Free Toolkit: Using Video for Marketing and Leasing Apartments
Inside the toolkit:
- Learn how to record an apartment video tour that converts.
- Watch our step-by-step unit recording best practices video.
- Download our 9-point cheatsheet for future reference.
About the Toolkit
Just about every apartment available for rent these days offers a virtual tour to prospective tenants. But these impersonal tours often aren’t able to capture the true charm of a unit, and renters may feel as though they still need an in-person visit before they commit.
This downloadable resource will explain exactly how you can use pre-recorded video tours to promote your property. It includes a step-by-step guide to get you started on using video to advertise your properties, as well as some of the market research supporting this approach.
Apartment Marketing
When it comes to filling an apartment building, marketing is one of the cornerstones. The apartment marketing world is complex and rapidly changing as the needs of residents evolve as well. Apartment marketing is very different from other industries because instead of marketing a product or service, the building is marketing a place to live.
Therefore, the method of how to market apartment communities takes a differentiated approach.
Often, the function of apartment marketing falls in the hands of a corporate marketer who has a lot on his or her plate. Therefore, it is understandable that the individual might not have a lot of time to market an apartment in a proper manner. With this in mind, it is important to not only address apartment complex marketing ideas but also think about how this field has changed over the years in order to be very efficient with apartment marketing budgets and time.
Technology has drastically changed how every part of the economy functions. This is just as true for the marketing of apartment complexes as it is for any other industry. Now, when someone is looking for an apartment complex, they often turn to the internet for help. This is a far cry from looking at the yellow pages. With the evolution of apartment marketing in a clear view, it is important for the marketing of apartment complexes to evolve with new technology and new processes as well.
Apartment Marketing Ideas
When it comes to marketing a multifamily property in the lease-up phase, there are a few important points to keep in mind.
During the lease-up phase, there are a few important apartment marketing ideas 2020 to keep in mind. The goal is to have as many people come and visit the apartment building as possible, but also to get as many people to visit your website and ‘experience’ the property online too. While hosting open houses and running events that will attract prospective residents to the property, it’s also important to cater to and capture the attention of your online audience as well. Consider hosting virtual open houses and posting engaging video content for people online to be able to truly experience your space online without having to physically visit in person. Apartment marketing ideas for lease-ups can range from partnering with local businesses for pet events, beer tastings, volunteer events, and more.
Once an apartment complex has reached the stabilized phase, it is a good idea to shift marketing efforts and dollars. Once stabilized, it is important to transition to fun marketing ideas for apartments that showcase your residents and the lifestyle of living there. One of the best ways to do that is? Video! Consider posting and sharing a video of a pool party or even a field trip to a local apple orchard when thinking about apartment marketing ideas for fall. Don’t forget to capture resident testimonial videos as well though. All of this video content is engaging and can go a long way toward maintaining the stability of the apartment complex over the long term.
Marketing Ideas for Apartment Lease Up
During the lease-up phase, the apartment building is trying to increase its occupancy rate as quickly as possible. Ideally, the occupancy rate should reach 90 percent as quickly as possible. Since a lot of the lease-up time can be spent pre-leasing during construction, one of the first things that a lot of teams will typically focus on is catchy apartment names or clever apartment names that are easy to remember. Surprisingly, a name can be a key component of your lease-up marketing as it will keep the name of the building front and center in the minds of prospective residents.
It’s also a key time to start showcasing the property and one of the best ways to do that during pre-leasing and lease-up is Realync’s video leasing solution. Especially during construction and as the building is being completed, Realync videos are one of the key ways for apartment marketers and leasing agents to improve their efficiency in showcasing a space that’s still rough, dirty, and being completed.
By being able to offer a virtual tour that doesn’t require prospective residents to come to the property, this means that you can better engage with prospects and get more eyes on your vacant units. By taking the tours to your prospects, teams have been able to improve conversion rates and get more leases signed quicker.
Apartment Advertising Ideas
Over the past few years, the world of apartment marketing has changed in more ways than one. In years past, filling a multifamily unit might have been done via billboards, radio spots, and even the yellow pages.
Now, there are numerous apartment advertising ideas that were not available 5-10 years ago. Some of the biggest changes involve social media platforms and listing platforms like Apartments.com, ApartmentList, Zillow, and more. While apartment ad examples often require a large investment, this isn’t always the case. In many situations, it is very affordable for multifamily advertising on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. This can be invaluable when it comes to building your audience online and broadening your reach outside of direct followers.
Don’t be afraid to lean on existing residents as well to have them help broaden your reach and audience of prospective residents as well. Offer referral bonuses and incentives to have residents record resident testimonials. There are lots of options out there when it comes to advertising a multifamily unit and they don’t all need to be just showcasing the property. With many apartment advertising requiring a significant financial investment, it’s important that apartment communities think carefully about who their target audience is and how they can best reach them. Is the goal to attract established families? Is the goal to attract young professionals? All of these target audiences have different tendencies and are searching for slightly different things online. Therefore, think carefully about where and how to advertise. These advertising dollars are valuable and it is important to maximize the return on investment. Taking this time upfront can go a long way toward maintaining a high occupancy rate over the long-term. Think about where and how to advertise most effectively.
Outreach Marketing Ideas For Apartments
One of the cornerstones of advertising the modern multifamily unit is to think about outreach marketing ideas for apartments. Many people who are looking to live in a multifamily unit are looking for a sense of community. This needs to be thought about carefully when it comes to marketing ideas for luxury apartments. Many of the tactics for advertising a luxury apartment building effectively should center around something that prospective residents might not be thinking about. For example, consider bringing in some local businesses for special shopping events, cooking classes, beer tastings, pet adoption events, and more.
These sorts of marketing events for apartment communities are true partnership advertising events. It takes the pressure off the attendees to not feel like they’re solely there to shop for a home. They’re also there to experience or learn something new as well. This is a great way for prospective residents to learn more about the building while also getting to know some of the other prospective residents too. This form of outbound marketing can help an apartment building fill up units in shorter order.
Marketing Plan For Apartment Complexes
When it comes to marketing a large, multifamily community, it is important to think about apartment marketing materials ahead of time. Marketers should never start marketing a large apartment complex unless they have thought about the goals ahead of time. While the ultimate goal is to reach a consistently high occupancy rate, there are a number of steps that are going to need to happen along the way. These smaller goals might take the form of a higher turnout at local apartment complex marketing events or a set number of tours in a given time period.
When setting up a marketing plan for an apartment complex, it is important to think about key KPIs that can be used to turn a subjective apartment marketing plan into an objective measurable goal. Not every property is the same and it is important to cater the marketing plan to the exact population that is being targeted. Think about whether families, young professionals, or retired individuals are the target group. This is going to play a significant role in the marketing plan and, equally, the goals. Families or busy professionals may not be apt to physically visit the property in person. So don’t solely rely on physical tours as a KPI if you have a high volume of out-of-market leads or families or professionals that it really does not make sense to force into an in-person tour.
Apartment Marketing Complexes
Another idea for marketing an apartment complex is to consider outsourcing the job to trained professionals. There are lots of organizations out there that specialize in the marketing of multifamily communities.
These professionals often have a number of resources at their disposal that can end up making a tremendous difference in the overall occupancy rate. By understanding specific markets, demographics, technologies and more, these multifamily marketing agencies can typically bring a lot of efficiencies to your marketing efforts.
At the same time, there is one form of marketing that cannot be outsourced. This comes in the form of touring. While the status quo for multifamily touring is the tried and true in-person tour, research shows that more and more prospective residents no longer even desire to visit a property in person. According to NMHC, 16% of prospects no longer want to visit a property in person prior to signing a lease. This audience understands that technology can now provide an actual, transparent experience and show them their exact unit via video tours and virtual tours. These apartment video tours can be integral in showcasing the major features of your apartment complex and providing unit-specific tours for this audience. The key component though is transparency and trust. One way of instilling that is by keeping a leasing agent as part of the process to humanize it, personalize it, and answer questions for leads.
The best way to provide virtual tours that convert? Realync’s video leasing solution! Realync enables leasing agents to record their own DIY pre-recorded video tours as well as host a live video tour for a specific lead or prospect. These experiences can be personalized and are shot using nothing more than a smartphone or tablet. By showing the exact unit in a real way, these experiences are proving to be exactly what prospective residents are desiring.
Ready to Get Real?
Accelerate Leasing
Speed Up Lease Up
by providing construction updates and showcase your space without having to do hard hat tours.
PRE-LEASE OCCUPIED UNITS
by ‘showing’ them without having to physically tour the space by sending pre-recorded videos.
CONVERT A HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF YOUR LEADS INTO LEASES
when you receive notifications when prospects are viewing videos to cater your follow up.
SPEND LESS TIME TO CLOSE EACH LEASE
by removing roadblocks and barriers in the leasing process.
INCREASE SIGHT-UNSEEN LEASING
by making it a breeze for out-of-market leads to choose your community.
Improve Community Engagement
PROMOTE YOUR PROGRAMS BETTER
via pre-recorded videos by linking via social media or internal apps.
DECREASE MAINTENANCE REQUESTS
by creating maintenance videos.
REINFORCE COMMUNITY RULES
by receiving notifications when residents are viewing videos to know who has seen a message and who hasn’t.
REDUCE REPETITIVE QUESTIONS
because consumers retain 10% of a message when reading it via text, but 90% of a message when viewed in a video.
More Than Software
Virtual Training
is available for every property utilizing Realync.
Make your video efforts consistent
with one set, standardized process and platform.
TRACK ENGAGEMENT And Usage
across your entire portfolio.
Partner with the Realync Team
to create a personalized training program to be rolled out across all properties.
Are you Ready to Get Real?
Talk with us today to see how Realync’s platform can 4X your lead-to-lease conversion!
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