Craigslist

Craigslist is certainly no new marketing tool for property managers, but the ways that property managers currently use it is a bit surprising. Keeping in mind that Craigslist is, in fact, a free tool (except for licensed brokers in NYC), there seems to be a lot of under-optimization of its purpose. Given the popularity of Craigslist for prospective tenants, optimizing your rental property ad is a valuable thing, saving money in advertising over time and attracting valuable tenants. 

So what defines a winning versus losing Craigslist ad? I talked to a handful of property managers who shared their experiences with the marketing tool to define the best strategies in listing an ad. 

Experts agree there are three main components to a 'winning' Craigslist ad: creative and effective titles, writing good copy, and including actual images or multimedia of the available property. 

Last week Blackberry/RIM and Best Buy were two businesses that went on a list of dying companies.  It's often hard to predict what the future holds, and we have a tendency to get tunnel vision when it comes to our own businesses.  It's unfortunate these companies have found themselves to be in dire straights, but for me I look at situations like this as an opportunity to reflect on my own business and industry. What may look like a solid model today, may not be tomorrow.  With that, I'd like to share my list of five multifamily marketing/tech models that may be in trouble.

1. The ILS - I've actually been known to say that the ILS is an absurd marketing idea.  While I may have been trying to generate some controversy with that statement nearly 3 years ago, it's interesting to think today I actually believe the ILS model is in trouble a bit.  At least the way the big players look today.  If you look at Apartments.com, ApartmentGuide.com, ForRent.com, Rent.com, Move.com, etc., you'll find their models really haven't changed much since they started.  However, the way people search online is changing.  We may see a few fall off over the next 5 years if they don't evolve in an aggressive way.

2. Pay Per Lease Marketing Model - As tracking becomes more sophisticated we're finding (and concluding) renters are using more than one source to find an apartment.  Is it fair to give all the credit to a single source and pay them a premium for it?  I say NO FRIGGIN WAY!  Marketers are getting smarter and this model is a gimmick that has taken advantage of people for too long.  I think this fad will most definitely pass in the near future as pay per lead or flat subscription pricing will win.

Learn how to use descriptive language to spice up your marketing!

I’m all about saying something in a unique way when marketing apartments, but sometimes I find myself  with a brain cramp and it takes me a while to get those creative juices flowing.  How many times have you found yourself in the same situation while in a time crunch to get your copy out a.s.a.p. and all you can come up with to describe your community pool is “Sparkling”? 

First off, if you don't use RentSentinel for their Craigslist posting tool then you are really missing out.  Also, just because you have a tool like RentSentinel, it doesn't mean that it's being used consistently.  It needs to be monitored and measured for success.  I had one of my late night work sessions last night and started digging into the analytics that RentSentinel offers.  All I can say is, WOW!

Here are a few of my discoveries:

- It's no surprise that posting more often can drive more traffic.  We have one property that has posted nearly 2000 ads on Craigslist in the past year.  No wonder they haven't dipped below 94% occupied all year long and are currently trending to 99% occupied.  All while pushing rents 5-6%.

During the marketing portion of our training, one of the most important topics that I thoroughly cover is the posting of Craigslist ads for apartments. Craigslist is an incredibly advantageous marketing tool, because not only is it effective, but most importantly, it is absolutely free!
 
There are many more complicated layers to posting ads on Craigslist than just simply logging-on in the morning and posting an ad and being done with it. I always harp on the fact that Craigslist will only be as beneficial as you make it, in that posting one time a day is basically a complete waste of time. This statement is especially true if your property is located in a large city where Craigslist is a widely used apartment marketing tool, such as Los Angeles, where on average, there are 30,000 apartment postings PER DAY! Although this is an extreme example, if one were to post only one ad in the morning, that ad would be pushed back to page 4 or 5 within the hour. With this being said it is most beneficial to post multiple ads throughout the day in order to get a gauge on response time in terms of when most people are searching for apartments on Craigslist in your area. Post an ad first thing in the morning, one at lunch, another at mid-afternoon and one right before leaving the office. This will allow for a stronger presence on Craigslist, therefore increasing the likelihood of an individual stumbling across your ad.

Once you've established the number of ads that you are going to aim to post on a daily basis, then it comes down to how exactly you are going to draw attention to your particular posts. Scrolling through a full page of Craigslist ads can be quite nauseating, because there are 100 posts on each page with all of the titles looking remotely identical. With this being said the best thing one can do is scroll through a page of ads and figure out ways to make a title unique. Simply typing a title stating a phrase like "Apartment For Rent" in normal caps is not exactly what I would classify as an attention getter. Make the title something that will stand out and change the font up a bit to an attention grabber, like all caps. "DOWNTOWN LIVING AT ITS FINEST" will certainly present a higher likelihood of getting clicked on than the previous example I used, because it is a statement that will stand out amongst all of the listings.
 
As equally important as the title, if not more so, is the attachment of pictures to your listing. I will say right now as someone that not only teaches others how to post on Craigslist, but also as a Craigslist user, I WILL NOT click on a posting if there are not pictures attached. Pictures are literally the only way to make a listing unique, in that without them, the listing is just a description that is probably very similar to every other ad that one could possibly click on. When I am looking for any merchandise on Craigslist, I typically bypass all of the words in the description and scroll straight down to the bottom to see what the product looks like. The pictures really and truly make the ad and I can guarantee you that if you were to post the exact same ad using different contact names, one with pictures and one without, no one would call after seeing the ad without pictures over the ad with.
 
These are just some easy steps to take in order to increase the odds of receiving traffic from a Craigslist ad. Just keep in mind that all it takes is one phone call from an ad leading to a lease to make the five minutes it takes to post the ad completely worth it.

By Jo-Anne Oliveri, ireviloution intelligence, Brisbane, Australia

This morning as I was about to rush out the door I heard a warning about rental scams on our national morning news broadcast. Naturally I had to stop and listen to what this was all about. All too often I hear our real estate industry being slammed because of disgruntled clients. But, so often, we only ever hear one side of the story – the tenants.

Founded in 1995, Craigslist is the dominant player in classified websites. When you're thinking about selling or renting something, the first site that comes to mind is Craigslist. It's that awareness (and the fact that it's free!) that makes it so effective as a lead generating tool. Alright fine, we know it's not sweat equity free but there are no monthly or pay per ad charges for posting... yet? 

As simple as creating and posting an ad on Craigslist is, there is definitely an art to creating effective ones. I'll be honest, I was never that type of guy who could walk up to a woman, spark up a conversation, and ask for her phone number. I'd get too nervous, stutter some, pick my nose without realizing it, say something wonky and awkward and walk away empty handed. Creating an effective Craigslist ad is the same process as getting that phone number from someone you've been eyeing up in a crowded bar. The big advantage, of course, is you're not face-to-face, your nose won't itch, and you don't need to wear cologne. Here are the 3 components that make up an effective Craigslist ad: 

You need to have an effective "pickup line". "If I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put U and I together." When generating your title make sure you're trying to capture their attention, stand out from the crowd, wear a mohawk in a room full of crew cuts, and wear a tie-die shirt to a black tie affair. You want to make people stop, read... and click.