Ever had questions about paid media advertising in multifamily marketing but didn’t know who to ask? Well, we know exactly who to ask! Meet Taylor Fulton, the Director of Agency Operations & Growth at Rent. Taylor has 15 years of experience in digital marketing and was a founding member of the Agency Team at Rent, which manages thousands of multifamily marketing campaigns across paid search, social, and display. When he’s not obsessing over client campaigns, he obsesses over college basketball. Let’s get to it!
Interview with Taylor Fulton
Hey Taylor! Thanks for chatting with us! To get started, can you tell us a little bit about your career at Rent.?
Sure! I oversee the RentSearch. and RentSocial. Agency teams. My team and I delve into client marketing and digital challenges, assisting them in enhancing marketing and leasing efficiency by driving qualified leads through Rent.’s paid media and agency solutions.
Tell us about how RentSearch. and RentSocial. help property teams.
Rent. acts as an extension of our client’s marketing team, specializing in their digital strategy. We are a truly consultative partner, sharing our years of national expertise in the multifamily space. In such a competitive multifamily marketing and agency landscape, Rent. is set apart because of our unique combination of providing a full-service digital and paid media suite of solutions while being powered by our ILS Marketplace sites.
Rent. has a distinctive approach that grants clients access to an extensive first-party audience of renters actively searching for their next apartment. We provide unparalleled insights into renter behaviors, challenges, and their interactions in digital environments.
Rent.’s paid media solutions encompass paid search, paid social, programmatic display, and mobile advertising through geofencing technology. When integrated, these solutions offer multifamily marketers a comprehensive full-funnel approach to drive traffic to their property website or Rent. landing page. This allows them to drive brand awareness, retarget and nurture traffic, and convert leads that ultimately result in tours, applications, and leases.
What makes Rent.’s paid media offerings different from other paid media providers?
There are three main reasons Rent. is different than other agencies:
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- Rent. is powered by first-party data, which is one of the best and only ways to combat cookie deprecation. When the cookie depreciation finally crumbles, our extensive first-party audience data is going to still be able to target actively searching in-market renters.
- Rent. is 100% multifamily focused. Our team of analysts are passionate and solely focused on the multifamily marketing industry, having run thousands of multifamily-specific campaigns across the country. We leverage our learnings and best practices so we can optimize your campaign.
- Our multifamily digital team is 100% FHA trained and Google Ads certified.
Once a property gets started, how long does it take to see performance results?
It depends on the channel. For RentSocial., since we leverage our first-party data for retargeting, the campaigns typically ramp up fairly quickly, often surpassing benchmark key performance indicators within the first 30 days. In the case of RentSearch., the ramp-up period is typically longer, closer to 90 days. This is due to the time it takes for Google’s algorithm to collect sufficient traffic and lead data, helping both the algorithm and paid media analyst understand the characteristics of quality leads and how best to target them.
We encourage our clients to view paid search as a long-term strategy. Our paid media analysts collaborate with clients to fully understand their attribution model and improve our tracking/tagging to ensure the campaign is capturing an accurate depiction of lead performance.
You mentioned attribution. Would you mind explaining what that is and why it is important to multifamily marketers?
In multifamily marketing, attribution tracks how renters interact with your marketing across different channels (ads, social media). It helps you see which ones are most effective at influencing their journey, even if they see multiple ads before contacting you.
Imagine a renter sees your PPC and display ads for weeks, then clicks on your Instagram ad. This click leads them to your website, where they explore before submitting a tour request. Finally, they sign a lease!
While the website gets the “conversion credit” (depending on the model), attribution ensures all channels (PPC, display, Instagram) get some credit, highlighting their role in the renter’s journey and your overall marketing ROI.
This makes attribution crucial for optimizing your marketing spend and focusing on the channels that truly drive leads and conversions.
We know that attribution tracking isn’t a perfect science. What are some of the ways that you and your team address these challenges?
You’re right; attribution tracking can be really tricky, especially with cookie deprecation! The modern renter journey involves multiple touchpoints, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly which marketing efforts led to a signed lease. At Rent., we work with our clients to address this challenge with a combination of data analysis, advanced tools, and flexible attribution models. This equips clients to make data-driven decisions and maximize their marketing ROI.
What are some of the key metrics and KPIs that you and your team look at when evaluating performance?
This definitely depends on where the campaign is in its lifecycle. In the initial phases of paid search, we concentrate on traffic-based metrics such as click-through rate, cost per click, and the quality of traffic directed to the website. Traffic quality is determined by analyzing how many pages the average user is visiting on the website, total time on site, as well as the bounce rate.
As the campaign progresses and collects more data, the paid media analyst can make data-driven optimizations and refine the conversion rate strategy; this is when we start to shift our focus to metrics like conversion rate and cost per lead as primary key performance indicators. For RentSocial., the primary KPIs may vary depending on the goals of the client and the objective of the campaign. In a traffic campaign, we might emphasize reach, frequency, and click-through rate. In contrast, for a lead generation campaign, our focus shifts to total leads generated, conversion rate, and cost per lead.
Last question, what excites you about the future of paid media in multifamily marketing?
Two things excite me:
Rent.’s First-party data advantage: Rent.’s focus on using in-house audience data prepares us for a cookieless future. This ensures we target real renters, maximizing your ad spend.
AI-powered optimization: The rise of AI will revolutionize media buying. Imagine optimizing campaigns based on real-time occupancy, pricing, and market trends! It’s the future of streamlined marketing efficiency.
If you are interested in learning more about the paid media offerings at Rent., book a free consultation and start maximizing your marketing budget.
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