Buckingham Companies may have forged its identity as a leader in commercial real estate but its multifamily properties have established their own reputation. In 2013 alone, the company received 19 awards for its singular properties. Spreading the word about Buckingham Companies’ award winning properties is an equally distinguished marketing department. The staff was honored with a Prodigy Award for Best Overall Marketing Program, another for Best Color Advertisement, and the Bronze Adrian Award for Complete Campaign and Posting. Nicole Crosby, Marketing Manager, believes that the trick to modern marketing is for the department staff to quiet its own assumptions. “It’s less about what we have to say and more about what customers have to say. We’re just trying to do a better job of monitoring what our customers are saying and leveraging that feedback to use in our marketing campaigns,” says Crosby, pictured at right. “We can’t rely on what we think is great about our communities. We have to listen to what our customers have to say and use that as our marketing message.” Buckingham Companies’ approach appeals directly to Millennials, whose social media usage serves as a direct line of communication to the marketing team. The team’s attentiveness has paid off. From feedback and observation, Buckingham Companies decided to capitalize on the popularity of Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants and a common housing woe: roommate dysfunction. “We did a marketing piece where we gave the students one of the BW3 wet naps attached to a little card that went out with the to-go orders that said, ‘Things are about to get messy. We’re here to help.’ Then on the other side of the card, we mentioned, ‘Now let’s talk about your living situation,’” laughs Crosby. The card gave students details about local properties....

Buckingham Companies began this year with a slew of accolades, among them a Prodigy Award for Best Overall Marketing Program, another for Best Color Advertisement, and the Bronze Adrian Award for Complete Campaign and Posting. At the foundation of those achievements stands an innovative marketing department that enhances traditional marketing approaches with a tool that many competitors have kept at arm’s length: Instagram. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Instagram is an entirely image-driven social media platform with more than 200 million users worldwide. While Facebook and Twitter usage has hit plateaus, Instagram is one of the fastest growing platforms with a notable international audience, and 65 percent of the community is from outside of the United States. It is the ideal tool for reaching local renters and transplants. Buckingham Companies’ team dove into Instagram as a major component of their marketing strategy for CityWay in downtown Indianapolis. MHN caught up with Marketing Manager Nicole Crosby to explore the method behind their success. MHN: Tell me about your Instagram strategy for CityWay and how it enhances your brand. Crosby: Traditional real estate marketing is often visualized through staged and perfectly edited photography, alongside a carefully crafted list of features and amenities. As marketers, of course we want to show our properties in the best light possible, but today’s customers expect more. They want to understand what it’s really like to live there, to spend every day there. Instagram offers a way for our residents and on site teams to capture the perspective of everyday living and connect with our property, in some cases before they even set foot in our leasing centers. Our prospective customers are craving that connection in their apartment search. Highlighting Instagram on our property websites provides a first step in that connection. MHN:...

On April 8, I was a panelist on a multifamily webinar sponsored by Apartments.com and Yardi Systems. Those who dialed in to the event were treated to an hour of insight on the best practices for multifamily content marketing. My section of the presentation focused on content marketing, specifically for multifamily communities. Here are a few of the thoughts I shared: It’s no secret that local newspapers are dying, and that means that people are seeking new sources of information about what’s going on in the community around them – things to do on the weekend, places to eat, and more. That creates a great opportunity for multifamily communities to become providers of that kind of content, and it ends up having two benefits: enhancing your marketing while also adding value for those living at your community. If you can help keep residents’ lives fresh and interesting, you’ll have a loyal customer for a long time. The most common error that I see on multifamily blogs is offering content that isn’t local or community relevant. A post about spring cleaning might seem like a great idea for this time of year, but that has nothing to do with what’s going on around you in your neighborhood. Make it local – that’s the most important thing I can emphasize. What makes good content? Here some ways to find out: Listen to the questions that your residents and prospects ask you.  If you live in the community or near the neighborhood, ask yourself what YOU would like to know? Think about the things you notice on the drive or commute to the community. Is there a new business down the street? How about that new pizza place the leasing team tried for lunch that week? Daily...

A “selfie” is a photo that you’ve taken of yourself.  Most of us admit that we’ve taken one or two in our lifetime. We also admit that we secretly loathe our buddies who post #POTH. (If you don’t know what that means, you’ve been spared.) Selfies can teach businesses a few fun yet practical do’s and don’ts for marketing via social media. The Selfie Mantra: If you’ve got it, flaunt it! No one is going to be drawn to your product or service if they haven’t heard of it. Spread the word generously and don’t be afraid to try new platforms. There’s no such thing as too much exposure. Secondly, selfies focus on positive attributes: perfect hair days, pouty lips, ripped muscles. Likewise, focus on your brand’s strong points. Don’t make reference to the competition. Besides, talking about the competition just confirms that they are the industry standard. And you’ll look like a hater. Too many selfies sends a bad message. What would you think of a profile dominated by selfies? Chronic selfie taking is linked to alienation. Use social media to engage with fans and accept feedback rather than endlessly posting positive company updates. Granted, a decent profile may have a few selfies. But they’re buried amongst images of the person engaging with friends or traveling with family. Use media to show your brand amid the big picture: your staff participating in community outreach, your product solving common problems, or behind the scenes with executives and developers. Selfies in the restroom and disheveled in the AM are are a bit much, right? Right. Make sure that your employees aren’t oversharing on social media. While transparency has its place, it’s best to keep your public face professional, relevant and customer-appropriate. This means creating and...

Social media is an integral part of today’s consumer relations and marketing. As such, it pays to be on top of your social media game. A few tips will make your outreach efforts easier and more effective. Create a user-friendly handle. Keep your username short and free from fancy characters. Users shouldn’t have to flip through multiple screens on their QWERTY keyboards just to @,  # or follow you. Those seconds (and characters) are precious! Users will skip over a name that’s too complicated. Fewer retweets, likes, and follows leads to fewer business leads. Be consistent. While we’re on handles, pick a handle that you can use across all of your platforms. Consistency makes you easier to find and remember. Secondly, avoid frequently changing your username. Social media isn’t about you. The platform is actually for your clients and potential clients. It’s a place where they can learn more about you, interact with you, and share feedback. Be client-centered rather than using the platform as a billboard for yourself. Join in on other conversations. Find relevant businesses or causes and join in on their conversations. Having your name in different places increases exposure. The affiliations with other companies can also help clients know a little more about you and your interests. Research using social media. Feedback, especially negative feedback, is an excellent way to learn what’s working in your brand and what’s lacking. Take that feedback seriously by responding to inquiries and mitigating reputation disasters. Learn from what your tenants and guests are telling you. Represent the community, not just units. Add variety to your posts and tweets by selling your community: great amenities, shops, and restaurants nearby; interesting facts; events; and even a dash of history will make your area more interesting. You...

The digital environment gives you the power to transcend physical boundaries and reach your audience wherever they are. Virginia Love, Vice President of Leasing and Marketing for Chicago-based Waterton Residential, thinks that a good online reputation is crucial in today’s marketplace. The company partnered with survey company SatisFacts and their Verified Resident Program to strengthen and promote their brand image. The project utilizes the largest apartment rating site to do additional surveying and direct those answers to additional questions back to the rating site and improve ratings and review scores. “For instance, it’s not about asking whether your dishwasher was fixed. There are additional questions in the survey after you get your dishwasher fixed, and those are the answers that affect your score on ApartmentRatings.com. Since it says that it is from a “Verified Resident,” there is a sense of gravitas. This is not some guy who drove by the property one time and didn’t like what he saw. It’s not someone who lived at a property 20 years ago when it was different management”, explained Virginia Love in an interview for the National Apartment Association.  “That has allowed our associates to tell prospective residents, “These are people who actually live here. These are the ones you want to hear from.” When reviewing your advertising options and devising marketing strategies, one thing you should always consider is the type of audience that your product is addressed to and the tools you have at your disposal to monitor their engagement. When it comes to multifamily marketing, content should be personalized and relevant to prospective clients. For example, things that might entice residents of suburban communities might not seem appealing to those interested in urban lifestyles or high-rise living; you have to find the right balance...

When it comes to commercial advertisements, traditional rules have fallen by the wayside. Millennials have nontraditional tastes. We recycle our snail mail without reading it. We use TV commercial breaks to tweet about the show, not to watch ads. What banners? We can ignore a pop-up like you never even made it. Millennials respond best to out-of-the-box advertisements that say a lot in time-friendly morsels. Meet the six-second ad. It’s a growing phenomenon that catches the attention of Millennials through some of our favorite social media platforms. Learning to master the six-second ad opens up a cost effective marketing opportunity that carries weight with young consumers. The popular video site, YouTube,  allows viewers to skip ads after six seconds. This means that you can make a longer commercial if you want but you must grab and hold viewers’ attention within the first six seconds or we will quickly press that little right-facing arrow. Vine is a growing site for posting three- to six-second videos. Variations of these circulate as memes on Facebook, Tumblr and other social media sites, vastly expanding the videos’ audience. When brands create vines, their commercials can be placed seamlessly (read: hidden) amongst quirky videos by users’ friends. It’s like gorilla advertising. Want to advertise to Millennials with videos that we want to watch? These tips will help you get started. 5 Things to Keep In Mind for Your 6 Second Ad Ads can be as abstract, funny, tear-jerking, or as provocative as you want. At the end of those six seconds, however, you must prove that your product will enhance our lives and fit into our lifestyles. Skip long winded pricing or guarantee comparisons–we can look that up ourselves, and we will. Rather, show us what your product can do...

Apps can be great tools to connect with clients and potential customers. Get the most out of popular apps Instagram and Vine with tips that make your media stand apart from the crowd. Instagram Composition still matters While you don’t need to invest hours and money into taking professional photography classes, reading a few articles and YouTube tutorials on introductory photography techniques will definitely help. Choose your subject wisely While new appliances at a property are a good selling point for a property, a picture of a shiny oven won’t gain much interest. Rather, shows the subject in a broader context. Consider a resident–on trend, well-dressed resident– entertaining for their equally hip friends in the kitchen with new appliances. Accessorize your phone Nope, this doesn’t mean a bedazzled case. Rather, seek out camera enhancing accessories that will improve the quality of your photos. Most of these accessories cost far less than buying a point and shoot or DSLR camera. Try out Photojojo Lenses (below) for better zoom control and Flip Cage to stay steady, for starters. Skip panoramas It might seem like using your iPhone’s panorama feature is a great way to capture the beauty of a property or event but remember that Instagram photos are cropped to 612px X 612px squares.  When taking your photos, think of squares rather than rectangles. If you must take a panorama, seek out another app such as Pic Stitch. Combine apps Although Instagram has filters, different apps offer a wider array of possibilities. You can edit your photo in an additional app, like Snapseed, and post it to the social media platform of your choice. Hashtag it wisely Too many hashtags can be annoying. No hashtags, however, mean that your image is basically lost in space, undiscoverable. Hashtags...

Imagine that you’re home on a sick day with nothing but cable and a box of Kleenex to keep you company. What’s on TV? Between shows, you’ll see a slew of worker compensation ads, LifeAlert  and Hoveround commercials, and online classes that promise you a better future. You don’t see as many of those commercials when you’re normally home in the evening. Those advertisements are targeted to people who are generally home during the day: people who aren’t working, the elderly, the unemployed, and stay-at-home parents. Those commercials show dayparting at work, a marketing technique that is just as important to your mobile marketing strategy as it is for television. Dayparting refers to parting the day into sections and then tailoring your marketing plan accordingly. Arbiton, an American audience measurement ratings service, created a five-section day. morning drive time (6–10am) midday (10am–3pm) afternoon drive (3–7pm), evenings (7:00pm–Midnight) and overnight (Midnight–6am) Each phase of the day is a distinct opportunity to reach your audience. It’s about sending the right message at the right time, which means you won’t be sending the same message to everyone all of the time. This marketing approach is light years better than static billboards and significantly better than your best-conceived commercial or online banner. To create your gameplan, ask yourself a few basic marketing questions (again) in greater detail. To Whom Dayparting offers hyper-local, extremely customized marketing experiences for consumers. To reap the greatest rewards, think about disparate subgroups within your audience base. An athletics supplier, for example, might consider text ads for teenage girls after school hours or in-app ads for young adultmales right before bedtime as they’re winding down for the day. The more that you understand even the smallest group in your demographic, the better your chances...

Looking for a new way to bring prospective residents to your property? One innovative approach, tried out successfully at numerous communities, involves everybody’s favorite meals on wheels: Food trucks! At a largely student-populated apartment complex in Gainesville, Florida, bringing together 12 food trucks for an afternoon this April resulted in resident fun, great local media buzz, and a handful of new leases. Stoneridge Apartments’ Super Sunday Funday Food Truck Festival wasn’t just a success – it was an epic success. “We had a turnout of approximately 500 people and our residents loved it. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback as well as requests for more food events like these,” said Denise Snyder, Regional Property Manager, CAM, for The Emmer Group. “The food ranged from awesome cupcakes, to ice cream and doggie ice cream, and there was Thai food, Cajun food and gourmet grilled cheese.” Snyder had a strong feeling that food trucks would go over well with her residents, and not just because many of them are college students who love to try new things. Stoneridge’s popular Perks Program, which gives residents discounts at local restaurants and other businesses, has been a big success. “Our residents (and staff) love to eat!  We plan to host another big event this fall, and delectable treats will certainly be a huge draw,” she said. Harnessing the power of social media before, during and after the event, word-of-mouth from residents and local businesses drove prospects, friends of residents, and the simply hungry to Stoneridge. Once they’d wandered the truck lineup and sampled some tasty treats, there was no reason to leave – a beer garden was set up on site, next to a lake on the property and under some shade trees. There was live music and...

Alexis Vance wants to get inside the minds of the Millennials. So the vice president of marketing for Yardi client Alliance Residential Co. and her team completed an in-depth demographic analysis that revealed not just facts, but helpful nuance, about the country’s newest powerful renting and spending cohort. With a nationwide portfolio that touches 24 major metro markets, Vance knows that going beyond the surface to understand Millennials, who seem to appear in every other news story on demographics these days. While there is some definitional discrepancy about the exact range of the Millennials’ birth years, they are essentially in their early 20s to mid-30s today. Many moved back in with their parents during or after college due to a tough job market, but as the economy has improved, they are expected to account for formation of up to 3 million new households. They’re an important new consumer base for apartment owners and managers, and some of their unique behavior patterns—including reliance on technology and social media to accomplish almost any task—have made them the subject of focused marketing studies like Vance’s. “I do believe our industry needs to do its homework to truly understand this complex demographic. We need to shift marketing and communication habits significantly in order to effectively market to and resonate with this highly media-savvy generation,” Vance said. MHN: Could you define: experiential marketing, social responsibility and incentive to share as they are relevant to the multifamily leasing and living experience? Vance: Experiential marketing goes beyond a basic tagline, brand or event. The effort is comprehensive and engages the prospect in a way that allows them to participate with the brand. Because this demographic is skeptical of traditional advertising channels, experiential marketing is an excellent way to create conversation and develop rapport through...

A corporate blog, when done right, is an inbound marketing machine. In fact, one study by HubSpot discovered that businesses with blogs received 55% more visitors than businesses without blogs. A blog can help both search engines and potential clients get to know, like and trust you. Blog posts that are published get indexed. Indexed pages help your site get found in searches. Popular blog posts are shared, providing social proof and inbound links for your company. Inbound links boost your SEO. Any way you look at it, blogging is good for your business. But how do you go about the business of good blogging? It’s less complicated than you may think. Whether you’re starting from scratch or rebooting an existing blog, here are 4 easy steps that will get you going: Think Before you can set pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, you need to brainstorm potential topics for your blog posts. Take 15 minutes to populate four simple lists: Questions clients frequently ask you Business topics you know a lot about Business topics that interest you, but you don’t know much about Current events in your industry or area Ta-da! You’ve just come up with piles of content for your corporate blog. Keep these lists handy so you can add to them anytime inspiration strikes. Schedule Creating a content schedule for your blog is critical to your success. Consistency is key when it comes to building an online community of readers. First decide how frequently you can realistically post. You should post often enough that your readers look forward to new content, but not so often that your posts become a lot of noise. Once a week is good. Twice a week is better. More or less depends on your business....

These days, marketing a multifamily community to a prospective resident is often an entirely online experience. When a prospect goes to social media to ask friends or family: Where should I live next?, savvy communities are making sure their properties are present. It’s an exciting, though potentially challenging, space in which to connect and engage. The influence of a positive resident referral or input from a trusted friend can make a big difference when it is time to select a new place. One recent industry survey found that up to 75 percent of renters had done online research, including looking at reviews, in order to select their next apartment. They valued that input even more than positive word of mouth, according to the survey results. It’s also been noted that while 63% of apartment residents say they are willing to write a positive review of their apartment community, just eight percent have been asked to do so, NAA audiences learned this week. That means there are huge opportunities for multifamily communities to grow their online presence and enhance leasing opportunities, using the right marketing tools. Not only do apartment communities need to build goodwill and cultivate positive feedback from existing residents, but they need to be engaged online and ready to reach, impress and ultimately welcome prospects as happy residents. The expanded Yardi Marketing Suite™ is a powerful tool for managers looking to do just that using the enhanced capabilities of RentCafe™. This online platform supports the entire leasing process, and is fully integrated with Yardi Voyager™. “The Yardi Marketing Suite features a full complement of mobile online leasing and resident services, and now includes tools to expand your online presence with leasing and resident referral programs tied directly to social media. This smart...

Here at Point2, we help real estate agents market themselves and their properties. That means we spend a lot of time looking at listing photos. We’ve seen them all – the good, the bad and the truly incomprehensible. While we all know that evocative listing photos can promote a property by encouraging viewers to picture themselves living in the space, we can’t help but wonder: what if these millions of images that are being traded across the Internet by agents, owners and real estate portals could do even more? Don’t worry, this is not an article about the future of smell-o-vision. Instead we take a look at today’s smart photos to show you how a curbside snapshot can be so much more than just a pretty picture. Here are three new real estate marketing applications brought to you by advances in imaging technology. Share Locations What’s the first rule in real estate? Location, location, location. This is reason enough to geotag your listing photos. Geotagging is the practice of associating your images with a geographical location. Geotags tell your audience, and search engines, where a photo was taken. Geo-data makes it easy to add another layer of ‘searchability’ to your photos so consumers can find you based on a desirable location rather just than a desirable set of search criteria. With so many people using their mobile devices to find properties, geotags help them search for nearby homes more easily. Although most of today’s smartphones and digital cameras can add geotags to your photos automatically, real estate agents and brokers might want to check out RealtorCam, an iOS app that adds location and date information to your photos, plus easy custom captions. Viewers can see how great a house looks, where it’s located and...

They call the coastal California city of Goleta “the Goodland.” The opportunity to reside in apartments like The Towbes Group’s Encina Meadows are one reason why. With views of the beautiful Santa Ynez Mountains, Encina Meadows is a peaceful place to live. Residents told us that they love the nicely landscaped property, which includes mature trees, plenty of shade and green grass. Most apartment balconies face the A recent upgrade to the community amenities revamped the pool and Jacuzzi area, community center (available by reservation for special events and parties) and the gym. Residents can now enjoy that view of the mountains while BBQing on one of several gas grills available poolside.mountain range, and many residents have extended the greenery to flowers and mini-gardens on their individual patios. Nearby, a variety of restaurants, from sushi to Indian cuisine to traditional American fare, are within walking distance. Groceries, drug stores, banks, coffee shops and other conveniences are just a block away, and a movie theatre and public library are also close. With near-perfect weather and awesome area beaches and parks, residents of Encina Meadows have plenty of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. And they don’t have to go far – the community pool is a popular spot for reading, relaxing and swimming, even into the fall and winter months. Residents also told us that they love the attentive service delivered by Community Manger Nadra Ehrman and her staff, who make maintenance requests and other resident needs their No. 1 priority. With friendly neighbors and such a pleasant place to call home, it’s no wonder Encina Meadows residents enjoy the Goodland life. Ehrman, her front office team, and Encina Meadows residents participated in a photo shoot for a “Your People. Your Places. Our Priority” print ad....

There’s no arguing that the way renters search for a new apartment has undergone a dramatic, tech-influenced shift, one that is still evolving for multifamily. No matter what your property size, producing results via apartment search, mobile marketing and online leasing is crucial. When it comes to optimizing the online presence of an apartment community, Yardi’s RentCafe platform – which offers an Internet Listing Service (ILS) as well as customized property marketing web sites and secure portals– is on the rise and making great strides. We spoke with Patrick Lawler, Product Manager for RentCafe, who shared insight about the offerings of this dynamic product slate.  RentCafe is fully integrated with Yardi Voyager. A single-entry system  allows managers to upload property information to a RentCafe Admin site and then have those same details listed on the ILS. “Clients will love the integration with the Yardi PopCard and Yardi Call Center, and the price is super competitive at half the price of other major pay-for-performance ILS sites.  It also gives clients an easier way to manage not only their ILS listing, but also their Property Website and Portal as well as their Call Center administration; it all happens in one central site. Another thing that I love is the online lease execution,  allowing prospects to act and apply to rent while we have their captive attention,” said Lawler, who has worked for the company since 2000 in the areas of technical support, analysis, Billing, Cash and as the Director of Residential Programming. “Clients are dedicating more of their resource toward an online presence. They are increasingly accepting of online functionality, for application and renewal processing such as electronic signatures, payments, and screening. There is a growing demand for integration with social media sites and other networking...