scroll down towards the bottom).

2. Write a press release that has a timely news angle.

To increase the chances of your press release getting picked up, tie in with something that’s already in the news or is especially timely. For example, an accountant could get some coverage with tax saving tips if the press release was sent out in April. The same release would be ignored in July.

Similarly, as a home stager, color consultant and interior redesigner, there are obvious seasons where your tips in these different areas would be most useful and interesting to readers.

3. Think about ways to make an editor’s or reporter’s job easier.

No one has the budgets they used to for extra staff so everyone in the media is working harder. Plus, when you consider that they now have to blog, tweet, etc. on top of what they did before, and there’s a 24 hour news cycle that didn’t exist in the past, they have more stories to write, tighter deadlines and less time for research, etc.

Rather than being intimidated and thinking that they are doing you a favor by writing about you, approach the whole task of getting media coverage with a different, and more useful, mindset. They need new and interesting content every single day and you can do them a favor by providing it! This in no way means you should approach them with arrogance or hint that they owe you some coverage. Either of these attitudes will get you absolutely nowhere!

First you need to do your homework. Read the publication you’re thinking of approaching. Notice who the reporters are that write about the kinds of topics you have knowledge in. Then approach them directly with a story idea that fits their topic and style. Approaching them is so much easier to do than in the past because you can often find their email addresses on line.

Another way to get a reporter’s attention is by adding meaningful comments to blog posts of his stories. This has a side benefit of letting you link to your own home staging website! If you don’t have a website, and you’re a Staging Diva Graduate, make sure you join the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers so you’ll have a professional Internet presence.

You can also approach an editor, again with a personalized approach. I landed a feature story and was on the cover of a magazine after I approached an editor with a story idea and offered to provide a list of all the sources they’d need for the story! I had been reading the magazine for a year and I knew what kind of story they’d like and pitched my idea that way. Unless you fit with their editorial style and target audience, there is no way they’ll cover you.

4. Don’t be afraid to give away your expertise.

Some home stagers mistakenly believe that if they put too many of their tips and ideas into articles, blog posts or press releases that no one will hire them because they’ll do the work themselves based on that advice.

The truth is, the way you prove that you’re the right person to hire is by showing you know what you’re talking about. A potential client will be inspired to reach out to you when they are impressed with the quality of information and portfolio photos you’ve shared with them in advance.

Just last week I got a call from a writer for Michiana House and Home Magazine who want to run my top 10 home staging tips in their August issue.

5. Have a strong Internet presence that positions you as an expert.

Reporters work on tight deadlines. The easier it is for you to be found, the easier it is to get media coverage. Other than my very first press release to the local community paper, all my other media coverage has come from them seeking me out, rather than the other way around.

My absolute best day was when I spoke to The Wall Street Journal in the morning for a front page feature in their Home Section on insider secrets that I use to stage my own homes to sell. I was just walking in the door after picking up my child from school that afternoon and ran for the ringing phone to hear, “Hi, this is Les Christie from CNN, I’d like to interview you for a story.” At first I thought it was a prank, how could CNN want to talk to me, let alone on the very same day as The Wall Street Journal?!

Now you could say I was just “lucky”, but let’s face it, there are thousands of other people either one of them could have called. I believe in making my own luck and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I had just started 3 blogs the week before and I already had a home staging website with a ton of content at that point!

I cover more on getting media attention in Course 4, Staging Diva Sales and Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business.

Readers, have you used any of the techniques described here or tried a different approach? I know your thoughts will inspire and help your fellow home stagers. Please share your experiences by commenting below.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the home staging courses to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. Debra has an MBA in Marketing and worked for many Fortune 500 companies prior to becoming a professional home stager in 2002. She has been a published writer on the subject of marketing since the 1980s.

Getting media attention for your home staging business is like getting thousands of dollars (if not tens of thousands of dollars!) of free advertising and should be the goal of anyone with a home staging business. In a recent post, I featured 3 Staging Diva Graduates who have been featured in local newspapers in Kenosha, Nashville and Chicago. This prompted a great question from Stacy Goade of Alaska Premier Home Staging, she asks:

Is anyone else struggling to get attention or interest from their local news papers for articles or press releases? In communications with staff from the local news paper here I am told that they will do their best to run a release or an article if they have room for it (shrinking subscriber base and shrinage in staff) or there is interest in the topic.

Anyone else dealing with this? Any advice? Using large news papers, or smaller local news publications?

Readers, I’d love your thoughts on Stacy’s business dilemma. Please share your experiences or successes with media attention for your home staging business and I’ll write a follow up post in the next week or two with my own thoughts and a summary of what I thought were the best ideas added here. This will add to all of our knowledge and benefit our whole community of both new and established home stagers. So please jump in with your comments below!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the home staging courses to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. She offers tips for being featured in the media as part of course 4, Staging Diva Sales & Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business.

In course 4, Staging Diva Sales & Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business, I provide tons of marketing ideas that you can use with your 4 key target markets for home staging. One of these targets is the media because I’m a big advocate of free marketing (where you can get it) and the media will always get you in front of a larger audience than you can reach yourself.

Imagine what it would have cost me to buy an ad on the front page of The Wall Street Journal‘s Home Section? Yet there I was in a feature article called “Tricks of the Trade: Setting Up a Home for Sale” about how I stage my own homes for sale. This front page story not only raised awareness of home staging in general, but of my services in particular. Now did I get any home staging projects from it? No because it’s The Wall Street Journal, not my local paper. Though I did get contacted by a New York literary agent, which was very cool.

Clearly, being featured in the media also provides a significant boost to your credibility as a home staging expert in your market. Do not under estimate the value of this. You may not get a project immediately that you can directly trace to your media appearance, but if you make sure potential clients know that you were featured, it will help many of them make a decision to hire you.

Here are some recent media appearances for Staging Diva Graduates that I happened to learn about on Facebook. (Note: You can improve the chances of being featured on my blog— which gets your name out there even more— if you send me your success stories!)

Nashville Staging Diva Graduate Gary Baugher of An Eye 4 Change was featured in the Home Improvement section of Hendersonville Star News, with huge photos of one of his home staging projects, a photo of himself and a full article on how staging a house gives home sellers an edge in today’s market. In fact, he’s the only stager quoted in the entire story! Gary writes, “Aside from my own talents and ambition, I attribute my success to the Staging Diva home staging courses and your continued support. Most of all you helped me gain the confidence to put myself out there and follow my dream. Debra, You truly are an inspiration to us all.”

New York Staging Diva Graduate Donna Dazzo of Designed to Appeal is frequently quoted in the media, her latest story is in the Chicago Tribune. By the way, Donna came to home staging after a layoff from her 25+ year career in financial services and I doubt she would have predicted all the magic that lay ahead of her when she decided to follow her passion and use her creative talents! Learn more about how others have reinvented themselves as home stagers.

Wisconsin Staging Diva Graduate Leah Fritz of Perfect Place Home Staging was featured in a full page spread in Kenosha News including 3 sets of before and after shots from her staging projects. What a way to get her home staging portfolio in front of a local audience of potential clients and real estate agents!

I’ve always had the media seek me out which is why a strong online presence is so critical — you need to be easy to find and have a professional web presence that positions you as an expert. In fact, the reporter told Gary Baugher specifically that she found him by Googling “Nashville Home Stager” and loved his website. And when the CNN reporter found me, it was because of my home staging website, SixElements.com.

Please add your comments about any media attention you’re received about your home staging business and let us know how the reporter found you. I know your input will inspire other home stagers. Besides, why not take a moment to pat yourself on the back for your own success?!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Discover the ONLY Home Staging Business Training Program taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully grown her own home staging business. There are many ideas for marketing to real estate agents in course 4, Staging Diva Sales and Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business. Debra has been featured in the media across Canada and the United States and first started writing about marketing as a regular contributor to Profit Magazine in the 1980s.

Six hundred real estate agents in the US were recently polled by HomeGain in the annual Home Sale Maximer survey. The survey asked agents to list their top picks for home improvements that help sellers get the best return on investment (ROI).

Staging made it to number 3 on the list behind lightening and brightening and cleaning and decluttering (which interestingly enough are all important components of staging!).

Thousands of sellers each year use the Home Sale Maximer survey as a guide when getting their homes ready to sell.

The spring real estate market starts at the end of February in most places. How are you marketing your home staging business so these motivated home sellers will be able to find you?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. She is frequently profiled in the media for her home staging expertise and is the author of 5 guides for home stagers.

Staging Diva Graduate Cheryl Ward is a Computer Technician by day and a home stager the rest of the time. This month marks the one year anniversary of Cheryl’s business Ivy Home Staging located in Ontario, Canada. She was given an additional reason to celebrate when she learned she would be profiled as Business Woman of the Month in Victoria’s Read, a local publication that highlights women in business.

Cheryl still works full time as a computer technologist because it’s a job she really enjoys, however, she’s glad she has home staging as a fun outlet for her creativity.

She recently wrote me to say, “I have a focus and purpose for my life. When a customer says ‘thank you for your sound advice’ that is instant gratification. When you see the pictures online for a home you only gave advice for and the homeowner did everything – that’s gratification! It is also proof to me that what I am suggesting is being articulated well to the client, something I often wonder about when I leave a consultation.”

About her home staging training, Cheryl writes, “Staging Diva is high caliber training and delivers exactly what a new home stager needs to get started. I have the tools to be fully self employed, which is a huge goal. The seeds of business can sometimes grow slowly, however I’m confident I will have a good harvest from all of the marketing I’ve done & continue to do.”

Congratulations, Cheryl! I look forward to watching your business grow in the coming years.

Aspiring home stagers, Cheryl offers proof that you can balance a career you enjoy and a home staging business that allows you an outlet for your creativity. What are you waiting for?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.