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.
by threshold | Mar 4, 2014 | All, Tech/Web
“When I was a kid, I had to walk to school, in the snow, uphill, both ways.” I can’t tell you how many ties I heard that growing up. Of course, way back then, there was no way for me to know if what I heard was accurate. Did these masters-of-all beings really have it that bad? Way back then there wasn’t the Internet to check, and the old Encyclopedia Britannica didn’t have an entry for “we had it tougher than you kids.”
Today, my son can check Google Earth and see not only that we lived next to the school but the hill was more like a gradual slope. With a few more clicks he could see that bus or carpool were really the only methods of transportation. And one more would show a list of reviews and tips related to best parking spots and how to bypass the carpool line.
Apartments today face similar, albeit varied, exposure to online reviews. The digital landscape is dominated by user-generated content and it’s only growing. Student housing marketing requires property management companies to keep an extra eye on their online reputation. Here are a few online reputation tips to protect your digital reputation:
KNOW THE SITES: There are hundreds of sites were users can review businesses. From Facebook to Google+ to Yelp to ApartmentRatings.Com, it’s important to know (and visit) the sites popular in your market. Get in the habit of doing a Google search of your property periodically.
ENCOURAGE REVIEWS: A positive online reputation will help you turn prospects into leads and residents into referrers. If you seek out the reviews it will likely be more positive. The next time a resident gives your team a compliment, ask them to give you a positive review online. Many people tend to write online reviews because of a negative experience. By encouraging your happy residents to rate you, you’ll get more positive reviews.
DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS: Your first instinct might be to delete a negative comment on Facebook or ignore a bad rating on Yelp or ApartmentRatings.Com. Don’t! Respond to the comment and show off your great customer service skills. And after you’ve corrected the issue, ask the user to revise or update their comment. You’ve turned a negative to a positive and got some good feedback on areas of improvement.
DON’T FORGET ABOUT YOUR COMPETITORS: Keep an eye on your competitors and pay attention to what they’re doing. Who knows? You might learn a thing or two about what TO DO and what NOT to do based on what their customers are saying.
By following these online reputation tips, you’ll be able to protect your digital reputation. Be a part of the conversation and actively engage with your customers. After all, they have access too much more than you may think and it will pay off to know where you stand. Hiding behind tales from the past is just that – a thing of the past.
Happy Marketing!
by threshold | Jan 7, 2014 | All, Marketing
Every January I get excited for the new opportunities and challenges that will present themselves over the next 12 months. Not only personal opportunities and challenges, but also for our business and clients. Whether you are in student housing or senior living, the same opportunities and challenges exist and the new year is ripe for making some changes to improve year-end results.
With the new opportunities and challenges it is important to stay on top of new trends. Here are the top 3 trends/changes we’re seeing in student housing marketing and residential housing in general.
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