Success Stories

CRC Does More with Yardi

By Geneva Ives on Oct 24, 2017 in Marketing, People

Little makes us happier than hearing about a client’s success with one of our products. Unless that same client is experiencing success with three of our products! We recently had exactly that happen when we sat down to chat with Belinda Torres and Heather Palmer of Continental Realty Corporation (CRC) about their experience with RentCafe.

It turned out that CRC wasn’t just getting positive results and feedback from using RentCafe, the company was also seeing measurable returns by extending its marketing platform with both RentCafe CRM and RentCafe Reach. Keep reading to see how CRC improved their online presence, lead tracking and organic traffic with a suite of integrated marketing solutions.

Meet CRC

CRC was founded in 1960. Headquartered in Baltimore, it’s a full-service multifamily and commercial real estate investment and management company. It uses Yardi software to manage a diversified portfolio featuring nearly 10,000 apartment homes and retail centers consisting of more than 3.5 million square feet of space.

Better Websites

Before adopting RentCafe, CRC had a corporate website that hadn’t been redesigned in a decade and didn’t have individual property websites. “There wasn’t any SEO value,” said Torres, corporate marketing director at CRC. “Keywords and alt tags weren’t being utilized. There was nothing to help a prospective resident find us.”

CRC used RentCafe to create marketing websites for every multifamily property in its portfolio. CRC also uses COMMERCIALCafé to create websites for its commercial properties. “The websites that we have now are attractive. Photos and tours are what people want to see, and we’ve been able to give that to them with RentCafe,” said Torres. The sites are mobile-friendly and allow the marketing team to upload videos and custom content for each community. Applicants can apply online and receive and submit all necessary documents during the leasing process. Better still? The leasing cycle is significantly faster than it was in the past. Read the full RentCafe story.

Better Lead Tracking & Follow-Up

CRC had no single source for accurate lead information before RENTCafé CRM. “We would pull reports and create a spreadsheet to figure out which source was giving the lowest cost per lease. It was a long, complicated process,” shared Palmer, director of leasing strategies at CRC. ILS and phone leads were tracked but didn’t integrate with its property management database, so information had to be manually entered and cross-checked – meaning there was a risk that leads could slip through the cracks.

CRC added RentCafe CRM to consolidate its customer relationship management strategy and saw immediate lead tracking and follow-up improvements. “With RentCafe CRM, we have the ability to track leases from cradle to grave. Did we get a lead or a lease?” said Palmer. Leasing consultants can see which leads are most likely to convert and are assigned corresponding follow-up tasks to make sure leads aren’t ignored. “Now we can prioritize our leads and nurture the relationship effectively.” Read the full RentCafe CRM story.

Better Online Marketing

After building new RentCafe property marketing websites from scratch, CRC needed a way to help those sites get found by online renters. “We are focused on maximizing our impact, but we’re not search engine experts,” commented Torres on the decision to add the SEO services of RentCafe Reach.

CRC partnered with the RentCafe Reach SEO team to optimize its property websites for local search and prospect engagement. SEO services included on-page and off-page optimization techniques designed to drive more leads. CRC receives monthly reports that help its team understand its online traffic and how well that traffic is converting into leads. “Working with RentCafe Reach has increased our organic traffic by 32% portfolio wide. One property has seen a 62% increase in traffic!” Torres. Read the full RentCafe Reach story.

Continued Success

CRC has been a Yardi client since 2014 and looks forward to an evolving relationship in the years ahead. “Yardi never stops innovating. It always raises the bar. We are very happy that our partnership with Yardi continually improves our online identity,” shared Torres.

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