THE KEY
BE A BRAND AMBASSADOR By Kimberly Coates, Director of Member Engagement, LandlordBC Did you know that the way you run your business impacts the way people perceive you? Not just your prospective tenants, but also future tenants and past tenants. Why does this matter? People’s perception impacts your future business viability. How do you manage perception and attract future business? You take care of your brand. It matters.
Finally, you are the owner operator of your rental property. Business owner status achieved. Check! You know the ins and outs of your contracts, what it takes to maintain the property, and you have a pretty good amount of knowledge on keeping your prospective tenants. Mission complete, right? Not so fast, there may be more you need to consider.
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Let’s break things down further. You now have a vacant unit that you want to rent, this is your product. Managing your rental unit in a professional way is your service that you are offering. Your tenant is your customer. Considering all of this, how much thought has been given to the promotion and branding side of your business? Likely, not very much as this is one part of operating a business that is often overlooked, even by the most seasoned professionals. Most landlords have an idea of the type of tenants they want. The flip side of that coin is to establish yourself as the type of landlord tenants want to rent from. The relationships between a landlord and tenant should be a mutually respectful and beneficial, so market your business in a way that starts your professional relationship with your tenant on the right foot. The first step any business owner must take when it comes to branding and promotion is the development of a business strategy. A business strategy is a tool that is used to help you reach your business goals. Even as a small-scale landlord, it is important to set out goals for your rental business. Take the time to understand the industry you are entering and educate yourself on all applicable legislation and regulations. Be sure you understand the margins of this business so that you can set your business up for success. The biggest benefit of having a well laid out business strategy is that it gives you control over the direction your business is going and provides you with the opportunity to assess whether or not the decisions you are making are helping you reach your organization’s goals. Whether your business is small or large, a business strategy is the road map that will guide you to success. Branding is often thought of in superficial terms. It is easily overlooked when one sits down to develop their business strategy. Often, this is because there is not enough importance placed on company identity, or as previously outlined, how people perceive you. Without a clear identity you have no way to communicate who you are at your core. Therefore, you are unable to communicate how your customers or future clients should view and feel about you. In the simplest terms, a “brand” is the identity of your business and “branding” is how you, as a marketer, decide to communicate that identity to your prospective customers and also how those customers feel when they interact with you. In our current world people make emotional purchase decisions, especially about where they want to live. You want them to feel good about you, your brand, and ultimately where they will live, hopefully long term. We have all heard the stories where an inexperienced landlord with no vested interest in our industry, behaves in a way that
22 | WINTER 2020
