As more companies look to the Internet to meet their advertising needs, a new professional online marketing service for apartments has landed in Des Moines.

RentPing LLC officially entered the local market on June 1.

Founded in October 2009 by Lincoln, Neb.-based Century Sales & Management LLC, the start-up company produces virtual apartment tours in high-definition video. At the helm in Des Moines is Colin Hagan, a technology representative with RentPing, which has been working to establish a presence in new markets through use of emerging media.

Hagan, a 20-year-old Drake University economics major, is a proponent of social networking and online advertising. He works with a leasing agent trained in professional camera work to produce the walk-through tours that he contends give clients a leg up on the competition.

Since RentPing’s arrival here, Hagan has reached out to about every apartment manager in town, including Conlin Properties Inc., Hubbell Realty Co., Knapp Properties Inc., Newbury Management Co. and others.

“Putting words out there, that’s great,” Hagan said. “Sometimes when people are on the Internet to read, or to be entertained, that’s what they want.”

However, as more and more Web-savvy users and young professionals browse the Internet in search of products and services, Hagan said, video content is becoming a hallmark of online advertising that can’t be ignored.

“We are exclusively online content providers,” Hagan said of RentPing, which has already secured at least two local clients: TAB Properties Inc. and St. Andrews Apartments. He expects to sign more contracts soon.

Hagan, describing his company’s goal of being “the entire online solutions provider for leasing,” said that though RentPing’s website is important, driving traffic to the site itself is not the primary objective.

“Our marketing structure is such that our goal is to get your video viewed,” he said. “Our goal is to get you leases. Getting hits on our website is secondary.”

Hagan said his first project in town, a virtual tour of a unit at 3241 86th St. in Urbandale, garnered 192 page views within one week of going online. One of the responses he received, he said, was from a prospective tenant in Scotland who asked where he could mail the security deposit.

RentPing’s largest client is Seldin Co., an 87-year-old commercial real estate and property management company based in Omaha.

Seldin, which owns and manages about 8,000 apartment units, including four multifamily properties in Greater Des Moines, has embraced RentPing’s online-only mentality.

“The initial reaction has been very positive,” said Bob Dean, executive vice president of operations and property management in Seldin’s residential division.

Dean said RentPing stands behind its products.

“The folks that work for RentPing have incredible professionalism,” he said. “When we’ve wanted to make changes on their site, they have been very quick” to respond.

Hagan said that’s not an option for leasing agents who rely on print marketing.

“It goes in the book, and it’s going to stay that way as long as that book is circulating,” he said, as opposed being updated based on immediate needs.

“You don’t have to wait days or weeks get those updates made. You can do it in real time as the market is adjusting,” Dean said, noting that since Seldin signed on with RentPing shortly after its launch last fall, the company has backed away from print newspaper advertising, at least in the Greater Omaha market.

“RentPing provides an opportunity for folks to do that, to make housing decisions, maybe in a better way than they could in print,” Dean continued.

“That’s the way Seldin is moving; that’s the way everybody is moving,” albeit slowly, Hagan said. “It’s not effective for them.”

Hagan described what he sees as RentPing’s biggest challenge when breaking into a new market.

“We’re not something they have tried before,” Hagan said, refe rring to a new website and a new distribution scheme. “What management companies in Des Moines are struggling with, with RentPing, is that we are brand-new. And that’s nothing we’re ashamed of.”

It may be RentPing’s novelty that helps the company gain traction.

Hagan said that he has been in discussions with the leasing department for AP Lofts. That 70-unit market-rate apartment complex, which is being developed at 328 S.W. Fifth St. by Jake Christensen, is slated to open this summer.

Hagan said RentPing’s services would be well suited for Christensen’s property and other rental properties that are being marketed to a younger generation of downtown residents.

“Our online distribution is great for his target market there,” Hagan said. “People my age don’t like talking to people older than them. “So, (RentPing) makes that easy.”

Hagan continued: “We can put the videos on DVD and put it right on the window, right outside the leasing office. It is a 24/7 leasing agent.”

Hagan oversees three territories for RentPing: Des Moines, Wichita and Kansas City. His support staff comprises four sales executives, two sales managers and six support positions, which handle video editing, voice-overs and posting content on websites. All are based out of Lincoln, except Hagan’s videographer, Rob Durland, who lives in Omaha.

“Pricing is customizable,” Hagan said. “We are going to formulate it with our customers. Every management company is different; every owner has different needs. We have some clients that just take our packages and run with them and do extremely well.”

Though RentPing is a young business with a new name, Hagan said delving into social networking and social media has helped the company to build a brand.

“I’m learning to deal with a lot of different people,” Hagan said, noting that every property owner and manger has a different style. Though the proverbial door has been shut in his face on more than one occasion, he said most of the companies he has contacted have been very generous with their time.

Hagan, who is from Wichita, said he came to Des Moines to study at Drake where he runs track and cross country. He said his work with the Drake Sports Business Association has helped him develop a “good business sense.” He also serves as that organization’s president and somehow finds time for social activities.

“I do have a girlfriend, thank you very much,” he said.

“Just because I’m 20 years old and a junior at Drake University, that does not stop me from having a professional career,” Hagan said. “It is very possible to be a student athlete business person. It’s simple time management.

“In two years, I’m going to be 22, I’m going to be graduating college and just one line on my resume is going to say, ‘managed a sales campaign spanning Des Moines, Kansas City, Omaha, Lincoln.'”