Both long-term and short-term rentals offer investors several incredible benefits. For example, financial benefits include a relatively stable stream of income, property value appreciation and tax write-offs.
As lucrative as a rental property can be, however, there are a considerable number of hassles and potential risks that property owners must contend with.
The daily efforts to manage a rental property can be time-consuming and complicated. Everything from local laws to taxation, property maintenance and managing tenant concerns must be addressed in a timely manner.
While some investors may decide that the responsibilities and challenges associated with running a rental property are not worth the effort, others decide to outsource daily operations to a property manager.
As a property manager, your goal is to alleviate the stressors associated with property ownership so that your clients can reap the rewards without the hassle.
However, attracting new clients can be a challenge. After all, you must first connect with these individuals directly. Then, you must convince them that property management services are in their best interest and that you are the property manager who is best suited for the job.
A practical and effective way to deliver your marketing message to investment property owners is through property management postcards.
Elements of Effective Property Management Postcards
Postcards are a smart way to reach out to your target audience. While an envelope may be tossed aside without opening it and an email message can simply be deleted, the message on a postcard is immediately visible to the recipient. Therefore, the message is more likely to be read and absorbed.
However, it is not enough to simply get your message in the right hands. You need to design an amazing postcard that can deliver the results you want. What are the elements of an effective property management postcard?
Emphasize Pain Points
Your potential clients have a real problem on their hands. They have an amazing investment property, but that property is causing frustration and headaches on a daily basis.
Many investors have a host of other responsibilities, including family responsibilities, a career and more. They lack the bandwidth necessary to properly manage a property. As a result, even a minor challenge can be a major stressor.
Many short-term and long-term rentals are located in residential communities that have a homeowners’ association. HOAs have specific rules that must be followed, such as rules related to property upkeep, modifications, parking and more.
Violations can result in fines and the need to make immediate adjustments to different aspects of the property.
All properties have regular maintenance needs. These may range from landscaping care and maintenance to changing air filters, pest control services and more.
Repairs are also inevitable: for appliances, the HVAC system, the plumbing system and other features. If the homeowner does not tackle these concerns directly, he or she must make the property accessible to third parties. This means waiting for a service provider to arrive and do the work.
Accounting and financial management also require the homeowner’s attention. These tasks range from collecting deposits and rental payments to paying utilities, the mortgage, homeowners’ insurance and more. Property taxes are also required in some states.
A skilled property manager can handle all of these responsibilities on behalf of the owner for a reasonable fee. An effective property management marketing postcard identifies the pain points that a property owner may currently be dealing with.
For example, it may outline these issues through bullet points that are easy to read.
Provide a Straightforward Solution
It is not enough to use your postcards to express empathy for a future client’s pain points. Your postcard needs to clearly identify how you can solve the property owner’s problems.
Your value proposition is to offer your clients a wide range of services that ultimately can ease the burdens of ownership while still enabling the property owner to enjoy the financial gains associated with the investment. What are these services?
There is a limited amount of space on a postcard, so you may not have enough space to fully list all of the common ownership challenges and all of the services that you offer.
With this in mind, it makes sense to integrate problems and solutions by listing your services. Take advantage of bullet points so that the property owners can quickly skim your postcard and see how you can help them.
While space is limited, you do not necessarily need to feel confined to this space. For example, your postcard’s call to action may be to visit your website to learn more.
The postcard’s primary purpose would be to use your problem-solution bullet points to inspire the recipient to get more details on your website. Your website can then go into much greater detail on each pain point and about how your services can address those issues directly.
Client Testimonials About Property Management Postcards
Unless you are just getting your feet wet as a property manager, you likely have at least a few satisfied clients who would be happy to provide you with a testimonial. A testimonial is a short statement that describes the client’s experience with your company and how you have successfully addressed their pain points.
By including a testimonial on your postcards, you are showing the recipients that you have the capabilities to deliver what you promise.
More than that, a client testimonial enables you to make a direct and even emotional connection with the recipients. While you may empathize with a recipient’s challenges through other aspects of your postcards, such as by outlining pain points and solutions, a testimonial takes this to a higher level.
Through a testimonial, another property owner who shares a connection with a recipient is essentially stating that he or she has dealt with similar challenges and has found a solution through your services.
The best client testimonial is one that makes a bold statement in a concise manner. Most of the space on your postcard may cover pain points, solutions and services, so you may only have a few lines available for a testimonial. If necessary, consider using ellipses to consolidate a full statement into highlighted points.
Include the client’s first name and last initial to personalize it. If the individual has been a client for several years, consider adding a tidbit like, “Client since….” Remember to always get a client’s permission to use the testimonial for marketing purposes before you publish it on a postcard.
Eye-Catching Colors
A postcard recipient generally will receive your marketing material in a pile of mail. That mail may include important bills and documents, junk mail and more. You understandably want your postcard to stand out from the many other items that may be in the recipient’s hand at the moment, and color plays a major role in that.
Eye-catching colors on marketing materials will help your postcard to get the attention that it needs, to brand your business and even to give your marketing material a professional look.
Printing full-color postcards is more expensive than printing black ink on colored cardstock, but this is an investment well worth making. Does your property management company already have a logo? Have you chosen a specific color scheme for your website? These are great colors to start your design with. However, you may need to incorporate other color elements into the design.
Contrasting colors can make the postcard pop. Some combinations to consider are blue and orange, black and yellow, black and orange or purple and yellow. By adding colors that contrast with your logo, your logo and company name will pop out.
You can also use contrasting colors to make your services or your postcard’s main marketing message stand out. Remember that you only have a few seconds to grab the recipient’s attention and to showcase key points.
Using color creatively can ensure that you get those points across quickly, and it could lead to the recipient spending more time reading your postcard.
QR Codes and Easy-to-Read Contact Info
The primary purpose of your property management postcards is not to educate the recipients about your services. Instead, the purpose is to inspire the recipients to take a specific action.
Generally, you want the recipients to connect with you for a consultation or more information about your services, but how will they reach out? How can they find out more about your company?
Recipients should not need to hunt for your contact information. Your contact information is easier to spot when your design makes proper use of space. Avoid cramming the contact information into a crowded area on the postcard.
White space can attract the eye, so ensure that your contact information is clearly separated from the other content on the postcard. Your contact information should include primary methods that most people prefer to use, including a phone number and an email address.
Many people are increasingly using QR codes for marketing purposes. By scanning a QR code, the recipient may immediately be taken to a customized page. This page may provide much more information about your services, or it may be a contact form so that he or she can get in touch with you easily.
A QR code may also go to your website if you do not wish to create a customized page specifically for the marketing campaign.
Keep in mind that you should still include contact information and your website URL even if your postcard has a QR code. Recipients should have a clear and easy way to reach you directly and to get more information about your company and services.
To summarize, identifying pain points and providing an effective solution are the backbone of any property management postcard campaign. Be sure to use full-color postcards with eye-catching colors, utilize client testimonials, and add QR codes along with your contact information.
Now that you have an effective postcard to send to prospective real estate investors, the next challenge comes in the form of a question: how do I target property owners in my area or even nationwide?
Targeted Mailing Lists
Real estate agents generally farm a specific community or neighborhood. Whether it’s through postcard campaigns, door knocking, or hosting neighborhood events, a real estate agent’s goal with real estate farming is to demonstrate expertise in their area.
However, this is not an effective strategy for property managers.
In almost every case, the property owner will not live at the rental property. Because of this, sending a postcard to every home in a neighborhood or every condo in a complex generally is not a targeted approach. You need to use a customized list of investment property owners who may need your services.
Where can you find such a list? Wise Pelican’s Mailing List Pro is your convenient source for a list of absentee property owners. By focusing your efforts on this list, you can ensure that your postcards get into the hands of people who need your services.
Similar to every other direct mail campaign, the keys to success are the same: mail consistently, keep the branding the same, and focus your postcards on a targeted mailing list. Why?
Brand recognition is important for real estate agents, and when it comes to property management, consistently mailing postcards indicates that your business has staying power. However, consider keeping the branding and color scheme the same for the sake of recognition.
Additional Marketing Methods for Property Management Companies
Postcards are an affordable and effective way to get in front of property owners who are in need of your services. However, there are other marketing opportunities to consider as well. Generally, it is best to expand your marketing reach by taking advantage of several opportunities rather than focusing exclusively on one avenue. While dipping your feet in a few different ponds is a smart idea, you may not have the energy or funds available to explore every avenue. With this in mind, what are some of the more effective marketing avenues for property managers to consider?
Facebook Ad Retargeting
Facebook retargeting ads enable you to harness the power of social media marketing while also reinforcing previous marketing efforts. Your ads may be featured on the Facebook feeds of individuals who already follow your account. They may also show up on feeds of individuals who have previously visited your website or who are established clients or contacts with your company.
Facebook ads are effective because they enhance previous engagements or interactions. Customers are generally more likely to do business with brands that they are familiar with. Facebook ad retargeting gets your business back in front of people who may be on the fence about using your services or who may have lost touch with your business for any number of reasons. You can easily set up Facebook retargeting ads through the social media company’s platform, and you can conveniently make adjustments to your ads to manage expenses.
SEO for Property Management Companies
Many real estate investors who need your services will search for a property management company online. Will they find your website through their search? Generally, internet users will click on the first few listings on a search engine results page. If your website listing is farther down on the page or is not on the first page, you likely are missing out on the opportunity to connect with more potential clients. Search engine optimization will help you to improve your website’s visibility.
Search engine optimization involves selecting the right keywords to focus on and incorporating those keywords into your website, blog posts and more. However, the success of your SEO efforts depends on the quality of the keywords that you select. A deep review of analytical data is in order. Because these analytics change frequently, an SEO campaign requires your regular attention. You likely will need to fine-tune your selection of keywords, their placement and other efforts from time to time to ensure that your website remains at the top of search engine results pages.
Starting a blog targeting property owners is an excellent idea. Blog posts give you a place to add the chosen keywords to your website naturally. They also ensure that the content on your website remains fresh. One of the factors that impact search engine rankings is the age of the content. Blog posts also can be marketed, such as on social media platforms, to drive more traffic to your website.
Host Webinars for Property Owners
Many of the frustrations that property owners face are tied to a lack of knowledge. For example, they may be dealing with a vacancy problem because they do not know how to price their property right or how to market it successfully. Real estate investors quickly realize that there is more involved in earning a great profit from their property than simply making the investment.
For example, they realize that there is a lot that they do not know about managing tenants, running a property and more. With this in mind, you may find that there is considerable interest in educational webinars for property owners.
A webinar gives you the opportunity to showcase your knowledge and tout the services that you provide to your clients. These educational sessions should be informative as well. After all, you want the property owners to join future webinars and to follow you on social media.
A successful webinar will give property owners just enough detail to be helpful while also showing them just how much they do not know about running a property. You can advertise your webinars on your postcards, blog posts, website and social media.
Start Your Property Management Postcard Campaign Today
While postcards are only one of several effective ways to reach property owners, they are an essential part of a property manager’s marketing campaigns. Wise Pelican offers a variety of postcard templates that are available for you to customize today.
In addition, you can order a mailing list of absentee property owners to connect with your target audience with ease. To learn more about enhancing your marketing efforts with property management postcards, reach out to Wise Pelican today.
