Public Relations: Top real estate players- What's your ranking?

Each year at a specified time, real estate and business media publish lists of the top players. The lists vary from the strictly quantifiable CoStar, Real Estate Alert or Real Deal top producers to the more subjective, Crain's Forty Under Forty, Commercial Observer Power 100 or New York Real Estate Journal Women in Real Estate. What these lists have in common is they give the industry and you, the practitioner, a standard recognition, and something to strive for. The lists are excellent public relations vehicles unless a company is concerned about revealing data. Some firms are sensitive, but the prevailing feeling is positive. So how do you get there? 1) Plan ahead. Know when these lists are being published. 2) Make sure your submission is complete and on time. If anything is missing or late, you run the risk of not making the cut. 3) Confirm arrival of your submission. You would be surprised, how easy it is for your submission to be misfiled, misplaced or otherwise lost. 4) Don't bury yourself in a hole all year and expect to be recognized in the subjective rankings. While a measured proposal or press release will help editors evaluate, it is better to be out there all year, telling the community, including the media, what you are accomplishing and your views on the marketplace. 5) Even better, get to know the journalists, help them understand the trends and give them ideas and stories on your deals and those of others. What's your ranking? Harry Zlokower is president of Zlokower Company and immediate past president of the New York Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, New York, NY.