Peak renting season is right around the corner. So, now is the perfect time to have your marketing strategies ready to capitalize on this lucrative time in our industry. Here are five actionable marketing strategies that will reduce your vacancies and increase your rental income that you can implement today and have ready for May:

  1. Offer Attractive Renewal Incentives: The best place to start is with the renters who already love your community. Make sure that you have a strategy for renewal incentives like discount rates, waived fees, and amenity upgrades when their lease runs up. A smart retention strategy prevents you from having vacancies in the first place. Here are five resident retention strategies we recommend. Further, let your renters know about any upcoming vacancies first; they may be interested in changing rentals rather than communities.
  2. Provide Rewards For Referrals: People want to live in a community with their friends and family. When you let them know there are vacancies, they are more likely to tell their network. Further, if you incentivize those referrals with rent credits, gift cards, or bonuses, you'll fill your vacancies faster.
  3. Give Your Listings A Spring Makeover: Your listings are your first impression with potential renters. Update them with new photos, videos, and virtual tours. Take care to create high-quality listings to attract the most viewers. Further, update your listing copy. Include any updates to the rental as well as seasonal promotions. Finally, make sure to research and integrate high-ranking keywords to improve your listing search visibility.
  4. Run Time-Sensitive, Urgent Offers: Offering limited-time discounts, like a percentage off the first month's rent or free utilities for a month, creates a sense of urgency. Urgency prompts potential renters to act fast before the offer expires. Further, creating even more urgency with messaging like "last available rentals" to tap into the fear of missing out (FOMO), encouraging renters to make a decision quickly before they lose the opportunity.
  5. Geo-Target Your Listings: Are you located next to a major employer, university, or cultural district where potential renters are always actively looking for housing? Geofence your targeted ads around those locations and highlight your community's connection to those popular local spots. For example, if your community is next to a major university, you could geofence an ad that advertises with a target keyword like "student housing near [university name]" or "housing close to [Company Name]."

All five of these strategies offer a significant return on investment (ROI) during peak rental season. If you do them together, you will fill vacancies faster and retain more of your current residents. For more ideas on how to capitalize on this busy season, contact Occupancy Solutions. We'll show you marketing strategies to get to 100% occupancy.