Property Management Companies (PMCs) are always looking for the latest and greatest ways to promote their properties. This means not only driving leads for bookings, but also making sure your name is out there and top of mind for potential renters with strong branding campaigns. So, what avenues can be effective for multifamily housing branding?

One powerful tech solution that drives awareness with renters is geofencing. As with any emerging technology, you may ask a few questions before adopting. What is geofencing? How is it used for apartment marketing? How do I make sure I am choosing the right geofences? Why is geofencing effective for my properties?

Let’s explore geofencing and answer all your questions.

What is geofencing?

Geofencing is a marketing tool that allows you to target potential customers based on specific locations they have visited or are currently visiting. You start by choosing the locations you want to target. Once your locations are selected, they get blueprinted, meaning a digital fence is placed around the area of each location.

This digital fence can tell whenever someone enters and leaves the fenced location. These people can be served ads while they are on location through a variety of app-based display ads. They can also be added to audiences you can then remarket to, serving them ads even when they have left the geofences you have in place.

It’s important to remember that geofencing campaigns are most effective at branding. They are a great way to get your name out in front of people. The goal with geofencing is ad impressions, the number of times people see your ad, and not ‘number of leads’ or ‘inquiries’ or other goals you may have.

Now that you know what geofencing is and how it is used, you’re probably asking yourself one big question.

How do I choose which locations I should be geofencing?

There are a number of factors to consider in choosing which locations to target. You want to have a good mix of locations and make sure you are targeting the right people. While demographic targeting is off-limits due to the Fair Housing Act (FHA), there are still ways of making sure you are targeting the right people.

Start by asking yourself questions about your current residents and your potential future residents.

• What makes them want to live in this area?
• Are there attractions nearby people would want to live nearby?
• Are there major employers nearby whose employees may want to minimize their commute?
• Who are your biggest competitors in the area?

Answering these questions will give you a great starting point from which to build your list of locations. Think hard about why people want to be in your neighborhood and choose those big attractors as targets.

There are some restrictions however. Schools below the university level are considered too sensitive because of the number of underage children you could potentially target, and certain medical services are too sensitive as well for privacy concerns.

Now you’re left with one final question.

How is geofencing effective for rental advertising?

As we mentioned before, targeting options are often limited for multifamily marketing, as the Fair Housing Act prevents targeting by any of the usual demographics marketers like to use. This forces our industry to get creative in how we find and target renters.

Geofencing is a powerful tool for driving brand awareness across a wide variety of locations and, therefore, a large number of potential renters without having to use any prohibited targeting demographics. We can think about how people live, work, and play in our neighborhoods and therefore what drives people to want to live nearby.

With geofencing…it’s almost like saying, do you love working and playing in this area? Why not live here?

With geofencing we can take all the places that attract people to our area and target them with ads. It’s almost like saying, do you love working and playing in this area? Why not live here?

As a branding and exposure product, geofencing helps to keep your brand top of mind. This means that when a potential renter decides they do want to live in a particular neighborhood, your property will stand out in their mind. This makes them likely to seek you out directly and prioritize you over your potential competitors.

All these factors make geofencing a strong branding tool, and something you definitely want in your toolkit for apartment advertising. However, you have to use third-party tools or vendors in order to implement geofences. So rather than learn the technical side of the latest technology, it may be worth seeking a trusted partner, such as Rent. and our new Geofencing solution, to do the heavy lifting for you.

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