Your Name is the Foundation of Your Apartment Marketing

Your Name is the Foundation of Your Apartment Marketing

When you think of someone figuring out a name for your property, don’t imagine a creative-type at an advertising agency sitting up late at night, waiting for that perfect name to pop into their head. When Threshold names properties —be it a new or old community— our approach is never to just sit around spouting out names until we hear one that sounds cool. 

That approach might work for startup tech companies, but naming ideas and marketing ideas for apartments emerge from a more nuanced approach. When property owners and developers come to us for a new naming project, they’re not only looking for a name. We certainly start with the name, but that name evolves into a color scheme, which evolves into a logo, which turns into tagline, messaging and whatever other apartment marketing collateral the property needs.

How a Name is Born

Before we can do any of that, our team needs to gather information about the property. The most important piece of information is the target market demographic. The property name must be geared precisely towards the target audience, because they’ll be seeing, saying and writing the name most often. Think about it; you wouldn’t assign a name to someone’s house without first considering who they are, what they like and where they work.

After we determine the characteristics of the community’s target resident, we consider the property’s other characteristics such as location, amenities, building style, and whether it will be considered a luxury apartment complex, a student housing community, or another kind of property. A name is only one or two words, but those words must be whittled down from a huge amount of information.

Of course, we don’t just collect information ourselves. We always sit down with property owners to talk about their vision for the property. At the end of the day, the client chooses from a list of names that Threshold provides. That’s why it’s so important to listen to the client’s ideas and incorporate them into the final naming considerations.

Be Unique. Don’t Be Weird.

Once we’ve compiled all the preliminary information, the creative naming process can begin. We look to bring out names that are unique, but not just for uniqueness sake. We’ll always consider the competition names, and avoid names that bear any similarity to other properties in the area. We want the name to stand out, but we also want it to make sense. Prospective residents should see the name and know exactly what their life will be like if they live there, or at least be intrigued by what their life might be like.

There’s no rule of thumb about whether your property name should be made up or be a real word. Each property is different, and each naming process requires a thorough investigation into which names will attract the most residents. There are rules about properties that are undergoing a rebrand, however. If your property is being rebranded, it’s probably for good reason. You don’t want to make the mistake of keeping certain parts of your old property name. A renaming effort requires total commitment to the new brand. That way, you’ll be able to attract people who are new to the market without any extra baggage that may have been associated with the previous property name.

Those are all the secret marketing ideas for apartments that we’re able to divulge today. When your property is ready for a new name, or if you’ve recently purchased a new property in need of an identity, Threshold has you covered with innovative apartment marketing ideas. We don’t do cookie-cutter and we don’t do boring —unless that’s what your target audience wants.

New Development Marketing

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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!