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Moving Marketing Online: Interview with Nick Scarabosio, Jackson Group Property Management

Posted on 14. Sep, 2009 by Aimee Miller in Best Of, Marketing

I recently had the chance to speak with Nick Scarabosio from Jackson Group Property Management in San Francisco, CA. San Francisco is a competitive market and you have to be thinking of creative ways to reach your audience…and Nick is pretty creative!

Aimee: How has your property management marketing changed over the past couple of years ?
Nick: Our marketing has changed quite a bit over the last few years – especially how much more we can do, for less. We used to be heavily focused on print advertising and mail, both are very expensive. But now we’re more focused on using online marketing to reach our customers. And this definitely saves us money.

Aimee: It sounds like you’re spending your marketing budget differently, what are you doing?
Nick: Yes we are. We have reduced the advertising budget because we are exploring different avenues. We’re spending on targeted Google Adwords as well as testing some Facebook advertising. We basically only do print ads in the Yellow Pages – the majority of our advertising is now on the Internet.

Aimee: You’re in San Francisco so I’d assume the people are pretty tech-savvy – do you think your approach works in all markets or just those like San Francisco?
Nick: I think it works especially well in markets like San Francisco but the ideas apply for everyone because our culture has changed in the last 10 years due to the tech boom. I know grandparents who are getting on the Internet now to talk to grandchildren and they realize it is an easy way to do business from greater distances. Phone books are getting out of date – you can use the Internet to look up and find a property manager in New York even if you’re in Los Angeles.

Aimee: How did you get started using the Internet for marketing?
Nick: It has definitely been trial and error because I really like to figure it out on my own. I started working by putting together the Google ads together myself. You really need to start with the simplest form you can find – I think you have to be hands-on to be sure your ideas really come through.

Aimee: What are your most effective Internet channels right now?
Nick: Craigslist right now is the #1 resource. In San Francisco 95% of rentals are filled via Craigslist postings. Second is social networking like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace – it is not always what you know it is who you know! So we use it for finding residents as well as business networking, owners, potential clients, vendors. We’re building our Facebook community and we use word of mouth extensively. If I know I have 25 friends in San Francisco who are in the business in my social networking group I’ll ask for a referral for a painter or plumber. It is natural to look for personal referrals so we always make sure to provide great service so our network will feel good referring us.

Aimee: Do you still find time to engage with the local community?
Nick: First you have to have a good foundation, meaning a good market presence and solid company. You always have to be involved with the community. An example is we do simple flyers to neighbors when we take over a property saying something like “Jackson Group is proud to have rented 120 A Street, please join us on Facebook where we share local offers and specials.” It is important to have a good mixture because it is hard to get people to just find you on the Internet. Find opportunities to connect with neighbors to get people to join you online, then you really have your presence set.

Aimee: How do you use Twitter and Facebook?
Nick: We listen on Twitter for different words but Facebook is the most important for us. On Twitter you can’t just sit there waiting for people to find you. Proactively look up people in your area that might be talking to your prospects. If you say something great they might “retweet” to their followers. With Facebook it can be even easier, you may be able to get in on a conversation that has bearing on what you do and then you can get involved. You have to take the time to listen to what other people are saying. So don’t just post vacancies to your community – that’s boring after a while. We even go as far as putting together a plan so we mix city info with resident info. An example is we’ll inform people that composting is now mandatory in San Francisco and we’ll provide the link and more details.

Aimee: What do you want to do next?
Nick: We’re trying to build a web following where people really want to hear a daily update from Jackson Group. We want people to feel that we provide good quality information and basically build trust so they will recommend us in the future. We want the reputation that if you’re a client, resident, vendor or someone who lives in the area you trust and listen to us. When we build an audience who trusts us, our name is in their mind when they have a future need…so they come to us eventually.

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Tags: internet marketing, interview, Marketing, social media, Technology, website