#94: Apartment Marketing Trends in 2023 You Need to Know
MARKETING MASTERS SERIES: PART 2
Alright friends, it’s time for part 2 of our Apartment Marketing Masters series. This week, I’m joined by Chris Arnold of Authentic and Natalie Linan of Black Field Management. Chris is sharing a unique (and pretty brilliant) perspective on pre-leasing strategy. Natalie Linan is full of infectious energy and she’ll have you getting on board with social media marketing. Tune in to hear two apartment industry experts generously share their knowledge. And if you haven’t already, catch up on part one of the series here.
Meet Chris Arnold, Co-Founder of Authentic and Host of the Transforming Cities Podcast
Authentic is a real estate agency that builds premier brands.
Hear a little bit about Authentic from Chris: “We boost property values and improve lease velocity for all of our partners. From the early days, we've been built around the development life cycle itself. So what we mean by that is we like to bring extensive early-stage strategy to the naming and brand identity process for these projects and really assist in brand-building web and digital rollouts.”
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What Apartment Marketing Trends Are You Most Excited About for 2023?
We like to advise our clients to start pre-leasing six to twelve months out. Let's not wait. Because there's a lot that we can do with those leads to nurture them and educate them throughout the course of the construction of the property to actually be in a much better position when it comes time to start formal leasing. And I think that's a trend that is not yet being adopted at a large scale. It’s getting a little more acceptance and I’m getting DM’s from others that are seeing the value in this strategy.
What Underutilized Marketing Trends are you seeing in multifamily housing?
There are so many gadgets and bells and whistles out there and the list only continues to grow. Rather than something that's underutilized, I think the mental shift should really be what do I really need in my tech stack to make this happen? How can I actually tease out what's actually working and what's not so that I can set a solid foundation for myself moving forward in 2023 and beyond? Rather than adding something else that is underutilized, I think it's more flipping the script and thinking about what is working well and what is something that is not being used very well that I can actually remove from my marketing stack.
The conversation is different if you have a portfolio of a hundred properties versus five or ten. But taking a step back is useful either way.
Can you share a Successful Project you’ve worked on?
The Aubrey was a smaller boutique project.
We got the best email from the development partner a couple of months ago that said, “we really feel strongly that because we went through your process and leaned into this idea that brand can be a business asset, we were able to boost our rents by 5% across the board.”
At the end of the day when we did the math and it was kind of like a low-key nod to us that we helped increase NOI by seven figures on this deal. This becomes an even bigger deal when you think of scaling up to bigger properties.
We were able to run our full branding playbook on this project.
From a design perspective, that project turned out beautifully. It aligned so well with the interiors that we worked with on the interior design team.
Check out a few other projects by Chris and the Authentic Team:
Click to see more.
Any other Apartment marketing tips?
Think about your personal brand. I’ve been exploring this over the last six months, specifically on LinkedIn. By oversharing your wisdom and experiences it helps you plant a flag in the ground and stand for something. This will help you meet the right people and open doors for you as well.
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Meet Natalie Linan, Director of Marketing for Black Field Management
Natalie is focused on the digital marketing industry for multifamily, homebuilders, architects, and developers. She is recognized for her extensive background in marketing, customer service, and sales- always leaving clients and surrounding peers with a smile on their faces. Staying up to date with the latest changes to the industry and always implementing a unique twist to stand out from the crowd, is why we couldn’t wait to get her thoughts on 2023.
What Apartment Marketing Trends Are You Most Excited About for 2023?
Instagram Reels! We’ve seen that this is one of the only ways to get organic reach. So this is a great space to be in for that level of engagement.
There is a bit of a learning curve but play around with it. Find a few apps that make video editing easy, experiment, and have fun with it.
What Underutilized Marketing Trends are you seeing in multifamily housing?
There is a lot of resistance to social media oftentimes from developers and architects. Many are used to putting the majority of their marketing dollars in SEO or in various ILSs. While these are important, it’s also important to allocate some dollars to the social media space. Social media allows a brand to show its personality. We encourage all staff members to get in front of the camera. It breaks a lot of barriers between residents and the onsite staff. They are seen as real people and residents aren’t afraid to come in and talk to them.
Can you share a Successful Marketing strategy?
We’ve really been focused on community outreach and cross-advertisement to extend the reach of a community. We have tried to not only focus on the community but what is outside of the walls. What businesses are nearby? We’ve had a lot of fun bringing in those businesses and introducing them to the residents.
Marketing Tips?
Get comfortable with face-to-face interactions. Meet those in your neighborhood. What is old is new again! COVID took a lot of that comfort level away from us, but it’s time to bring it back!
That wraps up our two-part Marketing Masters series! I hope you’ve learned a ton from Kristi, Grady, Chris, and Natalie. Stay connected and watch all the cool stuff they are doing on their social platforms.
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