PropertyManager.com

New Opportunities to Market Your Company

Posted on 17. Jun, 2009 by Aimee Miller in Best Of, Marketing

I was walking out of Trader Joe’s today and noticed a beautifully painted garbage can. Typically garbage cans are not really my area of focus but this one looked good. It was freshly painted (green) and the paper below it warned “Fresh Frazee Paint.” Kind of clever – they probably gave out the “wet paint” hand–outs when purchasing the Frazee Paint. If you think about how paint works, the paint–viewer really doesn’t know the brand used (and do we care?) but Frazee figured out a non-intrusive way to get a little bit of airtime with the general public.

I’ve shopped for paint before and it is really confusing, there are a LOT of brands and choices – beyond just which color to use, which is paralyzing enough. Do you buy the more expensive brand? Save some money with the cheaper one? What could possibly be the difference between brands…is it how easy the paint goes on? How long it lasts? Someone probably has an entire blog on this topic but as a regular consumer I don’t know. But, as a person who appreciates marketing, I like how Frazee found an easy way to warn me about not getting dirty while also reminding me who they are.

Whether the customer is an owner, tenant or a potential software buyer, it is our job always to look for these opportunities to remind them who we are in a casual and informative way. Some great examples I’ve seen from property managers are providing welcome kits for new residents that go beyond just the logistics of what is needed to live in the property (like information on how to use the appliances). These welcome kits have the property management company logo and contact information on every helpful item – from listings of local restaurants who deliver to a customized map of great walks or hikes in the area. When your logo and contact information are on these items that will help your residents have a better experience in your property you build a stronger relationship. On the owner side, sending a regular newsletter that offers updates on what your company is doing to better manage their properties builds trust. We received a great suggestion from one of our customers – they wanted to send their owners a quick overview of AppFolio with sample reports. This gives owners more insight into what you’re doing and the investments you’re making and reinforces that their decision to work with you was a great one.

At the end of the day it is a lot of these little things that build up your brand identity. It is more than just printing your logo on your standard marketing material – people already expect to see that and often overlook it. Find ways to associate your company’s brand with something of value to your customers and it will pay off in the long run…you might even see me at the hardware story buying Frazee paint!

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Tags: branding, Marketing