5 Secrets to Successful Rental Advertising

All online rental ads are not created equal. In fact, many factors determine whether a rental ad will be successful at attracting renter leads. With so much information and so many choices on the internet, rental marketers need to make sure their ads catch – and hold – the attention of potential renters.

This week, we’re highlighting one of our members’ ads that received over 40 phone and email leads in one month… 40! For those who like to keep track of the numbers, that’s less than a buck a lead (Single-family rental ad = $29.99). Let’s breakdown the strong points of this ad that helped to make it a success:

• Photos – As we’ve mentioned before on this blog, photos of your rental are extremely important! When renters are searching online for their next place to live, appealing property photos are a must. If an ad has sparse (or no) photos, its chances of attracting leads are slim to none. In addition, this ad had more than the 5-photo minimum needed to receive the advertised rental photo-video at no extra charge, which meant even more online exposure.
• Competitive Rental Rates – In a competitive market, the price often matters more to potential tenants than anything else. A great way to find comparable prices in your area is to view other rental ads listed on classified sites and rental marketplaces like Craigslist or RentedSpaces. Our featured rental ad has a very competitive price for comparable rentals in the Salt Lake City area.
• Low Deposit or Incentives – Another great way to help your rental stand out from the crowd is to offer a low deposit or move-in incentive. Especially true during times of recession and employment uncertainty, large deposits are hard to put together and may deter renters from choosing your property. This successful rental ad only required a deposit of about 1/2 the cost of the monthly rent and offered one week of free rent as an incentive.
• Widespread Distribution - Recent studies show that 90% of online renters search multiple sources online before making a decision about where to rent. This fact alone makes it essential to have your rentals advertised on as many places online as possible. With RentShout’s online syndication, this rental ad was able to achieve widespread online visibility and capture the attention of renters searching on multiple websites.
• Easy to Contact - Isn’t it frustrating when you find just what you’re looking for online, but then have no idea how to contact the seller, make the purchase, or close the deal? The same is true for renters searching for apartments and rentals! If they stumble across your online ad, the contact information should be absolutely obvious. In this week’s success example, there is a contact form right at the top of the ad, a flashing email button, and a phone number.

To sum up, renters searching online have a lot to choose from. By including plenty of attractive photos, offering competitive rates and incentives, and distributing the ad across the internet, this rental marketer was able to attract over 40 leads in just one month.

Track Renter Leads Online and Offline

Tracking renter leads is one of the most important things you’ll do in your rental marketing efforts. Why? Two (very important) reasons:

1. Discover where the fish are. Have you ever heard the sales quote, “Fish where the fish are”? It means that in order to get a successful return on your marketing and advertising efforts, you need to be delivering your message to people that will respond positively (people that respond negatively, or don’t respond at all, are not “fish”). If you’re not tracking the response to your advertising (where leads are coming from, how many from each source, etc.), then how will you know where your advertising is effective and where it isn’t? The answer: you won’t. This is why it is so important to have a system in place for effectively tracking renter leads.
2. Be prepared when you contact leads. Which scenario do you think is more effective? The answer should be obvious:
   a) A potential renter sends you an email saying they are interested in the property they saw advertised, not mentioning address, unit, or location. They have no idea that you are also advertising 20 other properties at the same time. You call them back, but get their voicemail. You leave a message asking which property they are interested in and request a call back. The lead receives the message, but doesn’t remember the address or where they saw the ad. They either call you back and you play phone-tag for who knows how many days, or they don’t call back at all.
   – OR –
   b) Every rental advertisement you place has a unique email address assigned to it. When a potential renter sends you an email inquiry about a property you’re advertising, you’ll know exactly which one they’re interested in. You can call or email the lead back prepared, ready to close the lease in no time.

So, are you tracking your renter leads effectively? Are you fishing where the fish are? Are you calling leads back prepared? We hope so.