getting the most out of craigslist
Post on 11-Sep-2014
2.925 views
DESCRIPTION
Steve Small's presentation at the Apartment Internet Marketing Conference 2009.TRANSCRIPT
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF CRAIGSLIST
Steve Small, CEOYield Technologies, Inc.
April 30, 2009
AMLI Residential (www.amli.com) CIO from 2000 through 2007 Owns luxury apartment communities throughout the US Wholly owned by Morgan Stanley Prime Property Fund
Yield Technologies, Inc. (www.yieldco.com) Global management consulting and technology services
company. Focuses on various revenue management and marketing
solutions. Licenses certain AMLI technology
Steve SmallPRESENTER BACKGROUND
Craigslist Overview
Local classifieds and forums for 450 cities worldwide - community moderated, and largely free.
Jobs, housing, goods, services, romance, local activities, advice - just about anything really.
9 billion page views per month
#7 in terms of English-language page views.
More than 30 million people each month use craigslist, including more than 25 million in the US alone
eBay acquired 25% of the equity in craigslist from a former shareholder in August of 2004
Ad Listing Challenges…
Our teams were spending a considerable amount of time just loading ads to the site.
It was a challenge to maintain fresh content and quality ads.
Little visibility (quantitative nor qualitative) into the success of our postings.
Lack of integration between craigslist and our enterprise software solutions (Yardi, RealPage, MRI, etc….).
Global Perspective
People and process first; Technology second.
Install business transparency.
Feedback business results and metrics in real-time.
Make it easy to for customers to do business with you.
Invest in your Internet presence.
Take a disciplined statistical approach to how you allocate effort and cost.
KEY ASPECTS
Transforming the Enterprise
Is it Actionable?
Is it understandable to the organization?
Can everyone participate?
Yield Optimization is about actionable ways to improve marketing, product mix, customers, and business processes.
YIELD OPTIMIZATION
Craigslist Initiative
Which ads are more effective in a particular market? Fancy or simple ads Short or descriptive More pictures or fewer Community focus vs. unit focus
When is the best time to post?
Which product types is the market most interested in?
Measure - Deliver an in-depth analysis of ad listing statistics and metrics to prove the value of this marketing venue.
GOALS – BUSINESS PROCESS
WHICH CRAIGSLIST AD WILL SELL THE JEEP?
Craigslist Initiative
Dramatically reduce staff time required to post.
Generate consistent and high-quality ads.
Integrate with the property management applications.
Provide content management.
Make it easy – robust help, training, and deployment.
Comply with the letter and intent of craigslist Terms of Use.
GOALS - MECHANICS
Craigslist Ad Components
AN AMLI APARTMENT AD
Title Template
Unit Types and Specific Units
Contact Information
Apartment Descriptions
Apartment Features/Amenities
Community Descriptions
Community Features/Amenities
Alternate Contact Method
Community Photos
Unit Photos
Craigslist Ad Components
ANDY’S CONDO
Title Template
Unit Types and Specific Units
Contact Information
Apartment Descriptions
Apartment Features/Amenities
Community Descriptions
Community Features/Amenities
Alternate Contact Method
Community Photos
Unit Photos
RentSentinel
RentSentinel is a content management and analytics system - the User posts and enters the captcha.
Post manually using cut and paste – Traditional method used by Postlets, Vflyer, etc.
Post using self-publishing email RentSentinel creates ads and manages the self-publishing
email for the user
Post using a craigslist account RentSentinel logs the user into their craigslist account and
creates ads – no confirmation email necessary.
3 WAYS TO POST …
Use the Content We Already Have
SYNCHRONIZATION WITH MAJOR PROPERTY MGMT SYSTEMS
Dashboard for Managing All of Your Ads
Posting using the Ad Wizard
You can Edit Ads before Posting
Content Management System
Make it Simple and Easy
AMLI 535
Month New Prospects Phone Calls VisitsPercentage of Total Visits
January- No RentSentinel 16 5 14 23.08%
February-With RentSentinel 39 9 27 47.62%
FIRST MONTH RESULTS…
What Days are Best to Post?
AMLI 535
Look at Views and Leads in Real Time
What Days are Best to Post?
ANDY’S CONDO
When are our Ads being Viewed?
ANDY’S CONDO
When are our Ads being Viewed?
AMLI 535
When should we Post?
AMLI 535
When should we Post?
ANDY’S CONDO
What Products are in Demand?
Where are our Customers coming from?
Distance Band Report
June 01 Release Features
Craigslist login account becomes primary posting method.
Ad timing recomendations.
Enhance ad content and building capabilities.
Syndication of additional sites: FrontDoor Google Base HotPads Oodle Trulia Vast
June 01 Release Features
Amenity builder – ad editor interface to online sources describing community area amenities.
Dashboard to rank community’s success relative to the overall portfolio.
Indexed ad content – correlate success of posts to content.
Which ads are more effective in a particular market? Fancy or simple ads Short or descriptive More pictures or fewer Community focus vs. unit focus
WHICH CRAIGSLIST AD WILL SELL THE JEEP?
www.RentSentinel.com
Value Proposition
Save time – create high quality craigslist ads with minimal effort.
Simple deployment – just login.
Immediate payback - De minimis cost per lead.
Create an adaptive marketing process rather than settling for a point-in-time goal.
www.RentSentinel.com
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF CRAIGSLIST
Steve Small, CEOYield Technologies, Inc.
April 30, 2009