PR lessons for 5* KLCC condominiums
Magazines & Newspapers
Ten years ago, I managed to get the editor of Home Pride, a glossy lifestyle magazine that features beautiful homes to print a 7 page write up on Kirana Residence. For FREE. Here’s how I engineered free PR for Kirana Residence.
Copyright Home Pride. Double click to download
Even before the ground floor lobby refurbishment exercise (overseen ably by Jennifer Chan, committee member, later 2nd Chairman of Kirana MC) was completed, I decided to contact the editor of Catcha Media, the publisher of Home Pride. I told the editor the MC committee had appointed Geoffrey Thomas of the ID firm, GTA, to refresh our outdated ID for the ground floor lobby.
I mentioned GTA had recently refurbished the ground floor lobby of Desa Kudalari, the oldest KLCC condominium. And the resultant increase in rentals and capital values after the successful lobby refurbishment at Desa Kudalari. Might she be interested in seeing whether GTA could perform a similar transformation for Kirana Residence?
At the same time, I contacted the long term tenant of my unit who also had GTA as his ID contractor. Could I have his permission for the photographer and editor of Home Pride to shoot some pictures in his apartment? No problem. So on the appointed day after the completion of the refurbishment exercise, the building manager and I met up with the editor and the photographer and his team of assistants.
For the price of a jug of coffee and some biscuits ordered from the 22F cafe at Ascott KL, I asked for and obtained the high quality pictures of Kirana Residence’s ground floor lobby and the interior pictures of a 4 bedroom unit that can be seen on this blog.
Here’s a tip for JMB/MC committees that are planning a lobby refurbishment exercise for their KLCC condominium. It pays to plan ahead. Talk to a magazine editor about your upcoming renovations.
Maybe your MC or JMB can also get FREE PR like Kirana Residence. There is another way MCs and JMBs can get other media like newspapers to cover their 5* KLCC condominiums. This is by engaging the services of a media professional. Typically, media professionals charge around RM5,000 up but they can guarantee your 5* condominium gets featured in a national newspaper like the New Straits Times. Take for the example the 4 page spread that appeared in 2012 in the New Straits Times pull out section Real Estate & Decor (RED).
2. Newsletters
I got the idea of having a quarterly newsletter for Kirana Residence from a Henry Butcher Building Manager who was on temporary assignment at Kirana Residence. He was the Building Manager at Seri Bukit Ceylon, a serviced residence at Bukit Ceylon.
The original Henry Butcher newsletter for residents of Seri Bukit Ceylon was in a single colour and printed on cheap paper. It was done in-house to save money. The basic idea behind the newspapers was not to show news tit bits about Seri Bukit Ceylon but to highlight the regular maintenance by the property management team led by the Building Manager. By documenting the efforts of his property management team and more pertinently the COSTS of maintaining the common areas of their properties, it was easier for him as Building Manager to get owners to pay up their monthly service charges if they could see where their money was spent on. Brilliant idea! So of course I had to steal them. PS I asked the Henry Butcher building manager for permission to have the past two years worth of Seri Bukit Ceylon newsletters. And he graciously said “RC, take the lot with my compliments”
However, I felt Kirana Residence’s newsletter, “KIRANAnews” must not just copy Seri Bukit Ceylon’s. KIRANAnews will set the GOLD standard for 5* KLCC condominium newsletters. Our MC newsletter will be printed in FULL glorious colour, be professionally designed and printed on thick glossy paper. Not even the other 5* KLCC condominiums across the road or beside Kirana -OneKL, Marc Residence -and even the Binjai on the Park was going to beat us in PR.
I persuaded the Kirana MC committee members that since all of us served on a volunteer UNPAID basis, it would be a good idea to have something to remember our efforts to improve Kirana’s facilities in years to come. A glossy newsletter that documents the $$$ capital expenditures the MC was going to spend fitted the bill.
The cost per issue of KIRANAnews was around RM800 to RM1,000 with roughly 50% being a fee paid to a freelance graphics designer (recommended by the new Building Manager of Downtown Condominium that started getting results in restoring that condominium JMB’s finances ) and the rest of the budget was for printing.
KIRANAnews was first published on 4Q2010 and ended its glorious run sometime in 2014, having achieved the objective of documenting the important phase of the rebranding exercise led by Jennifer Chan, second KMC chairman. Of course in 2021, newsletters are probably an unnecessary expense.
A better way of promoting a 5* KLCC condominium is via a blog.
3. Blog
A blog can be an effective way of driving traffic to a 5* KLCC Condominium website. Here are some samples of pages from postings to a high end property blog -360 KLCC -that reference Kirana Residence. No hard sell here. If you are going to use a blog as a PR tool to project a positive image for your KLCC condominium, it is important to remember not to overdo things. Otherwise, instead of generating positive PR for your KLCC condominium, readers will be turned off.
The blog posts on 360 KLCC in my view make subtle use of Kirana Residence as an example of how to update KLCC condominium websites, why it is important to check invoices from contractors for billing mistakes, and many more.
Index page 360 KLCC blog
Kirana Residence USPs
Source 360 KLCC blog
4. Residents Info Pack & Flyer
As part of the 2011-2012 rebranding exercise that saw Kondominum Kirana rebranded as Kirana Residence, a flyer with the tongue in cheek tag “KLCC's newest condominium 2011” was printed. Yours truly wrote the advertising copy for the flyer.
A glossy folder in black with new Kirana signage was designed with the same tag.
The folder was completely redesigned by a new MC Committee. This version was introduced circa 2016 and bore a new tag, “City Living, Resort Lifestyle” to emphasize new facilities on the 2F pool deck available to Kirana Residents like a private dining area and an upgraded cabana with a bar counter (the first cabana being unfortunately destroyed by termites).
Source Author's collection
Info pack, circa 2016. Flyer, 2011
Author’s original notes on KIRANAnews
