Is Your Apartment Community "The Voice"?

Recently NBC launched a new show called “The Voice” and it inspired me on so many levels. From the shows concept, marketing with the use of Social Media, to the coaches them selves.  While watching this fantastic show, I could not help but see how I could use this as a learning tool.  I also saw so many ways that the Multifamily Industry is similar to The Voice.  The makers of the show and NBC seriously had the formula down pat on the marketing side and knew how to keep your attention.  How does this work for our industry?

‘The Blind Audition’- This is my favorite part—before they ever get to your community or even call, prospects judging you from your advertising.  One of the things about the Voice that really impressed me was how they used Twitter, FaceBook, Blogging, YouTube and ITunes to market their show and artists. Each media was different so it kept you going from one media to another, to read/see more about the show.  They kept it fresh and exciting all at the same time. Do you stick to what everyone else is doing or do you jump out of the box and become different?  It is very important that the way you advertise, immediately sets you apart from your competition. Can your community advertising pass the Blind Audition?

‘The Battle Round’-Congratulations you have passed the Blind Audition now instead of 32 properties you are up against 8 other properties. How you answer the phone will determine if you move to the next round. This is very important! Are you upbeat, positive and willing to answer your future resident questions? Many of us get so busy with the everyday stuff that we forget that we are auditioning for an audience with a future resident every time we answer the phone.  Stop what you are doing, breathe, and smile before you answer the phone! Your prospect will hear the smile and feel your undivided attention.  (For great tips on “Leasing With a Smile” visit The Training Factor, Jonathan Sarr's blog.) Make sure you answer all the questions your potential resident may have. Push to make the appointment. This is your moment to shine. If you don’t make it through the ‘Battle Round’, you will lose the prospect.

‘The Sing Of’- Whew that was tough but you did it you made it threw the battle round!  Now it’s time to compete with the top four communities your future resident is going to look at. At this point anything can happen, you can make it to the semi-finals or you can go home. I prefer to make it to the semi-finals and then take it to the finals by winning. You have succeeded in scheduling the appointment during your phone call. Did you immediately follow up with an email, text message or a hand written thank you card?  I know you’re thinking, ‘why would I do that before they came in to the property?’  Simple you want to make a statement; you want to stay in the front of their minds! With all of our awesome technology why not use it to our full ability?  Instead of sending a regular email, why not send a video email of you or team in front of the community sign with balloons or in the apartment they will be living in?  If you do this, include a shot of one of the things that the future resident said was important to them~~like big closets.  This will help increase the comfort level of the future resident when they finally get to the property.  You are continuing to build a rapport with them. How you follow up to your phone conversation, prior to the appointment sets the tone for their visit.

‘The Semi-Finals’- GREAT!!  Your future resident just called and they are on their way to your community! Now it’s narrowed down to the final four communities!  They loved your video follow up. (If it was on ITunes you definitely would be number 1 on the charts!)  Your future resident comes in and they are ready to get the show on the road. Put a smile on your face and get to working on making sure these future residents do not leave with out placing an application. You know the tour will be awesome because you made sure the apartment you are going to show them looks great and smells great. In fact, the entire property looks like it could be on a postcard! The best part is you have a special gift just for them in, waiting the unit.  People LOVE surprises especially if it is a free one! Who says you have to wait until they move in to give a gift?  Keep it simple, something small, like a candle or pot holders with your community name on them, just something that will remind them of the Community and you.  Be memorable! Remember the video follow you did pre-tour well now it’s time to create the video tour. Yup, you are going to give the future resident the video camera and ask them to record their tour of your apartment home so they can show it to their friends and family when they leave.  When the tour has ended make sure you record THEM holding the gift in whatever room it would most likely be used.

‘The Finals’- WOW!!  This is it! You made it from the Blind Auditions, the Battle Rounds, to The Sing Off, and the Semi-finals to The Finals! Your future resident just told you they loved the community and the apartment! But wait~~they are saying that it is between you and one other apartment community! They want a day to think about what they were going to do. You try one more tactic~~ the Look and Lease Same Day Special.  They tell you they appreciate it but really want to make sure they make the right decision, after all, this is where they will live for the next 12 months. So what do you do now to make sure you come out as “The Voice” of all the communities?  Remember that video you recorded of the tour? Put the video up on You Tube make sure you mark it private and only the future resident has access to this. Then send an email/text message to the future resident saying that you have a special video that you wanted to share. The future resident will be able to review how they felt and see what they loved about the apartment all over again! Yup, I know crazy and brilliant at the same time!  Give the future resident some time but make sure you call them before you leave for the day to see if they have any questions. Keep following up with the future resident. Be memorable!  In the end only one community can be “The Voice”.  It is your job to make sure it is your community more often than not.

What are you doing to make this happen? See what is working and what is not.  Sometimes it can be something as simple as the way you answered the phone, to the apartment appearance, or even how you are advertising.  Remember the first thing people see is your advertisements.  If you have a ‘boring ho-hum just like everyone else’s’ advertising approach, then you have already lost the blind audition. Do not be afraid to stand out and be different. Be memorable!!

8 Marketing Ideas For The Slow Season

Congratulations everyone for making it threw the busy leasing season into the slow season. But don’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet because now is the time to start marketing for the next busy season. I’m very sorry to bring you this sad news that you will not be able to take a big breath & relax or be able to catch up on some things we neglected. Now is the time where we should be marketing more than ever our property so that come the pre-busy (Mid Feb-May) and the really busy season (June-October) we are jamming with prospects and not twiddling our fingers wondering what the heck happened. To help us all out with this I have some great marketing ideas that I have personally used as a Leasing Agent on Affordable Communities. Grab your running shoes & put them on because it’s time to run with these ideas!

Candy Canes Anyone?

1)      The month of December is a magical month that brings joy to everyone. We can be Santa Helpers with providing Day Cares with Candy Canes for when Santa comes for a visit. The past two years I have gone to the Dollar Store or Wal-Mart picked up a bunch of Candy Canes, I really mean I bought out the whole shelf; yes I got lots of really funny looks. Each candy cane had a ribbon with a cute little business card attach advertising what our current special was. The candy canes were then delivered to the Day Cares to be given out when Santa Clause came. Another great place to market using candy canes is your local mall. Every year Santa visits the malls and photography studios. This is a great place to get your community notice by large masses of potential residents by donating candy canes. Every town will have a Christmas Tree Lighting Program and yup you guessed it Santa will be there and towns will need someone to donate a goody for the kids to have after visiting with Santa. With the technology we have today simply incorporate a QR code on the business card this will get the kids asking the parents what the funny square is and who can resist a QR Code?!?! Look for places that Santa will be at and volunteer to donate candy canes with your community information attached.

Santa Makes A Great Human Directional & Paint Ball Target: Using

2)      We are always looking for a way to draw attention from the drive by traffic to our communities and what better way than to have Santa Clause as a Human Directional! I remember about two Christmases’ ago at a property I was working at we convinced our grounds keeper to put on the Santa Clause costume & hold our sign that said “We have Hot Chocolate & Great Rental Rates” out on a busy road by the mall. He did this for two hours every day and would even sing holiday songs and shout out “Merry Christmas” to those driving by. I will never forget the day when he was shot with a paintball gun while standing outside as Santa. That was one of the luckiest days our community had during that month, his being shot by the paint ball brought in prospects because they felt sorry for him and they moved in February!

Photographers Can Be Your New Best Friend:

3)      Portrait Studios are really busy this year; see if you can contact your local Life touch studio to see if you can strike up a partnership with them. Tell the Portrait Manager that will you take their coupons and put them on all your residents’ doors. Remember to make sure they have your property name on them so the manager knows where they are coming from. Don’t be afraid to ask the Portrait Manager if you can stuff the flyers in the portrait packages or tape to the envelopes. In regards to the flyers try to use a flyer that speaks warmth as it will be cold & dreary for many when they pick up their packages. Also if you post an expiration date on the flyers make sure it is over a 60 day period as many wait a month to pick up pictures to avoid the crush of people. The last thing you want to do is eliminate a potential customer with an expired special.

ATM’s & Clubs Are a Great Place To Meet People:

4) New' Year's Eve is the busiest time for ATM’s, clubs, bars & liquor stores. These are all great places to reach large masses of potential residents. I know you are thinking seriously Jolene you really think we are going to give up going out to party just to market our community?!?!?! No I'm not, but here is what you can do to tap into the mass majority of people. If you are going to a club take some business cards and tape them to the back of the bathroom stall doors - this really does work. During the day take all your promotional flyers or business cards and tag the heck out of the ATM's close to busy areas like the clubs or shopping centers. People are going to need money New Year's Eve and New Year's Day; what better way to reach people than at the ATM. Please make sure you have permission from your management company to do this. I have been posting on ATM’s for two years and have seen great results especially on holiday weekends!

Bandit Signs Can Be Your New Best Friend:

5) Bandit Signs are a very inexpensive way to market your community. Your bandit signs should be put everywhere that is going to be busy during the Holiday's- you know those places where you sit in traffic for 30 minutes to turn into the mall.  The key is to get people to see your name and remember you. Keep the signs simple and your phone number large. Stick them at major intersections of shopping centers and the Highway. Also look at the zip codes where you are getting approvals from on your Credit and Criminals, Core logic has this capability to show you. Target those zip codes &  branch out of your general area.

Tax Season:

6) January is 1 month closer to Tax season....yea!!!! This is a great time to tap into your H&R Blocks, Jackson Hewitt etc.  Set an appointment with the regional to see what marketing partnership you can strike up. The key is to make sure you have a special that is exclusively for their customers. Every year I do this I average about ten leases off of this idea and we only did this with H & R Block, they put us in ten different locations in Jacksonville and Orange Park. In-exchange we invited them to talk to our residents and put there flyer's in our newsletters.

Super bowl Weekend:

7) Super bowl Weekend= Pizza and Taco Beal! These are probably one of the greatest ways to reach a large number of people in one night alone! It is going to take some planning about 4 to 6 weeks to secure your of in these stores but it is worth it.  Taco Beal that are franchise will put your marketing material in their bags for free. All you have to do is become a business partner of theirs. Taco Beal has the mega box deals that go fast for Super Bowl Parties & are great for using a sticky note flyer! Remember super bowl Weekend is the busiest weekend for these two restaurants. On average, Papa Johns on Sunday night will sell over 5,000 pizzas. Get in touch with the GM and see what you can work out as far as cross promotional for both companies. This is a perfect time to use these two ideas as you are about to enter your pre-busy leasing season and people will remember seeing your marketing material.

Hearts Are A Blooming For Your Apartments:

8) Valentine’s Day is coming and hearts will be blooming at the stores. Get a bunch of those small heart boxes tag a fun note saying" become our sweet heart at Smith Apartments with a $299 Move In!  Call 904-767-6889 TODAY. “Hit all the local business with these fun really inexpensive items and give to the employees. This is a great way to incorporate Valentines in your marketing and this will remain in the prospect's head.

Remember this key point: we as human love to use our sight for everything. Our sight is what helps us decide on what to eat, drink, buy and guess where to LIVE! So if we want prospects to come to us then we need to make sure they can see us! The best thing you can do for your property & owners is to start marketing over the next few months aggressively. Remember you’re not just marketing apartments you are marketing a life style. Now I have shared some of my best secrets for direct outreach marketing during the slow season now it’s your turn to put those running shoes to the test & hit the pavement running- on your mark get set go!

Jolene Sopalski

Assistant Community Manager & Owner of FLY Apartment Leasing
Idea’s on Facebook!

*originally posted on Multifamily Insiders on December 1,2010*

Jolene Sopalski: Leasing & Marketing Ideas For Multifamily Housing Industry: How Important Are Resident Activities to you and y...

Jolene Sopalski: Leasing & Marketing Ideas For Multifamily Housing Industry: How Important Are Resident Activities to you and y...: "Resident Activities are very important selling tool for us! I remember four years ago when I was on the apartment hunt looking for an apartm..."

Sumer Marketing Ideas

A friend and I  were talking about some fun summertime marketing ideas and she came up with several that I really like and wanted to share.  Suntan Lotion, Beach Toys, Fans, and Water Bottles are great inexpensive ways to market your community.  I know your thinking, huh?  Think about it if you live close to the beach, lake, water park or even to a public community pool everyone goes there. What better way to reach a mass group of people than  with these items. 

Suntan Lotion- Check with your local dollar store and buy as many as you can afford to. If you happen to have a resident who works for a distributing company ask if they could donate suntan lotion. We have one property where a resident gave them a case for a pool party. Once you have your suntan lotion put a label ( address label) with your community info and special  on the bottle. Everyone needs sun block and who does not want FREE. Hand these out at the Beach, Lake, Water Park, Public Community Pool or event in your community.

Beach Toys- Local Dollar Store, Walmart, Family Dollar etc put a label on these items with your company info and special. These are great to hand out at the beach, children's park that has a sandbox, lake or even community events.

Fans- You can fine the fans with a water bottle attach at the Dollar Stores, Walmart, Family Dollar for a very low price.  Put a label with the community info and special give out at any of the above mention areas.

Water Bottles- This one I love the idea and can't wait to try it. I was at the beach with my family and there was a guy walking up and down selling cold ice water for $2.00 and thought hey I could do that but give it out for FREE to everyone. Just put a label or if you have money order some bottles with your name on the labels already. These are just a few fun summertime marketing ideas that are relatively inexpensive to use. Hope you have fun and let me know how these work for you.


Jolene Sopalski
Leasing Specialist
WRH Realtyjolene.sopalski@gmail

* Orignally Written On Multi Family Insiders June 2010*