With constant turnover in the rental market, keeping ahead of tenant loss is the key to creating a property management portfolio with few to no vacancies. Oftentimes, filling your apartments for rent comes down to some very basic marketing strategies.
As the Internet grows, marketing has become more web-based for a variety of reasons, most notably, cost effectiveness. As a result, many landlords have allocated marketing dollars to online advertising forums, which generate exposure and, as a result, boost their company’s online visibility.
There are two ways to list or market properties online. Firstly, classifieds, like Kijiji, Craigslist, Backpage, OLX, and Oodle, are valuable when marketing a rental property as need be, which is a strategic way of targeting a specific building for vacancy problems. Bear in mind, though, that these websites are extremely time-consuming (requiring constant re-posting) and time-sensitive (popular listing types lose rank within hours of posting).
On the other hand, an ILS (internet listing site) like RentSeeker.ca, syndicates regularly with popular classifieds, providing the targeted, current and relevant search results of a classified—with benefits: Rental apartment search websites can be used as a tactic to enhance brand recognition, namely because they add multi-channel marketing to the equation.
RentSeeker.ca, for instance, leverages social media marketing tools to maximize a landlord’s online presence through the use of networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Digg, thereby grabbing the attention of a prospective resident on a variety of levels.
In addition to the traditional “suite type, amenities and rent” listing, more and more websites offer entire menus of value-adds that simplify the apartment hunting process. For instance, RentSeeker.ca provides renters with one-stop-shop access to entire inventories of available apartments for rent. In addition to providing direct email and telephone access to the landlord, the site also generates videos, floor plans and maps, such as Google Maps and Walkscore, to demonstrate the property’s accessibility and proximity to a variety of amenities, including shopping, schools and public transit.
This unique mix of multi-channel marketing ultimately increases the number of times a property and the brand behind it is viewed. As each property listed contains links directing prospective resident traffic to your website—via social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Digg, as well as videos, floor plans and maps—the advantage of listing an entire portfolio of apartments for rent on an ILS boils down to efficiency.
Listing in bulk with a full-service firm like RentSeeker.ca, is not only efficient as far as time is concerned. As Google indexes websites based on keywords, volume listings is a tactic to drive traffic to your properties on the ILS – and subsequently, your website – without having to compete for keywords in a competitive sphere such as “apartments for rent in Toronto.” So if you’re considering long-term SEO placement and improved Google rankings, listing your properties online in bulk – even in a fortuitous low-vacancy period – will continually drive traffic to your website while archiving inquiries. That means that when a rental unit does become available, filling it is just an email or phone call away.
This blog post was written in collaboration with data from the Marketing and Communications team at (RentSeeker.ca Corporate Sponsor), Greenwin Property Management: offering safe and vibrant rental apartments for all budgets in central and eastern Canada. Read more about apartments for rent, industry news and upcoming events in the community by visiting Greenwin’s blog and news page (www.greenwinpm.com). Join the conversation on Twitter (@GreenwinPM) and Facebook (facebook.com/GreenwinPM).
