Multifamily branding has come a long way. But it can still be improved. Portfolio branding can make a big impact on your branding strategy and your leasing success rates through better brand recognition.
Just think: what if your communities’ brand could build up loyalty in the same way that hotel chains do? That’s the beauty of the portfolio brand. Read along to learn more about what it is and why it could be beneficial to have one.
What is a Portfolio Brand in Multifamily?
DEFINITION
A portfolio brand is a brand that includes multiple communities, housed under one identity. This could mean you have one property brand name that creates multiple sub-brands or communities. It might be called something like “Tranquility Meridian, Tranquility Boise and Tranquility Bozeman.”
This naming convention shows that you have a variety of communities, all housed under one brand: Tranquility—(a community name invented for illustration purposes).
WHY IT MATTERS
Does this sound similar to hotel commercials and advertisements you’ve seen? Yep! One Thing by Marriott. Or Another Thing, a Hilton Hotel.
Why do hotels do this? It’s because they want to create a brand that is known, liked, and trusted in order to create brand loyalty. When the brand experience is positive, the guests can recognize the brand, and be loyal to the brand—booking another stay with another hotel within that portfolio. Positive perception and experience adds up to trust. Trust adds up to return customers (loyalty).
These principles can be well suited for the multifamily industry, too. By creating a recognizable brand and a positive experience, you can help residents trust you, and maintain their loyalty. If, for example, a resident is moving to another city, and the portfolio brand “Tranquility” has a community in their new area, they may look there first, since they trust this brand.
What Goes Into a Portfolio Brand?
There are several core brand components to a portfolio brand. While it’s not all that different from a typical apartment community brand, there may be more information necessary to create a brand that can encompass all you wish it to.
RESEARCH
Lay the foundation so you know where to go next with your brand’s name, logo, colors, and every choice. By going through research and development, you can determine your ideal resident profile and build your brand to answer their questions, suit their needs, and fit seamlessly into their life. Use psychographics, geographics, and demographics to create a better picture of who you’d like to target and start strategizing, while also remembering the variety of locations/markets the brand will be reaching.
NAMING STRATEGY
A name says a lot with very little. Research must come before naming your brand so that you can ensure it’s available as a URL and for social media accounts (and not trademarked). This is a good opportunity to stand out and establish your portfolio brand, so take your time.
VISUAL IDENTITY
Your logo, colors, typography, and imagery will all play into what the portfolio brand looks like. Consider a visual identity that will be able to flex or adapt with a variety of communities you want to nest under your main brand.
VERBAL IDENTITY
The core messaging and mission, vision, values of your verbal identity will help craft the feel of your brand. What are the priorities of the brand? How will those ideas trickle down into your sub-brand? Determining your verbal identity helps answer the questions that will inevitably come up.
ONLINE PRESENCE
Consider how the brand will look and feel, anywhere it can show up—but especially on a website and on social media and digital ads. New prospects are looking online for their next place to live, and prioritizing work on the portfolio brand online is in the best interest of any brand. The website structure is particularly important so prospects can view the main brand and click through to the sub-brands, understanding how they’re all connected. For example, the Gap brand also owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta. Each of these sites has the full group of brands across the top of the website menu.
Aligning Portfolio Brands for Success
MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY, UPHOLD EXPECTATIONS
Determine which asset class you’re hoping to cover with your portfolio brand; best practice is to keep the asset class the same, whether Class A or Class B. If you have a variety of different class assets, your residents may be confused when looking across your group of brands, and won’t know what to expect. There goes your brand recognition and experience.
PORTFOLIO BRAND CATEGORIES
Beyond asset class there are a few other ways companies may choose to group their assets:
- National or Regional: keeping all assets in one location under one portfolio
- Market/location-based: For example, an active senior portfolio brand or a group of communities that are in the suburbs of a major city
MISALIGNED BRANDING
Be sure to avoid branding a Class C property the same way you’d brand a Class A property—that’s exactly why we recommend sticking to one asset class if you’re using a portfolio brand. If a resident looks up another property from one brand after experiencing another, likely with far more amenities, it’d be like walking into a Five Guys and getting a sloppy sad McDonald’s burger. It’s only going to cause confusion and throw trust and loyalty out the window.
Invest Now, Save Time and Money Later
If a family of brands is in the works, get the brand dialed in. With every solid decision made for the brand now (voice to tone to palette to stock image style) new properties’ brand identities are able to be adopted quickly and easily. Simply choose what pieces of the brand are variable and go from there.
IT’S EFFICIENT!
Streamline the process of adding new properties to the family of brands in almost every way; through the:
Website: Only one template needed, and only one messaging strategy. That’s cost savings for writing efforts and gets new websites up more quickly.
Marketing collateral: Assets are already designed, they just need to be versioned and ordered for specific properties—easy as pie.
Social media: For all your properties, have one account. This helps with filling the social media calendar (plenty of content) and bolsters brand visibility, trust, and recognition.
Final Tips on Portfolio Brands
If a company has more than one asset class of property—or has a variety of ideal resident profiles (seniors and students, for example) it may work better to split your portfolios, branding one for a specific set and one for another. Forcing all your assets into one family may be confusing for your residents and prospects.
Using a portfolio brand helps bump up recognition, foster loyalty, and provides cost savings, thanks to shared assets and better efficiency over a group of properties. If you’re looking for a better way to brand your assets as a whole for greater long-term success, reach out to us at Zipcode Creative. We’ve got some ideas for you.
