Great Apartment Marketing Defined

Less traffic…producing MORE move-ins!

The measure of success for marketing your apartment community is not more traffic.  In fact, additional traffic can actually harm your leasing and occupancy efforts.  More people emailing, texting, calling and walking in the door… who never lease are actually a waste of your time.  And maybe a waste of the prospect’s time, too.  How rude of you!  

The REAL measure of an effective marketing campaign is more move ins.  And a really great marketing campaign means Less Traffic Producing MORE Move-ins!  Yep, that is the objective of great apartment marketing.  And here is the formula to create that great marketing plan.

1. Track traffic sources…precisely!  – Get exact sources of all internet, phone, and walk-in prospect traffic.  With internet leads be patient and ask what “website are you seeing”.  Take advantage of ILS’s tracking phone numbers and internet lead identification. On the phone ask, “Where did you find our telephone number?”  Make sure you determine each visitor’s “first way” they learned of your community.  Bottom line:  Identify the initial traffic source of all prospects.  
2. Your Software is Not Correctly Tracking All Sources – I can’t help you on this one in a KWIK Tip except to urge you to check and verify what is flowing thru your CRM applications.  You may not know the source of your best leads!
3. “Internet Lead” is Not a Traffic Source – It takes a bit of patience and communication skills but you must drill down to get more specific info than “internet”.  First, most ILS’s will reveal themselves as the main lead source.  Go deeper. For example, ask this prospect “I noticed that you saw us on apartments.com.  Was that your first contact with Rush Creek?  Do you remember what you were searching to find us?  Had you heard of us before your online search?”  Be gentle in your questions about traffic…pleasantly curious.  If they get annoyed, blame it on marketing.   “Sorry for all the questions but our marketing folks are interested in what causes people to contact our office.”
4. Follow Prospects to Move-In – Keep track of all prospects and use the traffic information to determine what sources merely produce visits and those that result in move-ins.  After precisely identifying traffic for several months, audit your last 25-50 move-ins to see the traffic sources.
5. Update Marketing Plan With This Data – Go to those traffic sources that are producing what you really want – move-ins – and do more of that!  Eliminate the advertising sources that produce unproductive internet leads, calls, and property visits.  

The key to a successful marketing effort is the residents currently living in your community.  Find out what marketing source got them to the property and go back to that source for more!