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Brand Voice for Apartments: What It Is and How to Use It

Written by Stacey Feeney on February 12, 2023. Posted in All Articles, Branding, Writing. 1 Comment on Brand Voice for Apartments: What It Is and How to Use It

What is Brand Voice for Apartments?

DEFINITION

Show your brand through words. Connect to your audience. Bring in your:

Personality: through tone; your
Style: through descriptions; and
Clarity: through explanations.

Brand voice for apartments is the hidden string that ties your content together, to create a seamless, connected experience across channels and all content (and all verbal identity pieces). Brand voice brings your multifamily brand to life through words, and is one part of the full verbal identity. There’s that phrase again: verbal identity—keep reading if you’re wondering what that is.

PARTS OF THE VERBAL IDENTITY

You’ve heard of visual identity. Maybe. That’s what a brand looks like. The verbal identity is what it sounds like: words, content, messaging.

Brand Statements – What you do and why (and why you’re so special).
Brand Voice – We just told you, but no worries: it’s how others hear you and perceive you in written word.
Brand Tone – This is how you say it, depending on the occasion or the audience
Brand Story – This is the behind-the-scenes, get to know us for real, part of your verbal identity
Brand Vocabulary – Semi-style guide; this adds different word usage rules—especially proprietary or made-up words, plus how you use grammar and punctuation, and what’s off limits or definitely discussed in your content.

More Important Than The Logo

The logo seems important. It absolutely is. You’ve heard us say this before, but it bears repeating: Your logo can’t do everything for your brand. In fact, brand voice is more important to your apartment community because it is directly communicating your brand to your current and prospective residents.

BRAND NAMES ARE KEY

The part of your brand voice that tops the list of importance here: apartment community brand names to accompany that logo. While both are essential, the name holds more importance. Here’s why…

The verbal identity (the apartment name) informs the visual identity (the logo design)
Words can create imagery that speaks volumes
A good name with a bad logo is painful
A bad name with a good logo is absolutely tragic

Bring them both together, and you can thoroughly explain who you are, define first impressions, form brand recognition and leave a lingering flavor. The question you most need to answer when you’re creating that brand voice is: What do you want your communities to “taste” like?

This can be done through brand personality choices that are portrayed through your voice and in your tone.

Brand Voice vs. Brand Tone vs. Brand Style

What’s the difference? It’s subtle. But it’s there.

BRAND VOICE

This is what your brand talks about. It’s your brand, through words. Brand voice is what you always use to relay the core, most foundational aspects of your brand—the soul (through your mission, vision, and values.) It’s consistent and reliable. It tells your audience who you are, what you do, what you believe, what we stand for, and what you have to offer.

BRAND TONE

Brand tone is how you say things. It can vary based on the audience, the channel, and the subject. Brand tone allows you to ramp up emotion or connect on a deeper level with your ideal resident. Tone can keep your brand flexible in its verbal identity. According to Forbes, “When communicating, there is a necessary balance for brand voice to bring consistency and tone to create a relatable space.” Residents who relate are residents who remain in the community.

BRAND STYLE

Brand style is what the eyes (instead of the ears) take in. Up for a quick game of word association? Let’s go with “style.” We’d say “fashion, looks, couture, tailored.” Right? So, brand style is how the brand looks: logo, colors, fonts, designs, images. We use our eyes first—and that’s when the first impression comes in. And we love a good first impression. But that’s not the only bit apartment brands need.

VOICE IS OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE

Go deeper: Your brand voice counts just as much. After you grab the attention of your ideal residents with a sweet logo, then the viewer slows down to read just a quick headline, for instance. And these words can penetrate their minds more deeply and provide greater understanding of who your brand is and what you do. That’s if you’ve taken the time to create an engaging brand voice full of personality that will draw them in with useful, relatable content.

Where and How to Use Brand Voice

BRAND STATEMENTS

Use your brand voice in your brand statements. This includes your mission and vision statements. Your values. Your purpose statement, your brand positioning statement, and your brand attributes. Bring out the voice there and make sure it aligns with the personality traits you’ve identified as part of your brand.

BRAND VOICE FOR APARTMENTS

But how do you incorporate that? You’re going to have to write how people speak. Why do I have to write that way? Because that’s exactly who’s reading it. People. (And sometimes Google bots.) A quick test for this is to literally read your copy and content outloud. Does it sound natural? Does it sound like a conversation you could have with a friend? Most of all: does it sound the way you want your brand to sound—does it use the personality you’ve set aside for your exact brand? Here are a few personality spectrums to get you started:

Trendy vs. Classic
Casual vs. Elegant
Matter-of-Fact vs. Enthusiastic

BUDGET FOR STRATEGY AND COPYWRITING

Finally, are you putting enough weight behind your apartment’s brand positioning? We mean strategy and professional copywriting when you’re branding or rebranding an apartment community. (Wondering what makes a good apartment brand? Read this blog next.) If strategy and copywriting are not in the budget, get it in there now—it will be worth the amount you spend on it.

Pro-tip: When you get a professional copywriter (like the ones here at zipcode creative) make sure your strategy is clear. If you don’t have a strategy, get one. That will save you a lot of time when it comes to aligning all the copy around your super magical, one-in-a-million brand voice for your apartments.

Apartment Logo Design Best Practices

Written by Stacey Feeney on February 12, 2023. Posted in All Articles, Branding.

Designing a logo for an apartment community is vital to getting the visual part of your branding dialed in. The key is to make it good. But what does a good logo look like? What goes into the process of creating an effective multifamily logo? First, we’ll clear up some misconceptions around logos, then we’ll identify logo types and show you how to put your logo to the test to make sure you’re hitting the target with your next apartment logo design. (Or redesign!)

Logo Myths

MYTH 1: DIY IS EZ

With the advent of Canva and now Adobe Express, it feels like anyone can be a designer. That’s a little bit different from saying everyone can design something. When we hear apartment community managers say, “We can design it in-house” but they don’t actually have a designer, we get a little concerned. Putting text over a photo or selecting different colors or “move to back/front” layering actions are more accessible than ever. But will that apartment logo design look good? Will it stand the test of time? Even the logos that seem super simple are complicated in terms of design rules and what looks best. Heard of the golden ratio? Do you know what kerning is? Use a professional to get professional, longer-lasting results for logo design.

MYTH 2: MY FAVORITE COLOR IS THE BEST OPTION

You’re not your brand. So your favorite color could never…well, not never, but shouldn’t always be representative of what your brand is. Color theory is helpful in creating something that will stand out, and will align what you’re saying with what your residents are seeing. Think about what colors would make your residents feel. Class? Warmth? Elegance? Vivacity? (More on color usage in a bit.)

MYTH 3: FONTS ARE WHATEVER

Font Psychology. Subliminal messaging. Emotional connection. Fonts are so not whatever. They are crucial to connecting the dots for your residents. Legibility and keeping with your brand’s personality are crucial to keeping your brand cohesive in its visual aspects to go with its verbal aspects (messaging and content). Beyond this, you’ll also have to figure out what kind of typography casing to use for your brand name when you’re in the midst of apartment logo design.

MYTH 4: I HAVE TO PORTRAY MY BIZ EXPLICITLY IN MY LOGO

There’s no rule that says you must show what your company does in your logo. You can if you want, but: Your name might hint at it. Your colors may give it away a bit. Maybe your font suggests some ideas about who you are and what you do. It’s okay to use your name and build your community brand so that your prospective and current residents know who you are without those added hints. Think: Saks Fifth Avenue. There’s not a shopping bag in sight in that logo. Not a clothes hanger. No hat boxes. Zero shoes. But people know what they do. You’re allowed to keep your logo simple. There’s no rule that says if you’re a flower company you have to dot your “i” with a daisy. Cute, but not required. Or maybe you have an image stand in fully for your logo. That happens, too.

Logo Types

IMAGE MARKS

Take an image of something and super simplify it—now you have an image mark. Apple is a good example of this. They don’t even need their name on their products anymore.

ABSTRACT MARKS

Take a big idea and boil it way down. Make it into something representative of that idea—but don’t use an actual recognizable object. Voila! An abstract logo mark. Pepsi has one of these—started one way and started getting boiled down over the years.

WORD MARKS

Remember Saks Fifth Avenue? There’s nothing to it besides a scrolly, swirly script that overlaps with itself. No pictures. Simple as that. If you consider a script font, simple, I guess. Another big one? Facebook. No symbol. Just the word in a very particular typographic style. Instantly recognizable. A bonus point for facebook: They could put just an “f” on a blue square and folks know what it is.

BADGE MARKS

The word and the image are one—image and brand name work together to create one thing: a badge. Burger King craftily combined their name with a bun—their name is the meat. These are tricky to do, but simplifies things when you get to creating branded gear—really only one option and it covers all your bases.

SYMBOLIC LETTERFORMS

That “F” from Facebook is a type of symbolic letterform. That’s when a letter is stylized and designed to convey a certain message—McDonald’s “M” is another example. Those golden arches can be spotted miles away. Think what that could do when you bring that energy next time you’re designing a logo for an apartment community.

SMART LOGO EXAMPLES

Some brands had logos designed that contain hidden messages or meanings that aren’t apparent at first glance.

FedEx has an arrow.
Beats by Dre—is a “B” but also depicts a profile of headphones on a head. What?!
Amazon has an arrow that runs from A→Z. Which feels fitting.

Not every brand needs to come up with something this clever, but we’d be remiss if we skipped over these awesome examples of simplicity combined with smarts in logo design.

Test a Logo Design

Designing a logo for apartment community isn’t one and done—it takes time and tests:

LOGO TEST #1: SIZE

Make it small. How does it look? Make it big. How does it look? Is everything still sharp? Readable? Identifiable? You’ll need to be able to resize your logo without losing the overall clarity or making things unreadable.

LOGO TEST #2: BLACK AND WHITE

This is a structure and shape test. How does it look when it’s black and white? Can you still recognize it? Does it still look pretty good in black and white? Some designers even start with the design phase in black and white for better overall visual alignment before they introduce color. Color cannot save a bad design. An additional bonus: Your brand guidelines will likely call for a one-color logo, so you might as well have it handy anyway! (Bonus: if you’re ordering swag, it’s cheaper in one-color.)

LOGO TEST #3: VERSATILITY

Can this logo go on everything—absolutely everything—and still look good? A hoodie? A brochure? A hat? A sign? A photo overlay? Think of every possible brand asset and make sure it will work—easily. Having a variety of logo marks also helps: type only, logo mark only, and a combo.

LOGO TEST #4: FEEDBACK LOOP

Ever stare at a word so long, it starts to look misspelled and weird? Designing logos for apartment communities can have that happen, too. Bring in the feedback loop: test it with a small audience to get opinions and fresh eyes on it. They’ll see things you don’t—we promise.

Bottom Line with Apartment Logo Design

THE WORTH OF A LOGO

Logo design is not the place to cut your budget. Find a good designer. Look at brands that inspire you. Create a logo that will last and will complete your brand: not as the foundation, but more like glue, bringing it all together in one tidy package to show who you are visually. A professional designer—like zipcode creative—can do exactly that. If your goal is to market your communities well and lease up your building, apartment logo design should not get the short end of the stick. Give it time, give it energy, give it attention.

Beyond that: You’ll have to look at it every day. Make it pretty. Make it good.

Using Storytelling in Multifamily Branding

Written by Stacey Feeney on February 6, 2023. Posted in All Articles, Branding, Writing.

We’re all for using storytelling in multifamily branding. So many brands (beyond apartment communities) are already focused on telling a compelling story to connect with their audience emotionally. Maybe this is through the brand’s history, values, or mission, through a marketing campaign, or by highlighting the people behind the brand. But the multifamily branding market has so many good stories to tell; it’s time to put them front and center.

Let’s start designing brands with better storytelling as a focus (to help prospective residents visualize living at your community). But how? A couple of different ways:

Identify Your Audience

THE AUDIENCE MATTERS

Think of it in terms of telling a joke. You have to know who you’re talking to, and what they’ll understand—generationally, culturally. As for content and brand voice, think through their problems. Their fears. Their goals. Their desires. Bonus points if you can think forward to desires they don’t even know about yet.

REACH YOUR IDEAL RESIDENT PROFILE

Build up your appeal visually and in your content: Apartment branding should speak to the community’s Ideal Resident Profile (IRP) both with voice and visuals. But who is that?

The IRP is determined based on data driven target audiences, user personas, and current resident demographics to identify the ‘who’ your branding is appealing to. Remember: The IRP doesn’t have to be one type of person, it can identify multiple people or have variations of a persona. The IRP shouldn’t exclude or discriminate against any protected classes, but rather it paints a picture of who is most likely to become residents at a given community.

You’re Not Selling Units, You’re Selling a Feeling

Think through what tops the list of your residents deepest desires. When you determine that, you can write a story that solves the problem, offers a solution, or satisfies those deep desires—all emotional benefits alongside your very real, tangible offerings of homes and apartments and community. Bottom line: Serve, don’t sell. Or, if you must “sell”—sell a feeling.

Here’s what we mean:

EXAMPLE
Allison leases a two-bedroom apartment. But actually, she’s leasing her first home away from home. But then, she’s leasing a space to offer guests when they visit her. She’s also leasing the feeling of joy in hospitality. And maybe she’s leasing some sense of independence when she buys things to make her apartment feel homey. Or the independence that only comes from leaving home, knowing that she’ll find community in the welcoming neighbors surrounding her.

The example above included zero amenities. And certainly not in a list format. Sure, amenities could be part of another story, but this one is one of independence. Branding should be so much more than looks and descriptions of amenities—it’s knowing your audience and serving their wants, needs and desires. Now, how to do it.

Storytelling Techniques

IDENTIFY KEY ELEMENTS

Of the brand story, that is. Think of the “we’ve always done it this way” crew—challenge it. Figure out what issues surround things staying the same. Figure out a way to work around it and re-work it completely, to the benefit of your residents. Now you’ve just identifies the key elements of a brand story:
1) Status Quo
2) Conflict
3) Resolution

CREATE A NARRATIVE ARC

If you want to get a little more literal, we can go by the book:
Exposition. Rising action. Climax. Falling Action. Resolution. Happily Ever After.

You get the picture. Think of using storytelling in multifamily branding more in terms of books or movies. Set it up (but not for too long), create a sense of urgency, hit them with some intensity or problems, bring it to the heights, and then resolve (obviously with your community as the solution).

STORY TYPES

Not every story is for every audience. But there are four main story types you can use to reach your audience. Each one serves a slightly different purpose:

Value – This tells the story of what your community offers to a future resident; how it will change their life.
Founder – This tells the story of the company’s beginning—who started it, who’s running it (makes it personal)

Purpose – This is the “big meaning” you portray, and helps bring your staff/company together around values.

Customer – This is what it means to a specific resident that found your community and is now living their best life—thanks to your multifamily community.

Use these four types for bringing storytelling into multifamily branding—and portray your brand through and through. In fact, one of the questions we suggest you ask yourself before a rebrand is: “Are we telling the right story—the story we want to tell?”

BRING THE STORY TO LIFE

Details are your BFFs for this. You need to bring in these four pieces of detail that will get ‘em every time:

Specific, relatable characters

Real emotions

Specific time or moment

Imagery and descriptions

Without these details, your story doesn’t feel quite real. Add in details to paint the picture you most want to convey and your audience will “get it”. Especially if they’re an audience you’ve already identified…

Why Storytelling Works

SHIFT THE FOCUS

Storytelling in apartment branding is a different approach. It’s a mindset shift.
You’re not leasing vacant units, you’re ______________

Providing a fresh start for a young professional
Opening doors of stability for a young family
Creating a sense of independence for a student
Surrounding the oft-lonely with community

USING STORYTELLING IN MULTIFAMILY BRANDING

Where should you use these stories—and how is it woven through your brand? Brand storytelling can be key to your marketing efforts, but you have to be consistent:

Build Trust – through honesty and behind-the-scenes stories
Don’t Sell – solve problems instead
Identify Value – show them how you make their life easier
Paint a Picture – give them an idea of what it would be like to live there!

Conclusion

If you’ve gotten this far and you’re still asking: What is the point of using storytelling in multifamily branding?

It’s to connect. To make things real. To be memorable. To rise above the competition and offer something of substance—not just things, but feelings.

Font Psychology and Identification for Apartment Brands

Written by Stacey Feeney on February 1, 2023. Posted in All Articles, Graphic Design. 1 Comment on Font Psychology and Identification for Apartment Brands

While selecting fonts many seem like a straightforward, easy choice, the opposite is true. Typefaces an integral part of any design, making them a decision that needs to be made with thought and care. But with hundreds of thousands of fonts to choose from, it can sometimes be a daunting choice. How do you choose the best font to convey not only your message but also more about your brand? Learn more about font types, font psychology, and how to pick the right font for your apartment marketing design.

What is Font Psychology?

Each font and typeface conveys a message—whether you intend it to or not. Subconsciously, your reader will draw conclusions about you and your brand just from your font choice. Choosing fonts strategically based on their innate characteristics can help you hit home your message even more clearly.

Certain font families are associated with certain traits, which can help you narrow in on your choice.

Serif

Serif fonts are defined by the small stroke attached to the end of the larger stroke in each letter. Commonly used serif fonts include Times New Roman, Georgia, and Garamond. These fonts are considered quite traditional and tend to convey a more formal tone. They are also associated with sophistication, trustworthiness, and respectability.

Serif fonts are often used in long-form text like books, magazines, and other printed materials because they help improve legibility—especially in smaller font sizes. They may also be used in more creative assets, like brand logos, that align with the fonts’ traits.

Sans Serif

Sans serif fonts are those that do not have serifs, the small stroke attached to the ends of each letter. Common sans serif typefaces include Arial, Helvetica, and Calibri. These fonts have a more modern aesthetic and are considered more straightforward, efficient, and simple.

Sans serif fonts are more common in web-based and digital assets, like websites, blogs, social media, and PDFs. It’s also best for spaces where there is short copy, like a headline, subheadline, or caption. Like serif fonts, they are also often used in branding elements like logos.

Script

Script fonts are designed to mimic cursive handwriting. They are usually more fluid, with letters connecting in elegant strokes. This sophisticated style is often associated with creativity, whimsy, and happiness.

Because they are harder to read at a glance, script fonts should be used sparingly and only in places where there are short lines of copy, like a headline or tagline. They have also become popular for brand logos because they stand out easily.

Decorative

Decorative fonts are very unique and were originally designed for advertisements like posters. These typefaces were designed only for decorative purposes, so like script fonts, should be used sparingly. Decorative fonts, like Cooper Black or Gazpacho, are original, quirky, and fun compared to the other font types, making them perfect for headlines, titles, and logos.

How to Choose the Right Typeface

Understanding the different font types and what they communicate is important to ensure you can choose the font that fits your brand. It also allows you to more effectively partner with your graphic designer or creative agency partner when making font choices.

Serif, sans serif, script, and decorative fonts all have a time and a place based on the message you want to portray and the audience you’re speaking to. When choosing a font, ask yourself the following questions:

Does this font match my brand’s spirit and personality?
Is the font legible and easy to read?
How many other fonts will this be mixed with?
Do this font’s traits align with my audience’s?

Answering these questions can help you narrow down the right font for every situation. But if you’re feeling unsure, a seasoned creative agency like zipcode creative can help you identify the fonts that are the right fit for your brand and ensure that you’re mixing and matching them in the best ways to bring out your personality and resonate with your audience. Font selection is always part of our brand style development process!

Better Apartment Branding – The Old vs The New Way

Written by Stacey Feeney on January 31, 2023. Posted in All Articles, Branding. 1 Comment on Better Apartment Branding – The Old vs The New Way

Better Apartment Branding Should’ve Happened By Now—Why Hasn’t It?

Better apartment branding should’ve happened by now—why hasn’t it gotten there yet? First, there’s confusion over brand versus identity. That means there are entirely different schools of thought around how to actually “do” branding. Second, there’s an old way—think Mad Men—and there’s a new way—think Google—which thrives on creating hyper-successful solutions that its consumers will come back to again and again. Drawing in, calling, beckoning in, instead of reaching out, hoping for a bite.

Yet, some are stuck in the old way. Because it used to work. It’s true that some of us are still out here going, “What makes a good apartment brand?”

Let’s dive in.

The Old Way of Apartment Branding

TOUCH OF VISUAL BRANDING

Mad Men had a whole creative team that worked on things that were advertisement driven. The logo. The colors. The fonts. The brand was relegated to become only the visual identity. (We will say: Don Draper did manage to get some more depth into some of the brands.) Once the visual identity was determined the marketing was considered done.

SUBPAR WEBSITE

With the onset of the internet, websites began popping up for different brands. They were pretty terrible at first. And some are still stuck in that Times New Roman, poor photo quality, sharp gray gradient box pop up style, with no thought about user-friendliness or mobile-responsiveness or aesthetics!. “Just get the info on there and it’ll be good enough.” Not quite.

ADVERTISE AT ALL COSTS

Print, radio, TV ads—they all cost a pretty penny. And not every company has the advertising budget to even try to touch the competition. Just imagine if you freed up a percentage of that advertising budget for something else!

THE SHORT OF IT:

Advertising only works well today if you’ve already built an audience. Yet, so many apartment communities are still stuck in this old way—with bad websites and only a logo, fonts and a color palette to show for their entire brand. There are many things an apartment logo can’t do for your brand. Work towards freshening up your apartment branding approach. Go new school.

The New Way of Apartment Branding

DETERMINE OBJECTIVES AND VALUES

“Start with why” – Simon Sinek’s golden circle marketing theory isn’t about making a profit. Instead It’s why you got into the business in the first place.

Why→ Make every day living luxurious.)

What→ Provide a community for young professionals that’s elegant and easy

How→ Build a brand that echoes elegance from every corner, from fabric choices to font choices to new staff onboarding.

From the inside out, you have to drive your apartment community branding with values. Add in work on your mission, your vision, and get everything else built on that—or it will all crumble. Start. With. Why.

GET YOUR IDENTITY TOGETHER

Sometimes brands come to us and ask us for copywriting help, but they don’t have their identity together—this is like baking without a recipe. You might get something good, but unless we’re taking notes along the way, it won’t be replicable, and it might not be what you expect!
Do yourself (and us) a favor, and work towards getting your identity tidied up. We’re talking: voice, name, logo, colors, fonts, images—anything that can identify you. Get it squared away.
In fact, creating a brand identity is step #1 (of FIVE!) in Masterclass’ brand marketing guide.

ATTRACT THE RIGHT RESIDENTS

After your identity is determined, work toward:
Brand Awareness: creating an ideal resident profile helps with that

Brand Positioning: figure out why you’re different from the competition and *work it*

Telling Your Brand Story: we love a brand we can connect with!
and

Brand Loyalty: your loyal residents can be your best bit of marketing—they’ll tell their friends and leave good reviews, helping boost online perception, too.

THE SHORT OF IT:

Better apartment branding (“new school”) is focused on making awareness the top of the sales (or leasing) funnel. When you build up your organic audience (residents in this case) before you go to market, you get to spend less on advertising. Go for inbound marketing—create content your audience wants, and draw them in. Get on social media to be accessible, to entertain, build awareness and brand recognition, and build up your audience. And when you launch your new community, it will already be in front of the people you most want to target.

Better Apartment Branding Now

GET CLEAR ON IDENTITY VS. BRAND

Let’s explore a little phrase. When someone says “well that’s on brand for them” it means it lines up with what they know to be true about the company or about the person—it was expected. Their name is their identity. But: It’s not 100% who they are—that comes in with how they act, what they put forth, what they embody and value. Brand is the part that draws your ideal residents in, particularly around mission, vision, values. Creating these helps make your brand you, because you’ve started from the inside, out. (Remember the golden circle that starts with “why”?)

Your brand is your tagline (identity described) actually played out!
Your brand is the reason you’re the top choice—not just a different option.
Your brand is the feel, while identity is only the look.

MORE THAN LOGOS

Logos do not equate to brand. It’s part of the visual identity. A logo is one tool in your entire branding toolkit. One part of…

BRAND DEVELOPMENT

One of our favorite things at zipcode! Strategy within apartment brand development is everything when it comes to marketing multifamily communities. You get to build trust, pride, and feature your favorite parts of your apartment brand. Research your audience (create that ideal resident profile) and take a look at the competition. Get your mission, vision, and values lined up. Tell your story. Make things pretty (we can help with this, 100%). Assess everything. Track all your marketing moves.

Hey, visual identity folks: Eyes up here—start branding with your heart and everything will get a little better.

AI Copywriting for Apartments AI Copywriting for Apartments

AI Copywriting for Apartments is Only for Zero Dollar Budgets

Written by Stacey Feeney on January 23, 2023. Posted in All Articles, Writing.

AI copywriting for apartments sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? Ah, think of all the money we could save. And that’s where the savings end. Sure, you may save money on the copywriting, but what are you sacrificing?

We dug in and tried out Chat GPT for you, testing out its AI copywriting for apartment branding. The verdict: It’s missing key pieces of the puzzle; particularly in spaces where you need to stand out from your competition and actually differentiate your apartment community’s brand from your competitors.

In Terms of AI Copywriting for Apartments, Here’s What ChatGPT Did OK

WEBSITE AND BROCHURE COPYWRITING

It responded with a grammatically correct listing of exactly what we asked. It didn’t forget to add any of the amenities we asked it to include. And…that’s mostly it. It’s cookie-cutter, but it gets the job done. If you want anyone to actually read the copy, try to avoid ChatGPT. It won’t win any branding awards with its lack of personality and brand voice. If you’re looking for filler, and you have a zero-dollar budget for your B-C and below communities, hit up ChatGPT.

This is Where ChatGPT Fell Short

COMMUNITY NAMING CONCEPTS

Every option it came up with was super basic. Not in a cute way. There was no depth and there was no originality. It gave us vanilla, surface-level, boring apartment brand names—and there would be no way it could identify overlapping ideas to strengthen the rationale behind any name it suggested or offered. It spat out the naming concept “Prairieland” because the state the apartments are located in is known for its grassy fields. Good one. (Not.) Could be a good starting point if you’re completely missing inspiration and need to show up to a brainstorm later that day.

If you hire a non-robot copywriter at zipcode, we look for unique names (so you don’t have to go into any major trademark battles) that actually mean something to your company and to your ideal resident. Speaking of ideal residents…

IDEAL RESIDENT PROFILE

IRP—also known as your customer avatar in the multifamily industry—this was an interesting concept for our little robot friend. The research felt limited and its generic and typical responses told us that this was not the way to create a resident profile that would be useful in any part of apartment marketing. The tip off? There was zero personality and very few details. Without those two pieces, you don’t get to dive into decision-making processes and pain points for your IRP (and create content that speaks to and solves those pain points). We will say: it managed to give relevant—albeit average—demographic info when we asked, so you could start there.

If you hire a non-robot copywriter at zipcode, we go whole hog on the IRP—indicating every detail that could help you better make a marketing decision. And: we can do more than one. Empty Nesters? Nailing it. Young Professionals? You got it. We’ll cover the deets, and then some, so you can feel confident in your next apartment marketing campaign.

APARTMENT BRAND VOICE AND TONE

This was the biggest gap in Chat GPT’s AI copywriting for apartments. We asked for a “western chic casual” brand voice. There wasn’t a hint of personality or brand voice or anything that remotely resembled a casual vibe or western wording. The only idiom it included was “And the cherry on top…” While widely used and understood, it’s not western in the least. Or chic. This doesn’t make us want to saddle up and ride into the sunset with this robot. You’d think this would be easy enough to deliver on with related words, access to thousands of synonyms on the world wide web, but it couldn’t quite get it right. It even took our prompt words “western chic casual” and dropped them in the response—as if we wouldn’t notice. For this, consider using ChatGPT to create a rough draft that you can later inject with your brand’s personality and voice at will on your own.

If you hire a non-robot copywriter at zipcode, we’ll nail the brand voice and tone every time. We like to dial it in—literally—to find where you land in the spectrum of several personality traits. This informs how we write every piece of content for you. Sophisticated or silly? Cutting edge or classic? If you’re like most of our brands, you’re always somewhere in the middle. This is a nuance that robots just can’t compute. Not yet, at least!

The Proof

Just to prove we’re not being salty, here’s the prompt we submitted and Chat CPT’s response when we tested its copywriting chops.

OUR CHATGPT PROMPT

Write a summary in a western chic casual brand voice and one of dog friendly, 1 and 2 bedroom apartments in Fort Worth, TX that have amenities such as wood-look floors, quartz countertops, white shaker cabinets, a pool, fitness center, co-working space, and are within walking distance to the stockyards.

THE CHATGPT AI RESPONSE

“For our western chic casual brand, we’ve got the perfect spot for you in Fort Worth, TX! Our 1 and 2 bedroom apartments are not only dog friendly, but they also come with top-of-the-line amenities like wood-look floors, quartz countertops, and white shaker cabinets. Plus, our complex features a pool and fitness center for all your exercise needs. And if you’re in need of a place to get some work done, we even have a co-working space available. And the cherry on top? These apartments are within walking distance to the historic stockyards. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to live the ultimate chic, western lifestyle.”

ChatGPT is honestly pretty cool and impressive. AI has come a long way. But human copywriting is, so far, superior. And copywriting for apartment brands at zipcode creative is our (totally biased) favorite. Definitely recommend.