If you want to find tenants for your properties successfully, you need to make them visible, attractive, and compelling. With the right digital marketing strategy, this becomes much easier and more accessible.
But what are the most important digital marketing strategies for rental properties? How do you succeed in this space?
Why Marketing Is So Important
Hypothetically, if you offer a great property at a great price, it should be able to fill itself. But in practical terms, you’ll be much more likely to succeed if you invest in digital marketing.
There are a few main reasons why this is the case:
- Visibility. If people aren’t aware of your property’s existence, or if they can’t get the details they need to make the decision, your property might as well not exist. Digital marketing makes your property more visible and prominent.
- Differentiation. This is also a way to differentiate your property, which is especially important if there are many properties like yours in a given area. Marketing shows tenants that your property is worth choosing over others.
- Speed. Finally, effective digital marketing allows you to find tenants faster, helping you close your vacancies and restore your income so you can keep your operation profitable.
Digital Marketing for Rental Properties
These are some of the most important strategies for digitally marketing your rental properties:
- Consider virtual tours. Both virtual and in-person showings have merits as part of your strategy. Many people will prefer in-person tours, so they can see the property up close, but there will be other people who want to tour the property virtually, perhaps even as a replacement for those in-person tours.
- Prepare the property. In either scenario, you’ll need to make a proactive effort to prepare the property for viewings. That means making the property as neutral as possible, with a fresh coat of paint and the removal of personal effects. It also means giving the property a deep clean and making it look as good as possible.
- Take amazing photos. Photos are arguably the most important ingredient in your entire digital marketing strategy, so be prepared to invest in them. Hire a professional real estate photographer, or learn the basics of photography yourself to put your property in the best possible light.
- Utilize an omnichannel approach. Today’s most successful marketers utilize an omnichannel approach. That’s partially because different people use different channels, and partially because increasing your number of marketing channels will allow you to reach a greater number of people with a greater number of impressions. List your property everywhere you can, advertise it on social media, and consider secondary and tertiary strategies to get the word out.
- Know your target audience. All of your tactics are going to be more effective if they’re designed to appeal to a specific target demographic. The better you know your target audience, the better you’ll be able to cater to them, and the more persuasive your efforts will be. If you haven’t already, spend some time doing market research so you can get inside the heads of your most important prospective tenants.
- Differentiate. Always find a way to differentiate your property. There are many rental units like yours in this area, so why should people choose yours over the others? What makes yours distinctive or worth pursuing?
- Show off unique aspects. Similarly, you should lean into the unique aspects of your property. Don’t try to hide the qualities That make your unit stand out; instead, emphasize them and spin them positively.
- Get feedback. Get feedback from interested parties whenever you can, especially if they choose not to rent your property. What made them consider a different property? What might have persuaded them to rent this one?
- Study the data. Your best moves will be rooted in objective reasoning, so study the data you gather carefully. How long do people spend on your page? What is your conversion rate like? How much traffic are you getting and how much traffic could you get under different circumstances? If you conduct split testing, which variables seem most important in determining whether tenants follow through?
- Keep improving. Digital marketing is an ongoing, ever-evolving process. It’s important for you to keep improving, so you can adjust your approaches for the better over time. Don’t hesitate to experiment so you can learn more about your target audience and how to position your properties effectively.
Digital marketing requires work and investment, but it’s likely to pay off in dividends. If you can consistently and effectively market your rental properties, you’ll fill them faster, you’ll have less competition to worry about, and you’ll ultimately make more money.
