Advertising During The Holidays

mobile home university
1

Friends -

As Frank and Dave espouse, we advertise in the largest local newspaper and on CraigsList to draw new residents. But this time of year - between Thanksgiving and Christmas - is notoriously slow, at least for us in Oklahoma with all-ages properties. We are not convinced it makes sense to pay to advertise over these next 4 weeks before the New Year (but will continue our free advertising on CraigsList).

Could you please chime in as to whether you advertise during this slow season, and if so, do you do so just on CraigsList, or do you also advertise in your local newspaper? Can you please also tell us what City(ies) you operate in, and how much your local newspaper classified costs if you do advertise that way? And how many homes do you fill at this time of year?

I’m trying to see if it makes sense to spend money at this time of year, and I’ll be especially keen to see if the results are different across the country and/or if they vary by property type.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas!

2

Jefferson,

We no longer advertise in the paper for MH residents - haven’t in a while now. we DO advertise for our apartment people there - interesting.

I personally like the online ads - it tells me our people have a computer, can pay for high speed and can read.

eBay classifieds get a lot of hits for us, penny saver and of course CL being the King of all advertising Kings.

We just met with our Kings group and a few of the guys get great results with MHVillage as well.

3

We continue to run all ads on Craigslist and the largest metro newspapers – as well as MHBay – throughout the holiday season. And, although we get fewer calls, we still get quite a few. People still need housing even at Christmas (although it is definitely an awkward time to move,many of our tenants have no kids and their tree is often 2’ tall and sits on a tabletop). A park that gets 50 calls a week the rest of the year will only get 20 at Christmas – but we’ll take them.

You have to remember that Brad’s parks are in Kentucky and they still print the newspapers on tree bark there, so the ink doesn’t dry well at this time of year (Editors note: we also own a park in Elsmere, Kentucky, so we can hardly make fun of Brad anymore, but we can’t give up the tradition)…

4

I’ve never had to use the newspaper, so all of my advertising is free. Although it has slowed down, Facebook is still bringing in by far more leads than craigslist and postlets combined.

5

I love tradition.

-jl-

6

What City/State is your park in?

Thanks,

-jl-

7

Jefferson,

It was great to speak with you today. Thank you so much for the advice and photos on the mail drop box.

Regards,

Michael

8

I’ll give you tradition! :wink: you’re my hero, Frank! <3

9

Josh – I’ve been avoiding FaceBook but I like the idea of free tenant leads. Could you please link to your FB page so we could have a look at one that works?