The VIP type experience doesn’t have to be limited five-star hotels and 24-hour concierge service. With your apartment community, you can attract residents by having every bit of neighborhood knowledge at your fingertips. By showing your investment in the community and the area you’re (working) in, your residents, both current and prospective, will feel more at ease sticking around and staying for a while. And they’ll be excited to live there. Why? Because you have the most trustworthy neighborhood recommendations!
Inside Scoop
Any multifamily community can handle giving basic info to its residents: trash/recycling schedule, upcoming maintenance work, seasonal pool dates. But you’re not basic—you’re the best community in the area. Or at least you can be, if you think beyond. Provide the best neighborhood recommendations, with insider knowledge, and your residents will come to rely on you not only for the roof over their head, but they’ll also credit you for telling them the best burger joint in the area. Consider yourself their guide, because improving resident-management relationships will boost morale and resident retention and your google review ratings.
Walkability
Knowing your walkscore and showing it off in your marketing materials (if it’s a good one!) can be helpful. Quick reminder: a Walkscore is a numbered “walkability” score that ranges from 0-100 for a location. It shows how easy or far routes are from the resident location to specific amenities a person may need on a typical day (shopping, food, drink, transit). Having a walkable neighborhood is important for residents who are not car-reliant, or who prefer to have a lively neighborhood with plenty of things to do and see within walking distance. Note: Having usable sidewalks is helpful for the score, as well—some more suburban or rural locations might not have these, and the walkability score will be affected.
School Information
If your community is home to families, you’ll certainly want to have the neighborhood’s school information on hand. Check greatschools.org to see which schools are nearest you, who they serve (elementary, middle or high school students) and how they’re rated. It will also be helpful if you have start and end dates for the school district (or bookmarked at the front desk, along with the school schedules). If you have preschools and daycares (or private schools) in the area, ask if you can help by having paper applications at your front desk to give in your welcome packet for new residents. They might be happy to know that you’ll be sending them some inquiries, too!
It will also be helpful for your community families to know which of these schools have before- and after-school care. If the schools have a brochure for that, keep that handy as well. At the very least, having a listing of local schools on your community’s “area” page will be very helpful.
The Best Recommendations
When moving to any new community, it’s super helpful to receive neighborhood recommendations from those who are “in the know”—especially from someone you may see on the regular. Take, for instance, the best items on a menu that might not be obvious to the new kid in town. (Does Al’s Pancake World somehow have the best egg rolls? Tell them!)
HOBBIES
It’s also worth noting where the best shopping is, and having a few nearby parks—including dog parks—noted. If there are hiking or running trails, keep those in mind for the runners and hikers in your community when they ask.
FOOD
As far as food recommendations, you can almost count on being asked where the best: burgers, pizza, Mexican, Chinese, and Thai places are. Take note, and if possible: have a few menus handy.
ATTRACTIONS & TRANSIT
When family or friends are in town visiting, have some recommendations for local attractions, and the best way to get there (Ride share? Subway? Walk? Bus?) Give tips on how to take transit, and what the options are for rides (single use, day pass, multi-use, etc.) and where they can find those transit cards/that information.
NECESSITIES
For those not-as-fun recommendations, it’s good to know where the closest emergency room or 24-hour clinics or pharmacies are located. When you have a resident who needs medical attention (not a medical emergency) be ready to point them in the right direction.
DELIVER YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS
While we’re in the age of “I’ll just look it up on my phone” it’s even better to anticipate the needs of your residents and have tailored recommendations at the ready—both while you’re at the desk, over the phone, and in your marketing materials in a beautiful neighborhood map (made by zipcode creative!)
Connections
You’ve got the connections. As the apartment manager, you might know some other business managers, so work on building up your partnerships. Cross-market the others. Trade flyers, host pet adoption events, or consider offering a rent incentive program for the employees of large local companies or organizations. You can even work on putting together a neighborhood fair in your community with local cafes, eateries, and local businesses—and advertise it all for current residents, while advertising and opening up the event to prospective residents, too. If you’re lost on where to start, check out our blog on marketing your multifamily community through local partnerships here.
PARTNERSHIPS
Talk to the businesses around you, and see if you can snag a coupon specifically for the residents in your community, say 10% at the pizza place just around the corner. When you score a deal for your residents, advertise it in your resident newsletter and at the front desk to make sure everyone who wants to take advantage can. That’s a win-win-win. Residents get a deal, local businesses get patronized, and you improve your recognition around town and get to keep making the community go ‘round.
If you aren’t manning the front desk all hours of the night, make sure you have this information in a spot where your residents can find it: on your social media posts, in your facebook resident group, on your community board, and especially in your beautiful resident welcome packet! The best part about being in a community is the food—er, rather, it’s the people. Showing off every gem in your neighborhood is one of the biggest selling points you can make—so study up!
LSEVEN artwork is ©Fairfield Residential | Work executed by Stacey Feeney, owner of zipcode creative, while under creative direction and employment at Fairfield Residential.