Closing Marketing Gaps to Compete in the New Normal

Brittany and Marie joined Ethan Lieber on the Latchel podcast to discuss marketing gaps and how property managers can compete in an industry that’s only growing more crowded and more competitive. Ethan wanted to know how a property management company can position itself and build relationships to add the marketing fuel that’s needed to grow.

Here’s what they had to say.

Fourandhalf as Property Management Experts

Fourandhalf is a marketing agency that creates and implements owner lead generating plans for property management companies. The main goal is to help property management companies grow through owner acquisition. They partner with their clients to get found online by property owners, which requires marketing strategies that target their ideal owners. Some of the marketing campaigns Fourandhalf manages include blogs and content creation, websites, SEO ads, and reputation management.

Most Fourandhalf clients already have the foundation of their business set up. A good marketing campaign will work best when the operational side of your property management business is ready to go and ready to grow. Marketing and leads need infrastructure to be effective. Even the best marketing plans won’t work if no one is there to answer the phone and engage with leads.

Over the last five years, a lot of people have wanted to get into the property management space to build a monthly recurring revenue model. Fourandhalf can work with people who are starting from scratch, but it’s a challenge because marketing takes time.

Sometimes, newcomers to the industry believe that property management is just managing homes, but there’s a lot more involved, and that’s why Fourandhalf has also served as a connection hub for people in the industry. If you’re not ready for marketing, this company will put you in touch with the people who can help you build your foundation and prepare for the marketing component.

Acquiring a New Client: Close the Holes in Your Funnel

Most property management companies can think about their marketing and sales process as a funnel. At the end of the funnel is the client. The top part gathers everything that’s needed for marketing. You’re bringing people into the funnel, and you want to make sure there’s not a hole in that funnel. You want to make sure the funnel goes somewhere. That’s how you get marketing to work.

When people come to Fourandhalf, they’re usually doing some sort of marketing already, even if they don’t realize it’s marketing. Most business owners reach out for help when they realize they aren’t sure of what they’re doing, or they don’t have the time to do it right.

The first step of the onboarding process with Fourandhalf is to look for problems in the process that a property management company already has. It might be an unstructured sales process or a simple training issue with their Business Development Manager.

Trends and Mechanics in Property Management

Ethan sees management companies with a demand and appetite for growth. Increasing doors and revenues is a huge topic in the property management industry. Has this led to an investment in property management marketing?

Yes, and for a couple of reasons:

* The real estate market is crazy right now. The higher demand for marketing is partially driven by the fact that house prices are high. With such a hot real estate market, rental property owners are starting to cash out on their investments. While word of mouth and referrals once made up for any natural attrition with a property management company, marketing is necessary now because that attrition is growing. It’s a little bit of panic for some companies.

* Competition is growing. More and more property management companies are arriving in markets every day. Companies have to offer competing prices and services,