Resident Retention

Through Culture + Branding

By Erica Rascón on Oct 25, 2019 in Marketing

Want to know how to score more lease renewals? Part of your branding, resident culture, is key in transforming residents into long-term community members. The tips below will help you highlight resident culture as an asset.

What is resident culture?

Resident culture is part of your multifamily branding efforts. Branding is a broad umbrella that applies to your marketing, company identity, and employee profiles. Culture is the aerial view of each communities’ values, customs, and interests. Each community within a large portfolio may have a unique culture.

Concepts within community culture align with the renter profile for each location.

Resident culture in action

Perhaps many renters at a property are young professionals employed by local tech companies. You may choose to highlight tech integration into that culture: use submetering and home automation to improve utility efficiency, organize community outings to local tech events, or host movie nights featuring “geek” protagonists.

Perhaps pet-owners drive revenue in your community.  *Post scheduled.* You can integrate pet care into your culture by hosting several pet-friendly events throughout the year. Consider field days with pet competitions or select days where dogs are welcomed at the pool. You can also invite pet specialists onto your property, like photographers and trainers, and negotiate discounted rates for residents.

The concepts that represent your residents’ values, customs, and interests form the foundations of your culture. Articulate your culture when residents first arrive and throughout their stay to promote a higher lease renewal rate.

Warm welcome, long stay

Host Events for New Residents At least every quarter, host an event for new residents. This provides them with an opportunity to shake off the new kid jitters and forge friendships. Strong friendships promote resident retention.

Make Yourself Available Let residents know that your team is there to support them in their transition to your community. Use your marketing software to send automated messages before move-in, immediately after move-in, and three months after move-in.

Stay in touch

Maintain a Resident Committee Create and maintain a committee (live or via online forum) that has a single point of contact with the leasing team, preferably management. The committee should include a moderator that can answer fellow residents’ questions and address concerns related to property management and leasing. This is a great way to catch resident concerns before they make it to online reviews or social media.

Stay Engaged on Social Media Connect with residents and let residents easily connect to each other via social media. Create a hashtag for your community and hashtags for community events. Hashtags are a fun way to integrate concepts of your culture into the marketing of your community.

Leverage Automated Messages Send an automated message 120 days, 60 days, and 30 days before leases end. If concerns arise, you will have time to resolve the issue before it escalates to move-outs or negative reviews.

Get more tips to secure lease renewals! You can also watch how Excelsior Group promotes retention through resident engagement.