Influencer culture is not going anywhere anytime soon. Influencer Marketing grew to approximately $13.8 Billion in 2021, with Instagram and TikTok leading the way. About 3/4 of Gen Zers and Millennials follow influencers on social media and over 50% say they trust the influencers they follow, according to The Influencer Report. In an Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report in 2021 with over 5,000 surveys with marketing agencies, brands & other relevant professionals, Influencer Marketing Hub found that 59% admitted to having a standalone budget for content marketing & 75% of them now intend to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2021.
5 Reasons Why People Advertise Through Influencers:
People buy from people because it feels personalized & authentic
People want to see content that relates to them
People research on bigger commitments
People are more likely to buy if they come to you
People will read/view your content because they already cared to start with
Like, Subscribe & Growing
In the world of real estate marketing, shows like “Selling Sunset” on Netflix are popularizing real estate influencers or agents using their strong social media following. With the rise of niche micro-influencers since the pandemic started, and marketing platforms and agencies growing by more than 3 times since a few years ago, influencers will continue to entertain and establish a trustworthy relationship with Millennials, Gen Zers, and those who follow.
As a real estate marketing agency based in Austin, we know how fun it can be to work with new developments in Austin. We know the Austin vibe. We know the districts and street names and how an Austinite would talk about them. We know what kinds of apartments and amenities and common in the market because we’ve searched for apartments in Austin ourselves. We have insider knowledge and insider passion about the Austin market. It can streamline the discovery process and inspire us to do excellent work in collaboration with our clients.
But do you want to hear a secret? Sometimes a local marketing agency isn’t the best pick. In fact, you can typically get the same quality of work—if not sometimes better—from a marketing agency partner outside the local market.
There are multiple reasons for this and they all come back to trade-offs. Yes, when you hire a local marketing agency, you’re likely getting certain advantages due to first-hand knowledge of the area. However, you’re also likely to suffer a variety of disadvantages affecting everything from pricing to the quality of work and the speed of your lease-up.
Wondering if a local marketing agency is right for your new development project? Let’s discuss some of the reasons why a local real estate marketing agency may not be your best pick. Along the way, you’ll also get crucial insights into what you should look for in a marketing partner when choosing between local and remote options.
Market Research Trumps Local Know-How
First-hand knowledge is an asset, there’s no denying it. But thorough market research is ultimately more important when it comes to making strategic marketing decisions. Local marketing agencies sometimes cut out the market research and discovery step entirely, believing they already know all they need to know to succeed in the market. Nine times out of ten, this is a huge mistake.
Market research and discovery is indispensable because it remains objective. When we have first-hand experience of something, we often feel we have the full picture, but really the picture is only as complete as our limited subjective view can make it. As a real estate marketing agency in Austin, we have many Austinites on our team, but not one of them has the complete picture of Austin demographics, rent rates, competitors, brand trends, local history, or current events without looking some things up. That’s why market research is so important. All these factors influence the success of new housing developments in Austin, especially due to the highly competitive nature of the housing market.
If you are considering a local real estate marketing partner, be sure to ask about their market research and discovery process first. Their answer could illuminate just how objective their process is and how deep they’ll dig to find the inspiration for out-of-the-box marketing strategies that will help you stand out from the crowd. Speaking of standing out…
Fresh Perspectives Create Innovative Outcomes
If marketers aren’t careful, we can easily rehash the same ideas time and time again. It’s only natural when we work on many projects that have similar goals and similar audiences. Out-of-the-box thinking doesn’t come naturally; it takes commitment and collaboration to pursue truly innovative ideas that stand out from the market.
The risk of in-the-box thinking is that much higher when working in a market that you are intimately familiar with. While you may have an advantage when it comes to ideas that resonate with your local market, you also have blinders on due to the natural inclination to focus on what’s familiar. It’s called confirmation bias; our brains tend to gravitate toward what coheres with our existing beliefs and experiences and ignore what doesn’t fit. This bias can be that much harder to overcome when we are so immersed in the familiarity of our own local market.
On the flipside, an outside perspective can provide a more reliable and efficient route to innovative ideas. From your brand’s look and feel to print marketing strategies to how you build your website, a non-local marketing partner may have the broader perspective and variety of experience that helps push you and your team out of your comfort zone and into marketing strategies that stand out from the crowd to drive buzz, loyalty, and leases.
If you’re considering working with a local agency, be sure to ask for examples of past work. This will help you assess how much range they have and their capacity for innovation within your local market. If their work samples all have a similar look and feel, that should be a red flag. It may also help to ask specifically about the most innovative project they have worked on so you can immediately get a sense of their potential for out-of-the-box ideas.
Local Agencies Have Fewer Resources
Because local marketing agencies tend to be smaller boutique agencies, they may or may not have the same resources that you’d find at an agency serving multiple markets. This is true in some areas more than others. For example, a local agency may have contacts with all the local printing vendors, but fewer digital marketing resources like a CTV marketing platform or a Google Premier Partnership.
Even when a local agency has plenty of local contacts to leverage for all your new development’s real estate marketing needs, you may not be getting the biggest bang for your buck. This is simply because local vendors tend to have local networks with fewer options overall, meaning they are less equipped to shop around and ensure a low rate in order to pass the savings along to you. An agency that serves markets across the country (or even across the globe) is likely to have a broader network of options as well as time-saving and cost-saving resources that allow them to promise more affordable rates. For example, at Threshold we have an established network of print vendors, audience databases, digital marketing partners, and more that we leverage to provide seamless outcomes for our clients while keeping costs low.
If you are considering working with a local real estate marketing agency, be sure to ask about not just their pricing but also their network of vendors for print and environmental graphics, digital marketing campaigns, videography and photography, video editing, and anything else your new development may need to establish great brand awareness and an accelerated lease-up.
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.
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?”
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.
Written by Abby Browning, Digital Marketing Manager
Are you finding it more and more challenging to keep up with the inevitable changes to your digital marketing platforms? Google and Facebook are constantly evolving, and so must your approach for digital real estate marketing. Recently, Google announced some changes that affect keyword behavior and ad types. We’ll review what these changes are, how they affect your digital apartment marketing, and how you can continue to drive results despite these changes.
What changes have been made to keyword match types and behavior?
In July of 2021, Google officially eliminated modified broad match keywords. Previously, ads would show for search queries that contained all of the keywords included in your modified broad match keyword, regardless of order. For example, a user could be researching moving companies Atlanta to Austin. By using a broad match modified keyword in your search strategy, “+moving +companies +atlanta +to +austin” would show ads for any query that contained all keywords, regardless of order, including moving companies from Austin to Atlanta.
As of September 2021, Google has loosened up restrictions to phrase match in order to operate more similarly to broad match modified, though they will not be an exact replacement. The main reason for Google making these changes is to boost the relevance of ads that are being served to users by focusing more on text and intent behind the query. According to Google, “The updated phrase match simplifies match types by combining the control of phrase match and the expanded reach of the discontinued broad match modifier.”
What happens moving forward?
Take this opportunity to reduce keywords in your thematically consistent ad groups by removing any match type duplicates or close variants. We recommend leveraging negative keywords to ensure that you’re filtering out unqualified traffic. The newly improved search terms report will also be a useful tool to reference to understand which keywords and match types are triggering your ads, providing insights into new keyword additions to build or exclude in your campaign.
What changes have been made to expanded text ads?
Earlier this year, Google announced that Expanded Text Ads (ETA) will no longer be available to create or edit as of June 2022. Expanded text ads have three headline fields and two description fields and are optimized for mobile. After June 2022, ETA will still be able to run, but the only changes that you will be able to make are to pause or remove them from your search campaigns.
What happens moving forward?
Google released Responsive Search Ads (RSA) in 2018, and over time, we have seen RSAs dramatically improve clicks, CTR, conversions, AND conversion rates. RSAs allow you to create ads that adapt to show more text and more relevant messages by entering multiple headlines and descriptions. Because of the responsive nature of this ad type, RSAs increase ad group performance because they help you compete in more auctions and reach more people. With the announcement of the changes occurring to ETA in June 2022, you will want to be sure that all of your ad groups contain at least one RSA as this will be the new default ad type when creating search campaigns. Now is the best time to perform A/B tests, if you are not doing this already, to see which of your ETA headlines and descriptions perform best. Save this information and be sure to use it come June! Dynamic search ads, which are ads created by Google, and call ads will still be available despite the elimination of expanded text ads.
In conclusion?
In an ever changing digital landscape, your digital marketing strategy must adapt. The changes that were recently announced by Google to keyword match types, behavior, and ad types are improvements overall. As with any shift in strategy, continue to monitor campaign performance and traffic quality driven by the updated phrase match keywords, and continue testing multiple headlines and descriptions to encourage continued interaction and engagement through the use of Responsive Search Ads.
Written by Alfred Perez, Digital Success Manager
Written by Zac Segula, Digital Success Manager
Written by Kathy Jones, Agency Operations Manager
Written by Abby Browning, Digital Marketing Manager
