Property Content Marketing: How to Turn Online Traffic into Occupancy.

property-content-marketingIf you’re in the business of filling vacant properties, you’ll know that your sales team has to be full of smooth-talking negotiators who can express the value of a space and convince a potential tenant or homeowner to sign the all-important contract.

By the time one of your users goes ahead and books a viewing, they will have gone through a long process known as the buyer’s journey, throughout which they will have become familiar with your offerings and will have made an informed decision to view the property in question.

When they are approaching the end of this process, they are ready to be sold to, but leading up to this point, they will be progressing through various stages where overly salesy language is more likely to deter them than it is to entice them. For this reason, it’s important that you communicate with your audience in a way that’s appropriate to their position in the buyer’s journey.

An Awareness-Stage Property Consumer

If you visualise the buyer’s journey as a funnel, the wide end is where you’ll find all of your awareness-stage consumers. These are the users who aren’t familiar with your brand yet, which means your content should aim to inform them about your properties and what it is that you do, rather than making a direct attempt to sell to them.

Signing a rental agreement or investing in property is a big commitment for your target customer to make, which means that the purchase decision will involve more consideration than a cheaper tangible product like a vacuum cleaner or a TV. You can’t expect your target customer to make an impulse decision when it comes to choosing where they want to live, so it’s up to you to nurture them from awareness stage right through to the point where they book a viewing.

Awareness-stage users won’t be searching for your particular brand. In fact, they will be looking for more general advice when it comes to choosing a property, and by crafting the right type of content, you’ll be able to put your brand in front of this audience from the very beginning of the enquiry process.

These users will be interested in property, but they won’t yet be too sure about what it is that they’re looking for. By creating content that answers these awareness-stage queries, you’re positioning your brand as a go-to source of information regarding that market. For example, these users will be searching for information on what to look for in the perfect rental apartment, which means that you should write content that explains this topic. An example of this type of content is…

  • “10 Things That You Should Look for in a Rental Property”
  • “How to Choose the Right Mortgage for You”
  • “Home-tech Devices That All Tenants Should Look-Out For”

By producing information-heavy content, you are communicating with your target market without pushing them away through salesy language. They will then become more familiar with your brand and will return to your website if they need further information about the process.

Often, users will settle on specific areas rather than on specific properties, so you should create content that highlights the benefits of the areas where your properties are. You can achieve this through visually striking area-guides that grip the attention of your users and highlight the benefits of the locations.

download-property-guide

A Consideration-Stage User

When these awareness-stage users have consumed your informational content and become familiar with your brand, some will remain at this stage (which isn’t a problem, because you can continue to nurture them through further awareness-stage content), whereas some will move further down the funnel, thereby becoming consideration-stage users.

This means that the user is in need of a certain product or service, and they might even know that you offer it, but they aren’t yet convinced that you can provide them with what they want. At this stage, the user will be on the lookout for potential properties, and their search queries will reflect this. Whether they are looking to buy or rent, they will be making very particular searches, which you can then use to your advantage.

When you’re communicating with a consideration-stage user, make sure that your content positions you as an industry expert, a market leader, and a property aficionado – your consumers want to feel like they are in safe hands when it comes to making such a big decision, and they will be on the lookout for indicators that your services are reliable. By creating industry guides and whitepapers, you’ll establish your brand as an authority in the property industry, which will thereby urge the user to consider your properties.

These users will also be on the hunt for specific products or services, which means that it’s essential for you to create content which reflects these queries. You can create onsite content that not only reflects what you offer, but also what your audience is searching for. For example, your audience might be in the market for studio apartments, so your content should reflect this:

  • “Why Young Professionals Are Now Choosing Studio Apartments”
  • “The Ultimate Guide to Choosing A Versatile Studio Space”
  • “The Impact of Brexit on the Property Market”

You can also afford to use slightly more salesy language with consideration-stage users, because they are showing a stronger buyer intent than those in the awareness stage. To use the studio-apartment example, you’ll find that you can emphasise the benefits of living in a more compact space without damaging their perception of your brand. By producing this type of content, you’re easing the users into your products and services and pushing them further down the funnel.

A Decision-Stage User

Decision-stage users have already decided what it is that they want, and it’s all about making them choose your properties over your competitors’. How you communicate at this point depends on your goals; if you want your audience to come and view your properties, then you should use language that prompts them towards this action.

At this stage, you need to use language that sells your property. Write in the same convincing, influential manner that one of your salespeople would use in person when showcasing your property. When describing the space, your tone should be persuasive and authoritative. You should be presenting your audience with case studies and testimonials that will urge them towards those all-important purchase decisions.

It’s important that you reserve this tone for the property pages on your site, because users on these pages have higher intent to make a purchase than those who are simply reading industry news on your blog.

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