Remember that Marketing is internal as well!! First Impressions Count!! The prospects first impression begins as soon as they enter your property. This initial impression will be built upon throughout their stay. If a prospect gets a bad first impression of the property, it will be very difficult to change her/his opinion. It is vital that the first impression be a good one! Not only your grounds, the office, home model, but your staff are all part of marketing. Have a code when you are touring a prospect that can be said over the radios. That way EVERY staff person on site can wave & say hi to your future residents!! Be NICE and be MEMORABLE.
1. Blanket Ad’s on Craigslist
Build Blanket Ad’s on Craigslist. Create 10 blanket ad’s on word press/word doc. You can now copy and paste your ad’s at the locations of where your park is at. This will allow to post free ad’s quickly. Cheapest version of advertisement
*90% of our market is on craigslist
2. Offering a Free Move on Craigslist
Offer a discount on your lot rent
Offer free move of their home
- This helps insure that everything is done the correct way
- When paying for their move- you can sign a long term rent agreement by keeping them in the community for 4 to 5 years.
- Thrifty Nickel Ad’s- Move your mobile home for Free! With contact info post everywhere in a 2 hour radius of your property. This is a free ad for the customer that is usually in gas stations/diners/ DR. offices
3. Visible Drive By Marketing
*Potential customers need to find the office very easily with signage pointing them in the direction of the sales center. Not one customer has rented a lot without going to the office
*Vacant POH’s need to have all signage/flags/ # to call
4. Advertise at your grocery store and put your signage on the carts themselves!
Most stores sell the advertising space at low costs and rotate them out every three months. Every time you plunk down your child, purse or bananas and bread into the top seat of the cart you and every other customer could be staring at your potential sale.
5. Create a partnership with local pizzerias
Offer to help promote them in your Resident move-in packets (EX: It’s your moving day so dinner is on us tonight. Enjoy 1 free pizza from …” As a tradeoff request your flyer to be placed on the top of all pizza boxes (pick up & delivery).
6. Facebook- Community Ad’s on your property EX) Contempo Mobile Home Community
With approximately 1.28 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the 2nd-most visited website on the Internet (behind Google). All those eyeballs mean plenty of exposure for your ads.
Ability to reach smartphone users. Facebook is accessed via smartphones worldwide every single day. This means advertisers not only have the ability to reach people on their computers, but also people out in the world as well.
7. Website- Pre Qualify potential customers
If you have a website see if you can add a template that will allow you to create a register form to have the resident “pre-qualify for their home” A lot of our customer base are timid on the idea of them being denied. Having them pre-qualify on your website with as little info as Name, Phone Number, email address, estimated amount of monthly income. This is generally creating a lead for you to call and follow up with.
8. Monthly Promotional Material- Depending on the size of your portfolio or just one community
It is a good idea to practice promotional material monthly or quarterly. With Banners or Signage at the entrance of the property.
EX) Offer a free month to new residents with full deposit/ ½ deposit/ discounted overall sales price / Offer a bigger referral to existing customers if needing to fill things quickly
9. Retention of existing customers
Being involved in your community if a FSBO pops up in your community it should be a good marketing and customer service strategy to know more about the resident selling their home in the community. Remember a physical move out is a loss of sometime $30k in equity. When you get this info from the resident that is selling you can evaluate the potential risk of this come leaving the community. It will now be in your responsibly to act as a broker or a source to help sell the home for the resident for free. By doing this they are letting you control the sale of their home which you will be able to filter through the dealers or anyone threating to pull the home.
10. Referrals are key!
Use your residents as an extended marketing team. They can be some of your best sales people! Have resident referral cards printed for them to hand out. Make sure to leave a line where they can put their name on it. Once they have sent someone in that leases and moves-in, make sure you reward them quickly!! Have a check cut and take it with balloons or goodies to their office or apply it to a rent payment. Friends make the best neighbors and your residents can get awarded filing up vacant home and vacant lots for the owner.
