Ever heard the phrase “work smarter, not harder”? Sometimes it’s true–sometimes it’s a matter of making sure you’re using everything you have but making it better. Enter: Evergreen content.
WHAT IS EVERGREEN CONTENT?
Called evergreen, because the content is always green and fresh, it’s your best bet for creating something that always applies, no matter the season or trends. It’s always helpful, and not time-sensitive. Another way of defining evergreen content is taking a look at what it is not. According to the Digital Marketing Institute, evergreen content is typically not a news article, statistics or data that will soon go out of date. It’s not an article focused on current events or pop culture, or something talking about hyper-trendy apartment decor. So: avoid these topics and subjects when creating your evergreen content.
HOW CAN EVERGREEN CONTENT HELP MY APARTMENT MARKETING?
Evergreen content can be helpful for your apartment marketing in a variety of ways, from helpful blog posts that can increase web traffic, to saving time (and money) with marketing materials that require fewer updates.
Let’s talk through what types of evergreen content and documents will be most helpful for your multifamily community marketing strategy.
Blogs
The more (helpful) content you’re able to provide through your website, the more traffic you’ll get to your website (and the more prospective clients you’ll have that go through the sales funnel). When you create content that’s helpful, those posts may be linked from other sites, as well, improving your SEO, and getting you higher up on the search engine results page–hello, more visitors! Consider creating topics that will work for your visitors for years to come, and require minimal updates and edits, such as:
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- Packing checklist
- Decorating a rental space
- How to submit a rental application
- Why your apartment community makes a great home
For a corporate property management company, this is an excellent timesaver for the website that covers all of your communities, so you don’t have to worry about keeping up blog posts on every separate site.
Bottom line: keep it common sense (How to ______ ) or focus on your multifamily community’s mission and vision, and how that impacts your residents.
Evergreen and Editable Documents
You’re already working hard enough to market your multifamily community. Make it easier on yourself with documents that you can easily edit and update to keep them current. Here are some places where you can save time (and money) with a quick update:
Evergreen (Editable) Price Sheet
It’s the new year and a new leasing season, and your costs have gone up. It’s time for a rent increase to keep your profit margins manageable. Pull up your price sheet, open it up in the document editor, and change it. Send it to your printer, or print in-house. You just saved time and money by doing it yourself, and it wasn’t even that hard!
Pro Tip: Make sure your columns are still aligned and your font formatting stays the same.
Editable Letterhead
Print only what you need, and update your content to fit practically any scenario. You can send letters and notices to your residents about the dog park, the trash pick up, or any planned service outages, and you’ve saved time, paper and ink. (And if you make a typo, just start over. No sweat.) It’s ready to go, and easy to update should anything else change. Ah, evergreen documents make everything better!
If you like your logo and it still mostly works, there’s no need to start from scratch. Using your current logo, zipcode can either re-create your logo for higher resolution and put it into vector file types (with any needed color changes) or refresh and modernize your current logo design, with 4-6 concept options that will remain close to the original. A refresh could be just what you need to attract attention and brighten up your marketing collateral.
Special Incentive Flyers:
Everyone loves a good deal. Think ahead when you’re creating your flyers. Consider what time of year you’d like to offer specific deals and avoid assigning specific dates for the deal. Even wording it this way can save you a bundle when it comes to design and printing: “Special good through the end of the month.” If you want to avoid generic wording, just leave a corner blank for the expiration date to be handwritten. This trick works well for commonly used specials in your apartment marketing, such as “one month free rent” for new residents.
Reviews
Resident reviews are a gold mine. You can put them virtually anywhere in your marketing to help you seal the deal for prospective residents. These can easily become evergreen if you avoid any trendy words within the quote, references to services no longer offered, or the date of the review. Stay on track with reviews when the subject matter is about your customer service, the homey feeling your residents enjoy, or the camaraderie they feel within the community. Keeping it both heartwarming and unspecific will be key to those reviews staying relevant for the long haul.
WHEN IS EVERGREEN NOT HELPFUL?
When it comes to creating your brochures, complete with photos and lists of your amenities, this will require regular updates. Photos shouldn’t be outdated. Amenities should be added to the list as you gain new ones. Apartment layouts and photos should be clear, showing off new features from completed renovations. Additionally, social media posts are not typically evergreen, because they’re so quickly consumed and discarded. That’s just the nature of social media.
If it can stand the test of time and transcend fads and trends of most any kind–it’s evergreen content. And it can serve you well, if you know how to use it. Take the ideas above, use them how you need, and start saving energy, time, and money to keep improving your apartment community for your residents! Reach out anytime for our help to design quality and custom branded evergreen content that you can use again and again.