There’s No Place Like Home

WHETHER IT’S BUILDING or selling one, for those in the real estate and construction industries, there’s just no place like home. While promoting oneself can be just as hard as battling flying monkeys and wicked witches, red ruby slippers aren’t the only thing that can get advertisers to that fabled other side of the rainbow. There are a variety of products available for clients in the real estate and construction industries, and they run the gamut from tried-and-true market mainstays to high-end, custom-made works of art.

For Michelle Fey-Mitchell, vice president of marketing, and Mike Fey, vice president of sales at Fey Line, a vinyl promotional products company in Edgerton, Minn., the yellow brick road of success is lined with, well, vinyl. “My thing, certainly within the real estate market, is price point,” explained Fey. “Real estate agents often are looking for inexpensive items,” he added. Fey Line’s real estate items are mostly vinyl-based and are manufactured in the United States. “There are a lot of companies in the industry now that simply import the item and then imprint on the product, but we actually manufacture,” he added. Giving its clients a good quality product that can be quickly produced, as well as one that is not prohibitively expensive, is key to Fey Line’s success. “We’re made in the USA and so anything that we do, we can do fairly quickly,” added Fey-Mitchell.

The company focuses on the general products of the real estate market they’ve found to be effective. Fey Line’s real estate products range from ring binders and document holders to daily planners and business card caddies. “For real estate, we look at products that can be used in a variety of ways,” explained Fey-Mitchell. Yet, just because an item is common doesn’t mean it can’t be trendy or new. “Well, I would hope we have the ability to be trendy,” she added. By taking an everyday item and putting a non-traditional spin on it, Fey Line has found success with its magnetic coupon holder. A thank-you gift that real estate agents can give to their clients or prospective clients at open houses, the magnet is not only a useful place to store coupons, but it also is a great way for agents to display their contact information. “It’s probably more of a non-traditional product but it’s worked in that industry,” Fey-Mitchell said.