Republic Media winning locally with multi-platform rental advertising
Innovative Advertising Solutions Blog | 28 April 2015
On a national level, the apartment rental field is crowded with Zillow/Trulia, Apartments.com, Apartment Guide, For Rent, Apartment Finder, and Rent.com, all vying for market share.
Local news organisations have struggled to capture a share of this business segment. Republic Media (The Arizona Republic) saw an opportunity to leverage its competitive advantage of local visibility and a multi-platform approach to connect apartment communities with local renters.
Azrentals.com launched in April to capture this opportunity. It is a responsive, video-centric Web site designed to help active rental seekers choose their next home. The site highlights greater Phoenix apartment communities with high-end custom videos and connects renters with real-time availability and pricing.
Azrentals.com, along with Google+/map optimisation, is one of the core products for rentals at Republic Media.
Objectives for the site include:
- Re-capture and grow rental advertising revenue and local market share.
- Provide consumers with a powerful, useful tool that allows them to tour apartments virtually, become better informed on the geographical locations of these communities, and gain access to real-time availability and pricing.
- Provide local apartment communities a digital platform to showcase their features with HD video, and drive traffic directly to their property Web sites for real-time availability and pricing.
The launch of azrentals.com is an additional component to Republic Media’s print/digital bundle which includes azrentals.com, azrentals.com magazine, Arizona Republic Sunday four-line classified listing, and Google+/map optimisation. There are a variety of advertising packages available to customise to the rental property’s needs.
Arizona apartment communities are the centerpiece of the azrentals.com Web site. The site provides renters an intuitively organised and easy to navigate collections of information and video tours with large-format photography and floor plans.
Rental communities can highlight their properties with video, photos, a floor plan carousel, amenities, an interactive map, and links to their property Web site for real-time availability and pricing.
Azrentals.com can be accessed by consumers via the direct URL as well as through the home page of Republic Media’s main consumer Web site, azcentral.com. The high-visibility on azcentral.com, coupled with internal and external promotion, will drive engagement while creating lasting value and ROI for clients.
In addition, the rental team’s 15+ years of local market representation and expertise has forged strong client relationships and trust, paving the way for azrentals.com bundles to serve as a recurring revenue base to add PPC, targeted network display, direct mail, and more – driving additional ROI.