11 Big Ideas

More than 800 people joined the Apartment Innovation and Marketing Conference in Huntington Beach last week for four days of learning, networking and fun. The REACH by RentCafe digital marketing agency was in attendance as marketing leaders and multifamily experts from across the country took the stage to share both strategies and results. Here are some quotable moments from this incredible event to help you get inspired for your next campaign. Connect with the speakers by clicking on their names. Making marketing matter “What does it mean to be in marketing? Your job is to make a brand cool and don’t get it sued.” Nick Tran, former global head of marketing at TikTok “Be authentic. Trends aren’t one-size-fits-all. Do what works for your brand and each community.” Sarah Wieman, PRG Real Estate “In marketing, we don’t want to be order-takers. We want to be decision-makers. Stop treating yourself as support. Bring data to the table so you can come in with value.” Kelley Shannon, Bozzuto “For marketing to work in a silo, you might as well just go stand against the wall and bang your head. Getting more traffic isn’t the highest and best use of your marketing dollars. Educate your team about the value marketing brings to the table and how it impacts ROI.” Gigi Giannoni, Gables Residential “SEO should be a foundational element for you. Why would you put money in places with diminishing returns when you could make a winning long-term play?” Melissa Cartagena, Greystar Give renters what they want “We’re focused on our brand and the lifestyle, but we know from looking at our analytics, lifestyle images aren’t necessarily what sells. Lifestyle helps bring your story to life, but we need core property content and images to sell units.” Tim Hermeling, Cortland “Only 2% of residents say property management overcommunicates. And 45% of residents think their rent will stay the same or go down. Are you setting realistic expectations?” J. Turner Batdorf, J. Turner Research “A full 90% of renters are either interested in or won’t rent without soundproof walls. This feature ranks only slightly below air conditioning and in-unit laundry, and yet is advertised by very few properties.” Sarah Yaussi Pienik, NMHC Social media content is queen “We have not traditionally trusted our leasing teams with social media. But in reality, they’re the closest to your customers. Give them the power to create content. They can become the ultimate creators for you.” Kristi Fickert, Realync “You can reach so many more potential renters on Pinterest. Did you know 72% of users use Pinterest to decide what to buy offline?” Brooke Atsalis, The Management Group “I didn’t have any expectations when we tried TikTok, I just didn’t want to offend anyone. We’re in lease-up; we need velocity. We’ve gotten 74 leads. A very interested lead slid into our DMs. I’ve been pleasantly surprised.” Kira Brown, Wood Partners #REACHpeace The REACH team was also able to donate an additional $1,250 to Direct Relief International to provide aid in Ukraine because of engagement at the event. Thank you to all who participated. We look forward to seeing everyone next year at AIM...

Yardi + AIM

Are you missing live events? While we can’t bring back the hum of the tradeshow floor just yet, we’re excited to team up with AIM to host a live webinar event that we hope will rival some of your favorite speaking sessions from conferences past. Keep reading to see how we’re bringing industry leaders from Bozzuto, KETTLER and The Management Group together on one virtual stage … and why you want to reserve your seat asap. The New Apartment Marketing Playbook: Consumer Behavior Has Shifted, Have You? Thursday, Sept. 17, 11 a.m. PDT Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, renters are still on the move. With social distancing measures in place, renters expect to interact with properties in new ways. This increasing demand for virtual and contactless engagement is nothing new. But now that we’ve adapted to a new norm and the virtual conveniences that come with it, there’s no going back. Considering this shift in consumer behavior, here are some questions your property management teams may be facing: Is it possible to create an online experience as powerful as a visit to your properties? How can you offer game-changing online and self-service tools that don’t compromise your security standards? What should your leasing agents be doing to pivot and provide real value in an increasingly virtual world? “Don’t lose customers to your competitors while you’re waiting for things to ‘get back to normal.’ Normal as we knew it is changing. Taking this opportunity to make smart updates to your leasing process will have a lasting positive impact on your business in the months and years ahead,” said Esther Bonardi, session moderator and vice president of marketing at Yardi. During this live online event, you will learn how to: Convert more renters by creating authentic experiences onlineLease more units by offering a range of tour types to fit every needImprove the prospect experience while prioritizing the safety of your team and propertiesEvolve leasing positions to meet the demands of the new customer experience Speakers include: Jamin Harkness, Executive Vice President, The Management GroupKelley Shannon, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Customer Engagement, BozzutoDaryl Smith, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, KETTLER Free ebook Webinar registrants will receive a free copy of The New Apartment Tour with their confirmation email. This exclusive ebook details three ways you can modernize different tour types at your properties to convert more renters, both online and in person. Save your seat today to get your...

Doing Good Jun07

Doing Good

Giving back to local and global communities is a central tenant of Yardi’s mission. At the recent AIM Conference, Yardi invited attendees to join our team in supporting two local Southern California charities. In the second part to our AIM Conference coverage, we spotlight our charitable partners, Community Action Partnership of Orange County (CAPOC) and the Orange County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OCSPCA). Keep reading to learn more about Yardi’s selfless selfies donation drive and the work of these two inspiring nonprofits! Selfies for Charity AIM Conference attendees were invited to snap and post selfies at the RentCafe kiosk with cuddly OCSPCA therapy dogs and fun props from CAPOC’s Orange County Food Bank. For every post shared to social media with the conference hashtag #AIMConf, Yardi donated one dollar to the day’s featured nonprofit. In total, AIM attendees helped raise $500 for each nonprofit with their selfless selfies. In addition to the social media donation drive, both nonprofits educated AIM attendees on their programs and volunteer opportunities. Community Action Partnership of Orange County The CAPOC has provided support services to address hunger and poverty in Orange County since 1965. Each year, CAPOC helps more than half a million people in need through its comprehensive program offerings. This includes the OC Food Bank, emergency utility assistance, financial empowerment education, family counseling services, and transitional housing. The goal of these programs is to empower healthy living, stabilize families and prevent the causes and effects of poverty. “Our goal is to ensure that the people we help have the tools and resources they need to not just survive, but also thrive! We meet people where they are at and help them achieve their personal goals so that they are safe, comfortable and living a life of well-being,” explained LaShanda Maze, Vice President of Philanthropy at CAPOC. Funds raised at AIM will support CAPOC’s Food Bank, which offers food and nutritional education for low-income children, families, seniors, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. Each year, the OC Food Bank distributes 19.5 million pounds of food to nearly 1 million at-risk residents, including one in five kids living in Orange County. Through its network of nearly 400 partner charities, the OC Food Bank provides 26,000 boxes of food each month to seniors at 70 sites throughout Orange County, and areas of Los Angeles County. According to Maze, “Whether it’s helping a family for the long holiday weekend who may need food from our OC Food Bank or seeing how our weatherization program can make a home safe and warm for a senior, we are impacting lives every day.” Get involved with the CAPOC at capoc.org. Find out more about CAPOC’s Hope for the Holidays Kick-Off Dinner, a unique culinary experience and fundraiser, on Sunday, October 13 at The Playground DTSA. You can learn more by visiting capoc.org/h4h. Orange County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Since its founding in 1984, the OCSPCA has been a leading animal welfare organization in Orange County. With a mission to save the lives of animals in the region, the nonprofit focuses on programs to strengthen the human-pet bond through proactive education, emergency resources, and networking. “What I enjoy the most about my job is receiving feedback from those who we have been able to assist when no one else would step in to help,” said Kevin Marlin, Executive Director at the OCSPCA. “Pets play such a vital companionship role in the lives of so many, and we are so glad to be able to promote that human-animal bond and to enable residents with the resources to keep their pets in their loving families.” As an ally to animals of all kinds, OCSPCA made a huge impact in 2018. The nonprofit delivered 63,250 pounds of pet food to families in need, funded life-saving medical services to 350 animals and assisted more than 6,000 Orange County residents and...

Marketing Insights May18

Marketing Insights

The multifamily marketing industry recently gathered in Huntington Beach, Calif., for the 2019 Apartment Innovation and Marketing (AIM) Conference. The 2019 edition focused on digital marketing best practices and innovative technologies. Keep reading for top insights from the 2019 conference! The ever-expanding Internet of Things A second wave of connected technologies is making its way to multifamily. In fact, according to Terry Jones of tech giants Travelocity, Kayak and Wayblazer, 75 billion smart devices will be connected to the internet of things by 2025. From smart home integration and keyless entry to smart thermostats and high-speed WiFi, AIM sessions focused on the convenience and opportunity afforded by embracing IoT advances. At AIM, Yardi experts also previewed connected technology innovations coming soon to the RENTCafé Suite. “Marketers are going to need to understand technology more to be successful,” shared Ben Burns, vice president of digital strategy at Bozzuto, during a growth-focused question and answer panel. “At the end of the day, we’re providing experiences.” Is your business ready to embrace new technologies and give renters what they want? Attribution, automation and analytics New technologies appear on the market every day. But which ones made the jump from novelty to widespread adoption? The AIM Technology TrendTalk with Esther Bonardi, vice president of marketing at Yardi, explored multifamily technology trends and how smart marketers can use them to improve business outcomes. Meet the speakers: Diana Norbury, Senior Vice President of Operations, Pillar Properties Norbury spoke about utilizing benchmarking and prescriptive analytics to help drive more informed marketing decisions. At AIM, one thing was clear: data is a marketer’s best friend. Prescriptive and predictive analytics can use that data to inform your marketing strategy, improve customer experiences and, ultimately, boost conversions. “Predictive analytics allow our staff to work...

AIM 2019 Apr01

AIM 2019

OFFICIAL RULES 2019 Yardi at AIM Sweepstakes NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PURCHASE WILL NOT ENHANCE CHANCES OF WINNING. Sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto, who are 18 years of age or older (except residents of Alabama and Nebraska who must be 19 years of age or older) at the time of entry.  Employees, officers and directors of Yardi Systems, Inc. (“Sponsor”), and its respective subsidiaries and affiliated companies, advertising, promotion, or production agencies (and each of their respective IRS dependents, immediate family members [children, spouse, parents, siblings, and their respective spouses, regardless of where they reside] and individuals residing in the same household of each, whether or not related) are not eligible to participate.  Void where prohibited by law.  By participating, entrants agree to these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which are final and binding in all matters relating to this Sweepstakes. ENTRY PERIODS: First Sweepstakes Promotional Period begins on May 6, 2019 at 8:00am PDT.  Entries must be received by 2:00pm PDT on May 6, 2019.  There will be two drawings after 2:00pm PDT on May 6, 2019. Second Sweepstakes Promotional Period begins on May 6, 2019 at 8:00am PDT.  Entries must be received by 2:00pm PDT on May 7, 2019.  There will be two drawings after 2:00pm PDT on May 7, 2019. Third Sweepstakes Promotional Period begins on May 6, 2019 at 8:00am PDT.  Entries must be received by 10:00am PDT on May 8, 2019.  There will be two drawings after 10:00am PDT on May 8, 2019. HOW TO ENTER. During the Promotional Period (i) visit the outside Yardi Café at the Apartment Innovation and Marketing (AIM) Conference in Huntington Beach, California (no purchase necessary); (ii) post a...

AIM Insights

Multifamily marketers gathered in Huntington Beach, California, for the 2018 Apartment Internet Marketing (AIM) Conference on May 6-9. This year’s event focused on the latest digital marketing trends and technologies. “Marketing executives are increasingly called on to shape the resident experience and manage the pace of innovation,” shared Steve Lefkovits, executive producer of AIM. “We’re delighted to have Yardi and RentCafe as partners in educating the industry about the future.” Some conference highlights for multifamily marketers: Customer Experience Matters Customer experience is the new marketing. At the AIM keynote, Charlene Li, principal analyst at Altimeter and co-author of Groundswell, challenged marketers to examine relationships and experiences. “If you’re not focusing on the customer experience, you’re working on the wrong things,” emphasized Li. Why does customer experience matter? Because the data says so! According to resident satisfaction data from J Turner Research, Q1 2018 apartment reviews grew by 78% as compared to Q1 2017. The average number of reviews per property has grown 20% since Q1 2017, averaging more than 86 reviews per property. The study found a strong correlation between online reputation and resident satisfaction. Resident experience matters, and it influences renter and prospect purchasing behavior. In a session on customer engagement and loyalty, Joseph Batdorf, president of J Turner Research, stressed, “Resident satisfaction matters. Making sure they’re happy affects their willingness to renew a lease.” Customer Engagement Also Matters To create a better customer experience, you need to engage your customer from the get-go and keep them engaged throughout their time with you. Where can you innovate your customer engagement strategy? Create a well-rounded engagement strategy. Implementing a multi-source lead attribution model can help marketers more accurately assign value to each touchpoint in the buyer journey. Market to common values to bolster your engagement. Sticking to common...

Insights From AIM May18

Insights From AIM

Multifamily marketers from across the country converged in Huntington Beach for the 2017 Apartment Internet Marketing (AIM) Conference on May 7-10. Several hundred professionals gathered to explore the industry’s latest marketing trends and best practices. Here are three ideas from this year’s event that might buoy your marketing efforts: Tell Your Story Marketing is not just an exercise in generating the lowest cost per lead. It’s a complex combination of creativity and strategy that ultimately tells a story to potential customers. In a world of constant digital distraction, today’s marketers need to have the skills to create content that will rise above the noise. When it comes to creating engaging content, authentic storytelling and video rule. AIM panelists Jamie Matusek, President of Catalyst, Lori Valenti Webb, Director of Marketing at Wood Residential Services, and Anna Geary, Founder of Show My Property TV, explored the ideal customer experience. Matusek explained that experiences progress through the Happiness Halo framework, from anticipation to interaction to afterglow. Anticipation is the process of building excitement, teasing potential customers into wanting to know more. This can be seen in pre-event promotion and behind-the-scenes videos. Interaction immerses customers in an experience, providing emotional direction to aid in decision making. Multifamily application could be a time-constrained promotion, such as a rent discount, or highlighting property perks, such as free recreation classes or dog-friendly happy hours. Afterglow focuses on creating a positive memory, reinforcing brand positivity. As Matusek explained, bad things will happen, such as a poorly executed maintenance request or a negative front office visit, so it’s important to positively direct the sentiments with each resident touch point. Crafting an effective story can combine these three concepts into any medium, from a blog or social media post to a video. At AIM, video was...

AIM Insights May04

AIM Insights

Huntington Beach, Calif. — With the multifamily industry still enjoying rising rents and high occupancy rates in most markets, it’s no wonder this year’s Apartment Internet Marketing Conference had an air of successful complacency, as most apartment marketers have been enjoying smooth sailing lately. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement, and several hundred industry insiders gathered in Southern California May 2-4 to dig into the trendiest best practices for multifamily marketing. Here are a few key takeaways from the event: Smart apartments: still simmering Despite growing chatter about smart home technology, the sector hasn’t optimized for multifamily yet, but stay tuned, because development for the market is hot. “You don’t want to take something that’s created for single family homes and apply it to a 800 unit apartment complex … it won’t scale,” said Felicite Moorman, CEO of StratIS, a tech company focused on access, energy, and automation. Multifamily owners and managers were urged to focus on useful innovations first, before offering fancy bells and whistles that might impress prospects and residents. ROI is still a challenge, a smart home technology panel concluded. Clay Hicks, president of apartment management at Dinerstein Companies, said his firm sees an average of $45 more in monthly rent for “smart” apartments in Texas, and $60 more in California. Meanwhile, average spending for tech-forward amenities has dropped from $2500 per unit to $1500. The incredible shrinking garage The eco-conscious transit marketplace and the apartment industry have yet to intersect in a way that’s financially rewarding for either, but one thing is clear: apartment garages are getting smaller and will keep shrinking. Millennials are eschewing the personal vehicle as a transit method—in fact, 25 percent of them do not have driver’s licenses. Their dependence on apartments for housing means multifamily will see an impact. “What’s really going to go away is the garage itself,” said Manny Gonzalez, managing principal of KTGY Architecture and Planning. “We may have once built that garage with 2.5 spaces per unit, but before long I think we’ll be down to 1 space per unit, and then one half.” Electric vehicle charging stations, which have popped up at many trendy new communities as green-oriented amenities, haven’t been overwhelmed by resident use. Bozzuto Director of Sustainability Peter Zadoretzky said many sit empty at the company’s East Coast communities. However, a simpler fix, big screen TV’s with transit schedules placed in Bozzuto lobbies, has been wildly popular. Building communities with fewer parking spaces creates considerable value for Bozzuto as a developer, Zadoretzky said. “For us, it costs $35,000 to $50,000 per parking space in our new projects. To recoup that, we would have to be charging $300 per month per space.” Airbnb: Still an option If you thought the final answer to Airbnb’s efforts to play nice with multifamily was “never going to happen, don’t ask again,” a panel at Tuesday’s AIM Conference was an eye-opener. JaJa Jackson, head of multifamily partnerships for the popular home-sharing website, made this bold prediction: in the next 24-36 months, he speculated, 50 percent of multifamily housing providers will decide how to allow regulated home-sharing in their apartment communities. Airbnb is currently piloting partnerships with multifamily providers in certain urban markets, in an effort to see how owners, residents, short-term subletters and other vested parties can harmonize. Driving the continued conversation around the sharing economy is the realization of many property owners that they could have increased opportunities to bring in revenue from Airbnb-like activity, whether it’s from renting temporarily vacant units or allowing renters to list their units while they travel. “Many of the brands we spoke to are very focused on developing community at their properties, and they’re also focused on millennials,” Jackson said. “They’re thinking a lot about long term relationships, and building a feeling that their community is a place where everyone can thrive.” For property owners, hurdles about security and accountability may remain....

AIM Highlights May05

AIM Highlights

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – in a competitive Washington D.C. multifamily market, WC Smith released a secret weapon to lease up its 2M property in NoMa: an adorable, social media-savvy English  bulldog puppy. “Everyone loves pets (in D.C.), but no one has time to take care of them,” said Holli Beckman, Vice President of Marketing and Leasing Operations for WC Smith. Beckman was speaking on a panel focused on creative lease up strategy on Day Two of the 2015 Apartment Internet Marketing Conference. Joined by Billy Pettit, Senior Vice President of Pillar Properties, and Gianna Negretti, Marketing Account Director at Alliance Residential, the panelists broke down ways to use social media, local business relationships, blogger influence and location as advantageous resources. Beckman impressed the crowd with the story of Emmy the 2M pup (pictured), who not only acts as a therapy dog for residents of the 2M community, but helped the leasing team get national media attention for the property when a story about her escalated from the D.C. blogosphere to the Huffington Post and the Today Show. But more important from a leasing perspective, the publicity helped Beckman and her team lease 2M without offering rental concessions, which many competing properties in the neighborhood were using to entice prospects. Emmy now has nearly 2,000 followers on Instagram and continues to spend her days in the 2M leasing office and nights with the property manager. Residents in need of puppy time can “borrow” her for an hour for a walk or a visit to the on-site dog park. Capitalizing on a location that may have seemed less than ideal, Pettit shared the approach that Pillar Properties took to lease up Stadium Place, a 500 unit development next to the Seahawks Stadium, but also adjacent to...

Walkability Rocks

Prospects love apartments in walkable neighborhoods. And more likely than not, they are checking out what neighborhood attractions they could get to on foot before they even decide to come check out a potential new apartment community. Location-based technology has made assessing such neighborhood info as easy as can be. With a simple search on a service like Walk Score, potential residents know before they schedule a viewing appointment how far the community is from their favorite coffee shop, restaurant, or gym. And they are more likely to get excited about a new home that offers easy, convenient access to their favorite things. “One-third (of apartment renters) are willing to pay more to easily walk to their work, to entertainment and to restaurants,” said Josh Herst, CEO of Walk Score, at Inman Connects. Herst will be a featured speaker at the 2013 Apartment Internet Marketing conference, coming up from April 29 to May 1 in Huntington Beach. He’s slated to speak with 30Lines CEO Mike Whaling  on “the uncharted digital marketing opportunity of maps, mapping, and location-based services.” Multifamily managers that want to harness the power of Walk Score can take advantage of the site’s walkable grading service with its built-in functionality on RentCafe marketing websites. See how it works in the image below. Clicking on the “Neighborhood” button brings up the Walk Score information for the community’s neighborhood, including what restaurants, grocery stores, parks, shopping and more can be found nearby.   Prospects can drill down to get more detail on how the Walk Score is computed, search for other businesses they may be interested in having close by, and access easy lists in each location category that include distances, so they’ll know exactly how far the nearest bank, library or convenience store would be. “The score is primarily based on proximity to nearby amenities—grocery stores, restaurants, schools, parks, entertainment—the things that people want to be able to access regularly as part of their regular routine and errand running and such. As you may know, an increasing number of consumers are saying that access to these things is one of the most important criteria in deciding where to live, whether that’s buying a house or renting an apartment,” Herst told Multi-Housing News. “Location based technology like Walkscore also benefits communities that aren’t highly walkable,” says Esther Bonardi, Industry Principal of Yardi Marketing Solutions.  “Apartment shoppers use these tools to understand how close goods and services are to the community, even if they don’t plan to walk there.”  Indeed, incorporating neighborhood information in multifamily marketing strategy is a best practice for most communities, not just those in dense urban areas. RentCafe marketing websites also offer interactive Google maps that feature bird’s eye and street level views, providing consumers with a comprehensive overview of the neighborhood in a format they’re already accustomed to. Prospects will be impressed with the convenience and easy access to such vital  neighborhood information – and they’ll be excited to rent an apartment near more than a few of their favorite...