Four Fatal Flaws in Apartment Marketing...And How To Fix Them!
A lot of time, energy and money are spent on apartment marketing. Most of it (sigh) doesn’t work.
After working with thousands of multifamily professionals, we’ve seen some patterns emerge. So today we are breaking it down and identifying the top FOUR flaws in apartment marketing…and the way to fix them.
IT’S REACTIVE VS PROACTIVE
Likely all managers would agree that a proactive marketing approach is ideal, still the large majority default to a reactive approach. Why? Often, we start with the best of intentions to have a well-crafted marketing plan but then things happen onsite that take away our focus. Mid-month we can find ourselves with dipping occupancy, unaccounted for skips, or a lower renewal rate than anticipated. We ask, “How did this happen?” Panic ensues and the “try-anything” approach kicks in.
The problem: The reactive approach is taxing on a team, isn’t sustainable and doesn’t produce the long-term results we are looking for. Sure it might work for the short-term, but no one can sustain great results in reactive mode.
The solution: A proactive approach allows you to plot your course, consider all factors affecting your marketing and retention, and anticipate challenges BEFORE you ever get in the driver’s seat. You are able to take past experience and current market trends and resources to create a plan that can work month after month.
“I love how everything that Sprout creates isn’t just beautiful, but it ties back to results our owners want to see-increase in occupancy, higher renewal rates, better events, follow up, etc. It helps us stay ahead of occupancy issues before they become a real problem.”
The Sprout Daily Dose Method is an inherently proactive method that allows you to take charge of your community’s future. Gone are the days of hoping things are calm onsite long enough for you to create a marketing plan. That’s simply not realistic. The chaos will always be there to some extent. You need a plan that works within the chaos.
Our systematic approach allows you to easily create a marketing plan that is driven by your core objectives. It all starts with our Daily Dose Planning Kit that gives you everything you need to quickly and efficiently create your proactive plan.
LACKS CLARITY
A lot of on-site apartment marketing is done for the sake of doing something (anything) or to simply appease a corporate requirement. What it lacks is clearly defined marketing objectives. This results in a big fail.
The problem: How well you define your desired outcome will have a profound impact on whether you succeed or fail. When objectives are unclear, already stretched onsite teams spend precious time and resources on marketing efforts that may or may not produce the outcome they want.
The solution: A marketing plan that ties all actions and initiatives to desired outcomes (marketing objectives) and eliminates everything else. Marketing objectives should contribute and align with the community's overall goals. Consistent focus placed in the correct areas leads to a financially fit community.
The Sprout Daily Dose Method creates clarity by narrowing down marketing objectives to two factors: initiatives to retain current residents (keep the back door shut) and initiatives to efficiently and consistently acquire new leases. Our Daily Dose method is laid out in a way that you can easily select the initiatives that will have the biggest impact on meeting your objective.
“It’s not uncommon to lose sight of the overall picture in this industry. There are so many details to pay attention to! I like how Sprout ties everything as a whole.””
DOESN’T CAPTURE ATTENTIONS...OR HEARTS
Studies say that in 1920 the average attention span was 20-minutes. Today? Eight seconds...the same as a goldfish. Attention spans are shrinking...so what?
This drastic change may not seem too important, that is, unless you're a marketer who's in the business of grabbing attention. Without it, they are missing the first (and most critical) step towards making or keeping a sale.
Breaking through the noise of day-to-day life is a real challenge. Twenty years ago, we were just trying to stand out from the competition with nice curb appeal and a good photo in our For Rent ad. But today’s online world has created a new set of complicated problems for apartment marketers. Your apartment community is no longer just competing with other communities. You are competing with EVERYTHING for your customer’s attention.
The problem: Most apartment marketing is vanilla (aka BORING!) In an effort to appeal to the masses, it misses the opportunity to pull at the heartstrings of targeted demographics. Stuck in the multifamily bubble, everything starts to look the same.
The end result?
Your customer just keeps scrolling and your marketing efforts are a waste.
The solution: Marketing that combines the craftsmanship of skilled graphic designers with the knowledge and experience of multifamily professionals. Marketing teams that are always asking “How can we really speak to the prospect?”
The end result would be purpose-driven marketing that STOPS TRAFFIC!
That’s the EXACT secret sauce of The Sprout Daily Dose Method and marketing platform. It’s where experience and design combine for a powerful impact!
“Our favorite part of membership is the GREAT designs you offer and the variety of options to choose from.”
It’s Too Time Consuming for the Time-Starved property managers and onsite teams
Actual footage of a day-in-the-life of a property manager. 🤪
Most marketing never actually makes it out the door because it's too time-consuming to execute. Let’s face it, property managers are some of the busiest people on the planet. And while we love to think we can do it all (and sometimes we try), we simply don’t have time for overly complicated marketing and retention plans.
So what happens?
The problem: Marketing gets put to the back burner. We float by for a while, but over time the neglect catches up with us. So what do we do? We take the extra work home. Make flyers on our off-time. Post to social media at night while watching The Bachelor.
And because we are doing this on our free time and this isn’t where our expertise lies, the quality suffers and we feel burnt out.
The solution: A marketing method that can be done in less time without sacrificing results.
We firmly believe that you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your most valuable resource, your time, to put together marketing and retention initiatives.
That’s why every Daily Dose is created in a way that you can do a piece in just seven minutes a day.
We know sometimes on those especially busy days you are working with only slivers of time. Even on those days, your marketing and retention won’t suffer thanks to Sprout’s Daily Dose Method. Just search the initiative based on how much time you can invest that day.
“The most awesome thing that I love is how much time my team saves with Sprout! It saves us hours and hours each month!”
Ready to do things differently?