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Advertising in Newspaper Classifieds

Landlord Advice

Despite the growth of the internet and websites like Craigslist, many people still look for rental listings in their local newspapers. It’s just one of those traditions that carry on through generations – looking to rent? Check out the classifieds!

So if you are looking to run advertisements in the classifieds for the properties that you are looking to rent out, be sure to follow these tips and advice:

Set an Ad Budget:

One thing you need to do is set an ad budget for yourself and don’t go over that. Newspapers have a variety of different billing options. You may have the option of more words for more money, “featured” listings, additional online advertising.

Don’t get caught up buying extras that you don’t need. Set a budget that you are comfortable with, and restrict yourself to that. If this is your first newspaper advertisement then we recommend starting with only the most basic options. As time goes on, you can experiment with future ads to see if the “premium” up-sell options are actually worth it.

Be Honest:

The newspaper ad will say whatever you want it to say. Therefore, you don’t have to mention any negative traits if you don’t want to. If the house is haunted, you don’t actually have to mention that in the ad!

However you can’t get carried away with yourself either. You can’t state that your property has amenities that aren’t actually available. Even if you’re “planning to get them in” – don’t mention them at this point. If you mention it verbally or in writing, the tenant can then actually demand you put in that feature!

Get Out The Thesaurus:

Positivity is the name of the game. We recommend writing out your ad as honest as you can be, and then bring out the thesaurus to put a positive spin on everything. A few examples:

cheap = affordable
isolated = quiet
small = cozy
big = spacious
old = historic

The better spin you can put on each word, the more appealing it is to the potential tenant. The hard part is getting the tenants to come look at your property. Once they come look, there is a much stronger chance of them renting. Focus on selling them on the property before they’ve even looked at it, with many positive and reinforcing words.

Do Research:

Go through newspapers for the last month. Look at the ads that are in there day after day, and the ads that are removed after a short period of time. Try and determine why certain ads are selling, and why other ads aren’t. Then apply all this to your own ad.

Less Is More:

The best way to begin a sale is with curiosity. Focus more on buzz words. The less detail, the better. Give the readers a vague understanding of the property, without being too detailed. As most newspaper ad costs are by the word then you’ll save money that way, and intrigue more people into calling you to check out your property.