Apartment marketing
What is the most important word in marketing?
Most important word in marketing?
Will.
That is it. Everything else is at your fingertips. The Internet. The platforms. The audience. The creativity. Even, the money to do it.
What is lacking?
The will to go for it. Call it fear. Call it lazy. Call it clueless. Nothing fits as a good logical reason.
Last year was the best time to get started. Now is better than tomorrow.
Drive your own traffic. Forget the ILS. Forget print. Forget those that would suggest they are your partner. Learn it and go for it. And guess what – you WILL be okay.
Your understanding that lazy doesn’t cut it Multifamily maniac,
M
Solve for Lonely
Roughly 20% of the of the total American population suffers from some form of loneliness. Some healthy percentage of that number live in apartment communities. As we all know, property managers wear many hats. And one of those hats runs akin to the various professional counseling services.
Solve for Lonely
- Say hello to people
- Smile when you see them
- Wave
- Wave from afar and yell their name out
- Make random monthly calls to people – just because
- Drop by someones apartment unexpectedly
- Pull out their social data – likes, dislikes, what they collect, what they like to do in their spare time.
- Don’t wait until renewal time to give them the free prize inside
- Don’t settle on typical renewal concessions, carpet cleaning, or fixture updating
- Make people feel like a million bucks
- Go for something people will talk about –
How do you get to that last point?
By exercising all the points before it. If you learn through conversation that Charles likes music – drop him a random iTunes gift card – just because. If Mike loves Starbucks – drop him a gift card out of the blue (My friend Michael Cunningham did in fact send me such a gift). I thought that was pretty darn cool and I still talk about it.
People Need a Push
People are lonely and in the same respect they need a push. And that does not mean they need to attend our pool party or resident function. Sometimes that just means saying hello, smiling or dropping by. Sometimes it means a small token gift card.
In Or Out
I wrote a post on my regular blog, RealLifeSTL.com recently about fashion trends for 2013. We used it to create a game for our podcast called In or Out (kind of playing off the old game show Street Smarts). Basically, we drove around to a couple of different places in St. Louis asking people to give us their opinions on whether certain fashion trends are ‘In’ or ‘Out’ in 2013 as compared to what we read on fashion websites.
It got me thinking about marketing trends and how there are differing opinions on what’s ‘in’ or ‘out’. Some trends are split straight down the middle while others are about 99% obsolete but still used (or worn) by some for lack of knowledge, money or just stuck in their ways.
I know my opinions aren’t the same as everyone, not even everyone within my company, so I’d like to play the In or Out game, this time to get opinions from people, and not just other management companies in St. Louis but people in the multi-family and marketing industries across the U.S., on what marketing trends you believe are ‘in’ and ‘out’.
I’ll start:
In
- Engagement through Facebook
- Promoting Ratings & Reviews on your own website
- Getting involved with local community events/organizations (ex. blood drives, chambers, non-profits)
Out
- Car/door flyering
- ILS print advertising
- Faxing/e-mailing hot sheets or coupons to local businesses
I’d love to hear opinions of others on marketing trends that are In Or Out?
You can check out the RealLifeSTL Podcast here.
Multifamily Marketing on Trial
2013 is not the year to protect your posterior. It’s not the year to crawl in a hole hoping that all this massive and swift moving change will just pass you by. It’s not the year to play it safe. Don’t be a politician. Don’t get stalled by this party or that party or this ideology or that ideology.
On Trial
Be that guy or gal that politely listens to all the noise – filtering always. Be that guy or gal that acts when the silence comes. Acknowledge the conversation but run in the opposite direction of the crowd.
That idea you’ve harbored for the past 2 months, 4 months, year or 15 years (that’s me) – go for it. Try it. Don’t ask for permission. If the stresses of other people pump your heat instead the OMG – I could get canned for this moments, then do us all a favor and stay in bed this morning.
Cheating Two People
When you are not conducting trials you are cheating two people: 1. You are cheating me out of being exposed to something that might change my life. 2. You cheat you out of being a better you. It’s #gameon time.
Your never want to cheat myself out of being a better me multifamily manic,
M
The Right Story on the Right Day
Another note from the margin entry – being the first mover in a group means nothing these days. It’s more full of meaning to have the right story ready on the right day.
Further Fragmenting
Look around the multifamily space;
- Every property management company has a website
- Every property they manage has a property page
- Every page has a unique URL
- Some still use print
- Twitter and Facebook are in full swing
- Portals are popular
- Separate landing pages for prospects and residents
- Online Community on NING or other less mainstream sites
- Review sites keep popping up all over the place – each one promising a richer experience for the end-user
- And, the list goes on and on and on…
The otherwise clear point here is that the idea of first mover is a borderline thing of the past. What replaces it? The right story on the right day. Be where the people are with the right story tip of tongue at the precise moment they need to hear it.
