Branding Beyond Prospect Marketing

Brand everything.

We’re serious.

There are so many places where residents interact with your brand that…whoops, weren’t ever on your radar, and certainly not in your budget!

This is just a little (okay, sort of exhaustive) list of things and ways to use your brand onsite for a fuller resident experience—beyond prospect marketing.

Where Your Brand Really Lives

It’s completely typical and expected to cover the leasing office in your marketing budget. It’s lovely and all color-coordinated, down to the pens in a little mug. Beautiful brochures. Profesh photography. Sleek website.

But then the residents move in.
And they’re met with generic maintenance forms.
And Times New Roman font on their move-in checklist.

And amenity space signage that…might have gotten printed off at Office Depot.

Eek.

This tells your residents that you’re more than willing to put in the effort to get them to sign on the dotted line and collect their deposit, but don’t really care what happens after that. If you’re frontloading your entire budget on pre-leasing, with crumbs left for post-move-in, it will be clear in the 300+ missed branding touchpoints that never see the light of day.

Keep your brand promise and retain your residents. Every time you use your brand after the lease can help with resident satisfaction, and therefore: renewal rates. That’s money. But somehow, these brand touchpoints don’t really come into the budget discussion.

Let’s walk through a resident timeline and events where you can get that brand boosted.

Branding At Pre-Move-In

This is the sweet spot between the signed lease and the move-in day. Future residents are excited, anticipating what it’s going to be like living there.

Don’t let them down!

Make sure you’ve got budget lined up to brand these pieces well:

• Lease signing documents and folders
• Welcome email series (use branded templates, please!)
• Move-in instruction packets
• Parking pass/key fob presentation materials
• Pre-arrival resident portal invitation

Everything here is drawing the brand into their experience. Do it well, and do it according to your guidelines. Nothing is too small to be branded. (See: parking passes!)

Move-In Day Brand Touchpoints

The last thing a resident wants to do is worry on their move-in day, “Was this the right choice?” So this is the best chance to prove that you’re still the one! Look professional. Maintain consistent branding. Let them encounter your brand everywhere they look.

• Welcome packets at the door
• Move-in checklist
• Branded welcome gift
• Elevator padding or moving signage
• Door hangers for neighboring residents (“Pardon our noise!” -Your New Neighbor)
• Emergency contact cards/magnets

Everything at move-in that’s well branded tells your residents: You’re home. Unpack, relax, we’ve got you covered.

Regular Residence Touchpoints

Now comes the tricky run-of-the-mill, everyday stuff. Small details that show care, and attention to detail.

Make sure you don’t miss out on branding these small things—they add up.

AMENITIES

It’s not hard to get logos on these at the very least. These are seen every day, and if your signage is Bold Arial printed off on printer paper and taped to a wall, that tells your residents: “Signed the lease? Cool! We don’t care all that much anymore.”

• Coffee bar supplies/signage
• Co-working space materials
• Clubhouse event announcements
• Gym equipment labels and class schedules

COMMUNICATIONS

Ongoing communications are a regular chance to prove yourself to your residents, over and over again. Whether sending out a community newsletter (again: templates are great) or asking residents to re-up their lease—why would they if they can’t feel they trust the community brand? The old branding = trust = loyalty is the key equation.

Look for the best ways to brand the following:

• Resident portal (if possible)
• Maintenance request confirmations
• Receipts and reminders for rent payments
• Community newsletter (email or print)
• Event announcements
• Maintenance notice door hangers or leave behind cards
• Package delivery notice
• Lease renewal information
• Utility payment instructions
• Community updates (construction, amenity closure)

So, which will it be: “We’re on top of everything!” or “Oops, that’s not an issue is it?” Residents are noticing how much care you put into every interaction and every email or notice—when it’s not followed through with consistent branding, it sticks out, in a bad way.

MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS

Even if most of the work is happening out of sight of the residents, it’s best practice to have your brand there if they see it. This isn’t the glamorous, fun stuff. But it is the real stuff. And when they need to let in a maintenance person, they want to be certain they work for the community—the logo there is a symbol of trust.

• Maintenance staff uniforms / name badges
• Work order forms
• Move-out inspection checklist (on the opposite end of move-in checklists!)
• Vendor access instructions
• Contact info for utilities
• Emergency procedure signs

Building The Lifestyle Brand

Using the brand’s logo, colors, fonts, has a use—it’s building up the lifestyle brand that you’ve been paving the way for, ever since residents signed a lease. While residents live there, consider every opportunity to brand the lifestyle promised.

Brand the:

• Event invitations
• Community event signs/materials
• Resident birthdays/anniversary cards and appreciation gifts
• Holiday decor and messaging
• Social media posts
• Referral program materials
• Community board posts

If the brand’s thing is making the community different, unique, and created with the resident in mind, get the lifestyle pieces aligned with the brand, too. Generic brands don’t care about these details—but your brand does.

Renewal and Departure

When it’s time to part ways, maintain a hold on branding—now is not the time to give up. Keep all of these branded, and your residents may think twice about leaving (or may come back after a time away):

• Lease renewal marketing materials
• Renewal incentive announcements
• Move-out instruction packets
• Forwarding address forms
• Security deposit return information
• Exit survey materials (+ “We’re sad to see you go” messaging)

Don’t let residents leave with a bitter taste in their mouths—keep things branded and streamlined and professional until the very end. You never know when they may recommend you or go to another one of the properties in the portfolio in a new city.

Why “Brand Everything”?

It’s good business. Branding everything is an investment. In our brand promise blog, we talk about how much cheaper it is to have renewals rather than new leases. Every branded resident experience impacts that decision.

If you want to save money on turnover costs (to refill the unit) when comparing renewals vs. new resident prep (paint, carpet, cleaning, minor repairs) then add it all up:

• Consistent professional touchpoints improve resident satisfaction scores
• Property management quality and details almost always end up in online reviews (they’re paying attention!)
• Templates for the whole portfolio create efficiency
• Residents see when community managers care about the details

If renewal rates go up by 2% or 3% because of branded touchpoints, that budget is self sustaining—get those line items added!

Start Here

Wondering what makes the most sense to address first?

Go with the high impact, high visibility pieces (big things that get seen frequently):

1. Email templates
2. Event or announcement flyers or signage
3. Move-in packets

Get these branded well. That’s your bread and butter. Then you can move on to the “nice to have” pieces, like maintenance notices, or even branded seasonal decorations.

Branding is not just for marketing. Well after the lease is signed, the brand should continue to prove to the resident that they made the right choice. Renewal isn’t a given. Break the brand promise, and they might break the lease. 

It doesn’t have to be perfect all the time, but start with the most visible pieces and go from there, until everywhere you look, the brand is undeniable. Audit those touchpoints post-lease signing and find the places where your brand system can get a boost.