As property managers, we all want more leads but we all don’t know where or how to get them. Marketing an apartment is a full-time job and takes patience, consistency and, of course, creativity. A major factor of apartment marketing includes increasing your online presence, especially since most renters now a days are conducting their apartment searches online. For those looking for some helpful tips on boosting traffic and securing more leads, you may want to consider incorporating the following tactics into your current marketing strategy.
Social Media
Connecting your property socially is always a great idea, as social media is cheap, highly utilized and easy to implement. Social media provides yet another great way for properties to communicate and interact with residents. By sharing helpful tips and posting upcoming specials and events, you can reach your tenants where they reside most and help deepen their connections with the property. For prospective tenants, an active social media presence can create a positive impression as well. Oftentimes, residents tend to use these channels as a means to express their rental frustrations, which provides an excellent customer service opportunity for property managers to monitor and respond accordingly. If there are numerous complaints on your Facebook page about the length of time it takes to service a maintenance ticket, for example, then maybe it is worth looking into hiring another technician.
AdWords
Google AdWords is another tool that can be used as a cost efficient way to attract high-quality, targeted leads. As an advertiser, you would compete to have your property’s ad shown to web users based on certain keywords of your choosing. You are then charged by the number of clicks per ad. By bidding on specific keywords like the property name, geographic location, value propositions, etc., you can better ensure that your property will receive the most love on Google’s search engine result page. Properties have found AdWords campaigns to be quite effective in terms of reaching a more targeted audience with minimal impact to their pockets, more so than than say an ILS or print campaign.
Craigslist
Craigstlist is a popular, free tool utilized by many properties to attract leads. When advertising your property on Craigslist it is important to include high quality photos, as many visitors will often narrow down their searches to only those properties with pictures. Other important items to incorporate are accurate pricing, square footage, amenities and property location. Because Craigslist can also become inundated with properties, it is becomes essential to post daily, especially during mid-day when most visitors are online, as well as the weekend. The title of the post should always be eye-catching and should vary with each post, as different audiences will respond to different angles. For instance, one title can refer to the amenities, the other can highlight square footage, and maybe another could cater towards the unit’s interior.
Website
An attractive, functional website with high quality images provides a great opportunity to market your complex through a more controlled medium and can set the entire tone of a property. An important tip when creating the website is to ensure it is equipped with SEO. SEO-search optimization- is key to making it easier for your prospects to find you online by improving your search engine rankings through strategic and relevant keywords. In addition to SEO and keywords, it is important to ensure that the site also holds accurate content, captivating visuals, floorplans and provides an easy means of contact—be it a simple contact form, instant chat option, or phone number and email link. A website can also serve as the connecting link for all online or print marketing campaigns. Any Craigslist ads, Adwords campaigns, social media pages/posts, flyers, etc. that a property decides to create should all link back to the property website.
Let Rentbot be the link.
An apartment website is a necessity in today’s rental market. It can serve as the homepage for all of your external online marketing efforts like Facebook, AdWords and Craigslist, so that your prospects will always know where to find you. In addition to increasing your online presence through search engine optimization, Rentbot guarantees more leads or your money back. With a mobile-friendly and responsive design paired with custom, simple-to-use formats, you could be well on your way to ruling the web in a matter of days. And with online rent payment capabilities and streamlined maintenance requests, your current and future tenants will thank you. Link all of your marketing tactics with Rentbot and watch the leads roll in!
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.