Apartment Marketing: Where is your money going?

While 2010 has been the year of dipping more than just your toe in the SM waters – it looks like 2011 will be a year where mass adoption might be a more appropriate description as it relates to small business taking the plunge.
As it pertains to Apartment Marketing – I would say the trend is in concert.

Apartment Blogging

When I started blogging in 2003 there were very few Multifamily types in the space – today, it seems like everyone has a blog and Twitter is a near household name. We were also early adopters of MySpace as a way to market apartments [back then we were still in post your floor plans, features and benefits mode].

Apartment Facebook Marketing

At the time, I recall seeing very few people participating in that space  – today Facebook rules and the masses are adopting the platform as a way to market. [As an industry we still have to work on setting it up via FBs TOS]. Nonetheless adoption is happening and now the dollars are flowing that way as demonstrated by the stats below. All that being said, I still think it is interesting to see newspaper with such a high mark -That is not to mention that five out of the seven spends are print media related…

Enjoy the stats – would love to hear your thoughts and I hope the balance of your week is compelling!

Survey Says: Businesses Spending More on Marketing, Tech – AOL Small Business

Forty-two percent of small-business owners are likely to spend more on marketing and advertising this year, according to the latest FedEx Office Signs of the Times national small-business survey. So where will most of their money go?

* Improving online presence (46 percent)
* Print materials/newsletters/direct mail (44 percent)
* Brochures (43 percent)
* Yellow Pages listings (39 percent)
* Fliers and signs/banners/posters (37 percent each)
* Social networking sites (36 percent)
* Newspaper advertisements (32 percent)

0 Responses

  1. I talked with a property owner/manager this morning who has been spending 100% of his ad $ on a local newspaper – until a few weeks ago.

  2. It is certainly surprising to see the traditional media sources staying so high in the marketing spend. The data is clear and more focus has to placed on investing in internet marketing strategies. I think this could have a lot to do with a fear factor -many feel they don't have enough data to go from and don't know where to invest-. The internet in general is where the most dramatic shift is taking place, I believe that a bigger focus has to placed on calls to action and leverage the web as an interactive space not only an advertising platform.

    1. Frederic

      Thank you for continuing the conversation.

      I agree that fear still has a seat at the table. I do think, however, that we are getting closer to a tipping point in this respect. I do think there is one thing for operators to keep in mind – SM is not a way to trim costs but rather a way to reallocate cost to more fruitful mediums of demand generation as a byproduct of interactivity. This is not a time to sharpen the pencil but rather sharpen the wit with regard to going where the audience is.

      I love this stuff.

      Hope this Father's Day Sunday is a smashing one for you and yours.

  3. He owns over 100 properties and his son finally convinced him to advertise online – he is using RentLinx. I think some of the slowness to adapt online and SM marketing is generational – they are doing what has always worked for them in the past.

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