Tips to Market Your Affordable Housing Management Services

In the field of affordable housing property management, separating your company from competing businesses can be challenging. Balancing your work with owners and tenants can leave you with little time for marketing. In this article, we provide some helpful ways to make sure your affordable housing management company makes a good impression on potential clients and continues growing. 

For property managers who want to improve the quality of their service across the board, we offer property management software at ExactEstate that we design explicitly with affordable housing in mind. We can transform the way your business operates.

Put Effort into Designing and Optimizing Your Website

When a potential client looks into hiring you as their property manager, the first thing they see will most likely be your website’s homepage. However, ensuring that this first impression is a good one requires more than just pretty graphics. 

The most crucial factor of an effective website is its ease of use. Even if a customer is impressed by what they see when they visit your site, nothing is accomplished if they can’t figure out how to contact you. Prioritize usability when designing your site, and make sure visitors find what they need quickly. 

An intuitive and attractive website layout can make a great impression on potential clients, but your work shouldn’t end there. Optimizing your SEO keywords and searchability can ensure that your properties appear above your competition in Google search results, giving you a significant edge. 

Now is a great time to look into search optimization. A recent NAR study revealed that housing-related Google searches have nearly tripled in the last four years. Customers with a significant volume of units should consider working with a digital marketing company to enhance their reach.

Streamline Your Application Process

Let’s face it: We’ve all given up halfway through a sign-up process because it was taking too long. Even if your website and ad strategies are drawing people in, a clunky application process can drive them right back off. 

Just as with the website, the key here is intuitiveness. The system must be accessible and easy to figure out. If you want to remove the guesswork and go with a surefire solution to this problem, ExactEstate comes with an integrated application system your tenants will love.

Take Advantage of Social Media

We live in an always-online world, and social media has increasingly interconnected our lives. By expanding your social media presence, you can effectively market your properties with very little out-of-pocket expense. 

The scale of this opportunity is hard to overstate, as a recent study found that 80% of those searching for apartment housing checked social media during their hunt. An effective social media strategy can connect your affordable property management company with a high volume of potential tenants and clients. 

It’s important to be creative, as different platforms offer access to different demographics. From Twitter accounts to Youtube channels, the internet provides a wide array of avenues to connect with potential clients.

Build on Good References

When you go above and beyond for your clients, they notice. Using positive testimonials from previous clients can be an excellent way to demonstrate that your property management company is trustworthy and experienced. 

Choosing a property manager is a big decision, and showing your potential clients that you’re someone they can trust is an integral part of closing the deal. Take each relationship seriously, and remember that every person you work with is a potential referral. The timeliness of repairs and responses to concerns and questions can influence how a client views your business, so be thoughtful about each interaction. 

An easy way to show your clients you care is by using a system that makes issues easy to resolve. An affordable property management software can allow you to easily track issues and work orders, reducing the risk of forgetting about a repair.

Don’t Completely Abandon Old-School Marketing

While most marketing discussions in this age get dominated by digital options, traditional marketing methods can still be a crucial part of your overall strategy. Particularly in a localized field like housing, signs and outreach events can improve awareness of your business. 

Although most of your business may ultimately come from online advertisements, the low cost of traditional marketing makes it worthwhile to invest in anyway. If you decide to diversify your advertising strategy, using a property management software like ExactEstate can make sorting through leads from all your sources a breeze.

Know Your Stuff

Customers respond positively to property managers who can answer their questions quickly and accurately. Make sure you know your properties inside and out and keep helpful information handy for when customers ask. 

For many clients, navigating LIHTC (Low-Income Housing Tax Credit) can be a daunting task, and they’ll appreciate your help through the process. If you want to do this as effectively as possible, staying up to date on news and policy developments in the field is a great habit to get into. 

Demonstrating to owners and tenants alike that you’re an expert in the field of affordable housing management will help you and your business build lasting and positive professional relationships.

Stay Organized

We all know the affordable housing industry can be hectic. Especially when working with multifamily housing properties, managing rent payments and grant disbursements can seem like a full-time job all in itself. However, creating a manageable and consistent workflow will allow you to finish your tasks faster and devote more time to growing your business. 

Many property managers struggle with falling behind on clerical work, which can appear unprofessional to both owners and tenants. Using a property management software like ExactEstate can help you stay organized and prepared for your clients.

Show Off Your Properties

This one might seem obvious, but the way you show potential tenants your property really matters. Ensure that your pictures are high resolution and sharply in focus while considering lighting conditions and choosing the ideal time of day. 

A tenant’s first impression of a property can make or break a deal, so be thoughtful when developing landing pages for properties. For these pages, you should choose pictures that put your property in the best possible light and show off the selling-point features. 

With today’s technology, you can also find many ways to go beyond pictures to entice potential tenants. High-quality videos, 360-degree views, and other virtual tools can enable your future tenants to better picture their life in that space. According to one study by Realtor.com, response rates to listings with virtual tours are actually 87% higher than other listings.

Be Yourself!

You’ve learned a lot about how to market your affordable housing property management company, but the most critical element of a successful business is the group of passionate people behind it. Remember to let your personality shine through into your business and make genuine connections with the people you work with. 

In the affordable housing industry, we have the opportunity to make a real impact on the lives of those we work with. Staying focused on that goal and getting involved with organizations in the field can ensure that you know how to respond to changing policies and strengthen your business. 

At ExactEstate, we believe in empowering you by giving you more time to focus on what matters. We would be happy to discuss how our software can help your affordable housing management company today. Visit us for more information and to set up a demo.