COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines have forced every industry to pivot marketing strategies. For those developing apartment marketing strategies, it’s a particularly interesting time with a lot of unknowns.
As the pandemic continues, multifamily communities still need to provide lead generation strategies and apartment marketing ideas that drive leads and qualified opportunities. Not only is it critical to stay profitable but also to stay competitive. You still want your property to be top of mind with your target audience, and ensure your is the first property people visit once allowed to safely visit in person again.
So what are teams doing? What can your team do to stay top of mind and truly connect with prospective residents even with quarantine and shelter in place guidelines in place? Here are some apartment marketing strategies you and your team can use to keep bringing in leads throughout COVID-19 and social distancing, and even well after.
1. Virtual Open Houses
One apartment marketing strategy that is sure to get a lot of bang for relatively little “buck” is hosting a virtual open house. By hosting a virtual open house, your team can walk a large number of prospects through the property virtually. With COVID-19 and social distancing, that’s a must. Done correctly and with the right technology, these virtual experiences can bring trust and transparency into the leasing process while allowing your team to be safe and more efficient. Additionally, you can create real and personalized experiences for your prospective residents with the right virtual leasing solution. What to learn how you can start hosting virtual open houses? Check out these Five Steps to Hosting a Successful Virtual Open House to get started.
2. Pre-recorded Videos
Video is one of the best apartment marketing strategies. One Facebook executive even predicted that their platform will be all video and no text by 2021. Leveraging real time video, is on every apartment advertising ideas list. Like we’ve mentioned before, video content and rich media are the way to get prospective residents interested in your community. Think about creating DIY video content such as:
- Unit walkthroughs and floor plan tours
- Videos of the amenities
- Videos of how you managed to keep your residents engaged during COVID-19 and social distancing restrictions Obviously there are no community potlucks, but maybe you had a virtual dance off. Or a video trivia or wine tasting night.
- Introduction videos of your team. With more and more people touring properties virtually, that human element continues to be important, so keep it central in your marketing.
Posting these kinds of videos to your website or social sites is always a fun marketing idea for apartments. Plus it shows how you care about your residents – ensuring that they felt connected even when they couldn’t all be together. Don’t be afraid to use fun apartment marketing slogans or apartment puns in your videos either. Laughs are always welcome!
3. Health and Safety Measures
At this point, you likely have some strong safety precautions in place to keep your team, residents, and the community safe. Health and safety precaution marketing material is extremely important now more than ever. Use video and various forms of media to showcase all the ways you are taking precautions to ensure the safety of residents and your team. People want to feel confident and comfortable about coming to the community either to tour in person or live. Be sure to post this on your social media sites to inform prospective residents or residents on how you’re taking steps to keep your community safe. You could even post apartment quotes from residents about the changes made throughout the pandemic that made them feel safer in their community.
4. Community Outreach
If your leasing office is closed because of the pandemic, there are still plenty of apartment marketing strategies you can use. Showcase your team’s community investment through community outreach marketing ideas. Your team may be picking up trash in the area, or raking leaves, or running errands for residents who can’t – all while wearing a mask of course. Market your community by wearing the property t-shirt and get to work. Even if the leasing office isn’t closed, take a minute to get out of the office and away from the madness of operating a multifamily community in a pandemic. There’s no shortage of outreach marketing ideas for apartments that will also do great things for your surrounding neighborhood and your team. We could all use some positivity right now.
Learn more about how to shoot real estate video for multifamily marketing and leasing
Whether it’s hosting a virtual open house, showcasing pre-recorded videos, finding ways to promote safety measures or multifamily outreach marketing, there’s no shortage of apartment marketing strategies you can use right now. And, while they work during COVID-19 and social distancing, they’ll work long after. In the end, you’re finding ways to personalize the experience – showing prospects what they want to see – even from a distance.
Let Us Help You!
Close more leases, market more effectively, engage with residents and, as always, keep it real. Do you have a question or suggestion? Or want to learn more about what you read? Email us at contact@realync.com. We’d love to hear from you!