Advancements in digital technology have forever changed the way renters interact with landlords. In fact, Internet Listing Services (ILS) are now considered an industry staple for attracting prospective renters and keeping vacancy rates low.

According to the National Apartment Association (NAA), 98% of people search for apartments using online resources, which means if you have a weak (or non-existent) digital marketing plan you could be losing out on a ton of potential earnings.

But what is equally impactful to your digital marketing plan is choosing the right ad service that will get you the most bang for your buck. You want a service that can get you results, inform rental decisions, and that can scale with your business strategy.

Many investors make the initial mistake of focusing too much on cost, opting for more “free” subscription services rather than electing for a premium offering. Sure, free offerings can generate some upfront savings, but they also often require sacrifices of efficiency and performance. 

At the end of the day, it’s about driving leases. While no one wants to incur additional marketing costs, in a digital world it’s become inherently more and more a “pay to play” game. Here are a few reasons why you should choose a premium ad service over the free alternative if you care at all about profitability.

Three Reasons to Choose Premium

Choosing a premium ad service for your rental listings is the ideal option for most investors who are looking to leverage data and manage tenant turnover more efficiently. Let’s take a look at what sets a premium ad service apart from a free alternative, supporting why it’s the superior ad service solution. 

1. Increased Visibility and Priority Exposure

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. One of the biggest benefits to purchasing a premium ad service is that you get heightened exposure across an ISL’s network. 

Providers like Apartments.com note that search impression and renter views quadruple, offering 20% more high-quality leads when using their premium ad service option. 

Zillow Rental Manager also highlights increased exposure as a benefit when upgrading to a premium listing, mentioning that premium listings are positioned higher in search results for potential renters in your area.

More exposure increases your chances of getting a quality tenant to fill your unit, thereby reducing the time your units remain vacant and minimizing disruption to your cash flow. The heightened exposure can outweigh the cost of upgrading from free.

2. Built-In Services and Client Support

Generally, the more you pay for a service the more features you unlock. For many premium services, your dollar goes further by having access to embedded features such as built-in tenant screening services, rental comparisons, and enhanced reporting.  

Most paid services also come with exclusive client support for any issues that might come up with your service. Knowing you will get priority attention should you experience an issue makes upgrading to a premium ad service a no brainer. 

3. Expanded Functionality 

Lastly, when you upgrade to a premium service, you expect greater functionality than a free alternative. Free ads often provide only limited functionality which really dilutes their effectiveness as a long-term solution. 

On the other hand, premium services offer expanded functionality. For example, free ads might only let you list properties with less than 5-units. Any properties over that cannot be listed without a premium service. 

Premium services also often offer less restrictions, increase the number of details you can list about a unit, and allow clients to upload higher quality photo and video content. On certain platforms you can tag listings by neighborhood or highlight more prevalent features that will help drive traffic to your property.

Essentially, premium users can customize their experience to leverage features that have more of an impact on their bottom line. 

Key Takeaways

Paying for a premium service is sometimes a hard pill to swallow, especially when you might not know exactly what you are paying for. But when it comes to a premium ad service, the results speak for themselves. 

Many investors make the mistake of utilizing free listing options as a way to attract new prospective renters, only to gain little traction with their listing. That’s because successful investors know that paying a little bit more for greater visibility and online traffic will more than pay for the cost of the service.

Premium ad services simply work better than the free counterpart and, as a bonus, they come with a lot of functionality which, if leveraged correctly, can help provide meaningful data that can be utilized to supercharge your ads and get your vacant units leased quicker.