Does your real estate business have a marketing strategy, or do you use an improvised approach every time you need to market your property?

You probably have strategies that let you collect the rent on time and maintain the rental cost-efficiently. You may also have precise processes for inspecting the home to ensure tenants do not misuse it and the lease is honored.

But do you have a plan for marketing your rental property?

Most landlords don’t. Their marketing strategy consists of waiting until a tenant says they won’t renew the lease and then hurriedly putting together some ads for the apartment. After they do this, the next thing is to wait – with some anxiety – until a new tenant pops up.

If this is how you market your rental, you could be hurting the business. The quality of tenants you attract to a property is partly dependent on how much effort you put into your marketing. Would you like some tips for successfully marketing a rental property?

If you said yes to the question, then, by all means, read on.

Why do you need a marketing strategy for your rental property?

You will need a marketing strategy for your rental property for the same reasons you plan any aspect of your life or business. Planning does not give you complete control, but it lets you identify and control more of the variables that have the potential to influence your outcome.

A real estate digital marketing strategy lets you automate the process and makes it easy to find a considerable number of qualified tenants for your rental property. It can help reduce vacancies and turnover times. Here are specific reasons to devise a marketing strategy for your rental properties;

1. You reach more people when you have a well-thought-out plan for finding the right tenant.
2. You exponentially lower the cost of acquiring each new tenant by reducing the time and legwork involved.
3. You have more credibility in the eyes of prospective renters if you have established procedures.
4. You make it easier for potential renters, estate agents, and other parties to connect with you.

Tips for marketing your rental property

The following tips will help you create a system you can automatically deploy each time you have a vacancy in one of your rentals. They will help you find quality tenants on a steady basis, at a lower cost, and within the shortest time possible.

1. Define who you are targeting

Narrowing your marketing to a specific demographic will do two things for you. It makes it easier to determine the interests of your prospective tenants, which allows you to target your ads more effectively. You will also find it easier to style the rental so that it will impress those prospective tenants.

2. Market the neighborhood

It is essential to do so because the neighborhood carries more weight than your home. A great home in a bad neighborhood is worth less than an average home in a good locality. Renters will pay you more attention if they know what makes an area nice.

3. Create a referral program

Cleaners, handymen, motels, moving companies, doctors, vets, and schools often contact people who fall within the category of your target demographic. They are likely to send more tenants your way if they know they can earn a commission. If you have a lot of rental properties in the area, you may also want to build a relationship with the human resources department of local corporations and universities.

4. Cultivate your social presence

Building a social media presence will let you create an audience of potential renters before you are ready to find a tenant. But social media should not just be a place to post ads; you can share interesting photos and facts about properties and neighborhoods.

5. Build a list of prospective renters

A list of prequalified people you can send emails to when you have a vacant home will make it easy to find tenants for your properties. But this does mean you have to create a website and post valuable content regularly.

6. Use online services

Some MLS websites will not let you post your rental property on the site unless you are a registered estate agent. But other services will let you do this. When using an online service, you are better off with a paid service; they offer more functionalities and broader reach.

7. Outsource your marketing

Just as you hire a professional handyman to take care of the maintenance issues in your rental, you can also hire a marketing firm to oversee marketing for your rental properties. You get the insights and tools of the best marketing minds for a small fee. This route will let you avoid the effort of building a marketing system from scratch. You can instantly plug into an existing system and start to earn the rewards without any business downtime.