I received an email asking for ideas on how to market an apartment community to the public and the sender told me that they send advertising cakes to local businesses, hand out flyers to different businesses and they haven't really yielded any leads. They asked for our assistance for ideas.
Keep in mind this is just my ramblings and not a formal around the world analysis of all forms of marketing channels and I have not analyzed the senders methods in their current forms of advertising and marketing. First and foremost you need to consider your potential market you are advertising to and the Generation X (born 1960 thru 1980) and Generation Y (born 1981 thru 1995) are your primary targets. The generation Y want to communicate with you throught the internet and they want your website to cover all their questions so they can lease online. They do not want to have to call your office for details so if your website says "call for pricing" on the floorplans then chances are they are going to go to your competitor's website where pricing is advertised. Generation X will absolutely research their apartment options on the internet so you need to put your best presentation on the internet and they will also pick up the phone and call your leasing office.
However, here's a real problem that needs to be addressed. The leasing office doesn't typically answer the phone during business hours for whatever reason. I know this because I call on apartment communities every day of the week and most of the time I can't get through on the phone. My comment is also sadly supported by industry shopping reports from secret shoppers. So your prospective renters aren't getting through either. So you need to address that problem with your staff and make the phone a greater priority or hire a 3rd party service trained in how to handle apartment shoppers.
I recommend phone training with Gracehill.com so your leasing staff are "closing" phone traffic or at the bare minimum closing the call with an appointment set. If you are understaffed then I would recommend hiring a 3rd party industry specific call center (which is just a fancy term for answering service).
Can you afford to loose a prospect (aka "lead) because you don't have infrastructure in place to effectively collect and communicate with that prospect? At the National Apartment Association conference in June 2007, they had a benchmarking session that said the average property management company is paying over $200 to get ONE prospect to their front door or do their website. So you can see how expensive it is to let an email or a phone call slip past you! YIKES!
I would recommend the following resources to help you build your infrastructure for leasing success:
http://www.rentandretain.com/
http://www.gracehill.com/ (setup a free account and check out their resources)
If you don't have a website for your apartment community you need to get one and don't hire your cousin 3rd removed on your Mother's side that works out of his garage. Hire a professional web developer. Here are a few examples of some very effective websites you can get ideas from: http://austonwoods.com/ or http://waterstonecorona.com/ or http://missionatlavillita.com/.
I'm signing off for now, but should something else pop into my head I'll add to this post.
All The Best!
Becca
