Best Practices for Property Managers with Google Ads

Property management is a highly competitive industry, and staying ahead of the competition is necessary for success. One effective tool that property managers can use to drive traffic and generate leads is Google Ads. With Google Ads property managers can target rental property owners, investors, potential renters or buyers based on specific demographics, interests, and online behaviors. With a well-crafted Google Ads campaign, property managers can increase website traffic, capture leads, and ultimately increase revenue.

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is a powerful paid advertising platform that enables property managers to promote their services to a targeted audience on Google’s search engine. By utilizing advanced targeting options such as audience demographics, keywords, and geographic location, property managers can create tailored advertising campaigns that reach their target audience as they search for services on search engines such as Google.

Google Ads is an auction-based platform. When users search for specific keywords related to property management services, the property management business that bids the highest for that keyword wins the auction and their ad is triggered. Users can then click on the ad and be directed to the property management website or landing page. The property management company is only charged when users click on their ads. Google Ads can be a great asset in a property management marketing plan strategy and allow property managers to effectively capture high-intent leads, which can lead to increased revenue and overall success in the competitive property management industry.

Define the Target Audience for Your Property Management Company

The key to a successful Google Ads campaign is targeting the right audience. What locations do you serve? Do you want to target tenants, owners, or both? Are there certain demographics (like property owners interested in renting out their properties short term, or real estate investors) that are more attractive to your property management business? Answering these questions and defining a target audience helps ensure that you create an effective Google Ads campaign.

Location

For many of the property management companies that we work with, the most important part of their target audience is the location. If your property management company only operates in Orlando, FL, you don’t want your paid ads to appear for prospective customers in Sacramento, CA. That would be a waste of budget and marketing efforts.

Take some time to define your target audience based on factors such as behaviors, demographics, and location. This is the first step in your Google Ads marketing strategy and will help you create campaigns that are relevant and appealing to your target audience and increase the chances of them clicking on your ad.

Keyword Best Practices

Google Ads works by showcasing your company at the top of Google search results pages for searches that are relevant to your property management company. In order to show up on those pages, you need to provide Google with the relevant keywords that you are looking to show up for.

Keyword Research

To make this work, you need a comprehensive keyword list. Think about what terms property owners are using when they’re searching online for a management company. Write down as many search terms as you can, and use them as a preliminary keyword list. There are many free online tools to help you search for the right keywords for your campaign.

Negative Keywords

You will also need a negative keyword list. In property management this is a must. Negative keywords exclude your ad from showing up on certain searches. Since tenants and owners often search very similarly but with very different intent, this is essential to avoid irrelevant clicks. A robust negative keyword list will save some of your budget; a more efficient campaign will run longer on less money.

Update Often

Once your campaign has been running for a little while, it is helpful to update your keyword list periodically with new search terms so you know you’re reaching the maximum number of potential property owners, investors, and/or tenants. Since your budget is not unlimited, you’ll need to prioritize some keywords over others by analyzing the searches that have been converting for you, and adjusting your bids appropriately.  Bidding on the right keywords is an important part of your campaign and how you reach potential clients that are ready to close.

Ad Best Practices for Property Management Companies

Another important aspect of property management marketing strategies is the ad copy. Make sure the content on your ads is tailored to the property owners and investors you’re trying to reach. Listed below are all the different elements that make up your ad.

Headlines

The headline of your ad should be eye-catching and include one or two relevant keywords. Phrases such as “(Location) Property Management” and “Free Rental Analysis” are great examples of headlines that will stand out to potential new clients.

Descriptions

The description should include more detailed information about what your company can offer. Focus on the benefits and features that make you stand out from other property management companies. Be sure to keep it concise and focus on the most important aspects of why potential customers should choose you.

Character Limits

It’s important to note that with Google Ads, there are character limits that restrict your ad copy. You have headlines with a 30 character limit and descriptions that have a 90 character limit. Since the ads are so restricted, you’ll have to be as direct as you can calling out to landlords, rental property owners, or other new leads.

You’ll also want to include a few keywords in your ad copy, where possible. It can be difficult fitting all the information into the character limit so take your time with this and play around with different options.

Call-to-Actions

A clear call-to-action (CTA) will encourage potential customers to click and learn more. Whether it’s “Learn More” or “Contact Us”, make sure the CTA tells potential leads what you want them to do with your advertisement.

Hooks

Create a compelling hook to entice any potential landlords to click on your ad. Hooks are any sort of offer or service that you highlight to entice potential clients from your target audience to click on your ad. Within the property management industry, hooks like “Free Rental Analysis” or “First Month Free” are very common.

Ad Extensions

Google also offers “ad extensions.” Ad Extensions can showcase different aspects of your company’s info, such as your phone number, address, hours, links and other details about your business. We recommend incorporating these ad extensions as this will help take up more “screen real estate” with your company’s ad, making you more visible to prospective leads. And, they’re free.

Landing Page Best Practices

Your ad will have to point to a page. You can either point your ads at your property management website or create a new page specifically for your ads campaign.

We strongly recommend that you set up a sales-focused landing page for people who click on your ad, rather than have them go to your home page. When the lead gets to the home page, there are a lot of links and content directed towards tenants, current owners, etc., that distract your lead from getting the information they need and contacting you.

With a sales-focused landing page, you have a page that is dedicated to your target leads. It’s much easier to update if you’re running a promotion or want to test different layouts. If you do create a separate landing page, be sure to include a form for visitors to fill out and a phone number for them to call you.

Phone Best Practices for Your Property Management Business

Phone calls that come from Google Ads campaigns must be treated with the utmost importance. Create a call tracking number so you know who is calling from your ads. Make sure incoming lead calls goes directly to the person who handles new sales inquiries. If you happen to miss a call, do your best to call back within ten minutes, or else the lead may already be on the phone with another property manager.

Setting up a call tracking number will also help you determine the return on investment for your ad campaign. You will know which calls came from your ads, and you can measure the success of your campaign by looking at how many people called after clicking on your ad.

Best Practices When it Comes to Budgeting

Google takes your monthly budget and converts it to a daily budget. Typically, when your budget runs out for the day, your ads stop running, and the leads stop coming. To get an idea of how much you’ll want to budget for Google Ads, go to the Google Keyword Planner and type in property management in your area to find the average cost per click for property management search terms. We recommend allowing for at least five clicks on property management keywords per day if you want to see results from your campaign.

Google Ads for property management companies is an effective way to generate leads and increase website traffic. With a well-crafted ad campaign, property managers can reach their target audience when they are ready to make the decision to hire or rent from them. By following best practices for Google Ads such as defining your target audience, properly researching and bidding on keywords, writing ad copy that appeals to your audience, creating a targeted landing page, setting up call tracking numbers for incoming leads, and budgeting properly for the campaign, property managers can ensure their Google Ads are effective in driving qualified leads. With these strategies in place, property management businesses will have all the tools they need to generate more leads from their digital marketing plan.

These are our recommended best practices and marketing strategy if you are looking to create your own Google Ads campaign. This will help you get started, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to advertising on Google. Campaign set up on Google can be quite complicated. To make the most of your monthly budget, we heartily recommend hiring a professional. If you have any questions about Google Ads or other property management marketing strategies, please contact us at Fourandhalf – Digital Marketing for Property Management Companies.