Property managers looking to grow their business know that the acquisition of new homeowners is vital. The age-old strategies of networking with local real estate agents, sending generic snail mailers, or relying on simple word of mouth might produce some results but they fail to leverage the untapped power of the Information Age. Much in the same way that potential renters now primarily search for vacation homes via the Internet, you can connect with exponentially more homeowners through concentrated digital marketing services. Here are the four essential components of a well-rounded homeowner acquisition strategy that takes advantage of all of the tools at your disposal.
Your Website: The Foundation for Conversion
Your website is the first priority when building a successful brand. Think of it like a business card. It’s the first way potential clients will interact with your company, the way they will form their initial impression. A sleek, professional site—armed with an informative property management page—is the foundation from which you will convert potential homeowners into happy clients. The perfect landing page to court potential homeowners should feature a prominent banner with a call-to-action form that offers value. Try messaging such as, “Fill out the form for a free property performance analysis.” The form will generate leads for you to follow up on, but this isn’t all you need to finalize your sales strategy!
A section detailing your revenue generation strategy can show potential owners how you will earn them money. Highlight key points such as your distribution strategy, revenue management, digital marketing for their property, and residual guest strategy. This is also where you can detail your property care and show owners that you will care for their property just as much as they do. Outline your steps for responsible guest vetting (clear rental agreements, age appropriate renters, party monitoring), home maintenance and housekeeping services, and how you maintain homeowner transparency (through detailed homeowner statements, a homeowner app, etc.).
All throughout your property management page, make sure your company values shine through. Homeowners will value your professionalism, but don’t want to feel like a simple cog in the machine. Show how you care about the relationship between yourself and your clients, and new homeowners will feel more like a part of your brand.
SEO: Drive Homeowners to Your Site
Once you have a strong property management page to which you can direct homeowners, you’ll need a way to get them there. Search engine optimization helps you boost your rankings on Google and Bing, in turn exposing your brand to more potential clients. A complete SEO strategy involves multiple avenues of approach, each designed to build your site’s authority.
You can boost your search engine presence via content development geared toward homeowner emotions, concerns, and your company mission. Create informative blogs focusing on your distribution and pricing strategies, as well as your processes for onboarding a new homeowner. Boost your OTA conversions through optimized property descriptions with highly searched keywords, professional photos, and positive reviews. Guest satisfaction and strong company standards will set the stage for perpetual revenue in the future.
Further optimizations to your own site will improve visibility. Optimized meta titles and descriptions, H-tags, keyword bolding, and internal linking on your site’s pages will help Google direct the appropriate traffic to your site, while authoritative backlinks to your site from reputable sources such as local business chambers, directories, and sponsorship opportunities will add further improve your site’s credibility on search engines. You can further augment this through Google My Business, obtaining positive reviews via an automated approach curated by PMS software trigger emails and incentivizing reservationists to solicit reviews from happy guests.
Paid Search: Instant Traffic for Instant Payoff
Want an immediate boost to your brand exposure? Paid search can provide instant traffic to your landing page by targeting phrases that potential customers are searching. These targeted ads work on a pay-per-click system; Google puts your ad in front of relevant traffic, and you pay a small amount per clickthrough on that ad. This is a fast and effective way to get views to your site, limited only by the persuasiveness of your ad and your budget. You can also leverage segmented remarketing delivered to those who have visited your property management page, to help catch those who may have slipped through your fingers on their first visit. Entice them with targeted messaging such as, “We drive more revenue.”
Offline Marketing: Cover All Your Bases
Combine digital marketing with traditional offline marketing methods for a well-rounded marketing strategy. A professional PDF brochure is a quick and effective tool that you can easily attach to a follow up email or print out and distribute. This brochure is your opportunity to brag about your company, present your best features, and really sell homeowners on why you are the best company for them to work with. Physical brochures are also a handy way for local realtors to spread information about your company to their clients looking to invest.
Think snail mail is dead? Think again! If you have access to county tax records or nightly rental licenses and are not taking advantage of them, you are missing a huge opportunity. While this method is a tried and true way of building relationships, you can take it a step further by including a call-to-action with the URL of your website’s property management landing page—your digital business card.
One final way to entice potential homeowners is through a Property Proforma—or Property Analysis Guide. Develop a template for analyzing revenue generation for a prospective homeowner; you can use this to show homeowners just how much they can benefit from your services. By including additional ideas such as home staging options, bedding configurations, and additional upgrades that would help the homeowner boost their return on investment, you can capture the owner’s interest with a barrage of valuable information, customized to their home.
Let’s Grow Your Inventory Together!
You’ve got enough on your plate right now and implementing a robust digital strategy like this might seem like an overwhelming thought. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be! The team at Bizcor has this process down to a science and with our help you’ll be able to sit back and relax and watch the new leads pour in. Contact our sales team today to get started with our digital marketing services!
