Search Results for: 2011
The Making of an Apartment Company Mascot
We are always looking for new and creative ways to start conversation at Mills and we think our latest adventure is sure to be a hit. While we understand this will not resonate with everyone; we are certain there is a niche that will appreciate it and be moved by it. Some people just love to have fun!
Millsy Becomes a Real Boy
Our newly appointed Marketing Director & Communication Strategist, Melissa Preusser (we have an interview lined up – stay tuned to learn more about her) borrowed from the world of athletic mascots to come up with Millsy! Millsy is our Apartment Company Mascot. Millsy will accompany our media teams to any and all company and community functions, festivals, sporting events, partnership gathering and networking events. His chief aim? Give people a reason to talk about Mills. And, what better event could there be for his coming to life party than the annual St. Louis Mardi Gras Parade. Millsy becomes a real boy on Saturday March 5th 2011. We will be sharing a lot of the highlights and pics in future posts.
For now, I thought it would be fun to share some pics of Millsy in the early stages of coming to life…
Share this:
Apartment Maintenance On-Call Policy
I have taken a number of questions lately on the subject of calculating compensation for on-call maintenance men and women. As such I thought I would post the important points of our policy as a way to hopefully starting some discussion.
In brief of our policy is as follows:
1. Employees are paid for one-hour minimum – if they physically leave their home to complete a call
2. They are paid at time and a half
3. They are paid mileage from their legal residence
I am curious about other nuances our there; please drop us a comment as the community is interested.
And, I do hope that you have an amazing and over the top weekend.
Share this:
Apartment Marketing: Got a Charge?
Caught the following story this morning and instantly thought partnership opportunity. Could our industry reach out to car makers as a way to supplement retrofitting charging stations into our communities. Is it worth it for them? I can’t imagine it not being worth it for us?
The Time is Now
Understanding that the time is now but the need for mass external charging stations is down the road – have you given any thought to residents or prospects that buy cars that run on electricity? Think about it before you are forced to hand out lease violations for the safety hazards caused by an over abundance of orange extension cords draped through your hallways or cascading out of windows or garages. Education and foresight is being exercised by Chevy – the makers of Volt.
Want to Buy a 2011 Chevrolet Volt? More Details, Dealer Info (Page 2) – Green Car Reports
Buyers will not be “pre-qualified,” insisted DiSalle. An apartment dweller with no access to charging can buy a Volt, but the company wants to ensure that the person is asked “a series of questions” that educates them on how “to get full value out of the car.”
Share this:
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)
Share this:
Multifamily Brand: Energy Makes the Difference
What is the difference that makes a difference when it comes to your multifamily management brand? The standard textbook answer might include words like awareness, trust, regard or esteem. Settle there however and you miss the key ingredient. Energy.
It’s All About Energy
John Gerzema and Ed Lebar discuss energy and what it means to a brand in their book: The Brand Bubble. In chapter two they use a poignant quote from Woody Allen’s Annie Hall to set the stage for the difference that energy makes to a brand “A relationship, I think, is like a shark. It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And what I think we got on our hands is a dead shark.”
Why is Energy Important
Any great brand must keep moving forward in order to remain relevant in the hearts of consumers and it takes energy to do that. The advent of the Internet coupled with the development of social mediums have made staples like; awareness, trust, regard and esteem simply the price of admission. Even then trust in brands has declined 50%, according to John who is the Chief Insights Officer at Young and Rubicam. Simply put, the reason energy is so important is that it boosts differentiation. People are tired and they are looking for stuff and things that pick them up and keep them vibrant. Brands that fill that void by staying fresh and relevant will win the lions share of loyalty in consumers – if there is such a thing anymore. Those who don’t will die like the shark that flips his fins for the last time.
What Can You do to Create Energy
You can dig deeper into the lives of your prospects and residents. Let’s step out of our industry and look at an example of this. Frito Lay dug in and found that the bulk of their consumers had more money on the first of the month than they did at the end of the month. Armed with that information, they decided to sell bigger packs during that time and scale back to smaller packs during the middle days of the month.
Could we maximize our brand building efforts on the same theory? Could we convince major ILS’s to allow us to scale ads up and down relative to the ebbs and flows of the prospect’s pocket book? How about the ebbs and flows of their search habits? Could we then provide relevancy and vibrancy on their terms and relevant to their emotions?
Energy is the difference that makes a difference for your multifamily management brand – what are you doing to create it?
Update: [6.22.9] Seth provides a great concept on creating energy…Circling the big domino
M
Share this:
- « Go to Previous Page
- Page 1
- Interim pages omitted …
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Go to Next Page »