The term “marketing automation” has been popping up a lot recently in the apartment marketing arena, and there are good reasons for that.
First, let’s define what marketing automation is. At its core, marketing automation uses technology to take certain asks off the plates of apartment marketers and leasing agents, allowing them to concentrate on higher-level duties. It helps to nurture prospects and convert leases while also providing data that allows multifamily professionals to work smarter, not harder.
To drive engagement and increase apartment leads as well as meet the expectations of today’s young, tech-savvy renters, automated marketing is crucial.
Here are a few ways it can help increase efficiency for multifamily property management companies through every step of the apartment marketing funnel.
Apartment Lead Management
More interactions means more leads, but leasing agents don’t work 24/7. This is where automation in the form of chatbots comes in. Apartment chatbots live on apartment websites and, fueled by artificial intelligence, they capture the contact information of prospects as well as what they’re looking for in an apartment. This allows leasing agents to follow up with a more human touch.
It also helps to bring leasing and marketing teams together around a central database of prospect information, allowing them to align with the goal of attracting, engaging and converting leads into leases in tandem.
Scheduling
If given the choice, most people would rather not talk on the phone when the same outcome could be achieved through technology. An automated scheduler can make it easy to do business with you.
Imagine how many steps it takes to manually set up a time and date for a prospect to come in for a tour. An automated scheduler helps to nudge a prospect down the pipeline by streamlining the process. It can also send reminders via text or email to the potential renter as well as help you manage the property tour calendar on your end.
Social Media
It’s important to maintain an active presence on social media to engage prospects as well as current renters, and it also plays a strong role in your apartment website’s SEO. But in order to be successful, you need to share high-quality content that people want to read and, more importantly, share.
A curation tool designed to pull in relevant, local content like the one Respage offers makes it easy to find great stuff to share on your property Facebook and Twitter feeds. Not only that, it puts your content in a queue and posts it during times when our algorithm believes it will get the most views.
Review Solicitation
Reputation management is an important part of apartment marketing, and the key is getting happy renters to write positive reviews about your property. It’s true that people are usually more motivated to review a business or service when they have something negative to say. But if you create a positive experience for your renter, then ask them to write a review, your chances of getting higher apartment ratings will most likely increase.
For example, if a resident’s maintenance request is successfully completed, or they renew their lease, they could be automatically prompted to leave an apartment review or rating the next time they sign in to the resident portal. This could be more effective (and less awkward) than a property manager directly asking for a review.
Conclusion
The multifamily industry is competitive, and Millennials as well as Gen Zers have grown up with technology integrated into their lives. Pair that with the fact that 80 percent of Americans between 18 and 34 have no intention of buying a home anytime soon, according to a Rent.com study, and it means that marketing automation and multifamily go hand-in-hand.
Contact Respage if you’d like to learn more about how automated marketing can help you!
