Posts Tagged ‘how to rent your home’

Note Paper - Another Important Print Component for Your Property Advertising

Monday, September 28th, 2009

How to rent your houseWell, since I’ve been writing about the importance of print components in your property advertising, I thought I’d round it out with a comment about the importance of having note paper in your rental as well. When you print brochures and / or postcards, this is an easy thing to add on for little additional cost.

Hotels always have note paper in their rooms….it’s handy for the guest and it provides ongoing promotion for the hotel. The same is the case for your rental, it’s just another way to keep your name out there….and it’s very inexpensive. Guests appreciate the little personalized touches, and paper is something they always need.

Here you want to consider a simpler drawing or photo of your house….and you can go black and white or color. You could invest in a line drawing of your house, or you could use a black and white or one color photo (B/W or 1/C is typically less expensive to print).

Since notepaper is about giving the user space to write….I just include our address, phone, and web site along the bottom of the paper.

For specific guidance on creating a note paper for your vacation property marketing, check out the Booked Solid Blueprint, which will guide you through content creation as well as give you some great resources for inexpensive and quality production. Whatever you decide, make sure that printed materials are a part of how you advertise your property.

Don’t Forget About Your Email Signature - It’s Part of Your Property Advertising!

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Email Signature for Property Advertising

Think about an email signature as a virtual business card and a key component of your rental advertising. You have limited space, but you want to convey information that is useful, informative, and leaves a lasting impression. Remember that most renters are inquiring about multiple properties, and will most likely not remember your property off the top of their head. You want to take this opportunity to reinforce the key selling points of your property and remind them what a great place it is.

Contents for Your Email Signature:

• Name
• Benefit Statement
• Property Name (that links to your web site address)
• Phone Number

• Optional: Special offer
• Optional: Physical Address (This is dependent on if you want to make this public to everyone, or just part of your confirmation email). This is really secondary information to the promotion of your property’s benefits. I would recommend not having an email signature that’s too long, as it takes away from the impact of your message and makes it more difficult to read. Only include information that’s of direct value to your guest.

Example:

~~ Anne Miller
“Enjoy Ski-In Access at Vail Mountain, Along With Complete Resort Amenities!”
Vail Mountain Chalet, 303-666-7777

Take advantage of our off-season rates through October 31st!

Tips: 1. You want to keep it short and sweet. Provide valuable information and a reminder of who you are and what your property benefits are about. Remember, people access email through smartphones as well….so you don’t want too much information that’s hard to wade through.

2. I don’t recommend including pictures as they often come through as a download or can get mis-classified as spam. Keep it simple and include the benefits. Your guest will thank you….and remember you. Your goal is to provide useful information, and generate interest.

3. I highly recommend a dedicated email address for your rental property that is an extension of your domain name. This will make it very easy for your guests, as they have most likely responded to a number of ads, and they don’t remember whom they’ve talked to. For example, if your domain is www.seacottagerentals.com you want your email to be Barbara@seacottagerentals.com instead of Barbara@gmail.com.

Once you have set up your dedicated email through your web host (see the Booked Solid Blueprint for setting up your web site or purchasing your dedicated domain name if you haven’t already done this), it’s very easy to set up multiple email accounts within Outlook or Mac Mail. Once that’s done, you can create an individual signature file in Outlook or Mac Mail (or any other email management program you use. Just Google how to set it up).

For more tips on how to effectively use no-cost and low-cost communications tools to effectively advertise your property, check out the Booked Solid Blueprint. We walk you through dozens of ideas and resources all with the specific goal of cost effectively advertising rental property and boosting your bookings.