Apartment marketing
ForRent.com the magazine????
Do you think For Rent is keying into the idea that print media is going by the wayside. Lisa T. I know you will debate the idea until the Purple Cows come home but I am certain the day is coming.
Hispanic Trending
Ran across this very cool Hispanic marketing and advertising blog that is worth a look. [Click here to view and enjoy].
The leasing office of the future
So data is very important when it comes to target marketing. And, collecting that data is becoming more and more sophisticated as technology invades our ever more open lives.
Apartment policies a barrier to alignment with service?
Every Tuesday night I eat at a popular St. Louis establishment. I eat there because they sell $1 burgers that you can customize to your own liking. They also sell a basket of fries or tater tots for $2.
Last Tuesday, I made my usual order and asked that they give me half the tots and I would still pay full price. I said "I never finish them all and I hate to waste." The response? "We don’t do half orders." I said, "not even for full price?" "No."
I went ahead with the order and sure enough only ate about one half of the tots. The whole experience put a wasteful taste in my mouth. So much so that this past Tuesday I only ordered the burger.
All this made me wonder if there are policies or rules that turn our apartment residents, prospects and vendors off.
[Click here and share your ideas]
Customer generated content and Apartment Blogs
This is a clip from an article I read this morning over at Fast Company’s Blog.
"It turns out that two avid Starwood fans created a whole site
where customers can find unbiased reviews of the chain’s properties
uploaded by other customers — the users themselves. The site was
created at the end of 2005 by John H. and John P." [Read More Here]
The article also mentions the fact that Starwood started their own blog some time ago. They use it to provide local information and events in the surrounding area.
Customer created content and blogs have been around for a long time in internet years but have only recently gained a wide acceptance (and that is likely an overstatement) in the business world. That being said, I predict these two trends are front and center in the apartment world in 08.’
We will see the likes of a apartment resident creating a custom site where they invite the reviews of others, not unlike apartmentratings.com. To that I say, Property Management companies think about an open forum on your resident portals. Give them the tools as they will find them elsewhere. It is a scary proposition but one I think would work on many levels but that is for another post.
We will also see the emergence of Apartment Community Blogs. I think you will see this trend from two perspectives, 1. They will be used internally for employee appreciation [See Example Here] and 2. They will be used much like the Starwood example written about above [See Example Here].
On a frigid side note; I am experiencing my first winter in the Midwest. I can think of only one word to describe it: Misery.
Have a great Friday. M
