Fall seemed to fly in, and the holidays are quickly approaching, which likely means your peak rental season is dwindling down. While the cooler months historically produce less rental demand, this does not mean your marketing should cool off as well. By taking a more proactive approach to your holiday marketing, you can reel in new prospects and stand out among your competitors. Here are a few tips that you can incorporate into your holiday marketing strategy to make this holiday rental season your best yet.
Engage with your audiences through live stories.
Creating meaningful and memorable social interactions are key to capturing the attention of your prospects this holiday season. Live video marketing helps businesses relate to their customers on a more personal, human level and encourages a greater, real-time interaction, as consumers tend to recall video content more so than other content types. According to a recent eMarketers report, consumers actually spend approximately 83 minutes per day consuming digital video, which will be quickly growing to 92 minutes by 2020.
By hosting live video tours, you’re able to give prospects a sneak-peek into what life would be like living at your property as well as your property’s culture. Through your “lives,” you can interact freely with those who are most engaged by encouraging live questions and suggestions, which, in turn, strengthens your relationship while promoting a level of transparency that is oftentimes lacking with one’s standard digital marketing ads.
Post holiday-themed content…and deals!
What better way to boost your marketing strategy than to incorporate holiday themes into your website and social media content. You can leverage the season to meet your marketing goals, be it to secure more property reviews, increase web traffic or gain additional in-person tours. Host photo contests for the best decorated “holiday-themed” unit using predetermined hashtags, promote resident referral programs as a great means to secure some additional holiday cash, or have residents share pictures of their holidays at home for a chance to win a special prize.
Also, if your property is interested in running a leasing special, the holidays are a great time to do so. You can encourage renters to seal in their units now for spring or even offer special incentives for moving in during the season, like holiday catering, electronics, or gift cards.
Ensure your website and emails are optimized for mobile.
With the rising surge in users searching and shopping via mobile devices, it is paramount for properties to ensure their website is configured for mobile devices. If not, the rest of your holiday marketing strategy is pretty much useless. Consumers expect an ideal viewing experience from businesses nowadays, are are more inclined to “bounce” if these needs aren’t met.
The same applies to your email marketing strategy. If you already have a decent prospect list and are planning on launching a holiday email campaign, ensure they are also optimized for mobile devices. If they aren’t, you could be missing out on the opportunity to engage and convert. You can do this by incorporating pre-header text, consolidating your subject lines and body copy, placing your call-to-actions in prominent locations, leaving ample white space around buttons or links, and, last but not least, testing, testing, testing! For a faster way to ensure the most optimal viewing experience, you can take advantage of responsive email templates, which are already designed with mobile in mind. You’ll simply insert your copy, schedule and send with minimal leg work on the back end.
Rentbot can help.
If your website isn’t scoring you conversions, new leads or increased traffic, it’s time to consider an overhaul. And, with the holiday season fast approaching, you’ll likely need one pretty quickly to capture those winter moves. Our property management websites save you time and money, and in a matter of days, we’ll have your new turnkey website equipped with SEO, online rent payment and maintenance request tools, high quality photos, and, most importantly, a mobile-friendly design, up and running, just in time for your holiday marketing.
Capture your holiday traffic this upcoming season with a brand new Rentbot site! Try us for 30 days on us! Learn more here.
About the Author
Jonsette Calloway joined the Rentbot team in 2015. With a background in public relations, advertising and copywriting, she has helped a multitude of clients achieve their marketing and communications goals within various fields, but she particularly enjoys working with the apartment industry.