Magazine’s success by design
HAYDEN – Brandon Lee built a $10 million marketing company after observing his wife’s devotion to dusty stacks of home-decorating magazines.
Her refusal to part with back issues of Better Homes and Gardens, Sunset Magazine and Southern Living became the genesis for Home by Design – a home decor magazine that Realtors use as a marketing tool. Agents buy subscriptions to the magazines, which are personalized with their picture on the cover, and send them to real estate clients to build loyalty and generate referrals. The magazines’ long shelf lives make them great marketing pieces, said Lee, who launched Home by Design in late 2002 from his basement.
Network Communications Inc., one of the nation’s largest publishers of real estate periodicals, agreed. Last month, the firm bought Home by Design for an undisclosed price.
“We told them ‘no’ about four times,” Lee said. “But in the long run, it means faster growth and gives us better sales channels.”
By Design Publishing puts out Home by Design. The Hayden company employs about 55 people and will remain based here, becoming a division of the Lawrenceville, Ga.-based Network Communications.
Network Communications publishes Apartment Finder, The Real Estate Book, Mature Living Choices and other real estate advertising periodicals. The firm’s sales exceeded $200 million last year. Its publications are read by 13 million people in 650 metro markets in the U.S. and Canada, according Network Communications.
“It was the right company for us,” said the 37-year-old Lee. “They’re calling on 45,000 to 50,000 real estate clients each month…We have 7,000 real estate clients.”
The two companies compared their data bases and found few overlapping customers, providing growth opportunities for both firms, said Lee, who agreed to stay on for two years as By Design Publishing’s president.
Home By Design comes out six times each year, featuring recipes, articles on home remodels and travel pieces. Real estate agents who buy magazine subscriptions for clients customize the publication with the cover photo of themselves and three pages of personalized messages.
This fall, the magazine will launch a companion Web site. Lee’s goal is to have By Design TV.tv operating in time for the California Realtors Expo in early October.
“We don’t pretend to be Ty Pennington; it’s not a how-to site,” said Lee, referring the star of ABC’s popular Extreme Makeover: Home Edition show. The Web site will offer virtual tours and videos of the homes and projects featured in the magazine.
Lee is also working on a new product, which he’s testing in the Spokane-Kootenai markets. Real estate agents can sign their clients up for coupons, deals and offers from local businesses. It’s sort of like the old “Welcome Wagon” concept, except that the ads arrive before the family moves in, instead of 30 to 45 days afterward.
“If somebody’s moving in from out of state…and we know they’re still in California, we can show them all the offers available before they get here,” Lee said.
Veterinarians, grocery stores, dentist offices and spas have signed onto the promotion, he said. Realtors pick which services they think their clients would be interested in. The packet arrives with a personalized message from the agent, thanking the homebuyers for their business.
Lee will test the promotion in nine more metro areas this fall, with plans for a national rollout next year.