Traditional senior housing marketing—idyllic stock photos and expertly crafted text– no longer stands out to prospects. A growing trend reveals the power of marketing that features real residents, their quotations, and their experiences at the community. Yardi client, Senior Star, is far ahead of the trend. The company made the decision to focus on resident-centric marketing more than 15 years ago. Letitia Jackson, Vice President of Corporate Engagement, explains, “We could think of no one better to represent what Senior Star does, why we do what we do, and who we serve.” Senior Star rarely uses stock images. A good stock image gains popularity and circulates throughout websites targeted towards seniors. Brands become indistinguishable. Jackson says, “We believe this may have a detrimental impact on organizational credibility.” In contrast, custom images add value to the prospect’s online experience. Branding is reinforced: the logo on staff uniforms, the color scheme in interior décor, and most importantly, faces that the prospects will recognize once they visit the site. Real residents come with genuine ties to the local community, which is a major win in most cases. “There is much to be said for the value in the local markets of a resident’s influence,” says Jackson. “Most communities in the industry have a resident or two who is well known or even a local celebrity.   We know the power reviews carry; a resident who is known locally and is used in our advertising may be perceived as providing a tacit endorsement.” The same rings true for staff. “In addition to using residents, we also use actual Senior Star associates.  It creates a degree of confidence and an early connection when someone who is considering our community actually encounters and recognizes an associate they’ve ‘met’ in our...

The basics of native marketing for social media have helped you get started. It’s the nuances of daily content development that will firmly establish your roots and nourish respect among your fan base. We’ve got four content tips that can grow your social media from a seedling into a sprawling success! Blend In But Don’t Fade Fresh, frequent content is a great first step. Now focus on creating content that impacts viewers in milliseconds. When scrolling through their feed, does your content stand out? On one hand, it shouldn’t stand out. The style of your image should blend with the style of the images around it. A stock photo may work for LinkedIn but it’ll be shunned on Snapchat. An immaculate image for Pinterest may garner less interest from artsy, down-to-earth Instagram users. Your images should blend into the community. On the other hand, you don’t want your content to fade into the background. How do you know when you’ve struck the balance? When you’ve created an image that you and people that you know would want to retweet, share, or repin: images that are bright and bold, that reflect the energy of a crowd or movement, that use interesting angles or lighting, or those that simply make you stop and smile. Those are all features that catch your attention, right? Deliver that to your fans. Establish Quick Brand Identity Users should not have to read much or focus too hard to identify your brand. If they have to find your little profile icon on the left of a post, you’ve made them work too hard. Establish quick brand identity by adding your logo as a watermark or having your logo or community name visible within the background of the image. If your community...

Twitter can place your business on the screens of 288 million monthly active users. Well, that’s its potential, anyway. If Twitter ads aren’t a part of your Marketing Genius strategy, you’re missing out on the opportunity to reach your Twitter customers on a platform that they interact with daily. What’s worse, you’re also missing out on countless new clients. Engaging with existing clients and attracting new ones isn’t exactly easy with Twitter. Fortunately, it can be a more rewarding experience than advertising through other means. Twitter targets your audience based on their interests, including who they follow and what they’ve searched for in the past. The platform also puts your message in front of their eyes at the time when they’re most likely to engage. Lastly, Twitter charges based on engagement, which can save money. With just one click, you can reap a low-cost conversion. Few other marketing tools are organized like Twitter, so you’ll want to determine which type of ad corresponds to your end goal. Check out your options below: Promoted Tweets If you’re promoting a property or unit, your best bet may be a Promoted Tweet. Promoted Tweets integrate seamlessly into users’ timelines amongst non-ad tweets. Offer all of the information needed for a renter to make the decision about the unit online right now. Include location, floor plan, cost, and a link for more info. Don’t forget to add an image, which can boost your conversion rate by 306%! Promoted Videos If you’ve created an awesome apartment tour or a heart-wrenching tenant testimonial, Promoted Videos can place your short film in users’ timelines. Promoted Videos increase users’ intent to purchase by 28% compared to similar TV commercials. Promoted Trends Another good alternative could be Promoted Trends. These hashtags begin or...

Where were you on the night of August 6? While you were probably sleeping (we certainly were), Google rolled out changes to the way local businesses appear in search results. This update affects everyone from restaurants and retail stores to—yep, you guessed it—apartment communities and property management companies. What? Google has updated how local results appear to both desktop and mobile searchers. Before the update, seven local businesses would appear under the map that displays local search results. After the update, only three local businesses appear. What was known as the “7-pack” by SEO experts is now the “3-pack.” Instead of ranking in the top seven local results for a search, you now have to rank in the top three to show up on the first page. Why? While Google has called this an update that “provides people with more relevant information,” multiple sources have suggested that this might be a move to encourage more businesses to use AdWords, Google’s pay per click (PPC) advertising tool. When the chance that you will appear in organic search results is reduced, you will probably be more inclined to pay for priority placement. How will it affect property management? Less space is dedicated to local results Before your business had to rank in the top seven to appear organically, now it has to be in the top three Less information now appears under the local listings; exact addresses and Google+ links have been removed Business hours have been added On mobile searches, reviews and the click-to-call button appear (websites do not) On desktop searches, reviews and website links appear (phone numbers do not) Although fewer local listings are now instantly visible, when a user does click through to get more information about local results, 17 additional local...

Recently, our RentCafe client services team held a webinar focused on “The Prospect Experience.” The intent was to dive deep into creating the perfect interaction with a potential renter. Strategies for quickly grabbing their attention, capturing contact information, and gently urging continued engagement were all part of the outline. To recap or if you weren’t able to join the session, here are a few of the highlights, conveniently summarized in infographic form. For more information about Yardi’s Marketing Suite products, visit our...

It’s one of the industry’s most-anticipated conferences of the year. Yardi is proud to be a sponsor of the National Apartment Association’s annual Education Conference and Expo, taking place June 24-26 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Convention Center in Las Vegas. NAA offers attendees to experience the latest innovation in the apartment industry, from best practices for business, to marketing strategy, to new on-site ideas. The takeaways are extensive and the opportunity to learn is limited only by the number of hours in the day. As you’re planning your conference schedule, here are a few sessions that should definitely land on the “don’t miss this list.” “Let’s Get Engaged! 7 Tips to Build Resident Relationships that Last” Technology Booth #2505, Friday, 6/26 1:00-2:00pm Esther Bonardi, Yardi Apartment All Star Esther Bonardi is an industry expert on digital apartment marketing, and retaining residents is one of her specialties. You won’t want to miss her insight on advertising, lead tracking, social media, online search, and much more. “Putting Research to Work: Understand Customers & Outperform the Market” Thursday, 6/25 11:30am – 12:30pm Jack Kern, Multi-Housing News Want to be able to read the minds of your renters? In this session, Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive publisher Jack Kern will outline useful practices to help understand how and why renters make the choices they do, and explain how customer-centric property research can benefit your business. “Pricing to Win: Using Revenue Management to Sign More Leases” Friday, 6/26 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Ian Mattingly, CPM, LumaCorp Inc. Tammy Atkins, CPM, Heritage Apartments Shannon Hayden, Epoch Management, Inc. Mark Haldi, Bridge Property Management This exceptional panel of apartment industry peers will focus on the magic of revenue management. If you have ever wondered about how this...

Do you know how to take the leasing lead in your market? It might be easier than you think! The results of our recent leasing strategy survey revealed that smart multifamily firms have multiple opportunities to increase performance and out-market, out-lease, and out-renew the competition. But to beat the competition, you have to know what they’re up to, right? To that end, we put together these top three takeaways from the responses to our survey of multifamily marketing and leasing professionals across the industry: 87% of property management companies surveyed don’t recognize/reward good follow up activity. Create a strong follow up tracking and recognition program to shape your company culture to instantly outperform 87% of your competitors! 64% of companies have no way to monitor resident relationship activity (interactions with residents). Track and reward resident relationships to prevent the loss of good residents. This will also help you impress new leads coming from other communities who don’t carefully manage the resident experience. 52% of responders don’t set a cost-per-lead goal, and 42% don’t have a cost per-lease-goal. Set concrete goals and measure your performance after one quarter. Is there room for improvement or are you doing better than you expected? Adjust accordingly. “Marketing budgets are limited,” notes Esther Bonardi, industry principal of Yardi Marketing Solutions. “Without standards and measures in place to ensure you are getting enough traffic for your marketing spend, you will easily end up with fewer leads than companies who use ROI reporting to make good marketing decisions.” It’s critical to identify opportunities where you can exceed competitor performance and commit to improvement in those key areas. Establishing standards and tracking results is essential to keeping your team on top of the market. Other interesting survey findings include: 46% of respondents...

Savvy marketers know the importance of having good data to draw on when making marketing decisions. Google Analytics is the most widely known, free analytics platform available. Last month, the digital marketing experts at RentCafe hosted a call to dig in to the importance of using analytics data to understand your online audience, traffic, and conversions. One of the biggest complaints we hear about Google Analytics is that the information provided is overwhelming, making it difficult to know which reports are most important for property managers. In fact, a large percentage of people on our call said that they find it too confusing to use regularly (see below). We think that’s a shame! There are bits and pieces within each reporting segment that are relevant to all marketers. With the right questions in mind, you can use the data to make informed decisions about your marketing strategy. Who are you marketing to? The Audience tab provides in-depth reporting into who your current website audience is. It offers a broad overview of your audience profile, including how much time they spend on your site, where they’re located, and information about the devices they use. You can also learn a great deal about the demographics of your online audience. To put this information to use, start by taking a look at how well your online demographic information matches what you see on the property itself. Ask yourself if you’re actually reaching the people you want to target. If you’re trying to shift the demographics within your community, have you positioned your website to appeal to the new prospects you want to attract? Geo-location information will help you see if the audience visiting your site is coming from the cities you’d expect. Which channels are you relying...

We’re looking for some geniuses in leasing and marketing strategy to share their thoughts with us in our newest survey. If you have just 5 minutes to spare, we’d love to pick your brain! Take Our Leasing Strategy Genius Quiz This quiz is ideal for multifamily marketers and management executives—the ones who create the standards and set the bar for high performance. Sample questions include “Do you incentivize renewals?” and “How many lead follow-ups do you require?” To show our appreciation for your time, all surveys completed before Friday, May 29th, will receive a brief summary of the survey findings. You will also be automatically entered into a drawing to win a $250 gift card. A complete list of rules and regulations can be found here. We designed this survey to gain insight into your company’s leasing habits and standards in 2015. Your answers will help us better understand your needs, so we can provide educational resources while prioritizing product updates to add significant value to the marketplace. After all, you are the true expert when it comes to the real-world application of leasing technology and strategy. All answers are completely confidential and will be used only to aggregate survey results. “Marketing and leasing are inextricably bound together and form the foundation for your success,” says Esther Bonardi, industry principal of Yardi Marketing Solutions. “Your responses to our questions about lead follow up, resident retention, and marketing ROI will be used in a benchmark report that will help you analyze your approach, while guiding the team at Yardi as we explore new features to support your efforts.” The Yardi Marketing Suite is the only completely mobile solution supporting the entire prospect and resident lifecycle, from a desktop or out in the community. As always,...

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – in a competitive Washington D.C. multifamily market, WC Smith released a secret weapon to lease up its 2M property in NoMa: an adorable, social media-savvy English  bulldog puppy. “Everyone loves pets (in D.C.), but no one has time to take care of them,” said Holli Beckman, Vice President of Marketing and Leasing Operations for WC Smith. Beckman was speaking on a panel focused on creative lease up strategy on Day Two of the 2015 Apartment Internet Marketing Conference. Joined by Billy Pettit, Senior Vice President of Pillar Properties, and Gianna Negretti, Marketing Account Director at Alliance Residential, the panelists broke down ways to use social media, local business relationships, blogger influence and location as advantageous resources. Beckman impressed the crowd with the story of Emmy the 2M pup (pictured), who not only acts as a therapy dog for residents of the 2M community, but helped the leasing team get national media attention for the property when a story about her escalated from the D.C. blogosphere to the Huffington Post and the Today Show. But more important from a leasing perspective, the publicity helped Beckman and her team lease 2M without offering rental concessions, which many competing properties in the neighborhood were using to entice prospects. Emmy now has nearly 2,000 followers on Instagram and continues to spend her days in the 2M leasing office and nights with the property manager. Residents in need of puppy time can “borrow” her for an hour for a walk or a visit to the on-site dog park. Capitalizing on a location that may have seemed less than ideal, Pettit shared the approach that Pillar Properties took to lease up Stadium Place, a 500 unit development next to the Seahawks Stadium, but also adjacent to...

Pretty much everybody (and their mommas) is on Facebook. With 1.44 billion monthly active users at th end of Q1 2015, you can’t afford to not be on Facebook. But you can’t afford to waste your time on the platform, either. In 2013, Facebook changed its algorithm so that your content will only reach 3– 5 percent of your fans. To reach more people immediately, you must pay. To reach more people organically, you must build a long and reliable bridge to your fans using value-driven content. Value-driven or value-added content is an age-old approach that has received a fresh breath of life in the social realm. In the past, when we were told to add value, we took the request quite literally. We immediately wanted to ask, “How can we make their lives more simple?” “How can we save them money?” We’d offer coupons and discounts. When we became more in-the-know, we’d offer subtle goodies like life hacks. While these tactics are all great in their own right, there are more substantial ways to offer value-driven content while taking advantage of Facebook’s unique social media mega-status. But first, let me tell you a story. Super Bowl 2002. I only watched the game to spend time with my dad. When the half-time ads came on, I prepared to turn off my brain and settle into a bean dip- induced coma, but a certain image caught me by surprise: solemn townsfolk watched as eight Clydesdale horses marched from their perspective towns in America’s heartlands, and then through city streets. The horses stopped upon icy, isolated land overlooking the city of New York. In unison, they bowed to the recently altered skyline. My entire body shook until I burst into tears. My father nodded slowly in...

Native marketing is a term that Gary Vaynerchuk made popular in his book, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.” The term describes how social media marketing must be customized for each platform. As you can imagine, becoming an expert on two or three platforms takes time and money, which are two resources that marketing departments rarely have in abundance. Yet if there is one lesson that you learn from native marketing, it should be that quality social media marketing requires time. There are no shortcuts. I’ve tried useless shortcuts myself. Scheduling tools like Buffer and Hootsuite make it easy to create one post and splash it across multiple platforms. We save time and reach more people, right? We’re geniuses! Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Each platform is unique, which is why it can thrive in competition against the others. As distinct entities, they have their own languages and codes of conduct. You’ll rarely find success by copying and pasting content between your accounts. You’ve got to tailor it at least, and come up with completely different strategies at best. For example, Twitter and Instagram are havens for hashtags. A similar quantity of hashtags on Facebook or LinkedIn would annoy users. But before you share hashtag-friendly content between Twitter and Instagram, remember that your soft sell on Instagram will be chopped off at 140 characters on Twitter. You can get away with a tweet without an image but an Instagram post with no image—well, that simply doesn’t exist. See the dilemma? And those are just the basics. We’ve got to take the time to learn the best uses for each platform. Then we’ve got to learn how users speak to one another in their respective communities. We must re-evaluate what good marketing looks like. No $899.99...

Research funded by Google sheds light on how seniors search for housing for themselves and their aging parents. The results are helping senior housing experts improve marketing strategies and concentrate their efforts on what truly matters to America’s aging population. In October 2014, Google issued a survey to 2,000 Baby Boomers between the ages of 50-58 and 59-68. Those who participated in the survey are among the 75 percent of seniors who use search engines to learn more about senior housing. Survey respondents provided insights on how they used search engines to find dwellings and care providers, as well as features that they seek out when filtering through their options. Google recently released results from the survey at the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit in Chicago: When searching for housing for themselves, respondents used keywords such as “independent living,” and “55+ active communities.” They sought housing with features that promoted an engaging and social lifestyle such as group events, excursions, pet accommodations and complimentary transportation. Younger Boomers are increasingly tech savvy. They desire self-care tools that allow them to manage their own health and wellbeing electronically; 25 percent of respondents regularly use EHRs to manage their health. They tended to search for wearable devices that can help them monitor their vital signs and fitness activities. While self-care is important, it does not overshadow Boomers’ interest in quality personnel onsite. One-third of respondents expect to work with a care manager through the senior housing community who can help them manage their health and wellness options. When searching for housing on behalf of their parents, respondents searched using terms like “skilled nursing,” or “assisted living communities.” Communities that offered specialized care, a low staff-to-resident ratio, and proximity to emergency care facilities ranked high on their lists....

It’s increasingly apparent that the future of computing is moving from one type of screen – traditional desktop monitors – to many types of screens with a multitude of different sizes and resolutions. But computers themselves aren’t driving this sea change, consumers are. Today’s online renters are using laptops, tablets, phones and even watches to search the web for available apartments. What does this mean for property marketing websites? To stay ahead of the curve, you need a site that looks good and functions well on any and all devices. It’s time to make the switch to responsive design. (And there’s a really good reason to do it before April 21st of this year. Keep reading to find out why it’s critical to become responsive sooner rather than later…) What is responsive design? Responsive design is the practice of creating a website that provides an optimal user experience across all devices. Responsive web designs resize and reformat page content in response to screen size and resolution, making your website compatible with all Internet-enabled devices. Why is responsive design important for SEO? Responsive design uses a single URL for all platforms, making it easy for search engine robots to crawl and index your website. In fact, responsive design is Google’s recommended configuration. This Google Developers article details the top three things you should know when building a site for mobile devices. Guess what made the list? Yep, responsive design! The article specifically states: “Select a mobile template, theme, or design that’s consistent for all devices (i.e., use responsive web design).” If that’s not enough to get you excited about responsive design – though we really think it should be – consider that responsive websites also tend to reduce bounce rates because they offer a better...

Are you a property management marketing professional, social media specialist or operations executive? If you answered yes, we’d like to take a minute to pick your brain! We invite you to take our 5-minute marketing genius survey and share your thoughts on online property marketing and SEO in 2015. Take the Marketing Genius Survey As part of Yardi’s continuing commitment to innovation and customer focus, we created this quick quiz to ensure we are meeting and even anticipating your marketing needs in today’s digital space. Our clients are the true experts – you know exactly what you need to maintain and grow your business. This is just one way we take advantage of opportunities to develop our products and initiatives to match your needs and the needs of the marketplace as a whole. This particular survey was designed to help us better understand what importance you place on advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), and search engine management (SEM). Questions include “Do you plan to spend more, less, or the same on ILS advertising?” and “Did you invest in paid search in 2014 (AdWords, remarketing, etc)?” as well as other easy yes or no queries. There is no call to share proprietary information, and you can skip questions at will. Your responses will be submitted to our team of masterminds as we plan updates and new features for the Yardi Marketing Suite, the only completely mobile marketing and leasing solution supporting the entire prospect and resident lifecycle. The results will be shared with you in the form of product enhancements designed to help you support your properties with increasing ease and efficiency. “As marketers, there is tremendous value in understanding consumer, industry, and peer trends,” says Esther Bonardi, industry principal of Yardi Marketing Solutions. “When...

Content marketing in the commercial real estate realm makes sense, from a PR perspective. Why not showcase the expertise of investment, development or brokerage leadership with smart writing about trends and business practices? For many companies, it’s a nice idea that might encounter many logistical hurdles a long the way. So a relatively new blog from Colliers International, Colliers Insights, pulls off a rather impressive feat – providing insightful, visual and shareable content relevant to commercial real estate. With a soft launch in October 2014, Colliers Insights is a relatively new project for the company’s marketing team, and one that made intuitive sense. Christine Schultz, global vice president of marketing and research, shared the scoop. CPE: Can you tell me why Colliers sees content marketing as important to its real estate goals? Schultz: The blog has really been a natural extension of how our Colliers advisors want to share insights and moving that into the digital realm. Websites can be very formal, with hard to find information in a quick, easy fashion. The blog provides a casual entry point for digital users to engage with our thought-leading content. CPE: How would you describe the overall experience you are trying to provide for readers? Schultz: We want it to be fun for the audience and share content in an engaging way. It’s really important for us to offer the blog as an authentic experience and to give users a sense of what it’s like to work with Colliers and to feel the magic of our culture for those interested in joining Colliers. CPE: One thing the blog does especially well is its presentation of thought leadership by Colliers executives around the nation and even globally. How do you compel their participation? Schultz:  I have been...

When it comes to customer service, 70% of US adults will use the phone as their first method to contact a company, according to a study by Five9. However, if they receive bad (or no) support, 85% of these consumers say they will take action. In fact, 45% of these customers and potential customers say they will stop doing business with a company completely. And younger clients are likely to complain publicly on social media. That’s a lot of sour grapes over some missed connections. Enter the smarter answering service. Your call center should be a seamless – and invisible – extension of your leasing management office. But not every call center is made to tackle the unique needs of the multifamily marketplace. To offer the most efficient service, a call center dedicated to property management needs to be able to: Provide a customizable digital answering service Offer expert live support if/when you need it Create guest cards and qualified appointments This infographic takes a look at our call center solution by the numbers. Click on the graphic to view a large version. Don’t place your leases and renewals on hold. Take a peek at the budget-friendly benefits of RentCafe Connect today and see how you could better serve prospects, residents and property staff. Because no one likes to be left...

Congratulations: your attention span is now shorter than that of a goldfish…by one whole second. Recent studies show the average human attention span is now 8 seconds.  That means social marketers and digital advertisers have to hook you with compelling content within moments.  How much does that bait cost?  Advertisers spent an estimated $8.5 billion on social ads alone in 2014, all to keep your brain entertained long enough to get to the punchline.  And succeed they did. Our Social Media Team kept a keen eye out for those creative and unusual marketing campaigns with solid storytelling and strong social presence. Here are a few of our favorite digital campaigns from the last year. Mini Cooper  Mini USA – Multiple Social Channels Mini Cooper has created a world of engagement, and it’s truly an experience all of its own.  The iconic import has grasped attention and stolen the hearts of many motorists across the country, and to that end, they have established their own mini-nation: Mini USA. Beyond the exclusivity of an owner’s only club, the camaraderie and fellowship between Mini drivers curves closer to extended family.  And what better way to spend time with your family than to be “couped” up with them on the greatest of American familial pastimes?  “Mini Takes the States” is a clash of Mini Cooper clans cruising on a 5,000 mile road trip from [#MTTS]San Francisco to [#MTTS]Boston.  Motorists can post to social networks during pit stops with a set of branded hashtags, photos and videos.  Along with crossing the continental US, Mini’s social presence spans across platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter. Need some Mini maintenance? For continued care of your car, the company’s website features a downloadable PDF of your owner’s manuals, a roadside assistance...

If you haven’t looked into Instgram now is the perfect time to reconsider. Instagram has launched its standalone companion, Hyperlapse, to appeal to the Vine crowd without…well, the Vine crowd. Hyperlapse offers mobile video production that’s quick, simple, and eye catching. In other words, it’s just what you need to take your content marketing to the next level. Hyperlapse helps mobile users create silent videos that are 15 seconds in length or fewer. This is more than double the video length available on Vine, allowing you to offer a fuller presentation of your content while maintaining your audience’s short attention span. Effortlessly create seamless video tours of a unit or longer videos showing what the surrounding community has to offer. It’s also a good tool for sharing clips from community events. Anyone can create a good video with Hyperlapse thanks to the ultra-simple process: record up to 45 minutes of video, alter speed as needed, save, and share. Your staff won’t need a media degree or innate tech-savviness to operate the app. Hyperlapse is just that straightforward. While simplicity is an excellent feature, it’s the quality of Hyperlapse videos that will really make your content stand out. Built-in image stabilization (via the phone’s gyroscopes) gives the videos a smooth, professional finish rather than looking like bumpy scenes from The Remaining. This app can potentially save you money. Create awesome videos with fewer calls to your professional videographer. Prospective users will be glad to know that you don’t have to create a new presence on the app. It’s a pain to build and maintain a following on a new social media platform, especially when we don’t know which apps will be hot or not in the next six months. Hyperlapse cuts the drama by allowing you to...