Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Title: Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Student: Robert Hines

Address: 7244 Iverson Trail, Lithonia, Georgia 30058

Phone Info: 678-825-2659

Email: Robert_o_hines@yahoo.com

Date: 8/24/15

MKTG 522: Marketing Management

Professor. Lynn Szostek

Paper: Final Course Project

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Introduction

Easy Rental Property LLC is a startup company that my best friend and I came up with
on New Years Eve. Our thoughts about this property were, what is something that
people cant live without that doesnt cost much to invest in? We were both born and
raised in Detroit, Michigan so the first thing that came to our minds was property
ownership. As you know the housing market in Michigan is the worse it has been in
since the Great Depression. The financial downfall in Detroit got so bad that the City
had to file bankruptcy in order to come up from the financial pit that was created during
the recent recession. This is a brand that has not been recognized before so we will
need a great IMC plan to insure that people can relate and remember our brand over
similar brands that are in the same industry as ours. Our goal is to purchase the rental
property, invest $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 to renovate the property, then sign a tenant to
a one year lease paying $600 to $800 per month to live in the property.

What brand problem are you attempting to solve with an IMC?

The problem that Easy Rental Property LLC. Is facing is the percentage of small
businesses that fail within the first year of being established. According to statistics
published by the Small Business Administration (SBA), about half of all employer
establishments survive at least five years and a third survive ten years or more.
This is a far cry from the previous long-held belief that 50 percent of businesses
fail in the first year and 95 percent fail within five years. (Schaefer, P. (2011). The
Seven Pitfalls of Business Failureand How to Avoid Them. Retrieved from
http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-failure.htm ) Even though the
percentage of the long-held belief may be false it is still a high possibility that a small
business will fail within the first year, and an even higher percentage within the first five
years of being established. We want to create an IMC plan that will not only launch the
beginning of our establishment, but that will also become a weekly process within our
company for many years to come. We want to make sure that we can reach as many
potential customers as possible, while staying within our marketing budget as a startup
company.

Who do you think the target audience is?

Easy Rental Property LLCs target audience would be all races and genders, focusing
on ages 30 and under, and ages 45 to 64. We based our target audience on the
percentage of people that rent in the U.S. by age group. We also took a look at the

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

overall percentage of renters and owners in the U.S. and we found out that 35%of U.S.
home occupants are renters.

That would be 42,357,512 renting households and 107,573,870 residents (Obrinsky,

M. (2014, October 1). Quick Facts: Resident Demographics| NMHC.org. Retrieved from
http://nmhc.org/Content.aspx?id=4708) from a national standpoint. This vital information
will help us create two different marketing models for our two totally different target
audiences, and a third joint marketing campaign that will include both target audiences
to bring the overall unified community experience to the forefront. With the United
States still licking its wounds from the current recession many people still have a need
to rent because they may not have the proper down payment or credit needed to
become an instant home owner. Home ownership takes time, and we will be the rental
property that will allow our renters to take all the time that they need to prepare to go
from being renters to owners if they choose to. Are similar or competitive brands
available?

List or briefly describe a similar brand.

Zillow, Homes.com, and Rentals.com are a few establish brands that are similar to the
brand that Im trying to create. All of these companies provide the consumer with a list of
available rental properties, and they provide you with many ways to narrow down your
search by price, city, state, and even school district. They have great web sites that are
very user friendly, but it is missing a personal touch in my opinion. These are a few
examples of the competition that Im up against.

How does your brand differ from competitors? What is the distinctive competitive
advantage?

We would like to differ our brand from our competitors by marketing and advertising
more incentives to our clients to let them know that we truly thank them for being a part
of our business. We would give our clients the option to pay half of the deposit up front,
and include the remaining balance of the deposit with the first 6 months rent. We would
offer the rented furniture in the initial showing to continue to be rented if needed. We
would send the renter a gift card if the rent is paid on time for 6 months consistently.
Another incentive that would be great for marketing is our referral program. The current
renter that refers the new renter will have either have 10% of the new renters rent cost
taken off of their rent total, or they can choose to have the money in the form of a gift
card. The more people that they refer the more money they will save on rent or living
expenses. Giving back to the customer will be the way that we take competitive
advantage over our competitors.

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

IMC Objectives

Identify the brand and the principle objectives of the campaign and quantify where
possible:

Attract new customers

Retain existing customers
Branding objectives
Marketing and corporate objectives
Invest in quality well cared for properties that are priced within the local market
range
Locate only well qualified tenants, desiring to lease long term
Generate passive income

Market Analysis

SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis is
a method for strategic planning that evaluates these four elements as they relate to
Easy Rentals business objectives. The following section helps demonstrate Easy
Rentals marketing strategy:

Strengths
The rental property is well located in a growing neighborhood with easy access to
neighborhood schools, shopping and restaurants. Located less than 10 minutes from
the major highway exit, the commute to Detroit is less than 10 minutes.

Easy Rental has an approved tenant in place and willing to put down a security
deposit. The tenants background check is clean, and all of their references have been
contacted and confirmed. The tenant is known by the owners of Easy Rental, and works
as an accountant for a highly creditable organization.

Upgrades to the property will be made by a reputable contractor with a 10 year history
with the owners of Easy Rental. The owners of Easy Rental will paint the property
themselves which will further reduce expenses.

Easy Rental will come out of pocket in excess of $5000.00 toward the house purchase
and capital improvements.

The owners of Easy Rental have day jobs and thus have additional income sources
and savings to draw from to support business operations.

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Weaknesses

New entrants into real estate property management, Easy Rental has limited
experience owning and managing investment income properties.

The problem that Easy Rental Property LLC. Is facing is the percentage of small
businesses that fail within the first year of being established. According to statistics
published by the Small Business Administration (SBA), about half of all employer
establishments survive at least five years and a third survive ten years or more.
This is a far cry from the previous long-held belief that 50 percent of businesses
fail in the first year and 95 percent fail within five years. (Schaefer, P. (2011). The
Seven Pitfalls of Business Failure and How to Avoid Them. Retrieved from
http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-failure.htm )

Even though the percentage of the long-held belief may be false it is still a high
possibility that a small business will fail within the first year, and an even higher
percentage within the first five years of being established. We want to create an IMC
plan that will not only launch the beginning of our establishment, but that will also
become a weekly process within our company for many years to come. We want to
make sure that we can reach as many potential customers as possible, while staying
within our marketing budget as a startup company.

Opportunities

Michigan has low vacancy levels at 6% compared to the national average of 7.9%.

The property is located in a strong growing community and the fastest growing county
in the state.

Easy Rental has an opportunity to participate in a real estate rental market that has not
seen prices for property this low in the past 20 years.

Threats

Investment real estate is economically tied changes in unemployment, rent spikes

and changes in the economy could adversely impact demand for rental units.

Declination in the local neighborhood could impact attractiveness of rent.

Cost overruns in the construction budget and failure to complete upgrades in time
could impact Easy Rentals cash flow.

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Segmentation and Targeting

Easy Rental is targeting families with children, single family households, or dual income
households. The target tenant is under the age of 35 and is likely to have some
additional financial obligations, such as student loan debt and car note debt that they
want to pay off prior to considering home ownership.
Many of Robert Hines and Quentin Smiths friends and family fit the target profile, and
Easy Rental will continue to pursue this target group as tenants. The target rent is the
$600 - 800 range. Given the option of raising a family in a traditional single family home
compared to an apartment complex, Easy Rentals target tenant prefers the former. The
surrounding neighborhoods are growing making the location ideal for Easy Rentals
tenants. With limited direct comparables, the demand for single family residences
available for rental is high in this market.

The Target Market

Easy Rentals target market is quite similar to Rent.com, Zillow.com and Homes.com
targeted demographic, which includes families and individuals with modest incomes.
The customers that visit these web sites are typically interested in in the value of the
rental homes offered, and less interested in business branding. The target market for
these types of rental property web sites consist of the following information:
Geographic region Rental web sites have locations in all 50 States in the
United States of America. Easy Rental is a startup company so we will start
purchasing property in Michigan and expand in 3 to 5 years. We want to build a
strong customer base in the State that we were born in first, then move on to
bigger projects.

City or metro size The size of the Cities that we would like to start campaigning
in would be between 250,000500,000 people. Easy Rental will start purchasing
property in and around the Detroit Metro area first.

Density Easy Rental needs to market in the middle and upper class areas in
the Detroit Metro area.

Climate We are not concerned about the climate. Easy Rental will
accommodate the weather by placing the customer in a home that will protect
them from any climate.

Demographic age Easy Rentals target demographic age would be between the
ages of 2550.

Family size The Property that we have for rent will accommodate a family size
of 1 to 6 people.

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Gender Male and Female.

Income - $25,000$50,000
Occupation Average working class; professional and technical workers;
managers, officials, and proprietors;
Education High School Diploma; Associates Degree; Bachelors Degree;
Religion Religion does not play a part in our marketing concept.
Race We want to market to all races by placing all ethnic backgrounds in our
ads and commercials.
Generation - the ages of 25-50.
Nationality We will market to people living in Michigan.

Social class - Middle and upper class.

Psychographic lifestyle A reasonable rental price for the average working

member of society who strive to meet their daily needs.

Personality Loyal, careful, cost effective, budgeteer, efficient.

Benefits quality, service, prices.

User status - potential user, first-time user, regular user.

Usage rate medium to heavy usage

Loyalty status strong loyalty status

Readiness stage - aware, informed, interested.

Attitude toward product - Enthusiastic, positive.

Positioning

Easy Rental will position itself as the rental property of choice when it comes to quality
properties in solid neighborhoods, by actively staying current on local market conditions.
Easy Rental will own, operate, and lease clean, well maintained single family
residences to well qualified tenants. Others often miss the mark by investing in low
quality properties which will not provide sufficient ROI (return on investment).
Additionally other landlords often fall short in responding to tenants needs for repairs.
When a tenant calls requesting repairs to say a leaky faucet, Easy Rental will have a
repairman on premises that same day. What will set Easy Rental apart from other
property managers will be its unique ability to bring quality properties and tenants
together.

Product/Service

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Easy Rental will only lease solid, clean, well maintained investment properties that
generate positive cash flow. In order to meet these objectives, Easy Rental will not
make the mistakes many new landlords make and perform thorough due diligence prior
to purchasing any property; All perspective properties must meet the following
requirements:

Property must be clean and well maintained.

Property must be a growing community with low vacancy rates.

Rent will be priced within market range typically between the $600-$800 ranges.

Property must generate positive passive income.

All tenants will be required to: Pass background check; Provide verifiable references.

Customer must pay for and provide an extensive background check from the police
station before a move in date is given.

All tenants will be required to provide a security deposit.

Tenants will be required to make payments via EFT which will further ensure payments
will be made as agreed and on time.

Easy Rental will strive to be a superlative landlord as well by responding within one
hour to any tenant issues regarding repairs and maintenance during normal business
hours of operation. Weekend and evening calls will be answered the following business
day unless it is a life threatening emergency (such as the smell of gas, water main
breaks) in which case the owners will be paged immediately and an emergency
response service will be sent.

Customer Profile

Easy Rental Property LLCs target audience would be all races and genders, focusing
on ages 30 and under, and ages 45 to 64. We based our target audience on the
percentage of people that rent in the U.S. by age group. We also took a look at the
overall percentage of renters and owners in the U.S. and we found out that 35%of U.S.
home occupants are renters. That would be 42,357,512 renting households and
107,573,870 residents from a national standpoint. (Obrinsky, M. (2014, February 1).
Quick Facts: Resident Demographics. Retrieved from http:// nmhc.org
/Content.aspx?id =4708). This vital information will help us create two different
marketing models for our two totally different target audiences, and a third joint
marketing campaign that will include both target audiences to bring the overall unified

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

community experience to the forefront. With the United States still licking its wounds
from the current recession many people still have a need to rent because they may not
have the proper down payment or credit needed to become an instant home owner.
Home ownership takes time, and we will be the rental property that will allow our renters
to take all the time that they need to prepare to go from being renters to owners if they
choose to.

Marketing Channels/Communications Strategy Plans

Easy Rental will primarily rely on advertising through friends, family, business cards,
local newspapers, social media, web sites that offer free advertisement, and word of
mouth. In the event that a property is available, Easy Rental will feature photos of the
property along with detailed description of the property, amenities, details of the
surrounding neighborhood and any concessions that are currently available.
The owners of Easy Rental love what they do! And it shows in from the quality of the
properties they invest in to the caliber of tenants they lease to. They thoroughly review
the property and analyze the real estate market. Easy Rental will continually monitor
and evaluate the local market trends. They are in this for the long term!

Easy Rental will meet with prospects right on site. The prospects will be greeted and
treated with the utmost professionalism in a relaxed and respectful environment. The
first meeting is an opportunity for the owners of Easy Rental to decide on leasing to the
prospective tenant. If the prospect seems disagreeable, unpleasant or makes unrealistic
requests, Easy Rental will not lease the property.
If however the prospect is professional, and has reasonable requests, then this meeting
will be considered along with the background check and deposit prior to making a
decision to lease.

Sales Promotion

Easy Rental will offer the customer 3 types of promotions during their one year lease
agreement with the company.

Deposit Payment Option - Pay half of the deposit with the first months rent, and
the remainder of the deposit will be split into 6 payments. Each additional
payment can be paid at any time within a 30 day monthly cycle.
Referral Payments Each customer living in one of the Easy Rental properties
that refers another customer to our establishment will receive 10% of the profit
made from the new referred customers rent payment. The customer who referred
the new client has the option to receive the payment in cash, or have the amount
taken off of their rent the following month.
On Time Incentive Each tenant that pays 6 months worth of rent on time will
receive a $100 gift card to show our appreciation for their great payment record.

Public Relations (PR)

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Both Robert Hines and Quentin Smith will own and manage the subject real estate.
Robert and Quentin will hire someone to perform routine maintenance requirements and
repairs. Robert Hines will manage the daily bookkeeping requirements. He will submit
payments to vendors such as trash service and recycling service, and forward the
required information to his certified public accountant Carlydia Hines for preparation of
the annual income taxes.

Quentin Smith will oversee the day to day maintenance of the rental unit. On a monthly
basis he will inspect the grounds, and make notations of the overall physical condition of
the property. The tenant will be put on notice for example if the yard needs to be mowed
or weeds appear to be an issue. The tenant will have sufficient time to remedy the
notice and will be fined daily until the issue has been resolved. He will drive by the
property frequently for visual inspections of the property. He is readily available in the
event the tenant has any repair needs.

Robert Hines will oversee all marketing and advertisement processes, answer all
questions and concerns, set up meetings between the owners and potential tenants, set
up all scheduled maintenance request, and handle all customer complaints. All tenants
will be required to agree to EFT (electronic funds transfer) for monthly payments, which
should minimize the need to collect rent. Robert Hines will manage the daily
bookkeeping requirements. He will submit payments to vendors such as trash service
and recycling service, and forward the required information to his certified public
accountant Carlydia Hines for preparation of the annual income taxes.
Easy Rental does not have a public relations representative, accountant or attorney on
its staff. Robert Hines and Quentin Smith will be responsible for all public relations
concerns with the company. Income tax preparation and consulting services will be
provided by the owners long term personal public accountant.

Public relations involves:

Creating publicity; buzz, viral messages
Building media relations
Corporate communication (issues management, community
relations, government relations, industry relations)
Building employee relations
Maintaining financial/investor relations
Crisis management
Image building
PR deals with what is difficult to control; but a company can be
prepared
PR amplifies the effects of other communications strategies

The tools of PR include:

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Press releases
Feature stories
Company newsletters
Press pack
Interviews and press conferences
Sponsored events

Communications Schedule

Launch dates

Easy Rental would like to pinpoint is that each property is renovated, fully
functional, and ready for a tenant to move in within 60 days from the date of
the purchase of the home.
Easy Rental would also like to set a 30 day time frame to have the tenant
moved into a newly renovated property after the construction is complete.
Easy Rental would like to purchase and launch a new property for rent every
3 to 6 months after the previous property is rented. Once we reach our short
term goal of 10 properties, we would like to purchase 2 or more properties
every 3 to 4 months.

Key events

The only key events on our calendar would be our annual Labor Day
gathering, and our annual Christmas party. All of the food, drinks, and
souvenirs will be free to our tenants and 2 other invited guest of their
choice. This is our way of giving back to the people who support our
company! These events will be paid for personally by Robert Hines and
Quentin Smith.

Budget and Evaluation

Marketing and Advertisement Budget

Friends - $0.00

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Easy Rental Property Marketing Plan

Family $0.00

Business cards - $100.00 annually

Local newspapers - $200.00 annually

Social media - $0.00

Web sites that offer free advertisement - $0.00

Word of Mouth - $0.00

Total Cost to Market and Advertise $300.00

Easy Rental Property LLC has a very low Marketing and advertisement budget because
we are a brand new startup company. We want to use some of the tools that are free of
charge in the beginning stages because we have to use the majority of the startup
funding to purchase and renovate our 1st property. As the business succeeds and grows
larger, we will look into other marketing and advertisement options.

Conclusion

Easy Rental is a newly formed startup company owned by Robert Hines and Quentin
Smith for purposes of purchasing and owing income producing real estate. Easy Rental
fills the void in Michigans rental housing market by providing clean, well-cared for rental
homes to qualified tenants. Neither the homes nor the tenants are chosen on a hasty
basis, but rather on purposeful, planned and methodical basis. The property selection
process is rigorous and based on long term investment standards and tenants are
personally evaluated by the owners.
Easy Rental believes the key to successful property management is to be committed for
the long term in both the property and tenant selection process.

The owners of Easy Rental are lifelong residents of Michigan, and want to invest in the
real-estate market in Michigan because of the decline in prices over the past 7 years.
Easy Rental is purchasing their first investment property, a well maintained single family
home located in Michigan. Easy Rental would like to sign a contract on the house with a
sales price no larger than $20,000.00. The property is in need of some repair and
maintenance (primarily cosmetic). REV will contract the work to a well-known contractor
in Michigan to complete all renovations. Quentin Smith will paint the property. The
estimated repairs will take one month to complete at a cost of approximately $10,000.

A tenant, known by the owners with a salary of $22,000.00 or more, a clean background
check, and references, has been located and is ready take occupancy as soon as
renovations are complete. The tenant involved will provide a security deposit.

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Easy Rentals goal is to invest in quality both in its properties and in its tenants. One of
the largest mistakes made by new real estate investors is in poor property selection.
Even worse is their tenant selection process, often with little or no background check. At
Easy Rental, the owners are extremely devoted to their business and their commitment
to the long term can be seen in their extreme dedication to both their properties and
their meticulous selection process of finding long term tenants.

Source and Use of Funds

The owners of Easy Rental have approximately $5,000.00 saved for investment
purposes, and will need additional funding from personal investors to fund the total
startup costs and meet operating shortfalls. Easy Rental plans to invest a portion of
these proceeds into additional rental income properties after paying back their investors
with 50% interest within the first 3 to 5 years of operation.

Personnel Plan
Robert Hines and Quentin Smith will own and operate Easy Rental and will split the
profit between themselves after all maintenance concerns, customer request, and
complaints have been handled, and the investors portion is saved for future payment.

Important Assumptions

Construction Budget
Easy Rental estimates a 1 month completion. Work will be performed by a contractor
that is well known by the owners. The contractor is bonded, licensed and in good
standing with the state.

Break-Even Analysis / Projected Profit and Loss / Sales Forecast

Breakdown by Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Item
# Of Rental 1 3 6 12 24
Homes
Rent 8400 25200 50400 100800 201600
Expenses 15000 3000 6000 12000 24000
Investors Profit 0 5000 5000 5000 5000

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Remaining -6600 17200 39400 83800 172600

Balance

Easy Rental will break even within the 2 nd year of operation, and will continue to reinvest
in the company by doubling the amount of rental homes each year. By the 5 th year of
operation Easy Rental should exceed expectations and the investors involved will have
doubled their profit for investing in the companys startup cost. At that point the investors
have the choice to reinvest in the company for the same interest rate as the original
investment.

Sources for this Final Course Project

(Schaefer, P. (2011). The Seven Pitfalls of Business Failure and How to Avoid
Them. Retrieved from http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-
failure.htm)
.
(Obrinsky, M. (2014, October 1). Quick Facts: Resident Demographics. Retrieved
from http:// nmhc.org /Content.aspx?id =4708)

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