Marketing apartments to potential residents and figuring out strategies to retain residents for a long period of time are two of the most important tasks for property management companies to perfect on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
Marketing apartments, in general, can be an all-or-nothing experience for potential residents when comparing apartments. Showcasing amenities in a beautiful way, displaying different unit floor plans and availability, and creating a space of small, personal customer service experiences that represent how residents are treated and cared for every day. These beginning conversations and first touches of marketing material and strategy are what live the longest in residents’ memories and affect every online and personal perception of the success of your leasing staff and marketing strategies.
For the next couple of weeks, we are going to dive into several different aspects of apartment marketing strategies that property staff and management can utilize to attract and retain residents. Topics like:
-Building an Online Presence with Digital Marketing Strategies
Digital marketing is the arm of marketing that reaches audiences on the internet or those using online-based technologies.
If your goal is to increase signed and re-signed leases, how does digital marketing meet that need? Potential renters still want to take tours and browse available units just like they did 30 years ago. The only difference now is that they now have the technology to do these things from a computer or phone.
With that comes an opportunity to reach prospective tenants like never before. Digital marketing is a perfect way to raise awareness of your property and push potential residents to take action in the apartment hunting process.
-Reach and Engage Residents with Social Media Marketing
If it takes a village to raise a child then it takes a portfolio of residents to market an apartment. Operators, marketers and property staff promote their apartment communities by leveraging resident engagement. If you put a bit of hard work into your apartment social media upfront, your residents will do the rest of the marketing for you via engagement. The truth is, people genuinely want to brag about where they live; you just need to provide the outlet for them to do so. Sounds simple? It can be. Apartment social media ideas don’t need to be complex, but they do need to be constructive and strategic.
-Increase Traffic with Online and Offline Marketing Strategies
Increasing traffic to an apartment community, digitally or through foot traffic, is the number one way leasing staff can get a lease signed. Apartment leasing agents and property management teams are in the game of more than just talking about their top amenities, they use many different tactics to appeal to potential residents online and in print. Before we jump into some of these strategies, it’s important to know that these strategies are all complementary to a modern designed website with modern features for potential residents to navigate your website. Let’s jump into some of those strategies below.
-Promote Your Apartment Communities with Advertising
Online leasing and digital marketing strategies have been one of the number one things that property management and apartment staff focus on every single week to bring in new prospective renters. With online leasing, marketers and property staff are able to reach a much larger audience with tools through nation-wide Internet Listing Services (ILS), social media, digital marketing and more. When used correctly, online leasing is like creating personal, specific experiences for people all over the nation that make them feel like they belong. Now, this may already seem like I am being a little biased (I am because I am a marketer), but it’s important to note that these strategies are best used when there are people to support and nurture the strategies… and the incoming abundance of leads.
-Utilize Resident Retention Strategies
Leasing and managing an apartment community takes lots of people-power and strategy to successfully keep occupancy levels up with a smooth operation. In a consumer facing occupation, balancing digital and in-person interactions is critical in top-notch customer service from the introduction of a new lead to the signing of a lease, and beyond. The most important thing to remember is you are in the business of finding and managing a place where people live. Honesty, transparency and good communication go a long way.
In the past, we have covered similar topics like this before. Topics like 5 Best Apartment Website Tools and How an Easy to Use Website Helps Keep Renters! Feel free to dig into these blogs to bring around the most full picture of everything you need to know about apartment marketing and resident retention.
