Interchanging the terms marketing and advertising is commonplace today. However, understanding the difference between the two is important to effectively apply them to your competitive strategy.

Advertising is paid media used to promote a product or service.

Marketing is the strategic planning, implementing, and tracking of a mix of media and business components toward a specific campaign.

In other words, advertising is the promotional piece to the marketing mix that generates buzz around a product or service. Advertising gives the consumer information on the product and the next steps to take to make the purchase. For example, with the influx of CRE construction in DFW, an agency might design a plan that includes banners. The banners are used to draw the audience to that campaign and connect with the consumers.

Marketing as a Primary Strategy

Although advertising is an integral part of any campaign, it cannot exist without a clear marketing plan. Marketing begins by digging deep into your company’s roots to find its value proposition. This becomes the cornerstone of the marketing mix. After uncovering your unique selling point, you can pinpoint exactly how you want to target buyer personas. According to HubSpot, buyer personas “are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers.” These personas include the likes, dislikes, occupation, age, gender, and other demographic information that will tailor your advertising message so that your audience will best receive it.

In today’s consumer-centric world, every company’s goal should be to build two-way communication with the target audience. This means that paid advertisements that send out persuasive messages but lack engagement are less likely to create this connection. Keeping consumers interested, informed, and entertained with the right content can generate more leads and a higher conversion rate for your business.

According to AdWeek, a recent survey of 30 content marketing agencies and 600 digital publishers showed that content marketing on social media generated a higher return on investment (ROI) than native advertisements. Kelsey Lipert, vice president of marketing at Fractl, explained that this is likely because “readers are necessarily less engaged with advertising versus editorial content, and metrics show lower share rates, lower engagement rates, lower view counts, etc., in most cases.”

Debunking Advertising’s Bad Rep

On a daily basis, we all feel bombarded by advertisements. As marketers, we have struggled in the past to find the right way to make our audience aware of our offerings without being inundated. However, paid media proves its worth consistently in consumer behavior research in categories such as top-of-mind recall and brand recognition. The key is to sprinkle cohesive advertising messages across the marketing mix that draw consumer attention and create engagement. It’s also important to ensure that you are targeting your consumers in a way that pushes them to pay attention.

As digital advertising continues to grow and develop with technological advancements, advertisers target their paid media directly to whom they want to reach. Personalized messages generate relevance for each buyer persona, which means that advertising is becoming less of an annoyance and more of a helpful tool. With its inexpensive price tag and proven ROI, paid advertising continues to be profitable. Stay up-to-date on the ever-changing world of digital marketing with the newest digital marketing trends.

Marketing for Real Estate

The key to success with digital marketing is to have an integrated strategy. But running an inbound marketing campaign for your multifamily property can be difficult. Download our content calendar to form your content planning strategy.

Unlocking Success: The Critical Impact of Consistency in Content Marketing

We all know content marketing is king, but content is nothing without consistency. Organizations that produce engaging, steady content often achieve greater results. However, consistency is becoming an increasingly significant issue for many businesses.

With a solid content calendar, you can build stronger connections with your audience, hit touchpoints on the buyer’s journey, and position yourself as a trusted and valuable resource.

Why Is Content Marketing Consistency Important?

Grasping the attention of consumers has become a tough business. Traditional forms of mass marketing will no longer be an effective way to bring awareness to convert prospects into buyers.

Creating a few blogs or posting on social media here and there might help a prospective customer understand a topic better. Still, it will not help you hit all necessary touchpoints or build a meaningful relationship. If you are not a consistent content marketing creator, you are not fully connecting with your audience.

Consider your favorite actor, who probably stars in a few favorite movies. If she continues to select roles that you resonate with, eventually, you might find yourself interested in pretty much anything she is involved in. This is how to position your organization: as a well-known, trusted, and familiar resource consistently delivering great work.

How to Create a Strategy — and Stick to It

The solution to consistency is inbound marketing, a modern method that equips you to create content that drives buyer personas through your marketing funnel. The inbound marketing methodology will help guide the context your material should be used within and is based on four stages: attract, convert, close, and delight.

Attract

The attract stage is about building awareness and creating content that turns strangers into visitors. Thus, it would be best to focus primarily on blogs, social media, and white pages. The goal is to provide solutions to your persona’s problems. For example, for an urban apartment, you might write a blog highlighting “The Best Places to Eat Gelato” or “10 Interior Design Tips for a Loft Apartment.”

Convert

The convert stage is about converting visitors into leads. The type of content you are producing would be in the form of a call-to-action (CTA) or landing page. Create gated offers where viewers must provide minimal information valuable to your business (email, zip code, etc.). For example, offers can include infographics, fact sheets, eBooks, or how-to guides.

Close

In the close stage, your strategy should be all about turning leads into customers. In this stage, you should focus on your CRM, email, and workflows. It’s important to speak their language, meet their needs, and seal the deal.

Delight

In the delight stage, you will continue to provide value and show you care about your customers. In turn, they will become advocates and promoters for your business. Through social monitoring and surveys, you can see how satisfied your residents are, and if there is a problem, you can address it quickly. Happy customers are your best advocates for attracting new leads.

Knowing these stages and using them to create consistent and targeted content marketing can help you produce the right material in the right context for your persona.

The Key to Content Marketing Consistency

Running an inbound marketing campaign for your multifamily property can be difficult. Once you draft your buyer personas and map their journey, it’s time to create a campaign. But planning your social media calendar the first time is time-intensive, so we’ve put together this handy template to get you started.

Live Streaming, Chatbots, and Drones … Oh My!

The multifamily market has been a mixed bag, especially given the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact. These fluctuations mean that multifamily marketing is imperative for companies to edge out competitors.

Consider the following multifamily marketing trends as they should show positive returns for your company.

1. Let live streaming take center stage.

It’s a game-changing year for multifamily marketing, especially regarding how to reach prospective buyers in your area. Until now, the marketing landscape has remained more or less the same, with social media claiming the throne in every corner of influence. However, we are now seeing increasingly fast-paced developments in the form of new and updated features such as live streaming and instant messaging.

The way it functions within Facebook has made live streaming a growing trend, besides the capability to engage in real-time with clients. Facebook allows you to prioritize updates from friends and family rather than pages you like or follow.

What does this mean for multifamily marketing? Put simply, it means that content will have to be creative and engaging to gain more activity online. The update ranks content that receives the most activity and shares it closer to the top of the feed. A multifamily marketing team with experience in social media content will optimize results. And since live video is currently the most preferred type of content among Facebook users, it is an area in which marketers will naturally place additional creative efforts.

Social media features contain many great multifamily marketing opportunities, including the capability to broadcast a live house tour or announce real-time property events for clients or prospects. And the live features allow for specific market targeting across multiple platforms, such as Instagram and Snapchat.

2. Understanding the continued rise of IM and chatbots.

Connectivity is another great advantage of social media. The simple ease of using direct messaging functions makes it easier to engage with your audience. However, property managers now face the conundrum of responding quickly and accurately to prospective buyers.

Cue marketing automation bots, also known as chatbots.

Today’s consumers want to engage with a company when and where it’s most convenient. This could mean losing possible leads for real estate if we cannot respond to needs instantly. Chatbots seem to have cracked the code, quite literally, on instant communication. According to Botpress, a chatbot is “any software that performs an automated task … the most intuitive definition is that a bot is a software that can have a conversation with a human.”

In addition to being programmed to have realistic, human-like conversations with prospective clients, chatbots can also gather specific information relevant to the seller or the marketer.

In the context of multifamily, a chatbot can mean providing 24/7, instant responses that do not require an individual behind a screen scrambling to answer a question. Chatbots also provide a smoother user experience for the buyer, and user experience is always critical.

Social media features such as live streaming and instant messaging are powerful tools that benefit both sellers and buyers. Multifamily marketing trends are growing rapidly, and their influences within the industry are rising.

3. Let drones offer a bird’s eye view.

Drones are a defining piece of technology for multifamily and commercial real estate. Several years ago, hiring a professional photographer for aerial shots of a property was conventional. With drones, on the other hand, you can capture stunning images and breathtaking videos of your property with camera-equipped drones, all while cutting back on costs.

Drones can depict a great layout of the entire property, especially when recording video. For larger areas, drones’ unique benefit is navigation beyond the property and into the surrounding area. They can capture incredible bodies of water, beautiful landscapes, and nearby neighborhoods. This particular feature can be optimized if paired creatively with live streaming.

Drones also allow high-rise apartment complexes to capture images of the entire building and attractive neighboring hotspots. Drones are one trend guaranteed to set your multifamily marketing apart from competitors and will surely spread within the industry.

4. Take advantage of virtual and augmented reality.

Though we have seen impressive and usable trends for multifamily marketing, virtual and augmented reality takes the prize.

Virtual reality opens new doors for prospective clients by providing a behind-the-scenes look or digital tour of a property. As the real estate industry rapidly moves forward, embracing new technologies, virtual has already made it into many multifamily marketing plans. Companies now design 3D models through the power of virtual reality. Prospects can walk a unit and experience property amenities firsthand without being onsite. This trend took a significant leap at the pandemic’s start, when many properties had to shift to a virtual-only touring model. Today, virtual tours are offered at many properties in addition to in-person tours, offering prospects even more opportunities to sign a lease from the comfort of their couch.

Marketers and realtors are also using augmented reality to bring blueprints to life. With the aid of smartphone and tablet cameras, AR technology can render a 3D image of a building from a blueprint or a completely interactive layout. This tool will prove useful in all stages of development by allowing clients to visualize the entire project.

Augmented and VR technologies, drones, and social media make the customer experience more convenient and engaging. With these trends in mind, your renters will be brought smoothly through the sales funnel and to that final decision.

Understanding Millennials: A Generation Shaping Multifamily Marketing

In the ever-evolving landscape of the multifamily industry, staying attuned to shifting demographic trends is paramount for success. Among the most influential demographics shaping the market are millennials — individuals born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s.

With their unique preferences, values, and behaviors, millennial renters have become a driving force in shaping your multifamily marketing plan.

Understanding Millennial Renter Preferences

1. Embracing Technological Connectivity: Millennials have grown up in a digital age, where technology is deeply embedded in their lives. They rely on smartphones, tablets, and social media platforms to stay connected, conduct research, and make purchasing decisions. As a multifamily marketer, harnessing the power of technology and embracing digital marketing strategies is crucial to engage with millennial renters effectively.
2. Prioritizing Experiences Over Ownership: Unlike previous generations, millennials emphasize experiences more than material possessions. This mindset extends to their housing choices, as many millennials prefer the flexibility and convenience of renting over the commitment of homeownership. Highlighting the experiential aspects of your multifamily properties, such as amenities, community events, and convenient locations, can be key selling points to attract millennial renters.
3. Sustainability and Environmental Consciousness: Millennials are environmentally conscious and seek sustainable living options. Incorporating eco-friendly features into your multifamily properties, such as energy-efficient appliances, recycling programs, and green spaces, can resonate with millennial renters who value sustainability. Communicating your commitment to sustainable practices can differentiate your property and attract environmentally conscious millennials.
4. Authenticity and Transparency: Millennials value authenticity and are adept at detecting multifamily marketing gimmicks. They seek transparency in brand messaging and prefer genuine interactions. Building trust through honest and transparent communication is crucial in multifamily marketing. Share authentic stories, highlight the unique aspects of your properties, and engage with millennials through personalized and meaningful interactions.

Multifamily Industry Implications

1. Shift in Property Amenities: Millennial preferences have led to a shift in property amenities. Millennial renters increasingly seek out fitness centers, communal workspaces, outdoor recreational areas, pet-friendly facilities, and smart home technology. Incorporating these amenities into your multifamily properties can attract and retain this target demographic.
2. Rise of Digital Multifamily Marketing: Traditional marketing channels are no longer sufficient to reach millennial renters. Digital marketing, including social media for apartments, influencer partnerships, and targeted online campaigns, has become instrumental in effectively engaging with this tech-savvy generation. Investing in a comprehensive digital marketing strategy can yield significant results in attracting millennial renters.
3. Enhanced Community Engagement: Millennials value community and social connections. Creating opportunities for community engagement within your multifamily properties, such as hosting resident events, organizing volunteer activities, or facilitating social platforms for residents to connect, can foster a sense of belonging and enhance the overall resident experience.

The Technology Factor

Millennials are the first generation to grow up around the internet. Interconnectivity and information explain much of what makes millennials who they are. By looking at specific digital trends among millennials, we can understand what drives their behavior and how they make purchase decisions. Because of their large purchasing power, marketers are changing their tactics to get in front of this generation. New social media advertising tactics have evolved due to millennials spending more than three hours a day on mobile phones.

While millennials are evolving online marketing, their lifestyles define the multifamily space. As millennials tend to wait longer for marriage and kids, they delay homeownership and rent longer. Multifamily communities have to adjust their marketing tactics to attract these sought-after renters.

Understanding Millennial Renters to Craft an Effective Multifamily Marketing Plan

Understanding millennial trends is crucial for developing an effective multifamily marketing plan. By embracing technology, prioritizing experiences, emphasizing sustainability, and cultivating authenticity, you can align your marketing efforts with the preferences and values of millennial renters.

Leveraging these insights can help differentiate your multifamily properties in a competitive market, attract millennial renters, and position your brand for long-term success. Stay attuned to evolving millennial trends, adapt your marketing strategies accordingly, and embrace the transformative opportunities presented by this influential generation within the multifamily industry.