There’s no point in having an amazing rental property if no one knows about it. So, if you want your rental property to be successful and generate consistent income, you need to market it. That means putting the effort into ensuring that your rental is attractive to prospective tenants, as well as creating a great listing that catches attention.
Unfortunately, most landlords don’t know how to successfully market their rentals, especially when they’re first starting. Common marketing mistakes, such as writing a boring listing or targeting the wrong audience, can compromise your ability to find tenants quickly and, thus, the profitability of your rental.
At Five Star Property Management, we are excellent marketers. We make use of advanced technology to fill the rentals under our care quickly. Keep reading to learn more about the most common rental property marketing mistakes landlords make and how to fix them!
The Importance of Rental Property Marketing
Marketing your rental property effectively is crucial to your rental business. By advertising your rental units, you draw more attention to your property and make it stand out from the competition. This will not only help you fill your vacancies quickly but also find great tenants.
Additionally, rental property marketing is a great way to build trust for your property and business. Listing your units helps build your reputation as a landlord and brand in case you have multiple properties.
Top Rental Property Marketing Mistakes
Rental property marketing can be a time-consuming effort. With so many things to pay attention to, it’s easy to make mistakes. Luckily, most of these mistakes are easily fixable once you acknowledge them. Here are the top marketing mistakes rental property owners make:
Not Having a Strategy
Planning is a crucial step in any marketing campaign. If you don’t have that strategy in place, or if you haven’t thought through your approach, you’re not going to get good results. So, before posting a listing online, map out your marketing strategy, like where you’re going to advertise your rental and what selling points you’re going to highlight.
Targeting the Wrong Audience
Marketing success, across all fields, depends on your ability to identify a target audience and reach them specifically. So, before drafting a listing, do your research. Identify your target audience and understand their housing needs. Then, work on drafting a unique listing and ads that will catch their attention.
Using Too Many Tools
Nowadays, there are tons of marketing tools you can use to advertise your rental. But if you try to use every single tool you find, it can quickly eat up your budget, and complicate your marketing efforts. So, make sure to choose only the tools you really need.
Relying on Only One Tactic
There are many advertising outlets you can use to market your rental, from Facebook ads to classified listings. Focusing all your time, money, and efforts on only one channel is not the best course of action. Instead, it’s better to use different channels and tactics simultaneously. This way, you’ll be able to broaden your reach and attract more prospective tenants.
Not Investing in High-Quality Photography
Renters tend to ignore listings without pictures or with bad pictures. Good-quality photos can make your listing really stand out from the rest. The best part is that you can take great photos of your rental without having to hire a professional!
Drafting Boring Rental Ads
Using cliche phrases or a generic copy won’t help your listing stand out. Instead, it’s best to try to write something more original.
Start with an eye-catching headline. It should contain important details such as the price of the rental, the number of bathrooms, bedrooms, and location, plus any unique features or amenities. Then, draft an engaging description that helps prospective tenants visualize themselves living in your rental.
Additionally, you want to add calls to action (CTAs) in your listing. For example, encourage interested renters to contact you, implying some degree of urgency.
Failing to Make Changes
So, you started marketing your rental a couple of weeks ago and you aren’t seeing any leads. If you want to fix this, you can’t run the ads as they are hoping to get some leads. Instead, you should try to adjust your strategy. Whether it’s switching channels, adjusting the rent, adding better photos, or writing new copy, little changes can go a long way.
Not Following the Fair Housing Act
As a landlord, complying with the Fair Housing Act is a must. When marketing your rental, avoid including any discriminatory language such as “Ideal for families” or “Suited for young professionals.” Instead, focus on describing the property and its unique features.
Not Charging the Right Rent
The price you set for your rental property can make or break your marketing efforts. After all, the rental price is one of the things that prospective tenants look out for when browsing real estate listings.
Charging too much can make your property undesirable. But charging too little can cost you a lot of money. So, before listing your rental, do a market analysis to know how much similar rentals in the area are charging.
Working Alone
Successfully marketing a rental property takes time and effort. Trying to do everything by yourself is a mistake many landlords make. Instead, it’s best to work with a team of experienced marketers or a seasoned property manager. They’ll have ample knowledge of what needs to be done at every step of the way to help you find great tenants in no time.
Bottom Line
A good marketing strategy can help you find great tenants in little time. Unfortunately, landlords often make common property marketing mistakes, such as not having a strategy in place, writing boring listings, and working alone, which can compromise their efforts to find dependable renters.
Now that you know which are the most common rental property marketing mistakes homeowners make, you can avoid them! If you have more questions about this topic or need help marketing your rental property, contact Five Star Property Management!
We can help you give your rental the visibility it deserves. What’s more, we can also help you screen prospective tenants, collect rent, maintain your property, address tenant concerns, and take care of all paperwork.