With the number of rental services and rental businesses growing, there is more competition for customers. How do you market your rental business? There are many ways to go about marketing, but it's not always easy to know what actually works in your industry and to crack the code that creates big profits. Rental businesses, like everyone else, need to keep up to date with the latest marketing techniques in order to make a bigger impact and achieve their goals of increasing revenue. Below, we've compiled some marketing moves that are essential for any rental business to follow in 2023.
Social media = important, and must be done right
Be present where your customers are. Which social media channels you should use to market your rental business depends on which channels your customers use. The main social media channels are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and LinkedIn. However, this doesn't mean that you need to be equally present on all platforms. Before deciding which channels to use, it's a good idea to find out what your target audience actually uses. According to figures from Ipsos 69% of the population use Facebook, 44% use Snapchat, 35% use Instagram, 9% use Twitter and 4% use LinkedIn daily in 2020.
Another tip is to research which platforms your competitors are present on. This often gives an indication of whether this is a platform you need to be present on. You can also get lots of tips on what content your target audience likes and what engages them. Having a presence on social media gives you the opportunity to build relationships with potential customers and increase their awareness of your business. This in turn can lead to increased sales.
To gain visibility on social media, you can either use organic reach on the posts you publish or opt for paid advertising. The algorithms of social media channels are constantly changing and it is important to keep up to date with the latest changes. Posts you publish may not always reach all of your followers, and if you want your post to be seen by enough people, you may want to take advantage of paid advertising. It doesn't have to cost a lot to advertise on social media, and you can start with a low budget like $10 per day.
When it comes to advertising on Facebook, it's not a good idea to use the promote button on your post. This is because it doesn't give you the same opportunities to customize and control who the ad will be shown to. It is therefore advisable to make use of Facebook Business Managerwhich allows your ads to be displayed on Facebook and Instagram.
Good content leads to more customers and more revenue
Using a blog allows you to produce content with tips and advice that provides value to your customers. This helps to show your customers that you are knowledgeable, gives a positive impression of you and builds your credibility. At the same time, it warms warm up potential customers and make them more willing to buy. Blog posts can also be published on social media and can be used to attract your target audience. Selling to a warm audience is easier. This means that those who have already come into contact with your business in some way, made an impression and formed an opinion, tend to be more positive about doing business with you.
Leid.no is a rental company that rents out trailers, among other things. They use a marketing strategy that involves actively using blogs to attract new customers to rent from them. They produce blog posts with tips and advice that their customers need when renting a trailer and are happy to share their knowledge. You can read a blog post from them here. They use newsletters and send out blog posts that can be useful for potential new and old customers.
Newsletters
There's a lot of value in producing good content, but it's also about getting your website visitors to sign up for your newsletter. This allows you to collect email addresses of potential customers and whet their appetite to buy. Sending out newsletters is of course a great way to keep customers and potential customers up to date with the latest news about your business, but it's also a valuable sales channel. Newsletters act as a reminder that your service exists, so that the next time they need to rent something, they remember that they can use your rental business.
You may want to use software that allows you to build email lists so that you can automate your newsletter work. With the software from Sharefox you can do this, read more about it at the end of the article.
Do you need assistance in developing or improving your rental solution? Let us at Sharefox do the work for you!
Customer reviews and case studies
Customer references are more likely to strengthen the credibility of your business. When we consumers make a purchase, we often look for social confirmation that this is a good purchase. This is also true when renting products. Customers want confirmation that they are making a good choice from your previous customers. Therefore, investing time in writing good customer cases and collecting customer reviews can have a big impact on your business.
On Facebook and Google, it is possible for customers to leave a review of your service. Once the customer has finished using your service, you can contact them yourself to see if they want to write a review of their rental experience or if you can create a case study about them.
How do you write a customer case? A customer case can be constructed very simply and should be based on the benefits the customer has gained from using your service. If you have the opportunity to invest a little more time and resources in it, it can also give a very good effect to use video as a tool and make a video where the customer tells a little about their experience of the service.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Google is perhaps one of the most important marketing channels today, for both B2C and B2B markets. Often part of the buying process starts with a Google search. It is therefore extremely important that your company is visible on Google, and measures can be taken there that are also effective for rental companies.
It is important to find out what words your target audience uses when researching what services exist via Google. You can do this by typing in Google's search bar or by using Google's own free keyword planner in Google Ads. It is also recommended to check out what words competitors use, here you can get many tips. Search Engine Land is updated daily with the latest changes in SEO, and they have a newsletter that we highly recommend following.
To rank for the keywords you decide on, you need to optimise the content of your website. One of the most important things to do here is to repeat the keyword in headings and texts. You also need to create meta titles, meta descriptions and alt texts. You may want to invest in a software for your website that allows you to work effectively with search engine optimisation. We at Sharefox have developed a software for rental companies, read more about it at the end of the article.
To measure the impact of your search engine optimisation efforts, you can use free tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Here you can see, among other things, the progress in the number of page views, your position on Google, which pages are the most popular and which keywords have generated more clicks. This way, you can work strategically to increase the impact of your marketing and boost your turnover.
Google My Business - Connect with customers for free
Take advantage of all the free opportunities Google offers. Google My Business is a service that not many businesses have taken full advantage of yet. Google allows you to edit the content on the right-hand side of the page that appears when you Google your business. Here you can post useful information for your customers about your location, opening hours, phone number and so on, but you can also use it to promote your services. Google allows you to post images and information about the different services or products you offer. This gives you new opportunities to attract potential customers. It also gives you the opportunity to be listed on Google's map. Google's algorithms work in such a way that when you Google, you will find what is relevant to your search term and what is close to you. This is recommended and will give you an advantage when it comes to ranking well for certain keywords.
Great customer experience = loyal customers and more customers
We've put together some tips in this article on effective marketing for rental businesses, but one of the most important things you do is deliver a great customer experience. The customer has many touchpoints with your rental business, which are important to identify and work to improve in order to create a good customer experience.
Satisfied customers will come back and recommend your services to others. We as consumers have expectations of how a service should be and how it treats its customers. It is therefore very important to work on the entire customer journey, from the first point of contact in google search or social media, to renting a product on the website, customer service and delivery of the product. To achieve this in busy times, good inventory management is also an important element. Here you can read more on how to create a great customer experience on your website and online shop.
Choose the right software for your web solution
Make use of a software that allows you to carry out all these marketing activities. It is not always easy to choose a software that covers all the needs of your business. We have therefore developed a software tailored to rental companies and their services. The Sharefox software has both functions for effective marketing and a complete management system for efficient rentals. Here you get many possibilities that make the marketing of your company more efficient:
- Present your service and products in a selling and attractive way.
- Create a blog and make great blog posts, giving tips and tricks to your target audience.
- Work strategically with customer references and case studies.
- Give visitors the opportunity to sign up to your newsletter to receive the latest news from your business, while collecting the email addresses of future customers.
- Get tools to make your SEO work more efficient and become more visible on Google.
- Fast and responsive website that works on all devices. This improves your Google rankings.
Do you need assistance in developing or improving your rental solution? Let us at Sharefox do the work for you!
Related Customer Cases
Trailer Center South - an automated self-service model
Tilhengersenter Sør supplies trailers for all purposes, and also offers trailer rental as a side business to sales and maintenance.
Scandinavian Drone - rental of high-tech drones for industrial companies
Scandinavian Drone offers high-tech drones to industrial companies.
RentMeNow - increasing order efficiency when renting tools and machinery
LeiMegNow offers a wide range of equipment for rent, such as scaffolding, excavators, trailers and boom lifts.
