Marketing your Agency

November 2, 2012

Letting agent marketing strategy

Back to strategy today and a very important topic about letting agent marketing strategy. Terence Shimp is a widely renowned expert in the area of marketing communications and branding for companies and a lot of these thoughts are adapted from his work.

So firstly; a brand is name, term, sign, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates goods and services of one letting agent from another and also communicates a particular set of values for that agency.

No branding is something that would be more focused on goods and products. However, more and more service providers are gaining a competitive advantage through creating unique brands for their companies. This applies to letting agents also, they want brand equity, a letting agent that customers are familiar with and believe in, known for letting property quick and known for providing quality rental accommodation with excellent management staff etc. What do you want be known for?

What is your brand?

So, what are the benefits of having a strong brand equity behind your property services? You can increase your market share, increase loyalty with current clients and look into premium pricing for certain services you offer due to the reputation you have created for the brand. If we take a familiar product for Irish lets thing alcohol. Bulmers for example, you think summer, socialising, beer gardens, fun etc all in their adverts . What happen’s when you head to the pub on a hot summer’s day- you buy a bloody pint of Bulmers! So start getting an image, message, meaning behind your agency and what you stand for!

Letting agent marketing strategy

OK so you choose the brand now how to you develop it and sustain it for your agency. Well you can use brand positioning , which is basically influencing the attitudes of what landlords and tenants think of your brand through you marketing and advertising – that’s another days writing but you know what I mean!

The second area you want to focus on is the integration of your brand messages throughout all areas of marketing for your agency. From your ad’s on the front window of your agency to your social media pages be consistent with the messages and values you are putting behind the brand! Letting agent marketing strategy should be well thought out.

by Rentview

Articles that may interest you

Why use Youtube for marketing

Link building strategies

Social media for letting agents

October 22, 2012

Letting Agency Marketing Tools

Today we are going to look at 3 free tools on the web available to letting agents throughout the world online to market their services on. The digital age is in full swing, and the way people communicate and digest information is completely different to those of the same age five years ago.

So my top 3 tools for Letting Agency Marketing are:

letting-agency-marketing

#1 Vimeo or YouTube Video blogs

Ever started reading something and then realised it’s so long that by the time you have gotten to the end you forgot what the hell it was about? Well in my opinion, long-winded product or service descriptions are becoming more and more outdated and people want to be shown or told visually rather than textually. So take the first step and start recording some videos to release to your landlords and tenants. We prefer to use the vimeo service due to the quality of the video.

You can also watch our video on how to set up a letting agency video channel.

#2 Pinterest Picture Sharing

As I mentioned before, the days of everything being described or sold in text are long gone. Images rule nowadays. Why not get creative with some original imagery to go along with your marketing messages? We do it a lot on our Facebook page and it is a nice break from the usual content people would expect. We are slowly building our Pinterest page with a wide range of photos from the team out on the field, business events, funny viral images and more. Check the page out here.

#3 Facebook and Twitter Pages

I am presuming that many letting agents and estate agents will have already got this far with their marketing, but many do it wrong or see now value in using social media Facebook and Twitter for business. Social media is important these days, whether you like it or not.

Have realistic expectations, though. I don’t follow an agency to find out every single listing they have available, likewise I don’t like a Facebook page to constantly hear what’s on offer from the agency. Use it as a customer development tool and start running some competitions or posting some interesting and funny relevant content to get a buzz going about your agency.

by Rentview

October 12, 2012

Lettings Management Industry- a PEST Analysis

Some of you will have read the article last week on business strategy for letting and estate agents in the Lettings Management Industry, which received a good response, so I am continuing in a similar theme this week. Obviously we discussed what strategies agencies can take to the market, but before you get anywhere close to deciding on your strategy towards achieving a competitive advantage, you have to first do some analysis. Analysing the situation you are in as an agency will involve:

internal analysis (factors unique to the agency like routines, capabilities, strengths and weaknesses) and
external analysis which is where I am going to start today.

lettings-management-industry-PEST-ANALYSIS

So external analysis involves factors outside of the agency’s control and common tools business analysts use are; PEST analysis (political, economic , social and technology factors), Driving forces, Key success factors, Industry Life Cycle and Industry forces. One of the most prominent and more important tool is the PEST analysis, which many of you will be already familiar with. So here we go:

Political: This is where business activity in the industry is restricted due to either laws or interest groups. The first thing that comes to mind is the new property services regulatory authority. In a previous blog, we learned that several Irish agencies had to re-apply for their licences after failing to have the correct information prepared for the body. There is also new regulation set to be brought in next year on the monitoring of monies in client accounts.

Economic: These factors are mainly to do with the purchasing power and spending patterns in the market. The question a company usually asks themselves here is are people willing to spend on the services provided in the industry. In Ireland this, in my opinion, is a ‘no’ to the vast majority of landlords, tenants, home-sellers and any other customers of letting or estate agents. This is down to one simple factor of people not having as much money to spend anymore. The one area I might say the consumer is willing to spend on is the sale of a home, as it may be urgent or important to get the highest price obviously.

lettings-management-industry

What every agency in the Lettings Management Industry wants, a bunch of happy tenants, landlords & homeowners.

Social : Social factors affecting the industry include the population trends, family size, diversity and education. So thanks to Indexmundi.com, I gathered some stats on some of the key trends I think are effecting the industry currently. Things are good and bad, our population is still rising and currently stands at 4.72 Million, up from 4.67 last year. Net Migration rate is down from 4.5 to 1.6 per thousand. This means there is less and less people coming to Ireland. And lastly the birth rate is 15.8/1000 which again is down from 16.5 in 2010. In my opinion, these stats are not good for the industry.

Technological : Technology is the final piece to this puzzle we have been trying to solve. Currently I would think technology is actually affecting areas of the property services industry such as management, sales and lettings, marketing and customer relations. As we become more and more fond of our devices and technologies, agencies must adapt to suit their market. This may involve having a digital strategy in marketing their services or a C.R.M system to manage their clients.

This analysis applies to the Lettings Management Industry specifically, but it can be applied to any business.

That’s it for this week’s business strategy blog. Thanks for reading!

by Rentview

October 2, 2012

Starting a Letting Agency – Letting agency business strategy

So you’re thinking about starting a Letting Agency?

Back again with another business blog, and today I am going to recall some of my global strategic management knowledge to help break down the different letting agent strategies. Starting a Letting Agency involves a good bit planning and strategy. If you know anything of business strategies, you will have heard of Michael Porter, a leading opinion leader on business strategy and lecturer at the professor at Harvard Business school.

Image: Michel Porter’s Generic Strategies for Letting Agents

starting-a-letting-agency-strategy-

A popular approach that he believes for any company to take is the generic focus strategy. And what this means is you are either going to try and be the best on the market or you are going to try to be the cheapest (See Image above). On both occasions you are looking to work towards one thing, a competitive advantage in the industry, for the purpose of this blog we are going to discuss the lettings and management industry.

So what I decided to do to show you a quick example of two different letting agents with two opposite strategies is jump on Google and see whats on offer with agents in Ireland. Within a few minutes, I stumbled upon two agents advertising with VERY different approaches, one taking the low-cost strategy and one offering a premium and differentiated service to landlords for lettings.

Agency 1 – Mannix Ryan Estate Agents

starting-a-letting-agency-case-study-1

Letting agency Strategy Case Study 1

This agency stuck out to me in particular because of their claim to be the only agency doing what they do. This is a clear attempt at gaining a competitive advantage due to their superiority and different offering, compared to every other agent in Ireland. Even comparing their website and the social media tags below the text to others, I have seen that it is clear that this service is based around quality and not price, in fact there is no mention of how much it costs. So the value proposition to the landlord is on innovation through the use of video. Now we look at another agent offering the same service but differently.

Letting agency strategy Case Study 2

starting-a-letting-agency-case-study2

Now we look at the low-cost letting agent. As you can see from this advertisement, that I came across on Daft.ie , everything about the company and the brand screams low-cost. This is in stark contrast to above where the product offering was describing in detail the excellent service and differentiated marketing ability they offer. A great example of one the biggest companies in the world who has gained and sustained a competitive advantage in their market, based around choosing a focus strategy on costs is Ryanair. On the flip side, a company who has developed a sustainable competitive advantage based on differentiation and innovation/quality is Apple, who charge big bucks for their products.

So there you have some basic business strategy examples for starting a letting agency. I guess I wanted to find out what agents are doing at the moment and how effective are they finding their business strategy in terms of increasing their landlords, tenants, properties and revenues. Is one strategy better in the other, can we find a balance between the two?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, or if you have any questions, do get in touch!

by Rentview

The following may be of interest:

Letting agent marketing strategy

Why use Youtube for marketing

Rent management software

April 2, 2012

Property management and good customer service

Property management – How important is good customer service?

Customers are the lifeblood of your business. Without them, your business would more than likely not exist. Due to the fact that they’re so vital, it’s important that they’re retained and don’t take their business elsewhere. One of the best ways to do this is by offering excellent customer service. This is especially important for property managers, as you’re in direct contact with your customers a lot more than many other businesses.

property-management-customer-service

Poor customer service gets talked about. A lot. People are very willing to spread negative stories, whether it is just to their friends, or more dangerously, by posting their experience online. Marketers are waking up to the power of word of mouth, and so should you. It has been proven that negative word of mouth is more common and effective than positive word of mouth, but that’s not to say that positive experiences are ignored entirely. Providing excellent customer service encourages positivity and loyalty to the company, which is exactly what you want. After all, it can cost up to five times more to attract a new customer that it does to retain a current one. In saying that, current/old customers can do some of the job by attracting potential customers through positive word of mouth.

If your customer service is not up to scratch and you don’t know how to begin to improve it, it may be worth your while looking at the customer service life cycle model. Often mentioned in relation to the area of information systems, this model breaks the business/customer relationship down into a number of stages. Identifying these stages is a good starting point as it will be easier to pick out areas that need improvement and what priority they should get. Doing this may be a bit time-consuming, so in the meantime there are some basic guidelines you can follow to improve your customer service.

Customer service in property management

Build rapport with your customer – it doesn’t matter whether it’s a landlord or a tenant; you need to connect with your customers. For first time customers, simple things like introducing yourself, engaging in a little bit of small talk and asking how you can help them all work towards building a lasting relationship. Don’t forget your manners and do show genuine interest in the customer by listening and taking notes if necessary.

If you’re dealing with a landlord/tenant when another one appears needing your attention, politely ask them to wait a few minutes and offer them a tea or coffee.

Deal with problems immediately, as much as is possible. Complaints mean unhappy customers and unhappy customers leave very quickly. If a rent is late, keep chasing it and reassure the landlord that they’ll get it soon.

Keep your promises. If you say you’ll get an electricity account switched over by the end of the day, make sure you do.

Finally, go that little bit further for the customer. Even if it’s not fully part of your job, doing something small like offering advice will make customers feel that you truly care and increases the chances of the customer engaging in positive word of mouth.

There is letting agency software available that will help you provide greater customer service, why not research the area and see what fits your needs?

Please feel free to comment and share!

Thanks for reading!

by Andreas Riha

November 24, 2011April 6, 2023

Setting up your Google places page for your agency.

So now that you have your Google Analytics set up, let’s focus on getting more visitors to your site.

Google places is a great way to build traffic to your site for FREE. Google places (map listings ) are now placed with the organic search results (non-paid results), with many Place pages located near the top of the results page. It will also increase your presence, giving you a boost in your organic search traffic. By setting up your Google places page you are ensuring your information is easily found and potential customers can find out more information on your businesses.

1 – Make or claim your Google Places Page

Your business may already have a Places page, even if you never set one up. Search for your brand name to see if one already exists. If there is a listing for your business, click to the place page and look for the “business owner?” link, then follow the instructions to claim it. If there is no places page for your business already, then start a new one at google.com/places.

2 – Verify Your Google Places Page

Next, verify your Google Places Page. You must verify that you are the business owner or else your listing will not be trusted by search engines. Unless it is verified, your listing might not appear in the search results, or how often it appears may be limited.

Verifying is simple, but it will take some time. When setting up your Places page, follow the instructions. Alternatively, click the ‘verify’ link when logged in to your places account. You will have to wait for a postcard to be delivered to your business address within 2-3 weeks (though you may get the option to receive a phone call instead).

Once your Places page is verified, you should optimise your page and make it easier for potential customers to find you.

Include keywords in the description of your Google Places page – Describe your business; keep it short and sweet. Include some keywords. Use Google Adwords keyword planner (this was Keyword tool) to help you to better understand what potential customers are typing in when they search for a service like yours. Don’t go for overkill though, just a few relevant keywords should do the trick!
Optimise your business title – In Google Places your business name should be your title. This could also include some information on your location. Google Adwords keyword planner should be useful again here.
Choose some appropriate categories – You can include up to five categories and this matters, however you should include only those categories which are relevant to your business.
Complete your Places page as much as possible – The more complete you can make your Google Places page the better. This gives you an edge over less complete pages in Google’s eyes. Some information you may want to include is; your opening hours, additional agency information, links to your properties advertised on pportal sites, and social media links. All this will make your pages more appealing to potential clients too.

4 –Rankings for Google places

Citations and mentions are more important than links to your website within Google Places, it is widely believed. Measuring the ‘buzz’ around certain local businesses or sites can be difficult for search engines so they try to take into account any mentions online. This is becoming more popular with the use of smart phones. You can look for chances to gain citations through –

Directories – Create a listing in any major directories; just be sure that your information is consistent across all listings you have online.
Review sites – Reviews give search engines a signal that your business is a real place that is known and liked (or disliked) by real people. Try to get reviews from your landlords on your services online.
Local Resources & Events Pages – Look for local directories, business listings, and event pages for opportunities to list your site. Check out competitors – visit their Google Places pages and see where their citations are coming from (you’ll see a list of links titled “more about this place” at the bottom of the page, which is a great place to start.)

5 – Optimize your website and be sure they can find you!

Good SEO for your website makes perfect sense as this willup your ranking in Google searches and attract visitors. This is also a good citation for your Google Places page. Include contact details in a prominent place on your website so that visitors can find them easily.

November 15, 2011

Track your website visitors with Google Analytics

Analytics matter!

Probably the most important part of updating your web presence and marketing your site is the ability to measure the results of your new work. Therefore it is necessary to learn how to set up Google Analytics in order to track the visitors to your website. There is no point in putting money into advertising if you can not track your website visitors and where they came from. The same is true for creating a social media presence for your agency – you want to know what is working… right?

Track your website visitors

A great FREE site for tracking these statistics and probably the most popular, which is relatively easy to set up, is Google Analytics. It shows you how people found your site, how they explored it, and how you can enhance their user experience. With this information, you can improve your website return on investment, increase visitors to customers and increase your revenue.

track-your-website-visitors

So if you have set up a new business Facebook account, invested in some online advertising or put a blog together; through Google Analytics you can see where your visitors found your site, what they viewed and even what page they exited your site on.

So rather than putting a whole blog together informing you how to set this up, I’m sharing an invaluable link with you – this internet marketing company have put this great blog together on setting up Google Analytics so you can track your website visitors easily.

Tip:

If you do not have access to the back end of your website you may need your web developer and publisher to insert this into your site. It will take no longer than an hour for a professional, so make sure they do not look to charge you an arm and a leg!

It will be well worth learning how to track your website visitors over time, you will gather data about your web traffic that will help you devise better business strategy. Try it!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask andreas@rentview.com I would love to help you.

November 14, 2011

Increasing your property portfolio through the web

Having met with lots of different agencies over the last couple of months it appears that most, if not all agencies, are looking to expand and build their property portfolio for lettings and management.

So how can your agency increase its property portfolio?

Attract more landlords to your agency

If you want to increase your property portfolio, you’ll need to attract landlords first. The easiest way to do this is to attract them to your website. Your website should be the main port of call and act as a hub for activity. You need to have contact information clearly available on your website. Potential clients should be able to see 2 things from a quick glance at your website:

what services you offer
how to contact you

If you think about it, your website is like your international shop window. It could therefore gain you a lot of business. Equally, by not investing time effort (and some money) in a website, you are losing out on potential custom. After all, in today’s economic climate, landlords are increasingly based all around the world and these accidental landlords who may have initially rented the property prior to emigrating may now need assistance letting a property and/or managing one. New non-resident landlords are the customer most agencies are currently focusing their advertising towards. The non-resident landlord is most likely to take your full property management package and with property management software like Rentview, you are fully equipped to offer your landlords the ultimate management package.

Checklist

So it is very important to have your website:

looking well
regularly updated
attracting new visitors
analytics set up to track visitor trends
linked to your social media

Over the next few blog posts, I will take you through how to do all of this in some very easy to follow steps. All of these elements should help you to increase your property portfolio by harnessing the power of the web.