This week’s featured custom theme comes down to us from Hood River, Oregon, where our friend Maui Meyer and Copper West Properties are located. Copper West Properties is a company that’s very much tied to the Hood River area and that connection to the place is a big part of its company identity. They created a wonderful custom theme that not only incorporates the branding from their website but also captures the landscape of Hood River. I especially like the backgoround image of a topographical map of the area they use. It makes perfect sense for a company for which its location plays such an essential role.

Nice work, Copper West!

We’re planning to feature some themes for the summer in the next couple weeks, so if anyone has a summery custom theme they want featured, send them to us at support@vflyer.com. And if you haven’t done so, now’s the time to check out vFlyer’s branded listing tools and create your own custom theme today!

Around this time last year, we introduced a great new feature called Flyer Labels. It seems some users, perhaps with their minds more on summer vacations than managing their flyers, may have missed it. In any case, flyer labels allow users to give individual flyers a label that’s different from the flyer title. The label has no effect on the flyer itself; the only place it appears is on the flyers page in the user’s vFlyer account. This can be an invaluable feature for vFlyer users who have a large number of listings and need an easy way to keep track of them. For instance, a Realtor may have 15 flyers in her account; instead of having to remember that the flyer for 123 Main Street is the one titled, “Stunning 4BR/3BA Victorian in Great Neighborhood,” she can simply label that flyer with the address. It’s almost too easy.

To label a flyer, click the Flyers tab, then click the pencil icon next to the flyer title. Simply type the label in the field that appears.

Want to know more? Learn about the many other features of vFlyer’s do-it-yourself online marketing solution.

I’m pleased to announce that vFlyer has become a member of MITS (Multifamily Information and Transaction Standards), the apartment industry data exchange standard. The committee and members of MITS have developed a series of standards that facilitate better interoperability between apartment communities and vendors, leading to more accurate data and time and cost savings. vFlyer has already developed MITS compatibility to import property and floorplan data to automatically create listings, thus enabling apartment communities to leverage their existing data with vFlyer’s comprehensive marketing service. We plan to assist efforts to continue to improve the standards and develop a greater level of MITS support in current and future services. Learn more about Property Management Marketing solutions.

One sector that so far hasn’t been represented in our Custom Theme of the Week series is self-storage providers, more and more of whom we’ve seen utilizing vFlyer’s suite of marketing tools. That ends today, however, with a really nice custom theme from Accountable Management out of Lutz, Florida. Accountable manages self-storage facilities across the Sunshine State and advertises each one in a different flyer. They’re able to maintain a consistent look and brand in all of their vFlyer content through their custom theme. The header image, which comes from their website, combines a sleek, almost minimalist look while managing to include plenty of relevant information, such as their phone number and website address. I also love the color palette they use; the tan and light blue work quite well together.

Well done, Accountable Management, and kudos to you for being our first self-storage Custom Theme of the Week!

As a side note, we’re putting the finishing touches on a new video tutorial on custom themes, so be on the lookout for it next week.

At vFlyer, we love it when service providers take advantage of the branding capabilities we offer through the Theme Editor. It’s so important for service providers to distinguish themselves from their competitors, and the first way to do that is to create a strong, indelible brand for themselves. That’s what Pat Connolly, proprietor of Sound Prodigy Mobile Disc Jockey Service in San Diego, has done. He’s created a very personal brand centering around a caricature of himself, which is the first thing you see when you visit his website. It’s an effective approach; the next time a friend of mine in San Diego asks me if I know of any DJs in the area, the cartoon image of Pat will be the first thing that pops into my head.

Pat’s custom theme matches the branding and look of his website. In fact, it utilizes the same header image on his site (slightly resized), making for a seamless integration of his vFlyer content and the rest of his web properties. Pat also utilizes vFlyer Voice, our phone-based voice narration technology that enables users to add narration to their photo slideshows right from their phone. It’s a great feature that more users should take advantage of!

We’ll be back next week with another great custom theme. In the meantime, have a safe and happy 4th of July!