For many multifamily marketers, two of the biggest ongoing challenges are filling vacancies quickly and increasing profitability. To help tackle these issues, it’s a good idea to evaluate your marketing strategy once a quarter to ensure you’re targeting the right renters and making the most of new technologies. 

These four marketing ideas can help you attract potential renters, retain current residents and lower your cost per lease. 

Promote a lifestyle

Apartment marketing is becoming less about advertising a place to live and more about catering to your prospective residents’ lifestyle. According to the Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2020, some renters value features like walkability (55% of total renters say this is very or extremely important), being in their preferred neighborhood (43%) or shared amenities like a pet area or business center (20%). Others may want to feel they’re appreciated as residents and not just another rent check. Be sure to highlight your relationship-centric culture as part of your community offerings.

Share your story

• Take time to convey the type of lifestyle your community offers.
• Use a mix of lifestyle photos so renters can envision themselves at your property.
• Stage a model unit or create a virtual tour to help prospective renters visual themselves living in the home. Make sure the interior aligns with the style of your target demographic.

Show your dedication

• Showcase the ways you appreciate your residents.
• Get involved in the community via volunteer and sponsorship opportunities to demonstrate your commitment to the neighborhood and its residents.

Advertise creatively

• Offer rent discounts (such as military, student or teacher discounts).
• Arrange resident perks through collaborations with local shops and services.
• Do you have pet-friendly properties? Market your apartments at local vet offices, pet stores and shelters.

Broaden your reach

Make your content work harder for you by repurposing it across your social media channels. Employ search engine optimization (SEO) best practices and utilize search engine marketing (SEM) to expand your reach further.

• Ask residents why they love where they live. With their consent, share their answers on your website, newsletter, community blog and social media pages.
• Showcase those cool drone videos of your properties on the monitors in your leasing office.
• Optimize your content for important keywords so that it ranks higher in online search results. For example: “Two-bedroom, pet-friendly apartments in Portland.”
• Complement your SEO strategy with SEM to drive more traffic to your property websites.

Update your social strategy

Social media is a critical component of your rental marketing strategy. People already spend a lot of time on social platforms, so they’re ideal places to reach and engage prospects. But your efforts on social media include listening to your target audience on those channels and learning what they want and need from you.

• Set up social listening programs at your communities.
• Re-evaluate which social media channels are most effective for you. Beyond Facebook and Instagram, consider lifestyle sites like Pinterest and community-focused apps like Nextdoor.
• Create a blog or YouTube channel for your community that helps prospective residents see what it’s like to live there.
• Run online ads that target prospective renters who are looking in your area.
• Use your content distribution calendar to schedule your posts, and then set up analytics to keep track of your social marketing efforts.
• Revisit your overall digital marketing strategy to see where you can improve your results.

Use reviews as a selling point

Zillow’s 2020 trends report found that the vast majority of renters — 87% — use at least one online resource in their home search, and many of them use online reviews of a rental property in their decision-making: 49% of Gen Z renters find them very or extremely important, as do 49% of millennial renters and 39% of Gen Xers. When it comes to discovering what it’s like to interact with you and live in your units, prospective renters do their research.

• Ask for reviews at any time — after positive interactions with residents or from prospective renters who didn’t sign a lease but loved touring your property.
• Respond to every review, especially the negative ones.
• Actively monitor your online reputation.

By focusing your marketing efforts on the places renters search online, you can set your community apart even in a competitive market. With the many resources you already have, you can efficiently but meaningfully connect with future residents across a variety of channels to establish your community as the place they want to call home.