Multifamily Marketing Trends: Everyone’s Favorite Topic-Budgets!

I’ve never seen a marketing budget that I thought was too small!  The funny thing is, we all define what gets thrown into the ‘marketing budget’ a bit differently.  While we didn’t ask for the dirty down low definition, we did ask our multifamily marketing friends to spill the beans regarding…

It’s time to be responsive…

There is one big addition to the budget this year. We have budgeted to create an entirely new corporate website. Our current site is almost 5 years old and non-responsive. It is time!

In a dream world, free of budget constraints, I would hire a full time content creator to be on payroll. We are always working on fresh, seasonal ad copy for websites, press releases, blogs and/or social sites. There never seems to be enough timely ad copy – if I didn’t have a budget to be mindful of, I would hire a full time copywriter

Everything is always being evaluated!

Systematic A/B testing. There’s so much opportunity there. WhichTestWon.com has weekly case studies that let you guess which version won in different random tests. I’m only right about 50% of the time

We spend a lot of energy making sure that we spend our money as strategically as possible. It would be much easier to “set it and forget it” with a few national agreements, but we know that’s not what’s best for Camden.

Invest in a sales strategy that matches your website technology

I would like to see companies consider making major changes to their marketing budgets in 2016 by… reviewing their current sales strategy and investing their budget dollars thoughtfully in creating an authentic sales experience to engage today’s prospects.

I am surprised that more companies haven’t transitioned from that stale  benefit/feature scripts and “always be closing” script to a “always helping” approach that is authentic and aligns with consumers’ behavior today.

Good markets have a tendency to hide the “sins” of a mediocre sales force and an outdated sales strategy. Now is the time to invest and budget dollars to implement a well-executed change management plan while the markets are doing well. Strategic leaders will be prepared for when the downward trough hits the markets with the best sales teams and sales approach to recover the market share quickly.

Content marketing is earning a piece of the budget pie

We changed the budget – two fold. First, we added significantly to content marketing (and will continue to do so in 2016). This has had great impact for the sites and regional pages that are tied to it.  Second, we implemented systems at the site level to allow technology to track the lead sources instead of just leaving attribution up to customer recall.

Not so much the budget, but the contract terms

Like every year we saw slight increases in our ILSs of choice; and where possible, we opted for more 6 month contracts because it was a better fit for our lease-up period. Not that we go dark during these months, but it’s nicer and more appealing to investors to commit to 6 months with a more generous exit. The ILSs must know that too if not 6month flights would not be so popular.

Find the right flow

Better workflows by implementing a new Property Management system. No budget? Aim high!

Such varied answers! Do you agree?  Anything you’re adding to the budget? Comment below and  tell us what’s on your budget wishlist.