We have something interesting and unusual to talk about on the Fourandhalf blog today, and here it is: We wrote a book. It’s called Grow Your Property Management Business and today we are giving you a preview of what’s in the book and telling you a little bit about why we decided to write it.
The book proved to be the perfect place for us to write down our combination of knowledge and experience. Over the last three years, Fourandhalf has been helping property management companies grow. In that time, we have seen a lot of things work and we have also taken note of the things that don’t work. There is plenty of information in this book that will help you set up and maintain your own digital marketing strategy. Your property management company will benefit because you’ll be more educated as a business owner.
There are two main reasons we wrote this book:
Our desire to contribute. The National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM) has been supporting Fourandhalf since the day we first got to work. As soon as we opened our doors, we were invited to speak at and sponsor conferences. Florida NARPM and California NARPM have been especially good to us and we think NARPM is one of the best organizations around. We thought giving back a little would be a good idea, and putting all our knowledge into a book seemed like the most efficient way to do that.
Our desire to give you an advantage. In the digital marketing industry, the salesman still knows more than the customer. This is unusual, but we happen to be in one of the few remaining fields where it’s true. We felt motivated to put the customer (you) in control of how you develop your digital marketing strategy. Online marketing is a huge way to grow. You will get 70-80 percent of your leads online, so we wanted to help you position yourself on the Internet in a way that will earn you more business. Whether you do it yourself or you decide to shop for professional marketing services, we wanted you to be better equipped to make good choices.
Here is a summary of what you’ll find when you read the book:
Part 1 – Goals
Our book opens with a goal-setting guide. We discuss what a property management contract is worth and we help you figure out sample client acquisition costs. We help you set a budget for what you want to spend monthly or annually on client acquisition through the Internet.
Part 2 – Self Assessment
The second section is a self assessment guide. Before you begin to implement a marketing strategy, you need to know where you are. You might be incredibly successful on the Internet already or maybe you’re just starting out. It’s important to figure out where you’re lacking, and our self-assessment guide will help you do that.
Part 3 – Planning and Strategy
This is the most comprehensive part of the book. We talk about how to allocate your budget and we explain different marketing channels and opportunities. You’ll get a good idea of which ones you want to invest in, what it will cost you and what you can expect in terms of results.
Part 4 – Execution
Once you have a plan put together, you need to know how you go about getting it done. This section of the book gives you some actionable advice based on our experience that breaks out all these marketing channels and tells you how to make them work for you.
Part 5 – Sales
Finally, once the calls start coming in you need to know how to close the deal. We have talked to lots of property managers all across the country, and we know there is a real need for support in getting the deal closed and the customer converted. We give you sales and conversion advice, so that once you get a prospect to your landing page you can turn that lead into a customer.
This book is about 60 pages of sound advice and practical help. It will be available on Amazon, and for a limited time, digital copies are free to our loyal readers. If you want to have a print copy on your bookshelf to refer to every once in a while, we’ll let you know how to order one as soon as they are available.
Please don’t be shy about sending us some feedback once you’ve had a chance to look at the book. We love hearing from you. If you have any questions about our book, or your own plans for digital marketing, please contact us at Fourandhalf.
