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�Oh no! We are 8% vacant!�A tragedy? Maybe. That might be too many vacants considering the recent high-demand market. But don�t forget something very significant. You are also 92% occupied! Yes, you have a lot of residents who have chosen to call your community their home. Listen to their stories! The best apartment marketing strategy focuses on occupied units, not the vacancies.
Vacancies can�t talk!��Focusing on the vacant apartment homes will be frustrating and a waste of time.� Of course, you want them perfectly ready to show and properly priced.� Yet, these vacants don�t tell you much about creating your market strategy.� �Talk� to the occupied units.� Here�s how:
- Make sure every prospect traffic is fastidiously tracked. Ask phone prospects, �Where did you find our telephone number?� This is the starting point for building an accurate traffic source database.
- Go back to your last 30-75 move-ins and determine the initial contact method (internet, email, phone, drive by, etc.) and exact source of traffic. Listen to their story.
- This data will quickly tell you which traffic source produce the results you really want from your marketing efforts – Prospects that lease AND move in.
- Now you know those traffic sources that produce the most move-ins. Double or triple your efforts and exposure in those venues or sources.
As you work to identify the marketing sources that produce the most move-ins, you also begin to see the traffic that might be wasting your time. Eliminate the marketing and traffic sources that merely produce �activity� but not move-ins. Now you are moving toward GREAT apartment marketing:
Less Traffic producing MORE Move ins!
