Author: Stacey Feeney

Create Video Content to Increase Social Media Engagement

Written by Stacey Feeney on May 24, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Marketing.

The way people use social media is changing. Instead of overly curated photos that are posted just to your Instagram feed, video content now reigns supreme. Outlets like Instagram Stories, TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit offer a more authentic, approachable way for people to get to know not just their friends, but brands, too. As a result, video content has now become the top-performing type of content across social media platforms and is the most likely to go viral.

When you’re trying to market your apartment community or trying to lease up, consider adding more videos to your feeds to up your engagement, increase eyes on every post, and get more prospects in the door.

Ways to Create More Video Content

If you’re struggling to come up with creative video content to feature across your social media platforms, here are some ideas to get your started.

Vacant Unit Tours

Show off your available apartments with quick walk-through videos. Your leasing team can narrate the tour, calling out the distinctive features, high-end finishes, and other must-haves like outdoor space, high ceilings, and natural light. That way, prospective renters can see the space before they even set foot on the property to help pique their interest. Film vacant unit tours to send to leads who have reached out showing interest and then repurpose the video by posting it on your social media channels! Win win.

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Close-Up of Apartment Features

Show off your attention to detail. Instead of focusing just on the big picture, zero in on the small details that set your community apart. From the beautiful kitchen tile backsplash to the luxury faucets in the bathrooms, emphasize the tiny things that make your apartments a cut above the rest. Video content doesn’t have to be lengthy, in fact – the shorter the better to capture the attention of your audience on social media. Taking quick 15-30 second videos of these amenity details is an easy way to create shareable content for social media!

Amenities Tours

Prospects aren’t just interested in what’s inside the unit—they’re also interested in what your entire community has to offer. From doing a tour of the state-of-the-art gym to showing off the dog-friendly amenities like a dog park or washing station, create different videos for each amenity space. That way, you can give prospects a holistic picture of what it’s like to live there. Same rules apply – capture tour-like walk-throughs and quick video clips that showcase the details of your amenities, then share the videos everywhere you can!

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Staff & Resident Introductions

Introduce your property management team, maintenance staff, and highlight stand-out residents with video content that introduces them to your social audience. Showcasing actual people will help to increase engagement and also give you an opportunity to discuss promotions, events, and resident reviews. That way, you’re adding a personalized and authentic element to your feed instead of just sterile photos of empty units. Think about offering a gift card to any resident who stops by and films a video review of the community with you – make sure to get their permission to publish the video.

Tips for Filming Top-Quality Video Content

If you’re a beginner at creating video content, try these tips and tricks to create a more high-quality final product. Professional equipment is by no means necessary – your smartphone will do the job just fine!

Use a Tripod or Stabilizer

To add a more expert look to any of your videos, invest in a tripod or stabilizer for your smartphone. This will eliminate any shakiness or unsteady camera work, instantly elevating your videos from amateur to professional. That way, instead of focusing on keeping the camera steady, you can focus on more important details to really sell the space. Something simple with a smartphone mount is great!

Embrace Natural Light

Everything looks better in natural light—try to film your indoor videos during the brightest time of day and make sure to open all the blinds. Natural light will make everything look more beautiful and also ensure that colors and finishes look as true to life as possible. Keep your back to the window when filming, angling your camera away from the window – pointing it directly at a window may cause the room to look dark as your camera’s auto settings expose for the bright outdoor light. Avoid shooting videos at night—overhead artificial lights look harsh on camera and will create awkward and unflattering shadows.

Don’t Forget About Audio

While it’s easy to forget about the audio component of your videos because they default to mute on most platforms, many people watch Instagram Stories or Reels with the sound on. Make sure that you eliminate any background noise that may interfere before filming, the person speaking is no more than 5 feet away from the camera, and they speak loud and clear. Consider adding video subtitles as well for those who listen with the sound off or are hearing impared.

Where to Post Your Video Content

Social Stories

Instagram and Facebook Stories allow users to share more real-time content with their followers. You can pick from both photos and videos to add to your Stories, and embellish them with question boxes, gifs, and polls for added customization. Each Story can be up to 15 seconds long, and if you post a video that’s longer, it will simply break it up into 15-second segments. Stories only last for 24 hours, so it’s content that must be consumed quickly. You can, however, add old stories to a Highlight on your profile, so people can go back and reference them in the future.

Instagram Reels/TikTok

Similar to TikTok, Instagram Reels allow you to create 15- or 30-second videos and set them to music. You can then share them to your Stories and on your feed, and they may even show in other users’ Explore Feed. Reels are the perfect opportunity to get creative thanks to the editing capabilities, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box!

IGTV

IGTV is the perfect place to post longer videos of your full length model, vacant unit, and community tours. Videos must be at least one minute long, and can be up to an hour. With IGTV, you have plenty of time to go into detail on any particular subject to give more info and context for your viewers. IGTV videos can be shared to your feed with a preview, clickable to watch more.

Feed Posts

You can always post video content to your Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds. Just like regular photos, these videos will show up in the feed of those who follow you. Try adding strategic hashtags to further your reach and get your content in front of more people. Just keep in mind, the max length is 60 seconds—if your video is longer, you’ll have to select a 1-minute clip.

YouTube

With more than a billion hours of video streamed everyday, YouTube is perfect to upload all of your video content in one place. Aggregate the content you share across Instagram, Facebook, and other social media channels onto YouTube to make it a one-stop-shop for prospects who are interested in learning more. Unverified accounts can upload videos up to 15 minutes long.

Feeling overwhelmed by managing all of your video content? Instead of doing it yourself, outsource it to the experts. At zipcode creative, we offer full-service social media management so you can take one thing off of your to-do list.

Get in touch today to learn more!

A Property Sitemap is a Must-Have for Apartment Marketing

Written by Stacey Feeney on May 4, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Graphic Design.

Years of work and planning go into every new apartment community and every renovation before it’s complete. From carefully identifying the perfect amenities to designing stylish interiors to planning the landscaping throughout the property, no detail is left unfinished when creating a new multifamily asset. That way, residents have the best possible experience from the minute they step foot on-site to view an apartment. Use a well-designed property sitemap to get them excited to stop by for a visit.

So why let all of that thoughtful planning go to waste? Showcase every element of your community in a unique and practical way: with a property sitemap. This piece of marketing can be crafted in both print and digital versions to use as an integral piece of your sales toolkit to show off the best your property has to offer.

What is a Property Sitemap?

Especially perfect for new construction communities but also extremely beneficial to any apartment community new or old, property sitemaps are a versatile piece of marketing collateral. Based on the property’s architectural plans, sitemaps show a bird’s eye view of the property and identify the location of community amenities, units, parking, and offices. They also have a legend that highlights points of interest throughout the community, like the lobby, mail room, and handicap-accessible areas.

How Can I Use a Property Sitemap?

Sitemaps are ideal for prospects and new residents signing a lease. The detailed map helps them understand the layout of the property, allowing them to see all of the amenities and perks of living on-site at a glance. When new prospective residents arrive, show them where the unit they’re viewing is located, and point out other relevant areas on the map when they visit the leasing office. That way, even if they view a unit without a leasing agent, they are armed with the information they need to explore the property on their own. And alternatively, use the sitemap to welcome home a new resident by guiding them to their unit, circling the mailroom and their parking space, while also helping them navigate the property.

Sitemaps can also be used as a marketing tool. Whether sent out as a direct mailer, in a marketing email, visible on the community’s website, or featured in a brochure, the sitemap is an engaging visual way to showcase the strengths of your community – amenities, green space, parking, and accessibility. A sitemap can generate additional interest in your property by helping one to visualize the big picture of all your apartments have to offer.

What Should be Included on a Property Sitemap?

Experienced brand designers like zipcode creative are experts at developing property sitemaps. By using a community’s architectural drawings (or google maps if that’s all you’ve got!), we will develop a sitemap that represents the entire property, from the landscaping to the parking lot to the clubhouse and apartment units. By creating both detailed and high-level versions of the map, you’ll have everything you need, whether you want to hang a map in the office or hand them out for on-site tours. We’ll also incorporate your branding like logo, brand colors, and fonts to ensure that the entire map looks cohesive and effortlessly fits in with your other marketing collateral.

Ready to get started on your own sitemap? Reach out today!

Pet Friendly Apartments and How to Leverage to Prospects

Written by Stacey Feeney on April 28, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Marketing.

People love their pets. In 2008 alone, more than 11 million searches were conducted on Apartments.com for apartments communities that allow dogs and cats. As the numbers of renters grow, that number has only increased. Nearly 90% of renters own pets—and of the 10% who don’t, half reported planning to become a pet owner within the next year. As a result, finding pet friendly apartments is often at the top of prospective renters’ wishlists.

Show off your commitment to your residents’ furry friends by strategically investing in pet-friendly amenities that make pet owners’ lives easier and by dedicating resources to engaging and retaining your pet-owner community!

Community Amenities for Pet Friendly Apartments

It’s not enough to just allow renters to have pets. Creating community amenities and adding personalized touches that welcome furry friends is vital to ensuring pet owners feel right at home from the minute they step foot on the property.

Dog Park or Dog Run

When you have a four-legged friend, getting them adequate exercise is a pivotal part of keeping them happy and healthy. Instead of forcing residents to go off-site for access to open spaces for dogs to play and run, add a dedicated dog park to your property. A secure, fenced-in area allows the dogs to play safely and also gives owners a place to socialize and build stronger community ties. Consider adding a drinking fountain, agility equipment, and a waste bag station so that owners have everything they need right at their fingertips.

Dog Waste Bag Stations

Keep your community clean for pet owners and non-pet owners alike with the addition of dog waste bag stations. These small stations make it easier to ensure that you won’t have a property full of unwanted surprises. Place them in the areas around your community where dogs are most frequently taken out, especially near grassy or mulched areas that pups tend to love. That way, owners have the tools they need handy if they’re unprepared or taken by surprise.

If you’re having issues at your community with residents not picking up after their pets, consider a service like PooPrints. It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it, and your staff is far too busy to spend time picking it up. When signing their lease, make sure your pet owning residents are fully aware of PooPrints’ services and understand any consequences of not picking up after their pup. That way, your community stays clean for pet owners and non-pet owners alike.

Dog Wash Station

Instead of forcing residents to keep their pups clean in their sink or bathtub, make it simple for them to keep their four-legged friends squeaky clean. Add a dog wash station in a common area, or outside near the dog run, with a hose, tub, and bucket. This allows owners to wash their dogs off in a designated area, so you won’t have mud or dirt tracked through the building and residents can keep their personal spaces cleaner—it’s a win-win for everyone.

Image Courtesy of Walter Wash.

Water Bowls & Treat Jars

Add a water bowl and treat jar to pet-friendly areas around your community, like the lobby or the resident lounge. That way, pups can always stay hydrated and enjoy a special snack, even when they’re not home. This helps to make pets and their owners alike feel welcome to help foster a sense of community and belonging!

Pet Friendly Apartments Programming

Don’t simply stop at amenities, create a program that will help engage your pet owners and develop a sense of community to keep them—and their four-legged friends—happy at your pet friendly apartments!

Branded Swag

Create camaraderie among your pet owners by offering them branded swag that shows off your community. From dog poop bag holders and leashes to bandanas for the pups themselves, these small touches make pet owners feel included. Plus, it’s also a smart way to market your community to other local dog-lovers.

Waive Pet Fees

Incentivize prospective tenants to sign a lease by running leasing specials associated with their pets. Try waiving the monthly pet fee or deposit, or consider a referral program for existing tenants. That way, you can generate additional interest in your property and appeal to pet owners, all at the same time.

Special Pet Treats

To increase resident retention, consider sending special treats to tenants that have pets. Whether you do it for the holidays or around the time they’re set to renew their lease, this shows your attention to detail and care for all of your residents to help keep them happy and engaged with your community.

Adoption Events

Go beyond helping your own residents and engage with your local neighborhood, too. Organize a pet adoption event with a local shelter. Bring adoptable pets on-site and promote the event throughout the surrounding areas to both showcase what you have to offer residents and also do some good for your neighborhood. Promote the event on-site with signage like table tents or banner stands, and use email marketing to notify your entire database. That way, you’ll get more people to attend, which will lead to more adoptions!

Pet Photo Contests

Create a designated hashtag and have residents submit photos of their furry friends for a “Pet of the Month” feature or for holidays like Halloween or Christmas. That way, you can show off your adorable four-legged residents while also enticing more pet owners to lease at your pet friendly apartments. Consider awarding the monthly winner a small prize or piece of swag to up the stakes and increase engagement. Show off the winner through community signage in common spaces and elevators so they get the attention they deserve.

If you need help developing materials for your pet owners, defer to the experts. Creative marketing agencies can look at your community holistically and help you devise a strategy and a plan for promoting both your amenities and your community programming. Ready to take your multifamily marketing to the next level? Get in touch today!

Pup Culture Images are ©Fairfield Residential | Work executed by Stacey Feeney, owner of zipcode creative, while under creative direction and employment at Fairfield Residential.

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Maintenance Appreciation: How to Celebrate Your Service Team

Written by Stacey Feeney on April 26, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Marketing.

Maintenance is the team that never stops. They’re handed challenges on the regular and deal with countless, and sometimes endless, resident requests. They are the frontline team that touches your resident base more than any other group. Maintenance teams rake in the highest satisfaction scores on resident surveys. For these reasons and more, it’s nice to flip the script and celebrate them for a week. Spoil them with some food, host team building and educational events or personalize some service awards. We’ll show you how to plan the best maintenance appreciation week that will make your staff feel like the stars they are!

Maintenance Appreciation Event Ideas

One day is hardly enough to fit in all the appreciation efforts. Find a week that works for your portfolio or property and block off some days. You’ll want to pick one event per day and pair it with some social media posts (more on this to come below!).

Plan a mix of meals, giveaways and events. Warmer weather is coming so it’s a great opportunity to expand outdoors. Themes work well and allow you to get creative. Superheroes or “Shining Stars” would make your maintenance week stand out against other communities. If your team is the competitive type, you could design a Maintenance Olympics theme and have some daily challenges….complete with prizes!

Educational

Invite a vendor to come in and present something that your team would find useful. For example, host an appliance repair class for the maintenance team to become familiar with the most common problems and get hands on with the real appliances.

Team Building

After all they do, they probably deserve an afternoon off. Hit up an escape room, axe throwing or the driving range to let them spend some time taking it easy.

Breakfast

Cater special morning treats to be there when your team arrives – a coffee and donut bar is always a hit. The extra caffeine will help improve everyone’s day. Another great way to do breakfast is with a build-your-own omelette station!

Lunch

Provide lunch for the team from their favorite local restaurant and give them some time off to enjoy it!

A Meal with a Theme

Provide a lunch or dinner with a theme! Taco Tuesdays is great and who doesn’t love a good taco?! Or have someone man the grills and serve a BBQ lunch by the pool.

Food Truck

Contact a fun food truck and arrange for them to pull up to your property promptly at lunch time. You can pay for your maintenance team to get served and then open up the food truck line to your residents.

Happy Hour

End the week with an early happy hour at a local brewery or pub. Let the team head out early and buy the first round of drinks and apps for your team.

Gifts for the Team

A Yeti tumbler for when they’re on or off the clock
Branded swag from your company
Amazon gift cards to let them shop for their own favorites
Paid day off – who wouldn’t love extra PTO?!
Cash Bonus to truly show some appreciation
Beer or Liquor gifts are a nice way to celebrate
Gift Cards to local restaurant or a fancy steakhouse
New equipment or tools to make their days a little easier

Service Awards

For a small team, you can personalize different service awards for everyone. Play up their specialties and make them fun and creative.

If your company does resident surveys, there are tons of data points you can look at for service awards. Maybe one community clears out all their work orders within 12 hours! Another may have a 4-star rating on new move-ins. See where your properties stand and read through the resident comments to find meaningful milestones you can celebrate.

Vendor Partnerships

Now is the perfect time to talk to your go-to vendors to see if they can sponsor an event for your team. Many vendors will be happy to be a part of the maintenance appreciation campaign. They can provide lunches for the team, provide branded swag gifts or help with tickets to an event. This will help you offset the cost of your maintenance week and build connections with your vendor partners.

Promoting your Maintenance Appreciation Week

Give your maintenance team the spotlight and show them off on your socials. Feature one or two people a day for the whole Maintenance Appreciation Week. Your residents will get a chance to “meet the team” and your staff will feel the glow of the spotlight. Be sure to feature their photo and some fun details about their background. You can do a Q&A with the team to prompt their responses and post the best answers online. Residents will love seeing the team that takes care of their apartments each and every day.

Encourage your residents to get involved and share the love. Ask residents to submit their best maintenance appreciation stories and you can post those comments to the properties Facebook and IG. The comments mean more when they come directly from residents! You could set up a form on your website that allows easy entry or just ask residents to email the office directly with their stories.

If you’re managing a whole portfolio of properties, spotlight a new property each day on the corporate social channels. The property teams love showing off their team members and it helps build the content for your corporate social brand.

Appreciation Weeks are like gift giving; it’s the thought that counts. No matter which events and gifts you choose, your team will love the gesture and residents will see how well employees are valued throughout your company! Let us help you create a visual campaign around your event that is two fold – 1. It will give your maintenance appreciation event that extra touch that shows them how much thought and effort you put into acknowledging your team and 2. A maintenance appreciation event campaign will catch the attention from prospects and give them all those fuzzy feelings about living at your community when they see how well you treat your staff!

Don’t forget about Resident Appreciation Week!

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Energy Efficient and Eco Friendly Apartments Sell Themselves

Written by Stacey Feeney on April 15, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Marketing.

Putting the planet first is becoming increasingly important for everyone—and especially for prospective residents who are looking for a new community to call home. As more and more people are putting “green apartment” at the top of their wish-list to both make a more positive impact on the planet and also lower their monthly utility expenses in their new space, multifamily has to keep up. From energy efficient appliances to water-saving shower heads, learn more about the best ways to increase efficiency while also appealing to prospective renters.

Why Should You Go Green?

Multifamily housing uses the most energy per square foot of all housing types in the United States. Older infrastructure, outdated appliances, and lack of modern technology all combine to create a perfect storm of inefficiency—which also contributes to added cost. Sky-high utility bills for both owners and for residents are an annoying—and unnecessary—monthly expense.

But it’s not just about the cost. Creating an eco-friendly asset helps both your community and the planet by eliminating excess energy consumption that contributes to growing climate concerns. Plus, it also helps to attract residents. 93% of residents want energy- and water-efficient features, and 64% would even be willing to pay more to live in a greener community, showcasing the growing need for owners to make it a priority.

Opting for greener alternatives in your community helps your bottom line and creates a better resident experience for a win-win solution. Here are some easy ways to upgrade for more eco-friendly alternatives.

Energy Efficient Appliances

Instead of outdated dishwashers and washing machines that overuse water or refrigerators and air conditioners that pull excess power, upgrading your appliances is an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint and increase your monthly cost savings. Energy-efficient appliances save so much energy, that they can reduce energy use up to 30% to help residents save on their monthly utility bills—making your community more appealing than less energy-efficient alternatives when they’re adding up total monthly costs.

Smart Thermostats & Lighting

Instead of wasting energy to light and heat empty spaces, smart home products like thermostats and lighting allow residents to control their spaces from anywhere. That way, they can turn off the lights when they’re not home or raise or lower the temperature to avoid heating or cooling an unoccupied apartment.

Thermostats brands like Google Nest offer a cost savings of between 10 and 15%, which adds up in the long run. Similarly, smart lighting options like Hue help to save money and energy by allowing remote control of the lights and ensuring that the LED bulbs are more energy efficient than their older, incandescent counterparts. .

Both of these smart home solutions are gaining traction in multifamily for the efficiency and cost savings, but also because they allow property managers to manage vacant units. Once a resident moves out, property managers can adjust the settings in the empty space to increase energy efficiency until the next tenant moves. As a result, smart home products are a holistic solution that drives cost savings for owners and operators—all while also delivering an improved resident experience. Smart home technology is one of the top amenities that renters are looking for, so it’s important for communities to keep up with the demand to minimize turnover, increase retention, and remain competitive.

Energy Efficient Shower Heads

Did you know that showers make up 30% of typical household water usage? While you can’t regulate the time your residents spend in the shower, you can still help to cut back water consumption with one easy fix: a low-flow shower head.

Today, typical shower heads use 2.5 gallons of water per minute. Low-flow designs, on the other hand, use two gallons or less for significant long-term water savings. It saves so much, in fact, that installing a low-flow shower head can save nearly 3,000 gallons annually per household. Multiply that by the number of units in your community, and you can see how adding them to every apartment can make an impact.

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

In 2019 alone, electric car sales topped $2.1 million, accounting for nearly 3% of all global car sales—and that number is only going up. With a 40% increase between 2018 and 2019, it’s likely that the electric car craze isn’t going anywhere. To give your residents the tools they need to be more eco-conscious consumers, add electric vehicle charging stations to your garage or parking lot. With costs as low as $300 to install, it’s an affordable upfront cost that helps you and your residents make a small difference for the planet.

Marketing Your Energy Efficient Campaign

If you’re trying to go green, you can’t do it alone. It’s important to showcase your green initiatives throughout your community so that residents join in! That way, not only will you have the energy efficient infrastructure you need, but you also can get your entire community on board to help make a real difference.

Share tips with residents on how to best leverage your new, energy-efficient upgrades, like turning off the lights while they’re away or only running the dishwasher when it’s full. These campaigns can highlight the easy and simple changes in their day-to-day will make an impact—and especially if they’re adopted by your entire community.

Table Tents

Create table tents for your lobby and amenity spaces with different eco-friendly ideas for your residents. From turning off the lights in the gym when they’re finished working out to avoiding printing documents in the business center, you can leverage location-specific reminders to help create a more aware and environmentally friendly environment for all of your residents. Table tents like these in common spaces will inevitably catch the attention from touring prospects and soft sell them on these features without much effort on your part.

Email Marketing

Try creating a series of emails that feature eco-conscious alternatives that your residents can adopt. From turning down their thermostat before they head out for work to drawing the shades during the heat of the day, there are small changes that make a big difference—and your residents might not even be aware of them. Consider creating a three or five-email series that generates awareness for these easy-but-impactful changes.

Then, repurpose the same email series with wording tweaks to make it prospect-focused and send to your leads as a campaign that promotes your green initiatives and incentivizes them to rent with you.

Flyers & Rack Cards

Being environmentally conscious is an important factor for residents, so make sure you’re also showcasing your initiatives to prospects who come on-site. In addition to your standard flyers and take-away materials that they’d get after a showing, create special printed materials like rack cards or new flyers that show off your commitment to sustainability. That way, prospective residents know that they’ll be joining a community where the environment matters. Make sure you have these printed on recycled paper and place a note of that somewhere on the marketing handout to bring your campaign full circle.

©Fairfield Residential | Work executed by Stacey Feeney, owner of zipcode creative, while under creative direction and employment at Fairfield Residential.

Naming a Multifamily Asset in 6 Simple Steps

Written by Stacey Feeney on March 19, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Branding, Writing.

Whether you’ve just acquired a new asset, are wrapping up renovations, or are breaking ground on a new construction project, there is one thing that all apartment homes need: a memorable name. As more and more communities pop up in cities across the country to meet renter demand, a catchy and unique name makes standing out in a competitive market a little bit easier. If you’re grasping at straws trying to find just the right name for your new community, we have some helpful tips and tricks to get you started on the journey of naming a multifamily asset.

1. Think About the Target Customer

When naming a multifamily asset, one of the most important things is keeping your target audience in mind. If your ideal renter is a single millennial, for example, different words and phrases will resonate with them than with an empty nester who has different needs and priorities. Identify the traits that appeal most to your core customer by doing market research and a competitive analysis of the surrounding area. Then, leverage that information to brainstorm names of different styles, lengths, and formats to create a wide array of initial options.

2. Consider Local Conveniences and Attractions

Your property’s location is also an amazing starting point for naming a multifamily asset. Because your location is totally unique to your property, it can serve as the ideal anchor for the name. Consider incorporating well-known street names, historical markers, and other points of interest that you can leverage to influence the name. That way, your community becomes as recognizable as the city’s most iconic attractions.

If your community is in a city or neighborhood that has distinguishing characteristics, you can also use those words or phrases to set your assets apart. In New York City, for example, you could utilize words like “Skyline” or “Hudson” to take advantage of words and phrases that people naturally associate with the city.

3. Leverage Community Amenities

If your property is the only one in the area with an indoor pool or you have an amazing roof deck, use these distinguishing features to your advantage when brainstorming your name. Think about words related to whichever amenity you want to highlight; a roof deck, for example, is the perfect opportunity to leverage words like “air,” “sky,” or “heights.”

Don’t forget to think not only literally, but also abstractly, about naming options. Because the sky is blue, you could leverage words like “azure” or “indigo.” You’re only limited by your creativity!

4. Stay Consistent with the Brand Style

If your community is a luxury asset, you’ll want to be sure that you keep your name elevated and sophisticated. Similarly, if you have a more casual and accessible vibe, you’ll want the name to fall in line with that style. Keep this in mind when brainstorming your names to ensure that you don’t alienate your target audience with a name that sounds off-brand or unapproachable. Once the perfect name is selected, a thoughtful logo design and brand style guidelines will bring it all together to get your message across.

5. Check Name Availability

You’ve landed on the perfect name, but naming a multifamily asset isn’t the end of your naming journey. Now it’s time to do your due diligence. Perform a business name search to ensure that no other communities or companies are operating under your chosen moniker. You should also check for available URLs for your website and social media handles to create enhanced brand recognition. If one (or more) of these are unavailable, you might want to reconsider for consistency.

6. Finalize with Legal Council

Once you’ve done your own vetting, it’s time to bring in the experts. Consult with your legal team to get all the paperwork in order to ensure your name is yours. From purchasing domains to copyrighting or trademarking, lawyers can more easily navigate the entire process from start to finish to ensure that all of your paperwork is buttoned up—which means you don’t have to go back to the drawing board in the future.

If you still can’t find a name that perfectly embodies your community, we’re here to help. As multifamily marketing experts, we’re experienced in every element from naming a multifamily asset and brand identity, all the way down to crafting marketing emails and direct mail campaigns. We’ll put our expertise to work for you to help you find the ideal name for your community.