Property management companies have a lot of competition today. Property owners want companies with great reputations and the best prices. They will shop around online until they find the perfect property management business that fits the bill. Thanks to the internet and easy access to property management companies, property owners have many options.
So, how do you stand out and get people interested in real estate investing to choose your property management services over the competitors? You must showcase yourself as an authority and show property owners the benefits of your property management company. Here’s how to get clients as a property management company and beat the competition.
How Property Management Companies Get Clients
There are many ways to get more business, including narrowing your audience and understanding your target market and their needs. Next, you’ll build your brand, show your authority compared to other property managers, and narrow your content strategy to find property management clients and get quality property management leads.
Use the following ten steps to learn how to get clients as a property management company.
Define Your Target Market
To have a successful property management company, you must not waste time marketing to just any audience. Instead, you must narrow your target market and focus your marketing efforts on the demographics that could help you generate property management leads and get more property management clients.
For example, if you target property owners of luxury homes, you’d have a much different demographic than if you targeted property investors of condos or townhomes in smaller towns. Consider what type of real estate investors you target and focus your marketing strategy on them.
The key is to narrow your audience as much as possible to meet your demographics where they spend the most time.
Build Your Brand and Presence
Your prospective customers want to know the details about your property management services before they talk to you. It’s your job to provide relatable content online to get qualified leads, including tips and tricks for your audience to help them understand your services.
Most real estate investors do their due diligence and look online before deciding which property management companies to consider. To reach your niche client, you must use digital marketing, building a brand identity that new customers can identify with and remember when they need property management services.
To be a successful property management company, you must build your brand with the following:
- Have your own property management website with information about your services
- Be present and active on the social media platforms your audience uses
- Use proper search engine optimization SEO tactics to get your website and social media sites found at the top of the search results over other companies
Any marketing materials you create should have the same brand presence. This allows your audience to get familiar with you and to be able to recognize you whether they find your website, social media accounts, or a flyer in the mail.
Develop a Content Strategy
A content marketing strategy is the key to learning how to get clients as a property management company and is what sets you apart from others in the real estate industry. As we said earlier, most people use the internet to research property managers before choosing one.
Here’s the problem. If potential customers can’t find you online, it’s as if you don’t exist, whether you are an existing property manager or not, and it will be hard to attract potential clients.
However, this doesn’t mean slapping together a website or making sporadic social media posts, as it won’t help you find more clients.
You need a property management lead generation strategy or a method to your madness. Your content marketing should have a strategy with relevant topics so you become the thought leader in the industry. A few ideas to include it in are:
- Create a property manager services blog – An up-to-date blog with educational content helps potential clients find you. If your blog post contains valuable information, utilizes a keyword strategy, and helps current and future clients learn about property management, you may appear on the first page of the search engines. This helps increase awareness of your property management company.
- Consider videos or podcasts – Consider implementing video marketing into your content marketing strategy about topics that may be easier to hear and see than read. Some people respond better to these materials than written blog posts, mainly to save time, giving you another avenue to get more borrowers.
- Network – Networking for a property management business means talking to anyone who comes into contact with individuals who could use your services. Connect with property owners in Facebook groups and on Instagram. You can even network in person by attending networking events to find good leads needing established property management companies.
Engage With Your Target Audience
Many property management services set up a social media page but don’t give it the attention it needs, meaning they don’t nurture leads. They don’t engage with their followers to get new clients. To be a successful property manager, you want to show that you are the expert your audience needs.
One of the best client engagement tips to get more clients is to give your social media pages a personal touch by showing behind-the-scenes footage. Show images of how the property management process works to get property management leads.
You can also show pictures of you getting involved with the community. Show your audience you are a real person who cares about your clients and the community, too.
The best way to do this is to interact with your audience. Most platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram make responding to comments or direct messages easy. This is another way to get personal with your audience and let them know you are responsive.
This is important for most people when choosing a property management company because they want someone they know they can communicate with easily and who provides a cost-effective solution.
Leverage Referrals
Referrals are one of the best ways to find the ideal clients. You can get a successful referral from satisfied existing clients, real estate agents, and even social media. Never be afraid to ask for referrals.
- From past customers – If you have happy current clients, they are likely to refer you to other property owners. Create incentives for your current and past clients to provide referrals to their friends and family for your services, and watch your client referrals increase.
- Real estate agents – Let local real estate agents know of your services. Even if they don’t use your services, you may get other real estate agent referrals who can help you find new clients.
- Social media – Anyone can share social media posts, which will spread the word about your services without you trying. Create meaningful posts that people want to share, whether an existing client or someone who follows you, and you’ll get in front of a much larger audience, including local landlords, without much effort and help you find new clients.
Network and Establish Relationships
The key to growing your client base is constantly networking. You can network online and in person if you attend networking events. In both areas, you want to create and maintain relationships. The key is to know your audience’s contact expectations and use that to your advantage.
Here are a few ways to generate leads:
- Cold calling – Even today, cold calling is a popular way to build a property management business. If picking up the phone and making a cold call isn’t something you enjoy, focus your efforts on search engine optimization so your blog posts and other content marketing pieces reach the right audience.
- Email marketing – Emails are the equivalent of cold outreach, but electronically. But just like you need a well-thought-out script for phone calls, your email marketing strategies must be strong to ensure your audience opens and engages with your emails. Just sending emails isn’t enough; without a strategy, they’ll likely end up in spam.
- Follow-up – Relationships aren’t built on one phone call or email. After the first contact with a potential client, you must keep up the relationship by following up. This doesn’t mean following up and asking for the sale. Instead, continue providing value to your leads so you become a natural choice, and they possibly choose you over other agents.
Utilize Targeted Advertising
The internet and social media make it easy to target your advertisements. It’s different from the old days, when you would create an ad to throw on the radio or TV and hope it eventually reached the ideal client. With online advertising, such as Facebook or Google ads, you can target the right demographics so only the people most interested in your services will see the advertisements.
You can also watch the analytics to see how your advertisements do, making changes to ensure the right audience sees your message.
Collaborate With Strategic Partners
Become the leader in a community, company, or anywhere else to become the ‘go-to’ property manager providing what clients need. For example, create partnerships with other local businesses you can collaborate with and help each other market.
The key is to build authority to show your audience you are one of the best services in the property management industry that will provide them with what they need.
Speak at Business-Focused Seminars and Industry Conferences
Take advantage of opportunities to speak at events and speaking opportunities to get in front of people within your demographic. Use the opportunity to show the value of what you offer without selling. Provide sneak peeks of your services while providing valuable tips to your audience. You can also use this strategy online and offer a webinar to reach a larger audience.
Be Active in the Community
Community involvement is one of the best ways to show that you care about the people around you and that you aren’t just in business to make money. Attend as many local events as possible, offering free services, providing advice, getting your hands dirty, helping the community with a common problem or concern, and showing that you have common interests.
You can use the opportunities to volunteer your time or even offer free consultations to build relationships within the community. This works best when you join groups and get active in your community.
FAQS
How Do Property Management Companies Prospect New Clients?
Property management companies have many ways to find potential clients, including email or content marketing, social media campaigns, and asking for referrals. The key to finding new clients is understanding your audience and who fits your target market best.
How Many Clients Should a Property Manager Have?
The more clients you have, the easier the sales process is. But you should only take on what you can handle. Keep marketing to individuals to help you keep a running pipeline that always delivers.
What Type of Feedback Should Property Managers Seek From Clients?
Ask current customers what they think of your process, online payments and whether you offer reasonable rates. Take the information they offer and use it to perfect your offering. This will get you new business and help increase customer loyalty for repeat borrowers and your referral business.
What Are the Most Effective Ways to Market a Property Manager’s Services?
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all way to market a property manager’s services. The proper method depends on the target audience. However, most companies benefit from online marketing, including a solid content strategy and email and social media marketing.
What Platforms Should Property Management Companies Use to Reach Potential Clients?
Most professionals find clients on Facebook and Instagram, but you can also find them on LinkedIn occasionally. Focusing on paid advertising like Google Ads is also important to reach the right audience. The key is to narrow your niche and figure out where your target audience spends their time.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to get clients as a property management company is important as the industry grows. The stronger your marketing tactics become, the easier it is to be the authoritative figure in the industry. The key is setting yourself apart from others and showing value to your new clients to help them choose your service over others.
