You probably already know that content is king. But creating a winning content strategy is about more than just writing the occasional blog post. It’s about awareness, consistency and distribution. And it’s a critical part of staying competitive – especially given the property management landscape. Content can help you attract, connect with and, most importantly, develop trust with your target audience. Below are five tips for creating a more consistent, ROI-producing content strategy for your business.

Write your brand story.

Before you can develop a content marketing strategy, you must first have a solid understanding of who you are as a brand. Otherwise, you’re just another property management company churning out the same old stuff. By identifying your core values, core focus and brand story, you’ll be better able to produce content that resonates with your ideal customer. Having a unique brand story will help differentiate your company and build trust with your audience.

Identify your target.

Without a clear picture of who you are trying to reach, you risk missing the mark with your content. The goal isn’t to market to everyone. Instead, you want to focus your efforts on those prospects that you consider to be your ideal customer. If you’re not sure how to identify this audience, the following three steps should help:

• Use demographics to narrow down your market (i.e. age, gender, income, geolocation, etc.)
• Dig deep to uncover your target market’s needs and pain points
• Figure out where your market is most likely to be found (i.e. which social platforms, websites, etc.)

This will help you create content that positions your property management services as the ideal solution and get it in front of the right people at the right time.

Figure out which types of content work best.

Not all types of content will resonate with your target audience. Some businesses do well with written content. Others find that visual content works better. You need to determine what engages your audience best. Keep in mind that this may include several different types of content. For instance, you may find that informative or educational content works well on your blog but videos generate more engagement on social media. Test your options, analyze the results and then hone your strategy to match what suits your audience best.

Produce and promote consistently.

Your strategy won’t be worth a thing unless and until you make it a priority to regularly produce quality content (in the formats that work best with your audience) and promote that content via the appropriate channels (based on the exercise you did in step two). Remember – building trust is about consistency. Use an editorial calendar to plan out your content in advance and be sure to utilize all the tools that are available to you, such as social media scheduling platforms. This will keep everything organized and ensure that content is regularly produced, published and promoted.

Create content that can be repurposed.

One of the biggest struggles property management companies face when it comes to content is finding the time to produce fresh material. The good news is, this isn’t always necessary, provided you set out in advance to create content that can be repurposed in the future. For instance, develop a series of blog posts that can be joined together to create an eBook down the road. Or, write articles that can be turned into scripts for videos at a later point in time. Planning ahead like this will provide you with a nice inventory of material to work with, particularly when time is tight.

Having a strong content strategy can help set you apart from the competition and position your brand as the trusted resource for property management services in your area. But it doesn’t happen on its own. Using the five strategies above can help you achieve consistency, engage with your prospects and add value that will nurture them into paying customers.