Author: Stacey Feeney

Corporate Branding for Multifamily

Written by Stacey Feeney on November 20, 2024. Posted in All Articles, Branding. No Comments on Corporate Branding for Multifamily

Corporate branding and community asset branding are similar…but not exactly the same in multifamily.

Multifamily corporate branding differs in its goals, audience, and the way it’s rolled out. But the strategy is much the same:

Get employee buy-in
Keep things consistent and clear
Maintain the brand promise

Let’s review all the aspects of corporate branding.

Goals of Corporate Branding

The goal with branding is to help a business—a company—be successful. But the steps to get to that point are less straightforward. There are four common groups and associated goals that will see your multifamily brand and need to resonate with it. Depending on who you want to attract, your goal may shift.

GROUP/GOAL 1: GET INVESTORS

Striking, consistent branding is a show of strength to investors—the effort you put in can display professionalism and what they can expect going forward if they’re looking to make a sound investment. If your company’s primary goal is to attract investors, they should be your target audience. Strategically develop the corporate brand to resonate with them while communicating the company’s services and capabilities to create trust.

GROUP/GOAL 2: SELL THIRD-PARTY MANAGEMENT SERVICES TO OWNERS

If you want to sell your third-party management services to owners, get your culture aligned. Similar to how any business owner vets and interviews potential employees—they’re a representation of your brand. Creating a clear corporate multifamily brand can help speed up the process of selling third-party management services to owners. The clearer a corporate brand is internally, the clearer it will likely be externally, with all your business transactions and partnerships.

GROUP/GOAL 3: WOO AND FILTER IN TOP-TIER EMPLOYEES

If you want to attract employees, make sure your brand is embedded in your culture. Not all employees are top–of-the-line. You have to attract or train them, and then: retain them. The branding in place can do this by helping create a culture around the corporate brand. When your culture is established, the corporate brand helps do some of the heavy lifting for you—the prospective employees may be able self-sort and be attracted by the brand that resonates with them. Additionally, your brand promise is lived out in how you interact and treat your staff. They won’t believe a word of your “We want everyone to feel at home” mission statement if you berate your employees.

GROUP/GOAL 4: ATTRACT AND RETAIN RESIDENTS

If your main goal is to get leases signed, make sure your brand is air-tight. Seeing a corporate brand that has its stuff together is good for a number of reasons—residents will have some semblance of brand recognition, and your management company’s portfolio may end up being top-of-mind for the residents when they have to relocate if they’ve already had a good experience at another community your corporate brand is managing.

Also: If you’re aiming to make your brand more resident-facing (more details on brand visibility in the next section) and your website will function as a “mini ILS” to show off a searchable version of your portfolio of properties, you’ll want to gear your messaging and brand toward the end user.

Corporate Brand Visibility at Property Level

Say you saw a sign for “Sunseeker Hills—Managed by Zenith Properties”. Does that feel out of place? Normal? Too much? Not enough? How should a corporate brand show up at the property level? That completely depends on the owner, the operator, the desires of both.

Depending on how your corporate brand wants to show up will initiate its visibility level.

RESIDENT FACING

If you want residents to have clear knowledge of the property management company that operates the building, make your brand more visible. This can come at a variety of levels:

Light – The brand may appear minimally in resident announcements, and staff may wear corporate branded attire (think “Managed by X Companies” in smaller lettering underneath the asset name, for example.

Medium – For a little more visibility, having “Property Name by Corporate Brand” stated on everything brings it up a notch—all collateral marketing and signage. This level of visibility makes it clear to prospects and residents alike who operates the building.

Heavy – For the most visibility, brand the properties as the corporate brand (like hotels) or a portfolio-wide brand. This will propel brand awareness and recognition in the market

BEHIND THE SCENES

There’s also the option to have your corporate brand completely independent of your property brand. If you want to keep them separate and have the operating brand kept behind the scenes, that’s a totally fine and valid choice. Note: If the residents don’t see the corporate brand, it should still be developed and maintained for groups beyond the resident (investors, owners, operators).

Types of Property Brands

Of course, not all property brands are the same. From sharing a logo to being completely independent (on appearance)—there are a few paths a property brand can take.

CORPORATE BRANDED

Corporate branded properties have a property brand which is the same as the corporate brand. Same name, same logo, same visual identity.

PORTFOLIO BRANDED

Portfolio branded communities are all branded the same as one another, but still individual from the corporate brand. From one property to the next, the name, logo and visual identity are the same, but the corporate brand is entirely independent and different.

PORTFOLIO NAMED

With portfolio named properties, each property has a twist on one name—they are individual brand identities, but have the same Portfolio name. Yet, it’s still individual from the corporate brand. In this case “Alta” is the portfolio name.

PROPERTY BRANDED

This is currently the most common way to manage corporate brands and property brands. The property brand is fully individual from the corporate brand and other properties owned or managed by the same company. They don’t look or sound related.

Creating Corporate Brand Loyalty

Every brand—whether in multifamily or another industry—needs to create brand loyalty. Crafting corporate brand loyalty requires a more specific strategy, attuned to the right audience.

AFFORDABILITY

Making costs transparent, and making pricing simple is part of the key to affordability (and building up a reputation as a corporate brand that cares). Keep it simple and straightforward without nickel-and-diming with deposits and fees all up and down your leasing charges. Even if you’re a luxury brand.

REWARDS PROGRAMS

Speaking of hotels, creating brand loyalty can stem from a robust rewards program. At hotels, you can often claim rewards from staying at the same corporate brand (Hilton Honors or Marriott Bonvoy, for example). These rewards could help you earn discounts or a free stay, depending on how much you use them. Similarly, a corporate brand may create a rewards program for someone renewing for another year, referring a friend, or simply paying rent on time.

Though it’s not always the best bang for your buck, Starbucks Rewards work in that it keeps people coming back—because they can earn double stars on specific drinks or at particular times or days. Getting something free makes us a little blind on how much we’re spending to get that free coffee.

WELLNESS INITIATIVES

Taking into account mental and physical health can help create a culture shift in your brand.

Consider offering different programs like:

A Mental Health Day – A day staff can take off for mental health, even if more for corporate employees can show residents the company cares for the total wellbeing of the employees
Classes and Services at the Fitness Center – A fully rounded health experience can go beyond gym equipment
Health Education – Bringing in local professionals to teach classes or guide residents through meditation
Information for Mental Health – The more assistance with hotlines and local services you offer, the clearer it is that your brand truly cares

PHILANTHROPIC INVOLVEMENT

This is a big one. Seeing a corporation do good in the world brings all the warm fuzzies. If you know that paying a little more for one brand will help you support them bringing better food access to those in need—you may be convinced that your extra dollars are money well-spent.

Showing this community involvement can be a little tricky, but looking at what your audience cares most about can help you find a few causes that align.

Depending on your target audience, your goals for your multifamily corporate branding may shift in strategy. But keep your brand solid and steady.

Brand for Differentiation: A Case Study of Paragon Ranch

Written by Stacey Feeney on November 3, 2024. Posted in All Articles, Branding. No Comments on Brand for Differentiation: A Case Study of Paragon Ranch

Being able to brand for differentiation can be used to your complete and full advantage—if you know how to wield it. For Zipcode Creative client, Paragon Ranch, it was vital to find a way to serve up differentiation to attract the right residents. It came in the somewhat-unlikely form of pickleball (the fastest growing sport in the U.S.)

Paragon Ranch is a newly launched multifamily development just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. It’s attracting prospective residents who want to lead a more elite lifestyle, in a way that is attainable. So finding outside-of-the-box recreational amenities to offer, like pickleball and golf, was a good way to create interest and demand.

Follow along as we walk through the ways high-value experiences can create brand differentiation (and how), especially at Paragon Ranch.

Background and Context

ABOUT PARAGON RANCH

Paragon Ranch is the first new build of its kind in the area in a decade. It brings exceptional service and is targeted to both young professionals and empty nesters. Being located close to the city and to nature allows residents to find a good balance between work and play.

The goal of Paragon Ranch was to create a spacious, sanctuary-like living experience to get away from never-ending home maintenance to-do lists and pressing work deadlines—to focus solely on leisure.

TRENDS IN MULTIFAMILY AMENITIES

Unique amenities are popping up everywhere. Pickleball, which used to be the domain of senior living offerings, is now becoming much more popular in conventional communities. The active tennis-badminton sport is suddenly resonating with a younger, more diverse audience—including the young professional audience that Paragon Ranch was working toward capturing. Golf is also popular with the younger set, and Paragon Ranch’s amenities feature a golf simulator, as well.

LOCATION ANALYSIS

Given Paragon Ranch’s location, between plenty of outdoor recreational adventures, it’s able to draw a demographic that’s focused on sports, and values both outdoor activities and social experiences. Pickleball can’t be played alone—so creating the opportunity for teamwork and physical activity was an ideal amenity offering.

Research and Strategy

Of course, what good is an amenity if you’re not sure how it will land with the ideal residents?

INSIGHT GATHERING

By gathering research focused on the local demographic and their interests, we were able to help Paragon Ranch inform the branding. We specifically discovered a heavy local interest in (and passion for):

Sports
Recreation
Golf
Outdoor activities in fair weather

Taking each of these and lining it up with the community brand’s goals and messaging was a surefire way to give the people—that the community wanted—what they want. We used research to our advantage, and it helped form the ideal resident profile we could more closely target. With more data and knowledge, comes better strategy and improved differentiation.

IMPORTANCE OF IRP (IDEAL RESIDENT PROFILE)

The IRP shaped every bit of our branding efforts—knowing what kind of voice would resonate with them, identifying what priorities needed to be, and what kinds of values would make sense to reach the IRP. Making sure the branding worked with the prospective residents’ preferences and lifestyle aspirations (relaxation, outdoor activity, social time) helped us guide the amenity offerings and focus the messaging around what would be most vital to the community’s success.

LINKING STRATEGY AND DIFFERENTIATION

As we’ve noted before in other blogs and posts, competition is fierce out there in the multifamily world. Crafting a way to differentiate your brand is the best set-yourself-apart strategy we can think of.

By using pickleball as an amenity focus (aligning with the IRP’s priorities and desires) we’re helping place Paragon Ranch top-of-mind for prospects. It’s not common for communities to place a pickleball court front and center in their lineup of offerings. But that’s how Paragon Ranch is going to stake its unique claim.

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Brand Development and Concept

VISUAL AND VERBAL CONCEPTS

Based on a country club experience with amenities on par with something exclusive and sporty—the core of the brand gets combined with accessible distinction. By creating refined and aspirational messaging focused on outdoor options and sport-related amenities, Paragon Ranch was crafted to attract sports and outdoor enthusiasts.

Visually, the fonts recall an old school sport uniform script. The logomark echoes the lines of sport courts. The stock photos use pickleball as a focal point. Everything about it says: active and luxe-lite.

The brand voice itself used some aspects to steer clear of too-casual or silly of a brand voice. By using brand attributes like “timeless” “connected” and “optimistic” the brand voice could stay grounded and have wide appeal, but still offer a professional and engaging tone. This gave a sense of the quality of lifestyle that residents could look forward to at Paragon Ranch.

FUTURE EXECUTION

As for implementing these brand identity elements, Paragon Ranch hasn’t yet opened for pre-leasing, but is expected in 2025. When pre-leasing begins, telling the full brand story and using every (branded) visual at their disposal will help them enhance their differentiation.

For example, for every marketing channel, there’s a way to weave in that “elite” sporting theme. From pickleball tournament resident events to golf gear giveaways for new leases signed, the strategy options are endless.

Paragon Ranch is paving the way with multifamily branding with recreational amenities as part of its core identity. By using a brand strategy to attract residents that want what they offer, they’ve set up their community to stand out in the market.

Multifamily Brand Activation

Written by Stacey Feeney on October 28, 2024. Posted in All Articles, Branding. No Comments on Multifamily Brand Activation

A brand gets built, and fully developed to set a property apart. But what happens if it’s never put to work, and activation happens too late?

Brand activation is crucial to drive engagement and create a successful leasing machine in multifamily. If you don’t allow space and opportunity for a brand to connect with its desired audience, the value prospects place on your brand won’t be strong or stable.

Instead: create a marketing strategy that builds up your brand’s image and encourages your prospects and residents to take action. Brands today often have fewer physical touchpoints. Activating the brand early brings it to life, creating brand awareness for your prospective residents.

There are six key disciplines within brand activation worth exploring. Keep reading if your brand is “ready to connect”.

When to Activate Your Brand

Marketing teams shouldn’t wait until the last minute to activate their brand. Brand activation should be part of the equation from the start. Historically, maybe you did “fine” in the past without pre-leasing so early—but what worked before might not keep working in your favor.

EARLY ACTIVATION FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION

When building a new ground-up development, that community’s brand activation should be integral from the beginning, with brand development occurring 18-24 months before the first units are delivered.

For example, once the brand is established, create an interest list landing page (“Interested in living at Palms Place? Drop your email here, and you’ll be the first to know when our units are ready to lease!”). Then begin driving traffic to it through all forms of brand activation—see the next section.

WHY ONGOING ACTIVATION IS KEY

Lease-up period calls for activation. But after the lease-up hits your goals…deactivate? No! Don’t ever “deactivate” your brand. While your occupancy may be high, failing to continue to activate your brand through various channels can lessen your “top of mind” status for your residents and prospects. When a brand is at the top of a list, that’s the worst time to rest on your laurels. Continue marketing and maintaining brand awareness for prospects—it’s the best way to keep occupancy up.

The Six Disciplines of Multifamily Brand Activation

#1 COMMERCE MARKETING

How a company goes about generating commerce is commerce marketing—making the connection between the product (apartment units) and sales (leases signed).

How can you achieve this with multifamily communities?

Online, activate the brand using the community website. Align it fully with your brand’s visual and verbal identity, and make sure that it’s consistent across channels so your prospects recognize and trust you.

In person, activate the brand in the physical spaces of your community with branded signage, interior design/art, and printed collateral. Your move-in guides, welcome packets, and clubhouse lobby should all feel cohesive. (This is where your prospects are deciding whether to sign the lease.) And if you’re under construction, fence banners, leasing trailer banners, and “Coming Soon” signs near intersections are all part of it!

#2 CONTENT MARKETING

The best way to be top of mind for your prospects is through proving your usefulness. Engage your prospective residents with content that they want to have. This could look like tips on moving, furnishing small spaces, how to keep up with a young professional lifestyle, and plenty of neighborhood “hit lists”.

Brands that feel more relevant to their target audience have likely created useful content. This can be accomplished through timely blog posts, creative social media, and email newsletters. If you want your brand to be sought-after, make yourself useful.

(Likewise, if you want your brand to be recognizable, be consistent across your channels with brand voice and tone.)

#3 EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING

“And how did that make you feel?” is no longer just a line reserved for therapists addressing their clients. It could now appear in a post-marketing experience survey

Create events that prompt residents and prospects to take action. When residents can interact with the brand through an in-person community event, your brand has the opportunity to make a lasting impression.

By hosting neighborhood pop-up events (like a volunteer sign-up fair for local nonprofits!) you can show off the community’s friendly, neighborly spirit. Other ideas, like fitness classes or food truck gatherings can bring your community together and create a stronger feeling of connectedness. If community is part of your brand, plan to prioritize these types of events.

P.S. Bonus points if it’s “instagram-worthy” with decor or giveaways—that could get you more traction with the next brand activation tactic.

#4 INFLUENCER MARKETING

While this idea of “influencers” is a bit polarizing, it’s still a way to connect on an emotional level with your prospects and residents—because it’s deeply human.

Real residents can be your brand advocates. By using their testimonials to make content, you can step to the side and let their experience speak volumes. Choose your most loyal, satisfied residents to help you with this.

Pro-tip: Try partnering with Rentgrata. They enable residents to share their experiences directly with prospects. Creating transparency and access is a huge step toward trust and loyalty (and future brand ambassadors).

#5 PROMOTION MARKETING

Everyone loves a deal. Costco gives out samples. Grocery stores mail coupons. B2C companies create sweepstakes: “Win a $15,000 home makeover!”

But how can multifamily brands better activate using promotions? Time it right. Create incentives and special offers that promote your community before you think you need to. Use promotions to activate earlier and with more frequency. For example, for pre-leasing, drive urgency: “If you’re the first to reserve a new unit, you get a $150 gift card!”

Again: everyone loves to get more for less—so if you create a promotion, try it through multiple channels and see what sticks. This could be time-based (lease by the end of October and get one month free rent!) or referral based: “Tell a friend, and get a $200 gift card when they sign a 12-month lease.”

Run the promotions through direct mail, social media ads, email campaigns (or newsletters) and through digital display ads.

Generally, once your promotion has run its course, your prospect should feel happy enough with the value they received that they will want to stay. The promotion is the way to get them (or their friend) in the door.

#6 RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

The human element of marketing cannot be underestimated. Your leasing agents are the bread and butter of your brand—the original brand ambassadors.

Each interaction, each phone call, each tour—they all add up into a total brand experience. Every positive interaction with a prospect is an opportunity to build up your brand on a human connection (sometimes in person) and solidify in actuality the culture you’ve built in theory.

This looks like: training leasing staff to understand your mission, vision and values—particularly as it relates to customer service, and personal touches during tours, follow-ups, and resident events.

How to, Really: Multifamily Brand Activation

What does multifamily brand activation look like in the real world? It’s likely less complicated than you think.

An excellent brand + marketing strategy = brand activation

For example, an urban luxury community could create a pre-leasing landing page and set up a targeted influencer campaign at the same time. Create a brand, then create buzz.

Or, a community in the suburbs might focus on experiential marketing through hosting monthly resident events. By showing off their resident events on their website and social channels, it helps residents feel connected through the events and develops excitement for prospects.

Brand activation should be continuous. Just as you wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) take too long a pause from updating your social media feeds, you shouldn’t assume that your brand will remain top of mind without consistent marketing. Continue to engage prospects and residents so your brand maintains its status and keeps your leasing pipeline running smoothly.

If you’re not sure which brand activation method to choose—or you have something in mind but don’t have the time or energy to get it done—reach out to Zipcode Creative. We’re happy to help you create a tailored brand and leverage your marketing strategy to activate your multifamily brand.

Brand Awareness for Multifamily Communities

Written by Stacey Feeney on October 20, 2024. Posted in All Articles, Branding, Marketing. No Comments on Brand Awareness for Multifamily Communities

Brand awareness for multifamily is tough. How can you measure it, exactly? Sure, residents may mention your community or brand by name in reviews or social posts, but even then it becomes difficult to get accurate data. Insights from experts, like our friends at Widewail, can provide insight on the number of times a brand name is mentioned; however, it may skew toward the negative, when a person is more likely to leave a specific review. That doesn’t paint the right picture, necessarily.

Running a brand awareness ad campaign is possibly another option—but beyond showing clicks to the website or a number of scheduled tours, it doesn’t tell us about:

Previous brand awareness
If the ad campaign helped make a long-lasting impression and create brand awareness
Brand perception—if a person became aware of the brand (will they take action? Become loyal?)

Let’s dig in and see what we can control and track for better results for brand awareness in multifamily.

Brand Awareness Types

There are multiple types of brand awareness. Brand recall, brand recognition, and top-of-mind brand awareness. Breaking it down even further:

BRAND RECALL

Brand recall is essentially the percentage in a given number of people that can actually recollect your brand. This is step number one in putting your brand on the map. It’s typically determined by a survey that goes out that asks, “Have you seen or heard of this brand before?”

Brand recall is helpful particularly in comparison with competitors. If prospective residents have heard of a property management company brand before (“Oh, I’ve seen their management signs outside my friend’s apartment!”), they may be more likely to explore living in that community. You may not be a known quantity to them in the truest sense, but they’ve heard of you or seen you.

Brand recall example: A resident seeking a dog-friendly apartment in Sarasota recalls your brand after seeing an ad that talked about your pet-friendly amenities.

BRAND RECOGNITION

Where brand recall is about remembering, brand recognition is…recognizing a brand through its color, logo, shape, or other attributes. When placed next to another similar brand, those who recognize your brand know the immediate difference.

Again, the better the brand awareness—in this case, brand recognition—the better chances you have at being “chosen”.

Brand recognition example: A prospect sees your signature green logo and immediately thinks of premium amenities. (Bingo!)

TOP-OF-MIND BRAND AWARENESS

When I say facial tissues, you say “Kleenex.” To most, there’s almost no competition for that kind of product. Kleenex is now the term that has replaced the idea of facial tissue. Similar to Band-Aid, Chapstick, Jell-O—the terms are synonymous with the entire market they’re in.

Similarly, when a brand has incredible top-of-mind brand awareness, it’s a snap to think of the name when prompted. It’s similar to being the mental #1 in the list of possibilities for a specific industry or service. That’s a good place to be.

Top-of-mind example: At the very start of their apartment search, a prospect types in your apartment community name.

Boost Brand Awareness with Brand Development

Getting strategic with brand development can improve brand awareness and turn brand perception of your multifamily brand positively. The strategies below should be used to help bring your brand awareness levels up and away:

KNOW YOUR RESIDENT (IRP)

Your ideal resident profile (IRP) is the key to unlocking the strategy. Know their needs, their lifestyle, their preferences, then create a brand identity that will “jive with their vibe.” If you’re trying to reach young professionals, for example, you might focus on what your nearby nightlife offers and whether you have remote work spaces available in your building.

ALL ABOUT LOCATION

You can’t pick up and move an apartment community—it’s tied to where it is geographically. So, make sure the branding fits in with what’s going on around it. If you’re near a large hospital or tech hub, for example, consider focusing on easy commutes. If you’re close to many recreational spaces, show how your campus connects with walking trails and nearby parks and keep an active resident in mind for your brand. Or, better yet, if you’re close to the ocean, talk about the views and the beach access.

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DIFFERENTIATION

Ooh, one of our favorite words. And an excellent part of a brand strategy. What makes you special and different will set you apart. Highlight it (as long as it’s good). If your differentiation includes how you solve some common prospects’ problems (hey, a pickleball court—or an on-site remote work area) you’ll come out head and shoulders ahead of the competition. If you’re in the middle of Portland, OR, you know the foodies and the eco-conscious abound. Work towards creating a brand that prioritizes earth-friendly finishes, activities, and partnerships—and show it off.

Strong Branding Makes Better Brand Awareness

You’ve got some strategic moves up your sleeve, so get ready for advanced brand awareness. How?

Thoughtful Design

Resonate with your resident by using logos, color palettes and other visual identity elements that will help jog their memory. Over time, your brand can be recognized through its typography, colors, and general style—just from a sign or an ad.

Purposeful, Pointed Messaging

What you say matters as much as what you show. If you’re clear and align your brand with the audience you want to reach, you’ll be able to connect on an emotional level (like speaking straight to their heart).

Multi-Channel Cohesion and Consistency

Lather, rinse, repeat. If you do the same thing, show the same colors, speak the same way across your channels, you’ll show up consistently and predictably. This creates trust. Trust creates confidence. Keeping your brand promises creates loyalty. With consistency and a well-crafted marketing and branding strategy, you can become top-of-mind for the prospects you want. (Kind of like a song that’s so catchy and plays on the radio all the time, you can’t help but sing it even when it’s not playing.)

P.S. When we say “multi-channel” we mean digital, social, print, and ads. And on-site signage, too, of course.

There’s far more to brand awareness than just the scattershot approach—if you have a big ad budget, awesome. But even if you have loads of money to spend on marketing and advertising, if your brand is flat, you may never take off and reach that coveted “top-of-mind” placement for your IRP.

Go beyond the ads. Start with branding well. Then stay the course to connect deeply with the prospects you want to attract. Call us up, email us, message us—we can help you find the brand development package that will work for your community.

Empty Nesters: Branding for Resident Personas

Written by Stacey Feeney on October 16, 2024. Posted in All Articles, Branding, Marketing. No Comments on Empty Nesters: Branding for Resident Personas

The most common resident persona in multifamily is the career-focused, non-homeowning young professionals. But don’t forget about those who just launched those young professionals into the world: empty nesters. This group of renters are the second most targeted group for apartment living.

Knowing the purchase habits, preferences and ideals of a specific demographic can help you understand and cater to empty nesters for your apartment community as you tailor branding and marketing.

Who Are Empty Nesters?

Empty nesters are individuals who have children that have left home to go on to school or careers and live their own lives. Empty nesters are typically 50-65 years of age, with early 60s about the average.

This group is extremely diverse, from younger empty nesters whose children have left for college, to the older ones that are closer to retiring. Depending on the generational trends, whether they’re Baby Boomers or late Gen X, they have differing values, lifestyle preferences, and financial means and priorities.

EXAMPLE STATS

There were two groups of empty nesters that we explored for these statistics, and while they have some items in common, their age, hobbies, and values varied a little.

For Group 1:
Age: 60-64
Household income: $75-100k
Household size: 2 people
Common leisure activities: Pets, mall shopping, music, sports, retail.

Home Values and Priorities: Like to stretch their money, and obtain information and news from TV channels and TV shows. Enjoy fast food and fast-casual restaurants.
College education: ~35%

For Group 2:

Age: 65-74
Household income: $75-100k
Household size: 2 people
Common leisure activities: Yoga, golf, running, grandparenting, dogs, food, music, traveling.
Home Values and Priorities – Staying active and healthy; are retired, or nearly retired. Appreciate amenities that help them maintain their health and activity.
College education: ~41%

Empty Nesters in Market-Rate Apartments vs. Senior Living

NOT SEEKING OUT SENIOR LIVING

But which of these empty nesters prefer age-segregated living? Many don’t see themselves as seniors and aren’t ready to dive in the early-bird specials and senior discounts at Denny’s. They’d rather seek out market-rate apartments that offer amenities that align with their modern, active lifestyles.

While empty nesters may be downsizing, they aren’t likely ready to stay at home and have it all “in one place.” Their sense of adventure, hope for regular activity, and penchant for travel might be dampened by a spot that’s specifically for seniors. Empty nesters would rather have flexibility—they’d like an apartment community that supports their lifestyle that’s in an in-between phase that brings access to vibrant, walkable neighborhood amenities.

WHY MARKET-RATE FOR EMPTY NESTERS?

Empty nesters are still an ideal target for regular (market-rate) apartment marketing. Empty nesters still have a significant population that is younger than 55—they aren’t even eligible for age-specified communities. After owning a home, they may be ready to move on from consistent home management and maintenance to simply renting and enjoying closeness to the bustle of the city (now that they don’t necessarily have to hustle). Plus, they pride themselves on their still-active lifestyle. Instead of days filled with puzzles and herbal tea, they are more into pilates and boba. Staying up and moving is part of their day-to-day, and they’re not about to release that aspect of their youthfulness.

The Importance of Branding for Empty Nesters

TAILORING THE BRAND

It’s one thing to brand an apartment community to reach young professionals. It’s quite another to also attract another demographic of empty nesters. Tailor your brand and marketing to empty nesters by staying aware of their preferences, positioning your amenities to attract them, and showing off the highlights of your neighborhood. And, as the multifamily space becomes more and more competitive, it helps your community stand out when you can appeal to another demographic—especially one that’s growing, as more Baby Boomers and Gen Xers become empty nesters. So: tailoring your brand to appeal to their values of quality, comfort, and simplicity can help guide the way you brand and market your spaces.

UNDERSTAND THE PERSONA

Developing your brand should stem from the ultimate goal: reaching the target audience. And if you know you’re attracting empty nesters, it’s best to understand that group of people. Bring in data points and statistics to inform decisions about the overall brand development.

For example, incorporate their preferences for:

Modern amenities
Smaller, but upscale spaces
Walkable communities
Convenient locations near urban centers

Highlight each of these amenities and offerings in your marketing, and ensure it’s part of the perception of your overall brand. Talk about it, show it off, and highlight it on any tours, whether virtual or in-person.

Apartment Branding Strategies to Reach Empty Nesters

GO BROAD

A broad branding approach can help you appeal to empty nesters. In design, go conservative, but modern. A simple and timeless set of aesthetics can show a side of sophistication while also highlighting the practicality of your community.

Because your target audience is hyper-focused on staying young, it makes sense to appeal to their desire to cling to youth and activity. In your messaging, focus on the themes of active living, convenience, and a lifestyle that’s far more maintenance-free than before.

In addition to a life that’s maintenance-free, it’s also extremely flexible and has a sense of freedom. Because so many empty nesters enjoy traveling, you can focus on how easy it is to live in a space that doesn’t require yard care, trash pick up and plenty more.

In terms of amenities, think carefully about what you offer—empty nesters will be more satisfied with amenities that feature quality over quantity. High-tech amenities like smart features and keyless entry are less likely to appeal than a really nice dog park, for example. Go quiet and upscale rather than trying to offer several amenities that aren’t top notch.

CONSIDER BRAND VOICE

Your brand voice is another aspect that can either attract (or distract) from your community. Find a way to balance your brand voice, with an optimistic but not too trendy use of words and style. By talking about your property as the “next chapter” it feels like that natural next step (without mentioning retirement, per se.) Most of all, you want to offer and provide ease of living—rather than inactivity, a life of chosen activity and hobbies and access to everything residents desire.

Empty nesters are a key resident persona—and it will help set your community up for success if you take note of their preferences and desires. By knowing their needs, you can fulfill them. By understanding their lifestyle (budget, spending habits, and hobbies) you can create a brand that will blend seamlessly into the life they’re envisioning after their kids have “flown the coop”.

In crafting your brands—reflect the demographics you want to reach, or adjust your branding to attract and retain the empty nesters that are becoming a growing percentage of the renting population.

Branding by Zipcode Creative – Ask the Founder

Written by Stacey Feeney on October 7, 2024. Posted in All Articles, Branding. No Comments on Branding by Zipcode Creative – Ask the Founder

For Stacey’s birthday, we flipped the script—and decided to let you in on a round of Ask the Founder!

Making a living at being creative isn’t just about knowing color palettes—but running Zipcode Creative is truly a labor of love, finding what works and what doesn’t both with visual and verbal branding as well as within the realm of multifamily.

We do things a little differently. Because our brand founder and creative director Stacey Feeney, takes a different approach. So we picked her brain as our gift to you!

What are your all-time favorite brands? Why?

Stacey: Two come to mind.

Subaru. I love the culture they’ve created around their vehicles. They are THE outdoor adventure car. It’s a movement, really. Mostly, they’ve done a great job of identifying their ideal customer and tailoring their brand and marketing to speak directly to that person. The thing is, they are not the most rugged off-roading vehicle brand and their features really put them in a higher class, but they’ve made a reputation for themselves as being the must-have brand for the outdoor enthusiast. I recently moved to Colorado and sure enough: I go on a hike and 80% of cars in the parking lot are Subarus. I also have one, so I guess it worked on me, too.

Secondly: Kimpton Hotels. I’ve consistently been drawn to Kimpton hotels whenever I travel. They do such a great job of branding the experience through thoughtfully curated interior design that extends into branding. Their features, amenities, and design make you want to stay and spend time in the hotel—more than just using your room as a place to lay your head after a day out on the town you’re visiting. Multifamily can learn a lot from looking at this adjacent industry gem.

What creative work do you do in your own time?

Stacey: I often develop brands for either pro bono/charity work, friends and family, or occasionally we will take on a client outside of the multifamily industry just to bring variety into our day-to-day and keep our creativity flowing. Variety spices things up—we get this through taking on a plethora of project types. For example, I recently created a brand for my cousin—she’s starting a food truck business in Indiana: loaded baked potatoes! My favorite bit: All the clever plays on her name: “Taylor”. Tay’s Tayters is the business, but there are a bunch of fun brand voice additions—see if you can spot them all!

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Other pro bono projects we’re currently working on:

Creative for the Multifamily Mentor Matchmaking group’s new website in partnership with Resi
Branding for Project 29:11’s “Community Building Through Community Giving” program.

How do you stay up to date on trends and stuff?

Stacey: Looking both outside of the industry and within is important for this. Hospitality is a great place for me to start because it’s extremely similar to multifamily, and is an adjacent industry, really. I love keeping an eye on hotel brands because the experience and offering are very much the same, but length of stay is the main difference (short-term vs. long-term).

But: even outside of industries similar to multifamily, like hospitality, it’s good to see which brands our ideal residents engage or identify with. For example, the adventurous or outdoorsy type of persona might resonate with Patagonia, North Face, Subaru, while the health-conscious may be drawn to Whole Foods or Lululemon.

In my day-to-day, Pinterest is a big part of staying up to date for me. It’s a classic, tried-and-true place to see trends and then document them in boards to help my team see the vision.

In your opinion, what’s the biggest challenge in brand development?

Stacey: First challenge is the educational piece.
We always want to make sure clients understand what branding really is (so much more than a logo!) The verbal identity is particularly difficult to grasp at times, because it’s not something that feels tactile or visible in the same way that typography, textures, and palettes do.

My team and I work really hard to produce content all year long that helps educate and shed light on branding: what it is, why multifamily needs it, and the benefits of a well-crafted brand.

The second challenge is strategy balance.
Doing the work in research and deep discovery then strategizing on brand positioning for the right audience…it’s all super important! Yet the thing that makes this the most challenging is when stakeholders have strong opinions that end up trumping our expert advice backed by the research we’ve done and the strategy we’ve developed. It’s always finding the right balance of pleasing owners and stakeholders while also ensuring we are positioning the brand to target the right customers.

The definition of success for us is working with you so you’re happy and your brand works.

Where do you find creative inspiration? What’s the strangest thing/place you’ve drawn inspiration from?

It’s funny how many random things can spark inspiration for me. It could be anything really. Sometimes I get inspired by fashion brands, sometimes it’s car commercials, but usually it’s the most random little detail I come across in my daily life. Lately I’ve been taking photos of the various moss/growths on rocks when I’m on hikes because I love the natural color palettes I find there (and in nature in general).

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned over the years as a founder and creative director?

As a brand founder I’ve learned how to multitask really well. Ha! But also that I need to delegate because I can’t do it all. So: hiring good people that you can trust.

I’ve also learned that just because it’s an industry norm or a business standard process doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for me and my company. I am always asking questions and soaking up advice like a sponge from a variety of sources, but at the end of the day I get to make the calls and I often find myself doing something outside of the box because it feels right for me and how our clients experience us.

As a creative director I’ve learned not to take it personally when a client selects artwork that isn’t my own favorite concept or option. Ultimately, creative choice is subjective. This also goes back to one of the challenges I mentioned previously: Finding the right balance between what we believe will resonate best with the target audience and what the client wants…and what I personally like!