Same Business, New Tools
As a property manager, one of your biggest challenges is getting people to
come to you. There are a number of traditional tools that you use to
accomplish this, from advertising to word of mouth. However, one of the most
commonly overlooked tools available to you is the Internet.
Last year over 2 million people went online to research or find
apartments. Was your property one of the online listings they found? The most
common reason that property managers give for NOT using the Internet is that
they have always done things the same way and really don't see any reason to
change. However, with more and more people now owning computers and using the
Internet to help make decisions, you simply can't afford to overlook the use
of an online listing.
There are many advantages to online listings over traditional advertising.
With a newspaper or magazine ad, you have no way of knowing how many people
actually look at your listing. With an online presence, you have access to
statistics that will show you exactly how many people are viewing your
listings and which units they are mosted interested in. You can use this
information to change your listings to see if certain trends develop that
might help you to draw more people in to view your property.
Another advantage is the amount of information you can provide to a
potential tenant. With a traditional ad you are usually limited to one or
two images and a single page or less of text. With most online listings you
can provide photos of your property, floorplans of each of your units, and
different photo views of each unit. You can also provide much more
information on each of your units than you can normally provide in a
traditional ad.
The greatest benefit of being online, however, is that the cost is
generally a fraction of what you would spend on a newspaper or magazine ad.
While a one page slick ad may cost you a couple of hundred dollars for a
single month (which may actually only be a single issue), an online listing
is usually less than a hundred dollars. Also, instead of being delivered to
potential tenants just one single time, it is available day after day, around
the clock, for the entire month. In addition to this, the people buying that
magazine or newspaper are usually buying it for something other than the ads.
You are buying the advertising space hoping that some of the poeple that buy
the print item will see your ad and want to visit your property. On the other
hand, EVERY visitor to an online apartment site is looking for an apartment,
so you are guaranteed to have a captive audience. Furthermore, advertising in
a local newspaper or magazine limits your potential audience to only people
within a limited radius of your location. With an online listing, you now
have access to potentially hundreds of people that may be looking to move
from another city or another state who would not have any way of knowing
anything about your property.
If you do decide to create an online presence, there are certain things
you will need to do to ensure your succes. For one thing, you will need to
make sure that you have a way for people to contact you with questions. If
you have a toll free number, make sure it is included with your listing. This
is especially important for people looking to relocate from a distance.
Another consideration is to provide an e-mail address where people can write
you for more information. If you do provide an e-mail address, make sure it
is monitored regularly and that no message goes more than 24 hours without a
response.
It will also help if you keep your information current at all times. If
you changed the rental rates on a unit, make sure your listing shows the most
current rates. If you have a certain unit size that is currently unavailable,
let people know when it might be available. If you have any specials that you
are currently offering, make sure they are also available online. Solicit
feedback from site visitors to get a better feel for what they are looking
for in an apratment property. By being open and responsive you can help to
improve your chances of bringing them on site!
