Rental property advertising has changed significantly in just the past few years. A traditional and widely-used method of advertising, newspaper advertising continues to dwindle away with each passing day. It was only three or four years ago that newspaper advertising had been a very reliable way to generate leads for vacancies. A simple three-line ad run for a week would generally do the trick in generating more than enough leads for any rental. As technological advances continue to roll-out on what seems like a daily basis, especially as it pertains to data storage, those simple three-line text ads just won't cut it anymore. And advertising without pictures of your rental? Forget it! You're simply throwing away advertising dollars.
Today, it's very important for rental property owners and managers to understand the key aspects of an online rental ad to ensure success in generating potential leads. This article will focus on the various compenents that one must consider, highlighting the most important of those components - pictures of the property that is being advertised.
Take time in creating your ad. You now have the ability to create very detailed and descriptive ads, so take full advantage of that. Todays renters - a demographic that generally encompasses the 20-50 age group, has grown up in a technological world and has come to expect being able to quickly review material for fast decision-making.
What information should you include in your ad?
(Reference the example below as I discuss parts of your rental ad that are very important.) First, pay particular attention when describing the benefits and features of your rental. Use descriptive words like "breathtaking", "beautiful", "roomy". Don't just use a 1-line summary to describe your rental as is seen in the example ad below. Believe it or not, this is a real ad that was pulled from a rental property listing website. If you're given a good bit of space to describe your rental property, take advantage of it! Don't go overboard in your description, but don't skimp on the space either. Use the "rental description" area to discuss these particular parts of your rental: Its location, interior highlights, exterior ammenities, and community activities or features.
A picture is worth a thousand words
And boy is that ever the case when it comes to online rental ads! Let's take a look at the ad below again. Notice that there are no pictures associated with this particular rental ad. Based on what you see here, would you be interested in contacting the property manager, or would you move on to other ads that at least give you an idea what the property looks like? Most rental listing sites now provide you the opportunity to upload a number of pictures of your rental. The inclusion of 10 or 15 pictures of your property should suffice for most any rental ad. 
I'm often asked about the type of picture that one should use as the "main" or primary photo for your rental ad - the first photo seen by viewers of your ad. In most cases, I believe a nice exterior photo of the rental is what should be utilized as the initial photo. If for example, you're advertising a vacation rental, it wouldn't hurt to consider using a photo that shows a view of the surroundings from your rental. The idea here - you want your primary photograph to act as the "eye candy" to draw the viewer into learning more about your rental. You wouldn't believe some of the pictures we've seen on our site that were used as the primary/initial image of the rental being advertised. In one case, someone posted a picture of the central air unit. In another, a photo of a closet was used as the primary photo.
When taking pictures for incorporation into your rental ads, be cognizant of the subject matter in each photo. If taking exterior shots, try and do it on a sunny day. Make sure lawns have recently been mowed and any weeds or overgrowth dealt with prior to taking your pictures. If you're in a northern clime, exterior shots taken during summer months while everything is green, are much more appealing than those taken in the winter. On the interior, turn on lights and tidy things up a bit before taking your pictures. Interior photos taken while furnished trump those taken of an empty unit. Furnishings better assist the viewer in imagining what the rental will look like furnished. Make sure other people are not included in the pictures. Most all rental listing sites will delete these images if reported. Watch that nobody is in the background when taking pictures of rooms that have mirrors. You've probably seen a story or two about classified listings that had some rather unseemly and unintended pictures of folks appearing in mirrors in the background while taking pictures of items they were selling. A famous craigslist ad that made rounds via email, had the caption "Can you guess the sex of the person taking this picture?" The background mirror helped the viewer to make that determination, as the photographer was nude when snapping his pictures.
Why type of camera should you use?
If you don't yet have a digital camera, I highly recommend the purchase of one, especially if you own or manage rental properties and are responsible for the marketing of them. Don't waste time and additional money in using disposable cameras. If you do, you'll have to take extra steps in having that film developed by someone else, having the images converted to an electronic format, and then wait to get them back. Digital cameras that take quality images are now very reasonably priced. Once the pictures are taken, you'll then be able to simply attach the camera to your computer and download images immediately for use.
If I had to make any recommendation on a type of camera to use, I'd actually vote for the Flip Video. You get the added capability of taking very nice quality video, and can "freeze-frame" clips into images. Video as a marketing tool continues to grow, and the Flip Video will allow to cover that popular rental marketing technique. Cost for the Flip Video cameras is generally in the $175-$250 range as of this writing, and video camera costs continue to decline.
Take time and learn how to properly use your camera. Play around and test out taking the same shot over and over using different options on your camera to see the effects they have on your images. You can't hurt anything doing this, and if using a digital camera - no need to worry about wasting film! Time spent learning how to set your camera for various lighting conditions will go a long way to creating effective photos that will help market your rental property.
Hope this article helps in your rental marketing. Get out there and get clicking!
