curated stock images curated stock images

Curated Stock Images Will Capture Your Residents’ Attention

Written by Stacey Feeney on November 3, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Marketing.

Every marketing director knows: branding is important–it tells your ideal future resident what you’re like, what to expect, and how seriously to take you. Curated lifestyle stock photos can help you build your brand while painting a picture for prospective residents to help them imagine what it would be like living at your community. But we’re not just talking about any stock photo. Since there is a wide assortment of images available to be used, we’ll help you understand why picking the right one (or set of images) can make or break your apartment building’s brand. Let’s talk about using stock photos, and using them well.

Why should I use stock photos for my Apartment Building Marketing?

Stock photos are key in helping you save time, save money, and keep your marketing materials fresh. It’s well known that “photos are worth a thousand words.” Another fun fact about images from Brain Rules by John Medina for you:

Three days after hearing information, you have a 10% chance of remembering it. Add an image, and you’re 65% more likely to recall the same information.

Think of it this way, too: when reading a chapter book to a child at bedtime, they’ll likely want to see pictures (if there are any). They can imagine it more clearly, and understand more of the context. Adults aren’t all that different–if you can help them picture themselves in your apartment building or multifamily community through an apartment marketing brochure, that’s all the proof they may need.

Bad Stock Photos Are Worse Than Nothing

When is a stock photo a bad choice? Beyond the obvious pitfalls (“brings up more questions than it answers” or “doesn’t relate to the topic at all”), here’s what else to look out for:

1) When the stock photo is cheesy:

Ah, the bad stock photo. We’ve all seen it: the woman laughing uproariously while eating a salad or a group of blazer-wearing businessmen high-fiving each other in front of a backdrop. They’re absolutely posed and not believable in the least. This next generation of tech-savvy residents will notice it if you try to fake your way through.

2) When the stock photo is overused:

Ever shown up to a party wearing the exact same thing as someone else? Embarrassing. The same thing can happen when you choose the same overused stock photo as another company. Gen Z (and a couple of other possible residents) will notice, roll their eyes, and move on to another apartment community.

The key? Look for photos that are natural-looking, candid. Ones that don’t look posed. Try to avoid stock photos with white backdrops, since that’s rarely a background to anything in real life.

Save Time with Curated Stock Photos

There are an estimated 350 million+ stock photos available online. In case you’re not great with math, that’s a ridiculous amount, even if you have something particular in mind. To have to sift through that number of stock photos will take more time than it’s worth. And, as we all know in the business world, time is money.

Another good thing about curated stock images is that they can help you stay on-brand and consistent. When you look at a set of curated images, they can have all the same filter, effect, or style. You’re already saving time by not taking the photos yourself (and getting better quality, too, we’d wager). Keep saving time and money by hiring zipcode creative to compile and curate stock photo sets for you to use that fit within your brand style guidelines.

Keep on Top Of Content with Stock Photos

Content is still king–and the need for continuous, updated content has skyrocketed, but your budget probably hasn’t kept up with the shift. Stock photo costs can add up, and hiring a photographer can be pricey as well. Keep things fresh with relevant, perfectly curated photos that help showcase your unique apartment community or multifamily building. With calendars and a bevy of on-brand stock photos, you can engage with current and future residents through posts on social media, and anywhere else you think needs to hit the Refresh button.

Stay on track with your brand style guidelines with plenty of images to choose from. zipcode creative can help you sift through the wide assortment of stock images to get exactly what your apartment community needs for your next marketing material refresh.

grand opening postcard design grand opening postcard design

Grand Opening Marketing Campaign for Apartments

Written by Stacey Feeney on November 3, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Marketing.

When your community is first opening or reopening after a renovation, it’s time to celebrate! It’s an important milestone and an exciting time to show off everything you have to offer to your local neighborhood and prospective residents. Instead of flying under the radar when you open, make an impact with a thoughtful grand opening marketing campaign. By generating excitement, offering incentives, and broadcasting the event across different marketing channels, you’ll make your mark early on to increase brand awareness and name recognition.

Creating Your Campaign

Your grand opening isn’t the time to hold back. Think big to create a can’t-miss event that will have your entire local community buzzing.

Invite Your Community

To generate even more excitement around your event, invite people from across the local community. From politicians like the mayor or city council members to local business owners and their staff to residents of the surrounding area, welcome a wide range of people from across the community to your opening celebration. This will help you generate word of mouth and increase brand awareness, all while also ensuring that everyone has a great time!

Information Booth

Make it easy for those interested in learning more to get the additional info they need. Set up a booth or table at your event with flyers, brochures, and other information about your community. It’s also the perfect opportunity for staff meet-and-greets. From your property management staff to the building maintenance team, have everyone attend the event to build relationships and showcase the top talent your community has to offer.

Food & Drinks

Who doesn’t love a good spread of food and drinks? Be sure to cater your event with enticing food that will have people clambering to attend. Whether you opt for a theme or just offer light bites and cocktails, having food encourages people to linger and engage with your community even further.

Swag

You worked hard on your community’s branding, so it’s time to show it off. Create free swag giveaways for the event that help spread the word about your opening. From tote bags to pens to umbrellas, create different items with your distinctive logo or branding that attendees can take with them. That way, they’ll get to leave with some freebies for a win-win way to spread awareness!

Early Leasing Incentives

If prospective residents attend your event, incentivize them to their lease right then and there. Grand opening leasing promotions are a great way to increase urgency and help you lease up faster. From signage at the event to flyers you tuck into the swag bags, make sure you actively promote the incentives to encourage prospects to make the leap. Consider offering a free month, discounted amenities fees, and other cash incentives or other perks to sweeten the deal.

Marketing Your Campaign

Before hosting your event, you need to make sure you shout it from the rooftops. Leverage strategic marketing materials to generate buzz and amplify the event for a few weeks before it happens with a grand opening marketing campaign. That will help to maximize attendance and encourage local partners, prospects, and the general public to stop by.

When it comes to marketing, it’s time to think big! Don’t limit yourself to just one or two marketing channels. Instead, opt for a 360-degree campaign that includes:

Email Marketing

Leading up to the event, be sure to send a blast to your email list with all the details. Consider sending a formal invitation and at least one follow-up reminder to make sure people mark their calendars.

Mailers & Flyers

Don’t rely on digital marketing methods alone. Printed mailers and postcards are a great way to reach your local community and can even be distributed in local shops and restaurants for a two-pronged approach.

Signage

Create signs specifically for the event, but also outdoor signage leading up to the event. From flags and boulevard banners to large building banners, the sky’s the limit to the type of signage you can create.

Handouts & Brochures

Don’t let those who attend the event leave empty-handed. Be sure to have brochures, property sitemaps, and other relevant handouts handy for people who are interested in learning more about living in your community. You can even tuck them into the swag bags to be sure people will see them later.

If you’re ready to get started on your grand opening marketing campaign, consult an expert like zipcode creative. We’ll work with you to create a cohesive and holistic approach to your event for the best possible experience for everyone!

Get in touch today.

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

A Resident Referral Program that Works to Sign New Leases

Written by Stacey Feeney on October 14, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Marketing.

When it comes to your community, your best advocates are your residents. As the people who experience all of the best of your community every day, they can vouch for the apartments, the amenities, and the overall living experience firsthand. As a result, resident testimonials and word of mouth are often the best ways to entice prospective residents to opt into your community. But instead of leaving it to chance, why not create a more formal resident referral program to incentive residents to help you lease-up?

The Benefits of a Resident Referral Program

Resident referral programs are a great way to create a thriving community that also positively impacts your bottom line. Resident referral programs can:

Lower resident acquisition costs. By encouraging your current residents to refer people they already know, you won’t have to spend as much time and money on marketing and advertising.
Minimize resident turnover. When residents encourage people they know to move in, they’re building a welcoming and thriving community. As a result, they’re less likely to move out, helping to increase resident retention and minimize turnover costs.
Lease-up faster. When you do have vacancies, filling them becomes much easier with a referral program. Instead of your staff working tirelessly on marketing materials or coordinating with leasing agents, you have a built-in network that makes word-of-mouth marketing easy.
Foster a stronger community. When residents already know their neighbors, it’s simple to build a strong and engaged community. From attendance at resident events to positive interactions in amenity spaces, this helps bolster both participation in your community programming and overall resident happiness.

How to Start a Resident Referral Program

Referral programs are incentive-based programs that reward your residents for referring friends, family, and acquaintances to your community. Because 92% of people trust word of mouth recommendations from friends and family over all other forms of advertising, a referral program is an effective way to encourage interest in your community.

When a resident refers someone to the community, they receive some kind of bonus when that person signs a lease. The program bonuses could include everything from a cash bonus to discounts on rent, or gift cards to local restaurants and businesses. To maximize the benefits, consider creating a referral program with no limit offering tiered bonuses that increase with each referral. That way, the more people a resident refers to move-in, the more their reward, making it a win-win solution for both you and your residents.

How to Advertise the Referral Program

Once you’ve determined your program details and identified what incentives you’ll be offering, it’s time to generate interest in the program and your community itself. While traditional marketing methods like emails, flyers, and signage are a great way to engage your community, you can also think outside the box to drive interest in your referral program.

Develop Program Positioning

First, come up with campaign positioning or slogans that will make an impact on residents. Consider a catchy name like “Friends Make the Best Neighbors,” or “It Pays to Have Friends.” You can then use this catchphrase across different marketing materials like flyers, emails, and social media posts to promote the program more widely to your residents.

Host Resident & Prospective Resident Events

You can also host resident events and encourage them to invite their friends and family. That way, prospective residents get an inside look at what it’s like to be a member of your community and can witness all of the perks and benefits firsthand. From barbecues to cocktail hours, these events are the perfect opportunity to encourage prospects to view your community in a brand new way.

Develop Local Partnerships

Expand your community network by partnering with local businesses you love. Offer staff incentives to these partner businesses when their employees refer residents to your community. From cash bonuses to gift cards, you can create a compelling way to encourage other community members to direct residents to your property. You can also promote their businesses to your residents for a mutually beneficial relationship, making it a win-win option for everyone.

Encourage Realtor Referrals

When it comes to referral bonuses, you can also think beyond just your residents and community partners. Opt to partner with local real estate agents to expand your reach and encourage additional referrals. While many realtors overlook multifamily because it’s not traditionally an avenue for commission, you can make it worth their while to refer their clients to your community. After all, the majority of real estate transactions come from referrals, so expanding your referral network is one of the easiest ways to lease-up faster.

Ready to kick-start your resident referral program? Work with multifamily experts like zipcode creative to develop your advertising materials and any other assets you may need to get it off the ground!

Get in touch today to get started.

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

Flyers are Still Effective for Marketing Apartments

Written by Stacey Feeney on October 5, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Graphic Design, Marketing.

These days, when you hear the word “marketing,” your mind might jump right to flashy Instagram stories and virtual TikTok videos. But don’t forget about tried-and-true marketing methods, too. Printed materials like flyers are an easy and affordable way to reach your ideal customer. Branded marketing flyers are the perfect complement to digital marketing efforts, like email marketing or social media graphics. By combining the two approaches, you’re more likely to reach your target audience and make it easier for them to engage in your community.

And the best part about flyers? They’re one of the most versatile pieces of collateral you can create. From announcements to events and everything in between, learn how to incorporate stylish and strategic flyers into your marketing plan.

Flyers For Current Residents

Announcements & Reminders

Flyers are an easy, affordable, and effective way to communicate any updates with your current residents. From announcements about upcoming events to reminders about community news, you can display flyers in the lobby and property management office so they’re in high-traffic areas. For especially important reminders, you can even slip flyers under residents’ doors to ensure they won’t miss the news.

Upcoming Events

Developing a sense of community is vital to keeping your residents happy. Generate additional interest in your events, like happy hours, movie nights, and more, with a well-designed and eye-catching flyer. Include all the info that residents need; like the date, time, and location of the event, so it’s a one-stop place for everything they may need to know about your event. Events make it easy for residents to get to know their fellow residents, fostering community and camaraderie.

Community Services

Make sure that residents know about all of the available services that can make their lives easier. From concierge services and valet trash to online rent payments and a mobile portal where they can submit maintenance requests, a flyer is the perfect reminder to help them stay organized. Add it to welcome packets so residents can keep it on their fridge or on their desk, so they always have the info handy when they need to reference it.

Meet & Greets

Building a relationship between building staff and residents is one of the easiest ways to create a better sense of community for both groups. Organize community meet and greets where property management, maintenance staff, your leasing team, and other staff members can mingle with your residents. Promote it using flyers in common areas like amenity spaces, the building lobby, and offices. That way, residents will get to know the people who keep their community running smoothly.

Flyers For Prospective Residents

Leasing Incentives & Specials

Flyers aren’t only useful for delivering information to current residents. Leveraging flyers in the leasing process is a smart and effective way to engage prospects, too. Keep flyers in the office and on-hand for leasing staff to use to promote ongoing leasing incentives and specials. Add them to your brochure or any other printed materials that prospects already receive, so they have all the information they need to make the best decision.

Amenity Offerings

Apartment communities are about more than just the apartments themselves. Highlight all of your amenity offerings like reserved parking, storage units, garages, and more with flyers. You can tuck these into your brochures, add them to resident welcome packets, or use them at prospective resident events to generate more buzz about your property and showcase everything that you have to offer. Don’t forget to include less traditional amenities too, like a coffee station, electric car charging stations, or valet trash services.

Available Programs

If your community has ongoing programming, like an accent wall program, be sure to create a flyer to promote the option to both prospective and current residents alike. Place the flyers in the lobby, in the management office, and in the leasing office to help generate interest and excitement.

If you’re bursting at the seams with ideas for community flyers, it may be time to bring in the experts. Agencies like zipcode creative specialize in creating well-designed and eye-catching flyers that will help your community achieve—and exceed—their goals.

Get in touch today to get started!

Avaire “valet trash” and Berkeley Place “get up and go” flyers are ©Fairfield Residential | Work executed by Stacey Feeney, owner of zipcode creative, while under creative direction and employment at Fairfield Residential.

Reputation Management Marketing Strategy

Written by Stacey Feeney on October 5, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Marketing.

What Is Online Reputation Management?

Reputation management is a multi-faceted concept for companies. There are different kinds of verbiage and definition for reputation management as it is a growing marketing strategy for companies. Let’s focus mainly on online reputation management.

Online reputation management is a strategy of monitoring, improving, and managing your brand’s online reputation. A company should be aware of what people are saying about your brand online and how people will think about your brand when scouring the internet. A business has a digital footprint where customers can find your online business listing (Google, Yelp, Apartment Guide, Apartments.com, etc) or social media profiles (Facebook).

Online Reviews

A key component of your online business listing and/or social media profile is receiving online reviews through it. Most all business listings have an area where customers can write a review. The reviewer will decide a star rating from the lowest negative star rating of 1 to the highest positive star rating of 5. The third-party listing will aggregate the star rating of all reviews to create an overall rating.

The overall rating showcases what customers think about the business and its performance. You will always want to strive to obtain an overall rating above four. Potential customers will look at the overall rating and review comments. The comments are helpful insights into what it will be like to be a customer of your company.

Multifamily Online Reputation Management

For Multifamily, every apartment community and corporate brand should have a Google listing where people can publish reviews. There are other top content providers that have reviews like Yelp, Facebook, and Bing. Multifamily specific third party sites include the RentPath network (Apartment Guide, Rent), CoStar Network (Apartments.com), Apartment Ratings, and so forth. Your company should own all third party listings and respond to every review.

Like stated above, reviews are an important part of your business marketing strategy to control and be aware of what people are saying about your business and its performance. The comments published by prospects, current residents, and other customers are crucial feedback to your company’s performance and business operations.

Best Practices for Online Reputation Management

There are some best practices each business should start with. Claiming all third-party listings like Google, Yelp, Facebook, and so forth is the first step. Third-party access is needed to respond to reviews. Another best practice is having review email alerts that notify of any new reviews published. If you have a decent amount of business listings, as Multifamily will have individual apartment communities listings, a reputation management program will be helpful with email alerts. The most common best practice is that every review should be responded to whether it is negative, neutral, or positive. Again, a reputation management program will be an added help to have one place to respond to all reviews. Negative reviews are a hot topic right now. The best practice for removing reviews is learning about the third-party review policy. Each review site has an option to report reviews to be removed. A business should report a review if it violates the review policy.

Review Marketing Campaign

Potential residents see recent reviews as trustworthy and important for a business. A review marketing campaign is the next step once you have the above best practice accomplished. Most of the time, people will take the time to leave a negative review. By asking current residents and prospects to review, the chance of receiving a positive review will increase. There are some actions a business cannot do when asking for online reviews like incentivizing and review gating. Some sites, like Yelp, want reviews to be organic and do not allow asking for reviews. Be sure to review the third-party review policy before generating a review marketing campaign!

How We Can Help

Online Reputation Management has many layers where additional help will alleviate some stress off of your marketing and leasing team. Review generation is important to boost your local SEO, increase rating, and improve online perspectives of your brand and services. zipcode creative can relieve some of your duties by helping create all of the visual marketing components to running a review campaign:

A Leave a Review card
An Email Campaign asking for reviews
Flyers asking for reviews
A Tabletop Signage asking for reviews
Run a review campaign
And much more!

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

Effective Print and Digital Advertising for Multifamily Communities

Written by Stacey Feeney on September 7, 2021. Posted in All Articles, Marketing. 1 Comment on Effective Print and Digital Advertising for Multifamily Communities

When it comes to getting word out about your apartment community, marketing through print and digital advertising is the name of the game. By developing a thoughtful marketing strategy, you’ll be able to build brand awareness, generate interest, and convert prospects into residents. Any good marketing strategy is not complete without ads. From classic ad types like newspaper ads to more modern alternatives such as pay per click ads, the ways you can advertise your community are nearly endless. Learn more about the different ad types and how to craft compelling ads to maximize your apartment marketing efforts.

Print Ads

Local Newspaper

When it comes to print advertising, there’s nothing more well-known than newspaper ads. There’s a reason this classic ad option is still used—because it works. When you place an ad in a newspaper, you’ll reach a large audience all at once to cast a wide net. Plus, newspaper readers trust the publication, so there’s a built-in level of trust for your brand, too. This helps build brand awareness and drive interest to help you lease-up faster.

Magazine Ads

Advertising in your neighborhood magazine is a traditional and effective print advertising option. Placing ads in these types of periodicals is an easy way to get a lot of eyes on your advertisement, and using high-quality images and attention-grabbing headlines can help to drive a lot of interest in your community. This approach typically works best for the senior living demographic.

In addition to local publications, consider advertising in trade publications, too. Look into what publications are circulated in your area to identify some out-of-the-box advertising opportunities that will drive brand awareness and generate additional interest in your community.

Direct Mail

Instead of placing an ad in a third-party publication, you can also create your own. Opt for direct mail pieces, like postcards or flyers, that help you to build awareness, generate interest, and promote upcoming events.

Brochures

You can also hand out brochures to prospective residents that showcase everything your community has to offer. From full booklet brochures to smaller gatefold alternatives, there are nearly endless options for your brochure design. That way, you can create a design that caters to your specific audience. Consider this your long form of print advertising.

Designing an Effective Print Ad

Print ads give you the opportunity to showcase your community in a creative way. From clever copy to breathtaking photography, you can create an eye-catching ad that will attract attention. When designing your ad, be sure to include:

Property photos, especially of kitchens or pools
A short “about” paragraph
Condensed amenities list – the top most desired
Contact information
Ongoing promotions
A call to action, such as “schedule a tour”

Be sure to also include information about the units you have available, whether that’s one-, two-, or three-bedroom apartments. If you have space, print ads are also an amazing opportunity to use lifestyle photography, giving prospects a better sense of what it might be like as a resident.

Remember to design your ad with your apartment’s branding in mind so that your ad is cohesive with all of your other marketing materials.

Digital Ads

Display Ads

Display ads incorporate images, text, and video to create a multimedia digital advertising experience. Display ads can take many forms, from banner ads at the top of a website to video ads on YouTube. These digital ads can display on a wide range of websites, helping to increase your reach and drive interest from a wider range of potential residents.

Social Media Ads

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest are known for their engaging content, but they also offer advertising opportunities for businesses. You can set your ads to run specifically for your defined target audience to drive even higher engagement and reach those who are more likely to convert. No matter if you’re trying to increase brand awareness or drive people to sign up for an on-site tour, social media advertising helps you connect with prospects at every stage of the sales funnel for a versatile and flexible option.

Email Marketing

Instead of buying ad space through online publications or social media platforms, create your own email marketing campaign to market to the leads you already have. This allows you to totally customize the look, feel, and message of your emails for an eye-catching final result that helps drive leases.

Designing an Effective Digital Ad

Digital ads are often very small, so it’s important to develop thoughtful designs. This ensures that people can easily read and digest all of the information in the ad with just a glance. When designing digital ads, there are a few key elements you should always include:

One property photo
Your logo
Short line of text or your tagline
A call to action

When writing your copy and call to action, be sure to define what your community is—especially if the word “apartment” isn’t in your logo or featured in your photograph. This will help prospects instantly understand what you have to offer.

You should also spend time on your call to action. Make it concise, clear, and to the point. Choose something like “Tour today” or “Learn more” and link prospects to your website. That way, they always know exactly what you want them to do next.

If you’re struggling with your print and digital advertising designs, expert designers like zipcode creative can step in to develop an effective ad campaign that will help you drive ROI and make your ad placements more effective. Contact us today to learn more!

ENSO Bragging Rights & NEO Apartment Designs are ©Fairfield Residential | Work executed by Stacey Feeney, owner of zipcode creative, while under creative direction and employment at Fairfield Residential.