Why Personas are a Must in Multifamily Marketing

How many people visit your website every day? How many of them fill out guest cards or schedule a tour? As multifamily marketers, you have to sift through countless data points. But, do you know the person behind the data? Do you know if the person coming in to tour has to move because of a new job, or if they are searching with a roommate?

Understanding your consumers — their motivations, fears, pain points, hopes and dreams, the “how and the why” of the search process — is just as important, if not more so, than understanding the data.

Building a consumer persona (some call it a buyer persona, a marketing persona or even a renter persona) is vital in multifamily marketing, because when you understand consumers deeply, you can demonstrate that in your marketing efforts — and that helps build a brand that renters respond to and love.

A persona gives data a face and a name, and it gives employees a purpose. In fact, according to HubSpot, marketing personas made websites 2-5 times more effective and easier to use. A persona is a realistic archetype of a consumer based on qualitative and quantitative data.

Having a defined persona helps multifamily companies focus on the issues and needs that are most important to the most renters. It allows them to develop a central experience to help renters find the information they want, then make a connection and ultimately sign a lease.

Personas also motivate employees and help everyone rally toward the same goals. It comes down to simple psychology.

“People tend to be more motivated to solve needs and problems for people, not data points,” said Sarah Makar, VP of Brand at Zillow.

Where to start?

Start with what you know, then make some educated guesses and assumptions. Does your renter have pets? Is she likely to have kids? Does she want to live in the lap of luxury or is she squirreling away every dollar for school? Highlight these guesses (based on what you know already) and then identify gaps in knowledge.

Then, it’s time for research. Lots of research. Conduct user and consumer research, both qualitative (interviews, ethnography, talking with people who come in to tour) and quantitative (surveys, etc.). Talk to real renters at your communities. Talk to renters who passed on your communities or who didn’t renew (if they’re willing, of course).

After tons of research, assemble a cross-section of people to review the data together. Look at what you learned, what you were wrong about and where you still have holes.

Now what?

You’ve got the data. You’ve gathered the team. Now, it’s time to “pile all the data together and see what bubbles to the top,” Sarah said.

This is the tough part, but see what common themes arise from the research. Creating a consumer persona is always a work in progress. The more you learn, the more you can shape the persona and even create other versions for different subgroups or searching behaviors.

Map it out.

Be realistic, but make sure you’re brief. Personas are meant to represent people, not carry a lifetime of baggage and stories. Provide enough information to understand the how and the why and see a picture of who the person is, but make sure not to pigeonhole them into one segment. The motivations you pull out and focus on should be relevant and serious. Once you have all that identified, map out the typical persona elements:

• Name and photo
• Demographics
• Needs and motivations in relation to your service/product
• Environment
• A little backstory, but don’t get too specific
• A quote that sums up what matters most to them with respect to your service/product

Humans want to relate to humans. Developing a persona for your consumer gives them a voice inside your company and helps your employees imagine how that person would react to a new product, idea or marketing campaign.

To see Sarah's full presentation from the Zillow Group Multifamily Forum, click here.