Another month, another calendar! As a Sprout member there are so many perks but in our opinion it’s hard to beat the monthly marketing calendar. There are just so many good nuggets in it that are easy to follow and more importantly, easy to accomplish. Be sure to download our August Calendar so that you can get all your ideas planned out and read on to find some marketing gems!

You are lucky enough to have a job where you are paid to take vacation so why do you always carry around a little rain cloud with you the whole time, feeling guilty for leaving? The fabulous Casey Van Zandt created a four part series to help us keep that guilt at bay while we’re on vacay! 

Do you ever find yourself staring at a blank document on your computer, hoping that some sort of miracle will happen and it will magically be filled with amazing and creative content for you to put into action? Well friends, you can call Sprout your marketing genie because we work magic for you every single month.

Mental blocks...we’ve all had them (and they always show up at the worst time!).

If you’ve ever felt frustrated, overwhelmed, or let’s be honest...maybe you’ve dreamt of running away to a deserted island in the middle of your workday, we are sharing our favorite hacks to get you back on track. The cool thing is these work in business and in life.

Funks...mind-numbing, soul-sucking career funks! It happens to the best of us. We lose the luster for our career. So what can we do about it? Throw in the towel and surrender. No, friends! We are not quitters. We are ditchers. We can start by ditching three things that every single person has been guilty of doing.

Did you know there’s a huge chunk of the student housing market you may be missing out on? With just a little shift in focus, Sprout can help you fix that!

Responding to member comments is not only a required aspect to your social media handling, but it is also a potentially lucrative aspect to your overall strategy. Showing respect and building professional relationships can pay dividends in the long term.

Online real estate platforms are seemingly a dime-a-dozen in today’s market. Zillow and Trulia are EASILY the market leaders in this space. Any online marketing strategy should incorporate them.  A small amount of time devoted here can make a huge difference. As always, bear in mind that the market has shifted to online viewing. This is the first step of many prospective buyers. Overlooking this can limit your company growth, and leave you sitting on properties for much too long!

We know social media is not the ‘end all, be all’ of advertising.  The benefit to social media advertising is much less about the ad itself, but rather the interaction that results from interest in the ad.  A well-designed property ad will be shared over and over again, resulting in interest from networks you may not have even thought about!

Barbara Savona, CEO for Sprout Marketing, gives 2 simple tips for improving your marketing. You don't have to attend an expensive marketing conference to keep up with trends. Watch this little video to find out how a simple tactic can keep you aware of what's important to people. If you are selling on features and benefits for your apartment community or property listing, you are going to want to do a little shift!

In a world of 24/7 technology, is there still a place for in-person outreach marketing? Does the idea of walking into a business to promote your apartment community seem like a waste of time? If you've ever felt this way, you're going to love this resource for Outreach Marketing: The Influencer Approach.

If you can appeal to prospective buyers by bearing these marketing principles in mind, you have an excellent chance of taking of advantage of the amazing opportunities that Zillow and Trulia have to offer your property/housing listings.

Here's what I mean by that. At the end of the day, Lady Gaga is a singer and an entertainer. You can love her, or you can hate her, but the second that woman steps on stage, she's putting on a show.

Twitter is a powerful tool that is [arguably] the easiest of all social media to use. The speed of interaction and communication on this platform is second to none. If your desire is solely to spread the word of your hot, new property listing, Twitter can work wonderfully for a Multi-Family Property Manager or Realtor.

Let’s start with her quote: "You laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at you because you're all the same." So back to what we were saying, it doesn't matter whether you love her or hate her, you recognize Lady Gaga because she's different, right?

Lessons in Branding as Taught by Cardi B - Student Housing Edition

What in the world does Cardi B have to do with…student housing? You’d be surprised!

How has Lady Gaga built loyalty? Why should she even be our teacher today?

Facebook provides easy access to all of the people that make your real estate business work. You can sit in your recliner at home, interact with thousands of followers by simply logging on and responding to interest. Needless to say, building this following is absolutely crucial to your long-term social media success. But how do you gain that attention? How can we make your Facebook experience better?