If keeping rentals filled was a challenge before, the financial damage that many homeowners and renters alike are experiencing due to coronavirus will make it more important than ever for both landlords and home seekers to use digital means to save money and time to find the best deals possible.
As cluttered as the internet is, the best way for landlords to find the best tenants is to make the most out of the digital tools at their disposal. In this guide, we will go over some of the best ways to better market your properties to ensure that you have the highest likelihood of getting the best tenants possible to fill your properties by increasing your overall lead pool.
Use Feeder Pages
One way to market your rental properties is by building or utilizing what’s called feeder pages. These are websites, and social media pages that’s primary purpose is to get traffic from your target audience indirectly and then lead them to your properties.
These feeder pages can be in a myriad of niches, and by providing content, capture the attention of potential renters.
It requires being very in tune with who is renting your type of properties in your area and having it broken down into criteria. The better you understand them, the cheaper and easier you can find those people.
For instance, if you had a property near a park, meant for middle-class individuals, families, or groups, and were looking for renters with the following criteria:
- Men and Women
- Aged early to late 20s
- Work in tech locally
- College Graduates
- Household income of over $80,000 per year
- Have an interest in running/exercise near a park.
There is a myriad of options. Feeder pages built for local runner groups, park activities and competitive sports, local tech events, and news, and would be a few targeted sources for how they spend their time online.
Building these up or buying shoutouts (paid promotional blasts) from pages like these offer a chance to extremely cost-effectively get potential tenants to see your properties. Best of all, for those that opt to purchase paid blasts, many pages have reasonable rates and are willing to negotiate.
Use Established Digital Communities
Digital communities play a vital role in how many renters find their potential homes. Participation in said communities on Facebook, Reddit, and beyond are important for creating a connection with renters and those that can give referrals alike.
There are a few unwritten rules of participating in digital communities (especially if you are planning to market there), but the most important rule is “Give more value than you intend to take.”
For instance, if you intend to join a group dedicated to a particular neighborhood within a city, it pays to be able to give tips on the best places to eat, things to do, and little bits that come with being truly acquainted with the area. If you aren’t and don’t have the time, hire someone to do it for a couple of hours a day.
Establishing yourself or your proxy as a member of the community that is knowledgeable can pay dividends when it comes time for others in the group to find places to rent.
On the more direct side, you can purchase announcements, shoutouts, and pinned posts with your properties in relevant groups if you want to just cut to the chase.
Syndicate, Syndicate, Syndicate
Perhaps the most important part of marketing your properties effectively online is using syndication sites to get leads. These sites, such as Zillow and Padleads, make it easier than ever for renters and landlords to connect with each other based on particular criteria.
For instance, Padleads is a newer but highly effective system for landlords to syndicate their properties to over 50+ sites from one central hub. The amount of effort it would take to maintain 50 separate property listings on these platforms individually is sharply reduced, making it easier to attract and manage leads for tenants with the click of a button.
Renters have a hard time keeping up with the latest and greatest sites for renting and believe that scouring can be the key to finding the best opportunity for a good rental deal. The best way to ensure you cast the widest net possible for potential tenants is to syndicate as much as possible.
Sell The Lifestyle
The last tip we have is to do your absolute best to capture your property in a positive light whilst highlighting its strengths. Many landlords and property managers make the mistake of trying to sell the space, not the experience that can be had living in it.
The best advertisements don’t sell a product; they summon the imagination of their captive audience by allowing them to envision themselves enjoying the benefits.
That means doing more than taking standard pictures and slapping them up. Opting for purchasing walkthrough videos, VR experiences, and capturing previous tenant reviews can go a long way to helping find tenants that are a good fit.
Putting It All Together
To wrap things up, creating a winning strategy requires having all your bases covered. By implementing all of the above tips, you raise your chances dramatically of quickly finding potential tenants. That means using tools such as Padleads, digital communities, and feeder pages to comprehensively get your property in front of not only as many eyes as possible but those most suited to taking advantage.