• Just like evaluating your personal goals, health and wellness, take a 360-degree look at your property’s marketing health.
• Research has shown that not only is the renter journey more digital now, but it’s also often digital-first.
• Success formulas for luxury & new builds, senior housing, and Class B & C properties.
• It’s getting harder and harder to reach renters where they are and access third-party data with recent privacy changes. This makes it imperative that multifamily marketers leverage first-party data.

With the new year in full swing and new budgets finalized, teams are powering up for peak leasing season in the spring. Just like evaluating your personal goals, health and wellness, you can take a 360-degree look at your property’s marketing health—so your team can show up even better this year.

We’ll cover key factors for running a multifamily marketing wellness check. Find the ideal marketing mix for your property type, recalibrate old processes with more efficient tactics and review your results to get more success stories out of your marketing efforts.

Why run a marketing wellness check?

Renters expect more than just a website and online listings. Personalization, consistency, and authenticity are all factors that help properties stand out.

Find out where your biggest opportunities are. A review of the year is your chance to look at completed projects with fresh eyes. There might be areas need more resources, or processes that are currently manual but could easily be automated.

Break out of old trends that renters have moved on from. This is a great time to avoid settling into old habits. Research has shown that not only is the renter journey more digital now, but it’s also often digital-first. Renters expect more than just a website and online listings. Personalization, consistency, and authenticity are all factors that help properties stand out. Remote work has also changed the days and times renters tour and when they browse listings. Connect with your team to talk through where there might be inefficient ways of doing things and getting stuck in less effective routines as renter needs evolve.

Celebrate your strengths and successes! Most importantly, you can find the many wins your team may have overlooked during the year. You may have had a record year, high occupancy, high conversion rates but you want to pinpoint exactly which tactic got you there. If renters resonate with your efforts more than ever, now is the perfect time to understand why.

Lean on technology to drive efficiency

Multifamily marketers balance two rapidly changing areas, marketing technology and the rental market. Use this to your advantage by exploring efficient solutions and ways to improve leasing processes now. Are there areas you’ve been hoping for technology to catch up with your team’s needs? New advancements can help you more easily handle reviews, instantly respond to resident requests, and better prioritize maintenance calls. The industry is also trending toward integrated solutions that seamlessly work with tools your team is already using.

Three common questions to start with when reviewing onsite efficiency:

1. How can we automate repetitive tasks (autoresponders, online tour scheduling, etc.)?
2. Are there integrations (with a property management system, marketplace listings, etc.) that would make this go more smoothly?
3. Can we qualify more renter leads (with chatbots, live support, and lead form qualifying questions) before they reach our team?

Find channels for each property type and class

We know that marketing isn’t one size fits all for properties. The results you get for each channel come down to how well each one works for your specific property type and class. In a recent webinar with the National Apartment Association, Taylor Fulton shared success formulas for selecting the right marketing mix for your property type. He covered luxury & new builds, senior housing, and Class B & C properties.

Luxury and new construction: For these properties, you’ll need to amplify the property brand early on so you can reengage leads long-term. Starting early with a strong, diverse channel mix will yield better results.

Senior housing: Longer marketing cycles and a more selective strategy are key characteristics of senior housing marketing plans. Retargeting, display and Facebook advertising specifically work well for these communities. You’ll often have to reengage prospects longer term as they review all options before choosing their new place.

Classes B, C, and other property types: Don’t overlook renewals, and be sure to maximize limited budgets for other property types. Shifting some marketing and advertising budget into marketing operations, renewal marketing and more focused tactics can help here.

Brush up on trends and emerging technologies

Recalibrate your digital presence with the latest trends, renter needs and tools for efficiency. Here are a few new solutions for leasing teams in areas that often go unnoticed:

Property website

Your website is now a hub for renters to research, request tours and even resolve issues once they become residents. In this digital-first journey, it can even make or break a new lead’s decision to learn more. Some websites can be integrated with rental marketplaces and your PMS (property management system) to ensure that your content is consistent, and the renter experience is seamless once they visit your site.

Social media

Gen Z and Millennial generations are the largest renter age group today. They also view social media channels like TikTok as trusted research tools in the buying process. Make sure your property is present on the channels that resonate with your renter audience. More importantly, ensure that your social ads are optimized to reach in-market renter audiences or other target audiences most likely to convert.

Reputation management

Reputation tools have had a serious tech makeover recently to make things easier on leasing teams. Some solutions automate review requests and responses, allow access to review monitoring via mobile apps and create personalized responses to each review.

Future-proof and FHA-friendly targeting

It’s getting harder and harder to reach renters where they are and access third-party data with recent privacy changes from Apple, Meta and Google. This makes it imperative that multifamily marketers leverage first-party data. Whether it’s through retargeting after a renter visits your website, partnering with companies that can target in-market renters, or collecting valuable data from email, text or otherwise, you’ll need sophisticated tactics to reach relevant audiences.

Your property’s fresh start.

For any approach you choose, running a marketing wellness check is a great way to re-envision your property’s potential to reach new renters and retain happy residents. Find out how technology can work for your unique leasing needs and improve operations for you and your team.

‍