Marketing for Property Management Companies
Property management organisations need a large portfolio of properties in order to be financially stable. This means they need an excellent marketing plan and strategy to build their portfolio of properties.
If you’re new to marketing, this article is perfect for you, as we walk you through the essentials of marketing.
Marketing Strategy for Property Management Companies
Defining your overall marketing strategy is the most important first step in marketing. This means, defining your overarching goals and then working out how to achieve them.
An example of a realistic goal might be increasing your portfolio of properties by 10% each year.
Real estate companies need a holistic marketing approach to growing their portfolios, there is no silver bullet which is the perfect solution.
Choosing a property management company is a serious decision for homeowners, so you must consider the ideal customer journey.
So what marketing channels should you be using?
Google Ads
There are 3.5 billion searches each day on Google (Oberlo, 2020), so there’s no doubt people are using Google to find real estate management companies. Google Ads let you advertise on Google Search Engine, which puts your website in the prime spot to be found.
Google is extremely influential for the younger generations, as opposed to the elderly who are more likely to trust traditional forms of advertising. So using Google Ads is an excellent opportunity to reach the age demographic of 16 - 60 years old. This age group is regularly using Google and trusts the platform.
However Google Ads can be expensive, because you pay per click (PPC). The costs can vary from 50cents to $100 per click. This can add up quite quickly. An alternative strategy for increasing your traffic from Google is SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO is another method for getting your website to rank highly on Google. SEO is the process of getting your website to rank higher in Google’s search algorithm.
Being on the first page of Google as a real estate management company, is a gold mine. You should be targeting keywords like *realestate management* *insert your geographical location*.
For example, if you’re a realestate company in Melbourne you would target “realestate management Melbourne”.
There are a few drawbacks with SEO however.
It’s not easy to do SEO. There is no simple checklist to increase your SEO, Google keeps it’s algorithm very secret. So there is no guarantee your website is going to rank highly. Make sure you choose a reputable organisation to do your SEO.
SEO can be expensive as Google Ads, depending on who you pay to do it. Some companies charge exorbitant prices to do SEO, so make sure you shop around and find a reputable organisation with good pricing.
However there are also many benefits of using SEO vs Google Ads.
Sometimes people don’t trust Google Ads because they’re aware that they’re ads. This means that people are more likely to click on your website if it organically ranks high.
SEO lasts forever (or a long time) vs Google Ads which stop, as soon as you stop paying their invoices.
Social Media Marketing
Real estate management is a high involvement purchase as mentioned previously, so it’s unlikely that anyone is going to use Instagram to message you.
However… Social media is an excellent opportunity to introduce yourself (and your brand) to a large audience. In marketing this is called a “touchpoint” or an opportunity for people to engage with your brand.
The word on the internet is that you need 7-10 touchpoints with a person before they become a customer. So consider social media your first touch point.
Running paid advertising campaigns on social media channels is possibly the most cost-effective way to reach a large audience. A recent Facebook Ad campaign we ran, cost us $4.67 AUD to reach every 1000 people, which is excellent value for money.
Social media is not only for young people anymore, old people are jumping on social media to keep in contact with their family members. So don’t rule out reaching the older demographic on social media, Facebook is an extremely popular platform with the older generation.
Habitat Real Estate is a Darwin property management company that has an excellent social media presence. Their feed is a mix of humorous and engaging social media content that highlights their core values as a business.
Print Advertising
Although print advertising is dying, it’s not dead.
People are still reading brochures and newspapers. However this marketing channel is predominantly used by the older generations, so don’t expect to reach a young audience. This can be handy for surgeons who need to reach the elderly who need surgery because of their old age.
If you’re going to invest in print advertising, make sure you define where your ads are going to to be found. There are plenty of avenues for placing your print material, a few popular channels for print advertising include:
Newspapers
Magazines
Letter box drops
Direct mail
Brochures
Trade promotions (trade promotion examples)
Sales promotions (for example instant wins promotions)
Although print advertising has a place in the marketing world, I’m very wary of it, because the results cannot be tracked.
If you’re spending thousands of dollars advertising in a newspaper, it’s nice to know the return of investment.
In comparison digital marketing allows you to track the actions and results from your marketing campaign. This lets you work out if your marketing activity is worthwhile.
Website
I’ve included your website last because it’s a no brainer, but it’s also completely underestimated in marketing value.
You should be driving traffic from every marketing channel back to your website. If your website is poorly, then what do people think about your brand?
The solution is to invest in a high quality website!
When building or rebuilding your website there are a few elements you need to consider.
Design & visuals
A well-designed website will stand out from the crowd. The layout needs to be logical, have a well thought out flow and draw the consumer in. Every aspect of the design needs to be carefully considered from a consumer point of view to engage them and get them from the home page to taking the desired action. It must be easy to use, functional and simple to navigate. And everything must work exactly as the consumer expects.
Content
The text on your website should be easy to read and presented in a clear and concise manner. It needs to have the right tone and voice for your business and your audience, be error free and written for the consumer. Storytelling is an art and your content should tell your story, engage your visitors and use just the right language to encourage potential customers to act.
