When properties have vacancies, the goal is to fill them as fast as possible otherwise cashflow is reduced. To fill vacancies property managers must first attract a pool of good tenants. When you have less options it’s more difficult to find the ideal tenant for your property management company and the lifestyle you provide. In 2015 to 2016, a Venngage study found marketers increased visual content by 130%, integrating strong visual components to vacancy marketing can enhance the effectiveness of advertising and draw in more prospects.

Written Content

Written content isn’t obsolete, it’s remains essential to listings but it isn’t the eye-catching part of a rental ad. Text is necessary for explaining the value of what’s being offered, explaining details that can’t be portrayed in a photograph, and for highlighting key selling points in which prospects would be interested. However, any written text should be used strategically, on average 81% of people skim online content typically reading only about 20-28% of words, according to the NN Group.

Photos

When you’re creating a listing online it needs to have high quality pictures of every area of interest to prospective tenants. 32% of marketers say that visual images are the most important element of effective advertising. Including photos in your unit listings gives prospects instant insight into the space they’re considering; it allows them to imagine how they can occupy it and evaluate whether it fills their requirements.

Videos

Videos are an effective way to capture your target audience’s attention and improve engagement. According to HubSpot, video is the primary form of media in content marketing strategies, especially for service promotion, Google research confirms that 60% of people would rather watch videos online than watch television. Videos drive more leads than other forms of media because they can capture prospect attention through sound, visuals, and text. A listing that includes video on average garners 403% more inquiries that others that don’t.

Video offers prospects a more immersive experience of units, properties, by featuring different angels and viewpoints which enables prospects to visualize a space as their own even more than two-dimensional photohraphs.  Property marketers can also feature some customer testimonials and footage of people on site to further positive association with your company. Studies found that viewers retain 95% of the content in a video compared to a mere 10% retention of text.

Social Media

Social media videos shares are 12 times the shares than both text and images combined. Prominently featuring photos and videos on a companies’ social media pages facilitates sharing between prospects. Most social networks draw focus to images first and feature text as an accessory to visual elements.  

SEO

Using visual media enhances SEO (Search Engine Optimization) ranking, the higher your website is listed on Google and other search engines results in higher viewership from prospects. Google received over 2 trillion searches this year which is why ensuring your website is maintains an accessible position is key to creating organic views of your listings.

According to Brain Rules, when a prospect hears or reads information only about 10% sticks in their memory, but an associated picture improves memorability up to 65%. Pictures are quicker to consume but, in that time, they often have a greater effect on viewers. All this is not to say that text should be eliminated from unit listings, it’s also essential. Ideally vacant units should be promoted with a mix of various media types to keep prospects engaged.