Multifamily Marketing

Multifamily Leasing: What Pulled Your Trigger

June 17, 2011 By Mike Brewer Leave a Comment

Common question from a regional manager to a property manager; “What is the reason they didn’t lease?” Maybe the better question is; “Why did they lease?” Take the people that did lease and find out what pulled their commitment trigger.

Triggers:

1. People want to look good. Is it that your address or your building one that will give them celebrity status?

2. Does it save them money?

3. Does it shave their commute time?

4. Does it help them worry less?

5. Is it comfortable?

6. Does it help them feel accepted or included?

Who out there asks, ‘why they did’ in lieu of ‘why they didn’t?’

What did you do with the information?

Your wondering why contributor,

Multifamily Marketing: Byproduct

May 23, 2011 By Mike Brewer 2 Comments

The purchase should be the byproduct.

If we shoot for the moon as to land somewhere in the stars – fostering crazy amazing social connections should/would be the goal.

Your strategy would wrap nicely around that goal and if you are truly dialed in that would ladder right up and align nicely to your company values.

In marketing to those fine people that live in our multifamily communities – fostering the premises for social connections is key.

Your off to create meaning connections contributor,

Filed Under: Multifamily Marketing Tagged With: Multifamily Marketing

Apartment Marketing: Friendslist

April 17, 2011 By Mike Brewer 13 Comments

Friendslist might be something to keep an eye on. Especially in light of the shrewd move by Forrent.com in creating an exclusive, carve their client marketing partners right out of an avenue of advertising platform, relationship on FBs Marketplace. Could a platform like friendlist make the likely crazy expensive quasi-distribution point irrelevant? Likely not but I secretly hope so…

Friendslist offers a cleaner interface to start, but that’s nothing new. What it does is connect buyers and sellers, or people who are looking for jobs and people who are hiring, through the people they know. Yes, Oodle does this to some extent on Facebook Marketplace, but Friendslist takes a slightly different approach.

No offense FR. But, please know whether it was you, AF, AG or any other provider, I would feel the same. The move gave me every cause to expedite the reallocation of near $550,000 of FR specific marketing spend over the last 18 months. Not a complete departure but a semi-massive one. Stay tuned…

Filed Under: Cool Marketing Ideas, Multifamily Marketing, New Media Apartment Marketing, Using Social Media to Market Apatments Tagged With: @mbrewer, Apartment marketing, Apartment Marketing Ideas, mike brewer, Mills Properties, social media apartment marketing, Using Social Media to Market Apartments

Apartment Marketing: How to Use Facebook Like Pages to Lease Apartments

June 11, 2010 By Mike Brewer 18 Comments

I love emails like the one below -but before we go there:

Over the past few weeks we have started to quietly roll out some of our Facebook Like Pages as we gear up for the Get Social with Mills Initiative . One of the issues we’ve run into with this slow roll out is anxious PMs and MSs like Teresa and Mike at Park Clayton Apartments. They were ready to run – so, we let them go and in just over two weeks they took the like numbers from 7 to North of 225.

How to grow Your Apartment Facebook Like Page numbers

How did they do it? To make a long story short Mike brought an orphaned stuffed yellow duck to the leasing office for Teresa to see and each time they tried to put the duck away – residents asked to have it back as a mascot. With that T and M – [I often use the first letter of peoples names - with that T is for Teresa and M is for Mike] decided to have a – Name the Duck – contest . In conjunction with that contest they decided to give away a few fun prizes for the resident who yielded the biggest number of Likes to our page in a weeks time.

The Apartment Like Page Results

T and M put on North of 200 Likes inside of two weeks time. Not only that – they yielded something much more important in my opinion – check out the page and I think you will quickly discern what I mean. That point brings me to the email below -

How to use Facebook Like Pages to Rent Apartments

I will let the email speak for itself -

Have a compelling weekend – M

—–Original Message—–
From: Park Clayton <parkclayton@millsproperties.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 12:55 PM
To: ‘Mike Brewer’ <MBrewer@millsproperties.net>; ‘Tracy Seubert’ <TSeubert@millsproperties.net>
Subject: Great news!

Hey guys,

I have some awesome news about our facebook fans. One of my residents came down to tell me that his friends in Taiwan are watching us on facebook and they think it’s great that we do resident events and have contests. He says they told him they want to move here when they get to town just because of what they see online!

Also, he brought down his laptop and we spoke with a couple of his friends in Taiwan who want to move here in August. The program they use to chat/talk internationally is called, “skype.”

Teresa Richardson

Property Manager

Park Clayton Apartments

photo credit: blog.hubspot.com

Filed Under: Apartment Marketing Ideas, Multifamily Marketing, New Media Apartment Marketing, Using Social Media to Market Apartments Tagged With: @mbrewer, Apartment Buzz Marketing, apartment internet marketing, Apartment marketing, Apartment Marketing Ideas, marketing apartments, mike brewer, Multifamily Marketing, New Media Apartment Marketing, social media apartment marketing, Use Facebook Like Pages to Rent Apartments, Using Social Media to Market Apartments

Apartment Internet Marketing – Entertainment

February 7, 2010 By Mike Brewer 9 Comments

Reasons for Friending or Following Companies Through Social Media According to US Consumers, December 2009 (% of respondents)-1

This is the third installment of a five part series based on a recent emarketer survey. In part one we discussed the concept of Exclusivity. Part two spoke to the idea of Education. Today we discuss: Entertainment as it relates to Apartment Internet Marketing.

Here is the chart for reference:

What is Entertainment?

Princeton defines entertainment as; an activity that is diverting and that holds the attention. There is no doubt that we are living in an attention economy today. And, the key point to this economy is that the consumer has choice. Consumers have near holistic control over the spend side of the attention equation when it comes to on-line activities. As such, goods and service providers are left to tailor their offerings to meet a new set of standards and expectations. Attention is the currency of today’s consumer and they will only agree to give it up if it is in exchange for they perceive as having value.

Value Exchange

While it is a race to attract a consumers’ attention, it is in the same respect just as, if not more, important to keep it once you have it. One way to do that is to entertain your audience. Two great examples of this from the blogging world are Perez Hilton and TMZ. TMZ ranked number one in the most popular blogs of 2009 – I contend for the absolute entertainment value it exudes. For their massive audience there is a willingness to give up time and attention because of the exchange they receive in the way of value [entertainment].

Consumer Expectation

Consumers in the age of new media have grown accustom to a very high set of standards that sites like; Facebook, Google and Twitter have imbued on their minds. At the core of these standards there are three apparent consumer behaviors. First and foremost, I think it fair to say that we as a population have grown much more impatient in that we want our information now and we want it delivered our way. Second, I think it fair to say that we have grown very intolerant in that if a good or a service does not meet our expectation – we vote by not returning and moreover we tell our friends about it. And, finally we expect and demand trust. Our ability to sniff out the BS has gone hyper and as such we return to the things we can trust most. Now I’m going to step out on a limb here and look at these things in aggregate and contend that their essence is entertainment.

Offer it and they will come

I contend that if apartment internet marketers get these things right – we will have created an activity that diverts and holds attention. I write that presupposing an understanding that content is king here – the content has to be compelling. But, I am considering that a given. The point I am attempting to get across is that entertainment is a key concept in working up to that thing we are all after. That thing we will discuss in the final post of the series. But, not before we pen our thoughts on one last concept. We will have that out in a few days.

Until then – make this a compelling and entertaining week.

Filed Under: Cool Engagement Ideas, Multifamily Marketing, Using Social Media to Market Apartments Tagged With: @mbrewer, Apartment marketing, Apartment Marketing Ideas, Apartment Social Media, Customer engagement, Customer loyalty, marketing apartments, mike brewer, Multifamily Marketing, Property Management, Using Social Media to Market Apartments

Tell Them How Much You are Moved by the Neighborhood

September 10, 2009 By Mike Brewer 14 Comments

Don’t tell prospects and residents how much your apartments are – tell them how much you are moved by the neighborhood.

Tell them about waking up on a crisp fall morning and taking a run in Forest Park just one block over from your apartment. Tell them about stopping back by Velocity Coffee Shop to have a cup of coffee – served by a friendly Barista named Tracy who rarely smiles but wants to. Tell them about the free copies of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the St. Louis Dispatch. Tell them about the free wifi. And, oh – it’s a bike shop too with cool bike motif everywhere. The bathroom even has a cool chalkboard where you once drew a giant dragon that looked as if it were eating the giant flower someone else drew.

Tell them about Papa John’s pizza and Subway at the end of the block where Tony and Charles remember your name and serve you with a smile. Tell them about Atlas Restaurant located in the heart of the neighborhood and the amazing food and desserts that they serve. Tell them about The Loop and The Central West End [very cool Saint Louis neighborhood hangouts] being just one mile away and don’t forget to mention the friendly cab driver resident who will drive you over while entertaining you with great conversation. Tell them about all the fun nights you had in those neighborhoods.

Tell them about Mr. and Mrs. Wang who own the dry cleaners right next door to Papa John’s and how they wash and fold clothes for $0.75 a pound. Tell them how much you love the fact that each Christmas they give your children big canisters of candy as a thank you for your business.

Tell them about the dog park even if you are not a pet lover – not even in the least.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is the neighborhood that I fell in love with in Saint Louis. Oh yeah, and I lived in a great apartment that overlooked a tree lined street that looks amazing in the fall.

Tell them with conviction how much you love the neighborhood the rest will fall right into place.

Filed Under: Amenities, Apartment Marketing Ideas, Apartment Word of Mouth, Branding Multifamily, Guest Experience, Marketing, Multifamily Marketing, Property Management, Using Social Media to Market Apartments Tagged With: apartment leasing, apartment management, Apartment marketing, Apartment Marketing Ideas, Apartment Social Media, Customer engagement, Customer loyalty, mike brewer, multifamily, multifamily market, Multifamily Marketing, Property Management, property management ideas, Using Social Media to Market Apartments

Apartment Marketing Idea: You are not Your Apartment Prospect

September 6, 2009 By Mike Brewer 6 Comments

I think one of the easiest traps to fall into when marketing to apartment prospects or residents is to think that they want what you want and they will like what you like. It is really easy when you don’t take the time to understand who your customer is and what they value. In order to that you have to be willing to spend time asking questions, trying new things, testing new theories, crushing sacred cows and refining your successes. All in the name of your client’s changing tastes.

Always done it that way

We have all heard the statement that if you keep doing what you have always done expecting a different result – you get the definition of insanity. It’s as true in our space as it is in different industries across America. We keep at it year after year because it’s easy. It’s really hard to go against the grain. It’s really hard to convince the powers that be that giving up tried and true processes is a good thing. Problem with this is that change, if not embraced, will free up your future sooner or later.

The ABC’s of change

In selling ABC stands for Always Be Closing, in understanding that you are not your apartment customer it stands for Always Be Changing. With the advent of the internet came the rapid acceleration of change. In one fell swoop we had every piece of information we could every want at our finger tips. That is not to suggest that it has not taken time to morph our imbued information gathering habits but it is to say it’s not your older brothers world anymore. If you don’t like change you will like irrelevance even less and that is your prize for standing still today.

How do you keep up with your customer

Tom Peter’s popularized the phrase Management by Walking Around [MBWA], defined by BusinessDictionary.com this way;

Unstructured approach to hands-on, direct participation by the managers in the work-related affairs of their subordinates, in contrast to rigid and distant management. In MBWA practice, managers spend a significant amount of their time making informal visits to work area and listening to the employees. The purpose of this exercise is to collect qualitative information, listen to suggestions and complaints, and keep a finger on the pulse of the organization. Also called management by wandering around.

I think it is a fair way think about how to keep up with your customer. We should be interacting with them both on and offline. Here are just a couple of ideas on how to do that;

Ask for their opinion any time you see them
Hang out where they hang out
Eat where they eat
Read the magazines, blogs and tweets they read
Read the books, ebooks and ezines they read
Ask permission to enlist them on your Facebook, MySpace and Tweet pages
Participate on their Facebook, MySpace and Tweet pages
Shop where they shop
Read what they review
Ride the buses they ride
Frequent the places they work
Experience the products and services they like
Work out where they work out
Ask what keywords they used to find you

How about we call this Creating Experience by Walking Around [CEWA]. The real key to remember here is that you are not your customer and in order to understand your customer you must engage and participate with them. And, make it easy for them to do the same with you.