When it comes to getting your property occupied, spreading the word can be something of a challenge. As a property owner myself, I, Mark Roemer, know that it can be a bit of a challenge to keep all of your properties occupied. Vacant properties earn no money. Therefore, we must get the word out that we have a vacancy available. Throughout this blog post, I am going to provide you with several different ways that you can make sure that doesn’t happen to you.

Before we dive into the ideas, we need to understand what it is we are trying to accomplish. We are trying to continue to have a revenue stream from our properties. This can take a bit of time and finesse to accomplish. In today’s age, you must have a selling point that will speak to your prospective tenants. Therefore, we must exercise our rental property marketing chops.

When it comes to rental property marketing, there is a balance that must be achieved between conventional and non-conventional practices. Let me explain. A traditional method would be to put advertisements in the local periodicals. Let’s be honest; not many people are using this “technology” anymore. Instead, they are using the new technology available to them. The reason for this is that they can search much faster and on a broader spectrum.

That means you are going to have to appeal to the client’s preferred method of searching – social media and the internet. In other words, you are going to have to make your property available for viewing as many platforms as possible. You want to make sure you are reaching as many people as possible with the least amount of time, effort, and money as possible. It is not that you are cheap; it is just that the books have to balance at the end of the month. If you were to spend thousands of dollars on your marketing campaign and only bring in hundreds of dollars, you would not be using the best business practices.

Now that we understand what we are trying to accomplish, I am going to present you with several different ways you could market your product. Some of these you may not have thought of before. Perhaps, you will have a little fun planning all the different ways you can go about using these ideas.

Live Videos

While using a Facebook ad can bring you a certain amount of people, replacing that with a live video will provide your customers with a unique and interactive experience. What better way to show your client’s the house they will be living in. Additionally, you will have the ability to show the house to people that may otherwise not be able to see the house.

I have a friend that has mobility issues. He is the one that proposed this idea to me. When it comes time for him to move from his old place to a new home, he must get someone to do this for him. He will have a friend, usually me, go to the apartment or house and take a video. I will then send him the video so that he can look at the house or apartment. Not only can it be embarrassing for my friend to ask people to do this, but it also takes time out of my day to do it. Think of the possible ways that you can make your property more accessible to people that would otherwise not look at your property. It really is a win-win situation.

Snapchat

Essentially, this is along the same lines as showing your house video using like the suggestion above. However, older generations are still using Facebook, while Millennials are using Snapchat. Depending on your target market, may want to opt for this option instead. There are some nuances that you should be aware of prior to using Snapchat.

Unlike Facebook, Snapchat has a limited time that the post is available. That means that you will need to save the video to your device and republish many times when you are trying to rent the property. That may seem like a bit of a hassle, but it is the only way. Consider taking multiple videos and cycling through them to keep your content fresh.

Sell the Neighborhood

Instead of selling the house, sell the neighborhood. People are slowly becoming less interested in the place they are going to live and looking more to what they can do around the area. For this, you are going to want to show the house as you normally would. The difference is, you will make the video much shorter for that part. Then turn your attention to the neighborhood. Provide the clients with either photos or videos of the surrounding business, parks, and scenic stops they can attend.

It may sound counterintuitive, but as we must always remember, we need to provide the content our customers would like to see. Take the time to research what your potential clients would like to do in their offtime. These should be the items that you showcase when you are making your video or photo trips around the neighborhood.

Meet the Neighbors

If you are renting multiple-unit apartment complexes, consider the following. Many people know when they rent an apartment, they are going to have to deal with people that share their floor, walls, and ceiling. Regardless if you have a lease, terrible neighbors can be a deal-breaker for many tenants. Some of them will even be willing to eat the deposit to get away from terrible neighbors.

Consider having a cookout at your complex and get prospective tenants to meet the current tenants. While this can be a little bit risky, it will save you time and money when it comes to the turnover of the units. Short of that, you can ask your tenants if they are willing to have an informal meeting with a prospective client.

Conclusion

I, Mark Romer, hope that I have shared with you many different ways that you could market your rental property. As I said, many of these may not have crossed your mind. I can tell you that they all work for the properties that I own. I have seen a drastic decrease in the number of units I have available each month. I wish you the best of luck in keeping your units occupied and the best of luck developing the content for your advertisements.