by threshold | Jul 2, 2015 | All, Tech/Web
Over the last several years, tech writers and bloggers have fiercely debated if email marketing and even email in general is a dying medium (a quick Google search reveals both sides of the debate). But the fact that the debate rages on and email is still hanging around might indicate its resilience. After all, email has been around since 1971.
One thing is for sure, email as a technology and communication tool is evolving. The method of how we send/receive email has drastically changed in the past 10 years. Emails need to have a big hook. The subject line has to grab your attention. Think about the emails you get daily—what do you open or trash? Your copy and delivery needs to be up to date or you will be sooo 2014. But what are the best email marketing practices for student and multifamily?
Overload
According to a report by The Radicati Group, worldwide consumers send and receive 87.6 billion emails per day. Add that with the number of business emails sent/received, the total number of emails sent/received is a staggering 196 billion. That number is expected to rise to 227 billion by 2018. Whether you’re a student housing, multifamily or senior living marketer, you have to stand out in the crowd.
Get Mobile – Don’t be the 31 %
This is a no-brainer. Make sure your emails look good on phones and tablets. They don’t have to be responsive, just clear and easy to read on smaller devices. According to Litmus, 48% of emails are first opened on a mobile phone. And 80% of email subscribers delete emails that “look bad” on their phones. Funny enough, 31% of marketers don’t send responsive emails. This is another chance to get ahead of the pack.
CTA and Content
Knowing that emails will be read on-the-go (in class, at the grocery store, etc) it’s imperative you keep your call-to-action (CTA) catchy and to the point. Ultimately, your end goal with emails is to push the receiver to your website.
Emails are not the right medium to include a laundry list of your communities’ amenities. Let the reader find that information on your website. Use the email as the bait to get them to there. Think quick and memorable.
Intrusion
There’s no denying that purchasing mass lists can be effective, but is this the right place for it? From a list of a 100,000 names, even if you achieve a click rate of 1% (the real estate industry open rate is 2.2%) you’re still driving 1,000 pieces of traffic to your website. Not bad at all. We encourage you to think of your audience and think of your own preferences. Many companies can purchase lists and blast away…but remember, spam is called spam for a reason. People don’t want it. The property that spams-a-lot can have this backfire quickly. Spam filters have become super intuitive and readers very savvy. Best practice? Use the relevant lists you’ve collected through use of raffle entries, housing fairs, contact forms on websites, etc. Be authentic. Be relevant and memorable.
At Threshold Agency, we build brand. We also build best practices from experience and create custom solutions to keep the leases rolling in! So let’s hit “Send” together!
by threshold | Jan 13, 2015 | All, Tech/Web
Writing a blog is tough work. Not the actual writing part of the blog, nor the creation of the content calendar. The tough part is sticking to it. Sometimes I wish there was a “blog trainer,” you know, someone to tell me to write 15 more words or to get off my lazy butt and get to work. Surely if it works to get folks into shape, it could also work to get businesses into better shape.
A blog, or any piece of content for a website, is a critical part of the website’s success. The old adage “build it and they will come” definitely does not apply to a website. With the growing level of competition in residential housing, owning a website that is found in search results is critical to NOI. Your digital marketing strategies are now the top priorities in any marketing plan. So, why is it that content will help you maintain a successful website?
Every year, Searchmetrics, the global leader in SEO marketing and analytics for enterprise level companies, releases their SEO ranking factors analysis. Here’s what they found in 2014:
- Create robust site architecture
- Do include good internal links
- Do aim for short loading times
- Do keep sites up to date
- Don’t lose focus or just focus on technical aspects of the site
- Pay attention to keywords in titles and descriptions
- Relevant content reigns supreme. Keyword is “relevant content”
- Include semantically comprehensive wording
- Implement higher word counts using relevant topic terms
- Use multiple media types (pictures, video)
- Don’t follow spammy onpage advertising techniques
- Use quality backlinks. If you have a large portfolio you should be linking to all of your properties on each website. And they should each have their own website.
- Social signals are a bonus. Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest.
- User signals are critical. What folks do on your site and how they find your site are becoming more relevant with each passing year.
Combining the above into a clear SEO strategy is critical to the success of your website. Having a well-structured site technically is nice, but if you’re only focused on that than your competitors will leave you in the dust. Content is King for your SEO Strategy. And luckily there are some good SEO strategists out there to help get you on the right path.
And they may even help write those blogs that seem so difficult to maintain.
Happy Marketing!
by threshold | Oct 9, 2014 | All, Design
My elementary art teacher, Ms. Weinstock, used to tell us “pictures are worth a thousand words.” At the time I thought she was a little whacky, pictures didn’t have any words in them, after all. But, as the studious student who wanted to impress I tried my best to draw the world around me…or, at least the fruit in the bowl.
That lesson has come back to me so many times over the years. Not so much because I have amazing illustration skills, I do not, but because I have heard myself say those same words to clients over the years. Pictures are worth a thousand words. As designers and expert residential brand developers, we like to use as few words as possible to express the lifestyle that our clients are building for their future residents. When a community is new, selling dirt is tough. Imagine doing that in the plains of Lubbock – dusty. Any way, the point is that in order to paint a picture in someone’s mind, you have to use illustrative words, many of them, in fact. But a sharp rendering, a photo-realistic image, sells the lifestyle without a spattering of type on paper.
Investing in very good renderings pays off in terms of brand development and establishment, leasing velocity, and, of course, your NOI.
Ms. Weinstock really was a brilliant teacher. I’m glad she taught me that important phrase, even if it didn’t improve my illustrative skills. Some talent you’re born with. Some you develop over time.
Happy Marketing!
by threshold | May 16, 2014 | All, Tech/Web
I love my parents. They are a big reason I started my own agency so many years ago. Sure there was some trepidation and fear but I forged ahead. Made my own path, so to speak. They’ve lived up in the Dallas area for nearly 20 years now and recently decided to relocate to be closer to the family in Austin.
So began the trek to find them a place to live – something “nice, elegant, upgraded but affordable,” said my mom. As most of you know, Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in America – all the hip, cool, creative types just can’t get enough. We’re changing the world down here, man! At any rate, we turned our eyes to the quickly growing city of Buda and all the new housing developments under construction.
Visiting the sales centers I realized just how important new development marketing and pre-sales/leasing centers are when you’re, in all essence, selling dirt. Good ‘ole Texas clay. At Threshold, we’ve spent a considerable amount of time developing best-of-class new development creative that gives clients a leg up. Here’s some advice on new development marketing when breaking ground on a new student apartment community, senior housing facility or any new home division:
- Make sure to find a pre-sales or leasing center that can staff your team of marketing experts until the permanent model home or clubhouse is finished. Preferably, doors for the sales centers need to open well in advance of anticipated move-in (especially in student housing) in order to build the brand awareness necessary to capture folks when they begin searching.
- Your digital brochure – aka website – needs to be up and running as soon as a name, the amenities and a contact are ready to go. Search engines take time to index you and the extra time will be well worth it when things really start to heat up.
- Get the construction site filled with as much signage as possible. Bright, creative, relevant designs that won’t dirty OR are cheap to replace. We hate seeing great creative all muddied up from the elements. Check with the city on temporary construction sign ordinances to ensure your sign isn’t removed.
- Think about ways your future residents can interact with your community at the pre-leasing center. Mini-models or interactive display boards are fun and certainly help people pass the time while they wait in the long lines to lease or buy.
- Create a solid marketing plan. New developments will cost more to market becuase you are building awareness. Do it right the first year and you’ll be thankful the second.
Now, while this list isn’t all-inclusive it’s a good start to ensuring your new start launches well. Those folks in Buda did a good job at ensuring my parents felt comfortable and excited about that new piece of Texas clay they just purchased. And we’re certainly excited because we now have another set of well-qualified babysitters moving to town.
Downtown anyone?
Happy Marketing!
by threshold | Mar 13, 2014 | All, Marketing
At this year’s SXSW music/film/interactive festival here in Austin, a company set up shop to collect unwanted promo items and then donate the items to area homeless shelters. Read the story here. While great for the shelters and a clever recycling campaign, probably not where these brands intended their promo items to end up.
With the leasing season at its peak, you’re probably in the middle of re-stocking your promo inventory. How do you ensure your promo doesn’t get trashed and your marketing dollars are well spent?
As with many student housing marketing strategies, it’s market dependent. Make sure you’re tapped into the local scene and trends. Is neon still popular on campus? Are students passionate about environmental products? Trucker hats used to be in, then were out, and now I think they’re back in. And get your student staff feedback before you order items. Encourage them to come up with new ideas every year.
Remember that promo items are extensions of your brand. What does hand sanitizer or air freshener say about your brand? That you’re dirty and smell bad? Also make sure your items are high quality and actually work. You don’t want to be known as that-apartment-community-that-gives-out-broken-pens.
Go with items that are extension of your marketing message and lifestyle brand. Think beach towels (resort lifestyle), water bottles (fitness center) and sunglasses (style). To connect your brand to university athletics, consider rally towels, foam hands or boom sticks.
There is also a fine line between stingy (“Only take one pen!!”) and excessive (“Hey little sister and little brother, take these bags filled with $15 worth of promo”). Find the right balance that fits your budget and leasing velocity. Make sure your entire staff understands the policy. Also know which events (housing fairs, orientations) are worth the expensive items (t-shirts, tote bags, mugs). Save the less expensive items (pens, cups) for your daily marketing efforts.
Also consider limited edition items that are only given to future residents or renewals. Actually print “limited edition” on the item to create buzz. And because these students have already chosen your community, chances are better they will actually use the items.
Finally, make sure to re-examine your promotional product strategy every leasing season. Just because something was popular last season doesn’t mean it will be popular next. It also doesn’t hurt to check Goodwill or the campus dumpster for your items.
