Marketing Tactics for Smaller Owners - 3 Presentations

MARKETING TACTICS THAT WORK FOR SMALL OWNERS

I work by myself…

I WORK BY MYSELFMarketing Tactics That Work For Small Owners

Matt AdlerAdler Residential

AIM 2011

Adler Residential Corporate Directory

Matt AdlerPrincipal

Matt AdlerRegional Manager

Matt AdlerHuman Resources

Matt AdlerProperty Manager

Matt AdlerHead Of Maintenance

Matt AdlerMarketing Director

Matt AdlerComplaint Department

Matt AdlerSweeper

‘AIM’bition… we came to AIM to learn how not to waste our limited

marketing budgets…

Rx For Success

The Cinderella Principle Nail The Basics Survey

Experiment The Power Of ONEO

The Cinderella Principle

The perfect is the enemy of the good…Voltaire

The ‘AIM’bitious Cinderella Principle(NJ Edition)

This is what happens when your foundation is not solid…

NAIL THE BASICS•Answer your phone calls

•Don’t let prospects get away•Answer e-mails•Return messages

LEAD TRACKING

Expressupdateusa.com

Yellowpages.com

NAIL THE BASICS

Get listed on the web…Getlisted.org Claim and control the free listings

Just remember, it’s not really ‘free’…

NAIL THE BASICSCraigslist

… so be more effective… and be more efficient!

NAIL THE BASICS

• Partner Up With An ILS– Significant financial resources– Appear at the top of a majority of searches– Pick the best (market specific) provider

Survey - Why me?• Why did the prospect pick your community?• Why did the applicant pick your community?• Why did the resident pick your community?• ASK. ASK. ASK.

SurveyMonkey.combecause knowledge is everything

• PollDaddy.com, Surveymonkey.com, postcards…

polldaddyEngage your audience

Experiment

building out a Respage community– Monitored and assisted exposure to social media

• Why?– Steady stream of content– Integrates your website, Facebook and Twitter– Resident communication– Organic search exposure (SEO)

5+(2 x 52) > 5

The Power Of ONE!• Overcome• Outsource• Network• Examine

O

The Power Of ONE!• Overcome– Budget constraints– Objections– Limitations

O

The Power Of ONE!• Outsource– Speakers and trainers– Designers– YOUR RESIDENTS• Bloggers• Photographers• Videographers• Referrers

O

The Power Of ONE!• Network– Our industry is full of wonderful people– Idea generation– It’s one huge benefit of being here!– Don’t reinvent the wheel

O

The Power Of ONE!• Eyes– Monitor your progress– Examine the data– Measure the results– Watch the market

O..

But I don’t have a model…

No Model? No problem!

• Empty apartment photos• Digitally furnished• www.virtualstagingsolutions.com/adler• coupon code AIM2011

Rx Review

The ‘AIM’bitious Cinderella Principle Nail The Basics Survey

Experiment The Power Of ONE!

Jersey Edition

O

In closing…

Go home and hit the ground running!!

Matt Adlermadler@AdlerResidential.com

I work by myself: Marketing Tactics that work for small owners and small

departments

Bill SzczytkoDirector of IT for Maryland Management

Twitter: @BSitkohttp://www.facebook.com/BSitko

Blog: http://www.bsitko.comEmail: BSitko@marylandmgmt.com

Too much crap

Your Enemies:

TIME MONEY

What are other things that dictate your priorities?

1) Company Culture

What are other things that dictate your priorities?

2) The type of Marketing person you are.– Are you person centric?– Are you a creative Marketer?– Are you analytical?– Stop reading this and look at the guy talking.

Geeks are hot.

What are other things that dictate your priorities?

3) Market demands.

One size doesn’t fit all

Get these things right…

1) Killer Website

Did you know that 78% of internet users conduct product research online? Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic.

Stats from Hubspot.com

Get these things right…

2) Craigslist

Get these things right…

3) Google Places… make

sure you’ve claimed your

listings.

Get these things right…

4) Develop a partnership with

an ILS.

Get these things right…

5) Employee Empowerment

and Training

Get these things right…

6) Know your competition

Conclusion Time

• Determining what to do next.– Depends on culture.– Depends on YOU.– Depends on the market.– Oh yeah.. It depends on whether you have the

time and money too.– Remember.. one size doesn’t fit all.

Some final takeaways

• Asset management.. Cloud style– Box.net or Dropbox.com– Flickr or Photobucket

• Email2Db• Google Voice• Get out there and learn!!

I work(ed) by myself.

Heather CampbellRiverstone Residential

What I thoughtit would be like.

Turns out it was more like this.

Here’s the scene:> Boutique owner & developer with 2,400 units in the

greater Denver metro area> Wildly disparate portfolio ranging from moderate

product to Class A++ high-rises> Well-known and respected in the market but no real

unified branding strategy> Tenured and talented onsite teams with a desire to

dominate the market> Roughly 23% of leases sourced through the Internet> Joined as a new corporate website was wrapping up

Small company.

Big company strategy.Little budget.

Goals for todayA prescriptive overview

of the marketing program

Go-to marketing analytics

Maintaining sanity

PrioritiesMarketing

Branding(LEVERAGE A GREAT

REPUTATION & CREATE EFFICIENICES)

Major SEO & SEM(INVEST FOR THE LONG HAUL

AND EXPLOIT ONLINE CHANNELS)

Establish metrics(REDUCE SPEND)

TrainingResident

experience(SUFFICIENTLY DIFFERENT &

SUFFICIENTLY BETTER)

New school vs. old school

(ONLINE VS. OFFLINE)

Branding

Branding> Focused on the branded website and building a

unified SEM program> More intuitive path to pricing & availability> Robust online leasing (vs. online reservations) and rent

payment

> Created a distinct branded look, feel & voice consistent with the website design> Simplified design & messaging across the board: SEM, print

collateral and signage> 40% increase in leads from print sources post-redesign

SEO & SEM

SEO > SEM

SEO & SEM> Educate execs on SEO & SEM

> Long-term benefits vs. short-term feel-good tactics> Exclusive focus on the branded website

> Eliminate individual community sites> Redirect vanity urls to the parent site> Rebuild the back-end for search> Implement a robust content & linking strategy

> Keyword research & refinement> Website and PPC> Immediately reduce PPC spend> Launch content strategy

SEO & SEM> Website

> Optimized content themes that established my company as an expert in Denver apartments

> Internal and external linking strategy> Improved user experience

> Cleaner, more intuitive path to key conversions: find apartments, check availability, lease now & contact

> Complete online leasing (in-house) & rent payment (third-party)> 50% average year-over-year increase in unique and repeat

visits> Brand website #1 source of leasing traffic> Leases sourced through the Internet rose to 68%

SEO & SEM> Website metrics

> Unique & repeat visitors> Pages viewed, time on site, navigation path, key conversion

milestones> Organic, paid & referral sources> Top 10 keywords & keyword performance> Campaign tracking and navigation path> Inbound and outbound links> Pages depth> Rankings> Cost-per-lead/lease

SEO & SEM> PPC

> Refined campaigns so we weren’t competing with each other> Geographical & competitive trigger keywords for

individual properties> One “bucket” account for general search terms

> Ratchet spend up and down by specific unit types and availability

> Reduced spend by 75% (CPC average < $2)> Increased click-through rate to an average of 4%

SEO & SEM> Email marketing

> Weekly and on-demand campaigns> Deals of the Week – 7 week recurring campaign to all

prospects> Special campaigns to promote community leasing

weekend and other specials> API to/from Yardi to automate messaging> Average open and click-through rates of 38% and

67% respectively> Top five referral source to our website

So How Did We Pay for This?> All tactics were implemented on a budget-

neutral basis> Redeployed savings into SEO / SEM

programs> Reduced overall marketing spend by

$464,000 in 2.5 years

Training

Resident experience

Resident Experience> Discovery sessions

> Identify what’s working and impact opportunity gaps> Major focus on follow-up

> Tied online training program to desired behavior> Reconfigured the guest card to match our follow-up

program> Dramatic improvement response times and consistency

> Provide better support for the leasing process> Communication plan from lease to move-in> Better information on what is needed (i.e., paperwork, pet

documents, renters insurance, etc.)

New school vs. old school

New School vs. Old School> Educate our teams on online marketing

and its nuances > Specials and availability functionality had

to be managed by our onsite teams>Easy-to-use dashboards configured in our

CMS gave the teams easy access> Create common understanding of online

tools & efficiencies

Thank you!