by threshold | Feb 1, 2017 | All, Marketing
A recent survey of 2,352 marketers revealed that content marketing and big data are expected to be the two biggest marketing trends in 2017. We say trends, but these two residential marketing tools are going to be around for a long time. The truth is, property managers can no longer expect to drive digital traffic or foot traffic with advertising alone. The market is so saturated and the competition is so fierce, brands need to provide something of value before they can expect to receive any customers. That’s where content marketing comes into play.
Effective content marketing is both highly valuable and remarkably difficult to get right. The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as, “creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content.” The problem is that the definition of “valuable” changes depending on your property’s target audience, as does the definition of, “relevant.” At Threshold, we combine audience insights from our digital team with copywriting services to create effective content marketing strategies for our clients. Understanding the pool of potential residents is the first step toward developing creative marketing ideas for apartments.
Big data will steer marketing decisions in 2017 in many ways. Modern data measuring tools haven given marketers the ability to accurately measure the success of marketing campaigns, reveal and analyze target audience demographics and target potential customers by filtering through dozens of audience identifiers.
Marketing automation is another digital marketing tool that will drive leases in 2017. Marketing automation can take on many different forms. At Threshold, we developed HOLA (Handy Online Leasing Ambassador) to nurture our clients’ leads from the first point of contact through the signing of the lease. HOLA and other automated marketing tools are much more valuable than simple e-blasts because they’re dynamic. Prospects are funneled into different channels depending on their level of interest and follow-up. Automated marketing systems are especially popular in the residential industry for a number of reasons. For starters, automated systems like HOLA free up the leasing staff to focus on in-person leads and community tours. Secondly, marketing automation can be used to build and maintain digital relationships with current residents, increasing the likelihood they’ll renew.
Geo-specific mobile marketing is another way to increase leads and draw residents away from your competition. Everyone carries a GPS in their pocket these days, which makes marketing to millennials a whole lot easier. Savvy residential marketers are now able to use smart phone location functionality to target prospects within a certain geographical location. We take advantage of this in a couple ways here at Threshold. First, we use geo-targeted advertisements to display a client’s mobile ads to prospects who happen to be near that client’s property. The other method is to target residents who currently lease from the competition. Geofencing allows us to define areas as small as a single building (like the other luxury apartment building down the block) in which to display mobile advertisements. Hey, it’s a competitive world out there.
If your properties don’t have the latest apartment digital marketing tools, contact Threshold today and let’s get your property on the path towards 100% occupancy.
by threshold | Jan 18, 2017 | All, Marketing, Tech/Web
If Threshold’s skilled residential marketing designers only cared about getting the most information to the customer, our websites would look a lot like this blog post. We’d see a whole lot of text and the sites would have very little visual appeal.
That approach works well for blog posts and articles, but websites are a sensory experience; a virtual market where people spend their time enlarging floor plans, scrolling down lists of amenities and clicking through gallery images.
Of course, many prospective residents don’t spend much time on websites at all. Marketing to Millennials is all about keeping their attention, but plenty of lost customers see the homepage and immediately click away after deciding the property isn’t for them. In today’s post, we’re going to take a look at the most important elements to keep residents interested in your property, and get them to click on those important action buttons.
Animation
Animation helps communicate messages with style, drawing the user’s eye towards moving images instead without them having to load a video or click a “play” button. Animation can be as simple as rotating sliders on a homepage or as complex as animated water in a resort-style pool. Even the most simple movement can be the difference between grabbing and losing a customer’s interest.
Material Design and Beyond
As anyone in the digital marketing industry knows, when Google makes changes, the rest of the web follows suit. Google was the first big company to take “Flat Design” and turn it into something with depth and layers. Material Design pairs geometric shapes with shadows, movement and overlays to create visually appealing websites and web apps. That’s not the say that Material Design is the only way to make websites, but it’s certainly a look that internet users are familiar with and understand intuitively, which is always a positive. Speaking of making sure users can understand your website…
Navigation
Most property sites need the same standard pages in the navigation bar: About Us, Floor Plans, Amenities, Gallery, and Apply Now. Obviously, there are some exceptions, but every property website needs to cover those basic pages before moving on to anything else. Navigation doesn’t have to only happen via Navigation Bar though. In fact, more and more websites are using the “long-scroll” look, where all pages are accessible when the user simply scrolls down from the top of the homepage.
The whole point of a website is to get the prospect to take action, so keeping the complex navigation to a minimum helps steer prospective residents toward the “Schedule a Tour” button or the “Apply Now” button without too much extra fluff. Most properties sell a lifestyle just as much as they sell an apartment, so it’s important to convey that lifestyle with big, bold images and impactful design. People will locate the amenities and floor plans if they are interested in learning more, but they won’t be interested in learning more without a simple, impactful message on the home page.
Customized Google Maps
Most of your website’s visitors will be familiar with the look, feel and functionality of a Google Maps plug-in, it’s very common in residential marketing. So much so, that they may just glaze right over it. Customizing your Google Map, however, offers prospective residents a totally new experience with a tool that they’re already familiar with. At Threshold, we often highlight certain locations around the property, such as restaurants, shopping centers, gyms and coffee shops. This gives residents an idea of what life will be like living in the neighborhood.
The best website designers know how to quickly — and beautifully—convey the lifestyle promised at every property. This is where animation, navigation tools, and customization come into play. Each element helps create a feeling within the website visitor that (hopefully) convinces them to explore the website and property further.
Is your property’s website up to date? Let Threshold’s designers come up with some creative marketing ideas for apartments in your portfolio. Our website development team will then create a responsive websites that drive traffic to your front door.
by threshold | Dec 8, 2016 | All, Culture
Name: Tyler Holmes
Title: Account Manager
Tyler has been working in student housing marketing since college, and now he’s absolutely brimming with apartment marketing ideas and multifamily marketing strategies. On top of that, he also owns the world’s cutest dog.
Get to know Tyler more below!
What are 3 words you would use to describe Threshold?
Innovative, Fun, and Full of Swagger
If you had an office nickname, what would it be?
The Tyl… Squirrel!
What is your favorite line from a movie?
Guys, if I don’t bleed to death pretty soon, I’m gonna die of boredom. – Suicide Kings
If you were stuck on an island, what three things would you bring?
Booze, Bacon, and more Booze
What is the title of your autobiography?
My Life with a Side of Bacon
What is/would be your motto or slogan?
It’s all good!
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
Telekinesis (bascially can do anything!)
What is your hidden talent?
I use to sing in showchoir… so yeah… there’s that…
If you were famous, what would it be for?
Dog Rescuing
Favorite Austin eats?
Rudy’s BBQ
by threshold | Nov 17, 2016 | All, Marketing
Keeping track of apartment marketing campaigns used to be like packing for a vacation in the 90s. Remember when you had to pack way too many different gadgets before boarding your plane? You had to keep track of your cell phone, your iPod, your digital camera, your laptop and your camcorder. Not to mention your boarding pass, some maps, and a bunch of batteries to keep everything running. It was a hassle.
These days, all those things live inside your smartphone. Life is easier when everything you need is in one place. At Threshold, we decided to apply the same principles to tracking and reporting on our digital marketing ideas for apartment communities.
Introducing ThreshBoard, our brand new real-time digital reporting dashboard. Lets break down what that means.
Brand New – We created the software in-house so its customized for the residential industry.
Real-Time – The data is constantly updated so you’re seeing up to the minute campaign results.
Digital Reporting Dashboard – A dashboard displays multiple channels of information in one place. Clients will have full access to the ThreshBoard where they can view all their analytics at once, instead of having to comb through different sets of data.
So why does ThreshBoard exist? At Threshold, we’re always trying to think of ways to provide better services and tools to our clients. We recently discovered that there isn’t one perfect solution out there that would allow us to manage seemingly disparate campaigns under one umbrella. We invested in this software so we could not only provide more accurate data for our clients, but also help us identify more ways we can give a boost to their digital marketing campaigns moving forward.
This software is part of our effort to continue providing our clients with cutting edge data tools so they can make quicker, more informed decisions. Currently, clients have to skim across several sets of data in order to understand how their digital marketing campaigns are performing. One client might be looking at an AdWords report, another a social media report and yet another combing over email campaign reports. Now, clients who use Threshold for their digital marketing will be able to track the success of their campaigns in one place using ThreshBoard’s reporting and analytics software. Cutting down the time it takes to manage digital marketing increases the time our clients have to focus on filling vacancies and taking care of current residents.
Not only will clients be able to view the results of their campaigns in an easily digestible way, they’ll also be able to compare those results to industry benchmarks. These industry benchmarks simply weren’t available before ThreshBoard. Clients will now see their campaign results in real-time and immediately know how they stack up against the competition.
The up-to-the-minute data and benchmarking makes Threshold much more valuable than reporting that simply measures engagement or costs per click. We will be able to see how one campaign affects the other campaigns using one tool, instead of having to review separate reports to get those answers. Plus, ThreshBoard was created by residential industry experts, for clients who need multifamily and student housing marketing. In short, ThreshBoard was made to fill vacancies.
by threshold | Nov 11, 2016 | All, Culture
Name: Billy Wilkinson
Title: Chief of Everything Else
Billy helps Threshold manage all the little details that go into apartment marketing. Whether’s he’s coming up with student housing marketing ideas or crunching financial numbers, Billy puts in the hard work every day.
Get to know Billy below!
What are 3 words you would use to describe Threshold?
Amazing, Proven, Real
If you had an office nickname, what would it be?
I…have….no…idea…Probably best to ask everyone else this question?
What is your favorite line from a movie?
Do I make you randy baby?
If you were stuck on an island, what three things would you bring?
Pinot Grigio, a lighter, and a boat!
What is the title of your autobiography?
Now you see him. Now you…still see him.
What is/would be your motto or slogan?
The only thing you are guaranteed when you are born is that you are going to die. Your life in between is only as good as you make it.
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
Telepathy.
What is your hidden talent?
Grilling some mean experimental burgers!
If you were famous, what would it be for?
Something business oriented.
Favorite Austin eats?
Whatever’s new. Austin is always opening amazing new eateries to try.
