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For real estate agencies who want to grow the size of their portfolio, there’s no shortage of options on the table - from simply buying a new rent roll to embarking on an advertising campaign to attract fresh owners. But which of the many available marketing strategies you adopt, whether alone or in tandem, will depend on your budget, time constraints, and location. To help property managers that want to get ahead, we’ve put together a list of some of the most effective ways to start plumping up that portfolio and finding new properties to list.
If your property management company is just starting out or you’re well-established financially, buying a rent roll is the fastest way to grow your portfolio. That said, it’s certainly not free from stress or risk. Not only does buying a new rent roll require a large financial outlay, there are a number of important considerations you’ll need to take into account.For starters, you’ll need to make sure your staff and processes are up to handling an influx of new properties, and that you undertake scrupulous due diligence when it comes to compliance, management and lease agreements, bond amounts, and entry reports.
If you’re going to take the advertising route and start work on some savvy marketing campaigns, it’s important to do some research first. Consider surveying your existing owners and find out more about their needs and what real estate services they’d like to see added to your offering. While all owners are going to have different requirements and preferences, if something keeps cropping up, there’s a good chance that potential clients will be interested in it too. You might also want to take a look at what other agencies—both in your local area and beyond—are doing. Agencies that don’t stay competitive are always at risk of being left behind, so ensure you’re doing enough to differentiate yourself within the market.
A key aspect to making the most of any property management marketing ideas you might have is developing an effective strategy and sticking to it. This means considering what sort of content you’ll be creating, what message it will have, what physical and digital marketing channels you’ll be using to share it, and what sort of budget and timeframe you have to work with.This will help hone your approach to increase your chances of success, and it’s also the perfect opportunity to brainstorm with your team to get their input. If you’ve conducted any significant amounts of advertising or run marketing campaigns for your agency previously, consider taking a look through them too, even if only to establish what has and hasn’t worked for you before.
If you’re struggling to get your marketing campaigns off the ground or come up with some solid advertising strategies yourself, there’s always the opportunity to enlist another real estate professional. While this could be an advertising or marketing consultant, another popular route is to engage a business development manager (BDM). Having someone in your agency whose specific role is to focus on finding new clients, and ultimately more revenue, can provide a powerful boost to your portfolio’s growth. And, just as importantly, it frees you and your team up to continue doing what you do best.
Alongside more conventional marketing and advertising activity, you could also consider some classic community-focused opportunities to grow your portfolio. Whether it’s sponsoring a local sporting team, supporting a grassroots environmental initiative, or taking part in community charity work, there are plenty of ways to get your agency’s name out there.
While it’s unlikely that this approach will have immediate results, it’s a great way to organically build your brand and demonstrate your agency’s commitment to the community. This can be particularly effective if you’re located in an area with an already strong sense of social cohesion.
No discussion of brand building would be complete without mentioning the now-ubiquitous avenue of social media marketing. Facebook, Twitter, online forums, and even Instagram and LinkedIn are all potential channels to take advantage of. That said, not all are necessarily worth your time or made equal when it comes to the purposes of marketing a property management business.Before you make any serious commitments, it’s worth first trying to find out what platform most of your potential customers use and whether advertising to them via this channel will be effective. Then, start increasing awareness and trust in your brand through sharing property management tips, news, and market updates.
If you happen to know that you have plenty of satisfied clients on your books, perhaps thanks to Console Cloud’s NPS functionality, you can harness that good will to further grow your business.Consider asking the customers that are happiest with your services to leave you favourable reviews online, such as on Facebook or Google, or request testimonials that you can use on your website and across social channels. These can either be text or video, but the more authentic the better when it comes to engaging prospective customers.
Alongside testimonials, case studies are another powerful source of social proof that can be used to attract new customers. We certainly think so, anyway. Case studies are so effective because they allow potential customers to put themselves in the shoes of one of your existing clients and see for themselves how your business has delivered the goods. And, as a general rule, people trust this sort of word-of-mouth marketing more than salespeople and direct advertising.
Of course, you should always discuss the creation of a case study with the client in question before you get started, and get their approval before you publish, especially when dealing with potentially sensitive investment details.
While infographics are now sometimes seen as a little 2015, they’re still an effective tool when it comes to marketing your property management agency, advertising its expertise, or even just establishing credibility with your audience.
Content paired with compelling visuals has been proven to engage more successfully than just content alone. And the more people who engage with your content, especially when it demonstrates something positive about your property management skills, the greater the chance that you’ll start attracting new owners.While making a solid infographic isn’t necessarily cheap when you consider the time and creative work you’ll need to create one, a well-thought-out infographic can easily be shared multiple times across channels, including your blog, website, and socials.
Running and regularly updating a property management blog takes commitment and consistency, but this sort of content marketing can pay off in the long run. That’s because blogging about topics that property owners and investors are likely to be searching for is one of the best methods to connect and build credibility with potential customers. Of course, you’ll need to first find out what those topics are, and then engage in a little search engine optimization. Most people that end up on your blog certainly won’t immediately sign up to your agency, but using high-quality content to attract repeat visits will mean you’re at top of mind if they do decide to make the switch.
In an increasingly digitally focused world, it’s fair to say that for a property management agency, the appearance of your website is just as important as that of your office. For most potential customers, your website will be their first port of call when investigating your services, and making a good impression counts heavily in your favour when it comes to attracting new owners.Invest in an intuitive and user-friendly design, memorable branding, high-quality imagery, and clear and concise copy. If you’re redesigning your property management website to try to market your agency more effectively, your major focus should be making it as easy as possible for visitors to find what they need. Frustrating websites mean frustrated users, and that rarely leads to new business enquiries.
Although the digital aspects of property management marketing might be more important than ever, there’s still plenty of good reasons to get out there and make in-person connections. After all, property management is just as much about people as it is about property.
As well as talking to your friends, existing owners, and tenants, you should also work on building relationships with professionals whose careers are related to property management. Tradies, accountants, tax agents, financial planners, and buyers’ and sellers’ agents are all worth building strong relationships with. Most owners of investment properties will deal with at least a few of these professions regularly, which means they’re perfectly positioned to recommend your services at the appropriate time.
Want to find out how Radi Estates is using Console Cloud to keep growing? Read on...
