by threshold | Feb 22, 2022 | Marketing, Thought Leadership
While property management companies, developers, and ownership groups often put great care into marketing the communities in their portfolio, some approach corporate real estate marketing with hesitance and trepidation. After all, marketing a community to potential residents is a completely different ball game from marketing property management services to development partners or development services to potential investors.
As a real estate marketing agency, we’ve worked with corporate real estate brands to not only connect residents to their communities, but also to earn new business for our client partners. From brand guidelines to advertising to website design and more, here are the top takeaways that we’ve derived from years of helping our clients grow their portfolios.
Embrace Your Key Differentiators
Oftentimes, corporate real estate brands get so caught up in meeting expectations that they are afraid to break the mold and show off what really makes them different. But when you’re competing for attention among a sea of competitors, standing out is essential.
It’s understandable to be hesitant. We’ve worked with plenty of property management companies and developers who just want to make sure that potential investors and partners find them trustworthy. Sometimes that desire leads to lackluster branding, websites, and ad copy that demonstrates they are just as trustworthy as anyone else…but not very interesting or unique.
So take time to really consider what sets you apart, whether that’s the region you specialize in, the approach you take to resident experiences, the types of developments you build, or the services you provide for clients. You may have dreams of expanding beyond some of these areas (such as your regional focus), but in the meantime, embracing what makes you unique will help you find the right investors and industry partners to help grow your portfolio and put you in a better position to reach those goals down the road.
Show Your Value With Engaging Case Studies
You can talk about your methods and promises all day, but most potential partners are going to want to see some proof that you can deliver. One great way to do this is with case studies. But not all case studies are made equal.
First, whenever you add an asset to your portfolio—especially those big projects that get everyone excited—lay the groundwork early to collect the data and social proof you’ll need to show your success down the road. Select a leasing management software that makes it easy to track your leasing velocity against the market average and set up Google Analytics and ad tracking so you can accurately measure the success of your marketing through metrics like website traffic, click-through-rates, and conversions. Ask residents to leave reviews on your GMB page and follow you on social media. Even better, get video testimonials from your most loyal tenants and/or industry partners. Collect engaging visuals like renderings, photography, and video as the asset is built and marketed, including images from events like groundbreakings or resident events. Having some or all of these elements in place will help you tell the story of your success when it comes time to create your case study.
There are lots of different ways to execute a case study, so pick one that is well suited to your audience’s interests and the asset you’re showcasing. You might choose to shoot a quick video highlighting your leasing success over time or create a collage of stunning imagery and happy residents to show off the uniqueness of your development (alongside proof points like stats and testimonials). Whatever format you choose, make sure it’s engaging and that the key takeaways are easy for your audience to identify. In other words, don’t just provide a wall of text or a series of images with no context. You want your case study to be short, sweet, and to the point, digestible in five minutes or less so that your audience actually makes the effort to read it (or view it).
Develop Distinct Brand Guidelines for Tenants vs. Partners
While a playful, tongue-in-cheek brand voice may resonate with residents, it may not get the best results from investors or development partners looking for professionalism and reliability. Knowing your audience is essential to effective branding, so consider developing separate brand guidelines for tenants vs. partners and clients. You don’t necessarily have to adopt completely different brand identities for each, but attention should be paid to how your brand voice, colors, patterns, and other elements translate differently when addressing each audience.
This advice is primarily applicable to property management companies who are most often in the position of addressing both tenants and partners on behalf of their corporate real estate brand. While developers and owners are less likely to need to address tenants, the need to adjust your brand expression for different audiences may still apply. Consider the aspects of your branding that best resonate with different audiences—for example, investors, media representatives, developers, and team members may all respond to your brand identity differently, from the key differentiators you highlight to the voice you use to the patterns you incorporate into your communications.
Demonstrate Thought Leadership In Your Market
One of the primary goals of corporate real estate marketing is to inspire confidence in the potential partners who are considering working with you (as well as current partners whose loyalty you hope to inspire). One great way to show off your expertise and unique approach is to create and share content that demonstrates your knowledge of your industry.
So consider sharing articles on social media and writing your own articles on a blog on your website. Or you can create videos covering topics you’re knowledgeable about, which can earn even more engagement than written content alone. Whatever content you create, ensure that potential partners have line of sight to them by posting them on your website and sharing them over social media or emails to your growing list of leads. We also recommend using industry-specific hashtags in social posts. When sharing content made my someone else (not affiliated with your brand), be sure to include a quick commentary or even an in-depth breakdown that shows you have an informed point of view that may be advantageous for your potential clients.
by threshold | Feb 14, 2022 | Digital Marketing, Marketing, Tech/Web, Thought Leadership
Written by Zac Segula, Digital Success Manager
Whether we are talking cryptocurrency, virtual reality (VR), non-fungible tokens (NFTS), or Web 3.0, they all center around a progressive switch from physical to digital. As many things like art, events, and currency shift to become more digital, it seems inevitable that the digital realm will continue to expand into more and more places where we spend our time. That’s exactly what the Metaverse intends to accomplish.
If you are unfamiliar with the term, The Metaverse is an immersive, computer and user-generated digital environment consisting of virtual avatars that represent actual people and combines aspects of augmented and virtual reality. If this still doesn’t make sense, watch the trailer for Steven Spielberg’s 2018 film Ready Player One. The Metaverse will combine video games, technology, and social media in one place.
Is The Metaverse a Fad or the Future?
Just as print advertising was king in the ’90s and slowly began to lose ground to the digital ads and social media marketing we see today, we are at the beginning of a similar transformation to marketing in The Metaverse. Facebook, which saw over 31 billion dollars in ad spend in 2020, announced in October 2021 that they were rebranding their company name to Meta. This shift in name reflects the company’s new focus on The Metaverse. If Facebook is shifting its billion-dollar advertising business to The Metaverse, it’s fair to say that many savvy real estate marketers will follow suit.
What Will Be Different?
Did you know that during a global pandemic, a musical concert drew an attendance of 12 million viewers? Maybe you didn’t, but your kids did. That is because the show was performed by musical artist Travis Scott in a digital arena in Fortnight, one of today’s most popular video games in which users create avatars and compete in a large-scale battle royale. Fortnight can be considered almost a beta version of what The Metaverse is becoming and how companies will use it creatively to connect millions of people in a digital world.
As the way we reach users changes, so will our metrics for real estate marketing success. Conversions will pivot to be more inclusive of virtual actions. Ads will become more immersive and likely call upon marketers to incorporate all five senses. Tracking a user’s phone behavior will no longer be as valuable as that user’s avatar movement. Moreover, if The Metaverse is built on a decentralized platform, advertisers’ restrictions could likely disappear.
Since real estate digital marketers will go where they can get the most traffic, as The Metaverse evolves, so will our marketing strategy.
What Marketing In the Metaverse Might Look Like
As we begin attending more digital events and living within a completely digital universe, we won’t be spending time on our phones so much as in our phones. As that evolution continues, so will the need to adapt our real estate digital marketing campaigns. Instead of going to YouTube on their computer, users might put on their virtual reality headsets and walk their avatar to a YouTube Movie theatre. The way we create real estate digital ads will be completely different because they will be consumed in a different medium. Facebook banners will be replaced by digital billboards at
a busy intersection across from a Van’s Virtual Skatepark. Pictures of floor plans and clickable Matterport videos of apartments will likely become obsolete. Instead, the Metaverse will allow prospects to virtually walk around that apartment before signing a PDF and emailing it in. The buyers’ journey will be completely different, thus so will a real estate marketer’s touchpoints.
So ultimately, the question isn’t, “will The Metaverse change digital marketing?” it’s “how will it change digital marketing and how can we keep up as real estate marketers?” It is hard to fully grasp the changes likely to come from The Metaverse. After all, we didn’t know having a GPS on our phones would lead to the emergence of Uber until it was already happening. But one thing is sure: those changes aren’t just coming; they are already beginning, right now. With that in mind, the important question becomes, “Are you ready to change your digital marketing for The Metaverse?”
by threshold | Feb 8, 2022 | Creative, Design, Marketing
In the age of digital-first marketing, traditional marketing strategies sometimes become an afterthought for real estate brands. But even if a prospect’s connection with your brand begins in the digital realm, the physical realm is where it reaches its fullest form, and savvy real estate marketers are always looking for ways to bridge that gap.
Branded promotional items are one great way to connect with prospects and residents beyond the digital sphere. Whether it’s branded apparel displaying your community logo or a handy multitool featuring your community tagline, branded swag helps you make a lasting impression that residents and prospects can literally take with them as they consider where to live or whether to renew their lease.
But not all swag is created equal. In fact, most of us in our time have received some branded trinket or other gift that we found completely useless and immediately threw in the trash. How do you ensure your marketing dollars are well spent on promo that makes an impact rather than being wasted on empty gestures that go unappreciated? The following tips can help you use swag to maximum effect, earning more attention, loyalty, leases, and renewals.
Surprise & Delight With Unique Branded Items
Everyone offers T-shirts, mugs, and magnets, so try standing out from the competition with something uniquely tailored to your community. While these standbys are popular for their universal appeal and cost-effective pricing, sometimes you’ll make a bigger impact by offering something unexpected.
Consider including something that your audience will use often, whether at your community or in the surrounding neighborhood. For example, if your community is located somewhere hot, consider branded sunglasses or even sunshades for their car windshield. Or if you’re located near great golf courses, consider a branded cap clip and ball marker combo. If your community features a lot of pet-friendly amenities, a branded pet bandana or chew toy could be the perfect touch. Think about what your key differentiators are and what your audience is likely to actually use and appreciate.
Go All Out on a Giveaway Prize
There are lots of ways to run a giveaway that encourages new leases, renewals, referrals, or social engagement from residents and prospects. Branded giveaways give you the opportunity to splurge on swag that is truly special without spending all your marketing dollars trying to include everyone.
Branded messenger bags, coolers and camping gear, travel bags and tags, laptop sleeves, portable chargers, bluetooth headphones, and other items on the pricier side can become great swag for a lucky giveaway winner.
Plus, giveaways are great opportunities for social media content. Remind prospects and/or residents about giveaway deadlines and generate buzz by posting about it on your social media accounts, then showcase your winner by posing for a picture with them when they pick up their prize (with their permission, of course). You might even choose to incorporate social engagement into the giveaway rules, requiring people to share, tag, follow, or comment in order to be entered for a chance to win.
Turn New Residents Into Brand Advocates With Welcome Packages
A welcome kit with branded swag is the perfect way to wow new residents and make them feel at home in their new apartment. Marketing shouldn’t end when the lease is signed, after all. Delivering an excellent move-in experience helps turn new residents into natural brand advocates, leading them to share their experience with others in person and online. That means you get word-of-mouth marketing, a great online reputation, and maybe even direct referrals that contribute to higher occupancy rates. Of course, happy residents are more likely to renew their lease as well, and retaining residents is far more cost-effective than what you’ll spend on getting new leads in the door.
A little thoughtfulness can go a long way when putting together your welcome package. Consider what someone would enjoy receiving as a housewarming gift. It could be magnets for the fridge, a nice set of coasters, or a mug. It could even include a customized 12-month calendar featuring photos from the community (and the resident’s move-in date marked on it, for bonus points, plus any upcoming community events you may have planned). Including something for their pet too, if they’re moving in with one, can sometimes be the most heartwarming option of all! Pet toys, bandanas, bag dispensers, brushes, and food and water bowls can all be customized with your branding and included in your welcome kit.
Support a Worthy Cause Your Residents Care About
Branded swag can provide unique ways to showcase what’s important to your brand and demonstrate to prospects that you share their values. For example, a branded compost bin or plantable postcards with wildflower seeds can demonstrate your support for sustainability goals like reducing waste and supporting local bee populations. Branded reusable shopping bags and reusable straws (made of metal or bamboo) are also good options.
Start by doing some research on the causes that are important to your target audience, be it sustainability, supporting local artists, animal rights, education, or other causes. Some causes are more challenging than others to show your support for through branded swag, but this can also become useful inspiration for future resident events and partnerships with local organizations.
Boost Brand Awareness With Swag for Employees
Residents and prospects are typically the first priority when it comes to swag, but don’t forget that employees can be your best brand advocates! Giving your employees branded apparel can be a great way to boost brand awareness in your community, especially when worn at events like housing fairs, grand openings, or bring-a-friend resident events.
Plus, the more you reward your management and maintenance staff, the better your resident experience will typically become. That’s because employees who feel appreciated are more passionate about the communities they serve and better equipped to create positive resident experiences that lead to great online reviews and referrals. Plus, their interactions with prospects will be marked by genuine enthusiasm that becomes infectious, leading more prospects to begin an application.
by threshold | Jan 25, 2022 | Creative, Design, General, Marketing, Thought Leadership
Written by Kathy Jones, Agency Operations Manager
With an ever changing real estate industry, developing a real estate marketing plan informed by strategic thinking is absolutely essential to be able to stand out from your competitors. When it comes to your print marketing strategy, you may feel that your number one goal is to create the perfect flyer or brochure that your team can distribute in high traffic areas. However, what happens next when the prospect receives and reads the flyer is oftentimes an afterthought. In reality, it takes careful consideration of the full leasing/sales journey to create print assets that really make an impact on your prospects.
While COVID-19 brought a large decrease in the number of prospects touring leasing offices and sales centers in person, that number is quickly on the rise again and so is print marketing. Since the real estate industry is quickly changing, your strategic plan should also be changing. Your vision will likely remain the same but your goals should be frequently reviewed. For most clients to the real estate industry, the enduring vision is to impact your bottom line (e.g. improving occupancy rates or increasing revenue), but you can’t get there unless you set more specific, granular goals along the way. For example, one goal might be to increase the number of leases or sales contracts that are signed each month. In order for you to achieve that goal, you need to build a hand-crafted strategy that will push prospects into your leasing office or sales center to close the deal.
Every community is different. One might have a great location where others might have strong brand awareness in their market. If your community is located in a great location, guerilla marketing can be a great supplement to your existing digital marketing. But what happens once your prospect receives your flyer? The prospect will likely view your website and head into your leasing office or sales center for a tour.
Furthermore, your strategic plan shouldn’t end once the prospect walks through the door. A well thought out tour is your next step. In what order should property information be presented to your prospect? In most cases, this is the order of operations that yields the best results:
- Property overview
- Apartment amenities
- Community amenities
- Property location
- Floor plan types
This gives prospects the ability to get to know your property and hopefully be wowed by amenities so they’re already picturing themselves living in your community and exploring the local neighborhood by the time you get down to the specifics of floor plan options. This makes many prospects eager to lock down a specific floor plan as you broach this subject with them during your tour.
Leasing offices and sales centers are likely your last chance to wow your prospect and can make or break your prospect’s likelihood of signing a lease. You may have a well thought out strategy to get them in the office and a tour strategy that piques their interest, but what is really going to make you stand out from the crowd? Creating an experience that will resonate is key, so environmental graphics within your leasing/sales center are important factors in sealing the deal. Living green walls, Instagram walls with neon signs, or custom corkboards where you can add photos of prospects signing are all unique ways to achieve that wow factor. If you stay on top of trends, you won’t be surprised. In fact, you’ll be far ahead of others because you’ll have had years to strategize and adapt, so that when disruption hits, you not only have a plan, but are already implementing it.
by threshold | Jan 20, 2022 | Creative, Design, Marketing
It’s safe to say that Senior Living has had a hard time lately. With new variants of COVID-19 still disrupting normal life, especially for the particularly vulnerable, senior living has seen fewer residents moving in and fewer stakeholders investing their dollars. Still, occupancy rates are once again on the rise as we begin 2022, having rebounded promisingly in Q3 and Q4 of 2021 according to reports by NIC. Now that the industry is approaching some semblance of its previous stability, what new trends will emerge as new developments and rebrands hit the market? These five emerging senior living branding trends are setting the tone for senior living marketers in 2022, and we can’t wait to see which trends make the biggest impact on the industry as the year goes on.
Health & Safety Are More Central Than Ever
Of course, the pandemic is far from over, and potential residents are still prioritizing health and safety in their housing decisions. Senior living brands are responding with messaging that highlights the health and safety of their communities, with amenities like on-site COVID vaccination and higher staffing ratios featured front and center on home pages and brochures.
In addition to messaging updates, new brands and rebranded communities are also gravitating toward names that signal reliability and health along with logos that signal wellness and stability. In many cases, this is simply a doubling down on themes that already dominated the senior living space, with natural motifs like trees, lakes, and mountains having long since become ubiquitous in the senior living market. Some developments, however, are looking for fresh takes on the themes of health and safety in order to establish themselves as modern yet still reliable. In these cases, similar symbolism is incorporated, but in novel, less on-the-nose ways. Instead of names like “Terrace Grove” and “Sagewood” you might find more names like “Wellstead” and “Aegis.”
Digital-First Strategies Extend into Branding Claims
With senior living marketing teams now prioritizing digital tactics like virtual tours, digital brochures, and video advertising, the digital-first approach to real estate marketing has finally taken root in the senior living market. But it’s not just the tactics themselves that are getting digitized. These digital-first approaches are extending into brand identities as senior living communities seek to establish themselves as great places to stay connected and live life to the fullest.
Even more than before, residents are coming to rely on digital forms of connection with family and friends, so having tech amenities like high-speed internet is a must. In fact, health needs and digital needs are intertwined more than ever, with telemedicine becoming an important resource for some seniors and video calls becoming central to maintaining the social connections that are crucial for mental health. The importance of the digital sphere within senior living communities is being reflected more and more in branding, with new brands boasting their modern technical side in addition to the traditional human care side.
The Borders of “Senior Living” Are Excluding “Active Adult”
Although some lump Active Adult housing and senior living together under the same umbrella, Active Adult is quickly becoming its own separate entity. In many cases, Active Adult communities share more in common with their multifamily counterparts than they do with traditional senior living communities offering Independent Living, Assisted Living, and/or Memory Care.
While there is some overlap in the needs of residents in Active Adult housing compared to Independent Living, more and more Active Adult communities are specifically using “Active Adult” and not using “Senior Living” in their branding and marketing. This effort to differentiate took on added importance during the pandemic as Active Adult communities catering to adults 55 and over sought to distance themselves from senior living communities that were dealing with COVID outbreaks and negative press coverage.
Market Consolidation Is Leading To More Umbrella Branding
With senior living brands facing a more uncertain market than before the pandemic, market consolidation has accelerated in recent years. That’s because the big fish in senior living tend to be the best equipped to adapt to the rising challenges presented by COVID. For example, these top senior living management companies, owners, and developers are able to create mutually advantageous partnerships with Medicare and other Health Care programs. Meanwhile, the smaller fish are struggling to keep up with increasing staffing demands and so on, sometimes leading them to sell existing communities or halt new development projects.
Among the “big fish” of senior housing are umbrella brands like Atria Senior Living, Brookdale, and Five Star Senior Living, each having dozens of communities across the United States. Communities managed by umbrella brands like these tend to use the same branding as their parent company from top to bottom—name, logo, colors, messaging, etc.—but others may take select elements of the umbrella brand like logo and colors but achieve added individuality by incorporating slight variations on logomarks and other branded elements in addition to selecting a unique name for each property.
“Luxury” Brands Are On The Rise
The senior living industry is beginning to bounce back and investors are ready to get back in the game, which means we could see a wave of new developments breaking ground in 2022. Those that have emerged within the last few years are reminiscent of luxury multifamily properties when it comes to their branding. Phrases like “resort-style” and “five-star,” which have long been buzzwords in the multifamily vertical, are now making their way into senior living websites and brochures too. Active Living communities may have helped spur on this shift, bridging the conceptual gap between luxury multifamily brands and the senior living industry. As active adults are coming to expect more from their housing communities, so are seniors and their family members looking for Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Memory Care.
by threshold | Jan 11, 2022 | Digital Marketing, Marketing, Tech/Web
Out of all the digital real estate marketing strategies available today, it can be hard to determine which strategies will best help move the needle on your leasing and sales results. After all, you’re not just choosing from the wide variety of advertising platforms out there, you’re also sifting through many different types of ad campaigns those platforms offer—so how do you make the right choice for your real estate brand?
Answering that question comes down to your marketing priorities and the results that are most important to you right now. For those who are launching digital marketing for a new development or getting the word out while occupancy rates are already stable, brand awareness tactics should be at the top of your list. Brand awareness tactics help you reach potential residents during the Awareness phase of their digital renter journey, sometimes before they’ve even begun their housing search.
Brand awareness tactics aren’t focused on getting quick conversions so much as they’re focused on, well, making people aware of your brand. That means impressions and views are the name of the game more so than clicks and conversion actions. So when focusing on brand awareness, you’ll want to select digital real estate marketing tactics that optimize for impressions and views rather than skipping straight to the click-driving, conversion-oriented tactics like lead generation ads or retargeting ads.
Here are some of the top-performing digital tactics for real estate marketers looking to drive impressions and views that increase awareness among your target audience.
Video Ads on YouTube
Since views and impressions are the name of the game with brand awareness, YouTube ads are an excellent place to start. Video ads on YouTube can be targeted to a wide audience in your area based on a variety of targeting characteristics. With an average view rate of 31.9%, YouTube ads are a great way to get in front of your audience at any stage of their renter journey, including before they’ve even performed a housing search.
Video ads are also a great awareness tactic because they are engaging and informative—far more so than a static display or search ad tends to be. You can feature more photos, value propositions and qualifying details in a 30-second video ad.
If you’re early in your development process and have limited photography or renderings to include in your video ad, that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. Supplement your visual assets with lifestyle footage, which can be found on platforms like Adobe Stock and Shutterstock.
Social Ads on Facebook & Instagram
Social ads for apartments on Facebook and Instagram offer similar targeting capabilities compared to YouTube, giving you the opportunity to reach your audience on some of the digital spaces where they spend the most time.
There are a variety of ad types you can run on these platforms, but to reach prospects in the awareness phase, we recommend Traffic ads on Facebook and Instagram. Traffic ads are focused on driving traffic to your real estate website, so those who do click are given the opportunity to learn more about your property. When optimizing for brand awareness, we particularly recommend opting for carousel ads over single image ads because they provide a fuller glimpse of your community and provide a way for users to engage with your ad (by scrolling through the images) even if they’re not ready to click through to your website and really dive in. This provides a fuller opportunity to become intrigued and commit your brand to memory.
Addressable Marketing & Geofencing Ads
Targeting specific households, businesses, hotspots, or competitors in your area can help you raise awareness among a highly specific audience who is most likely to resonate with your brand. Addressable marketing and geofencing ads both rely on virtual “fences” drawn around specific locations within which users may be served your ad. Typically, a conversion zone is also drawn around a physical location such as your leasing office in order to measure offline conversions, but you can also measure online conversions from these ads when a targeted user visits your apartment website.
When a prospect enters the fenced location (e.g. their home address), they will be targeted with your ads on their mobile and desktop devices for 30 days. When the customer enters the conversion zone (e.g. your leasing office) with their mobile device after being served your ad, the conversion zone recognizes the prospect and attributes their visit as an offline conversion. Or, if a prospect converts online by filling out a contact form, that action is measured as an online conversion.
Addressable marketing campaigns allow you to target prospects based on household location, income level, home equity information, number of household members, and a variety of interests, contributing to highly qualified online and offline traffic down the road. By raising awareness among a highly qualified audience, you increase the chances that awareness eventually turns into action when your prospects are ready to start or continue their housing search.
One addressable marketing tactic we recommend is CTV (AKA Connected TV) ads, which allow video ads to be served to Smart TVs while your target audience is using a TV app like Hulu and other streaming services. Like YouTube video ads, these ads are more engaging than static display ads and reach prospects while they’re going about their day-to-day lives, so they’re aware of your real estate brand when it comes time for them to search for housing.
Here’s Why Addressable Marketing Campaigns Should Be Part of Your Real Estate Marketing Plan
Google Display Ads
Though video ads may on platforms like YouTube tend to be more engaging, Google display ads are also a great way to increase brand awareness among your target audience. Whether you create an animated ad or keep it simple with a static image, Google serves display ads over a vast network of partnered sites, targeting users across many of the same parameters you’ll find on YouTube ad campaigns (Google owns YouTube, after all).
Display ads are a strong choice for brand awareness because they reach users while they’re going about their normal online browsing activities, but also link directly to your website so that impressions can easily turn into traffic. And even if a user doesn’t click through when served your ad, just getting their eyes on your brand makes them more likely to convert later when they are ready to conduct their housing search and learn more about some of the options in their area.
With many different ad sizes available, you can choose a variety of placements, but the 300×250 size tends to get the most impressions and clicks.
