Strategies for multifamily marketing can look different depending on the size of the property. For owners and operators of properties with fewer than 50 units, a few key distinctions stand out, according to a recent survey by Apartments.com. Let’s take a closer look at the goals, challenges, and strategies reported by decision-makers for this important segment of the multifamily industry.
Owners are more engaged in advertising strategy
Who makes decisions about marketing? Active decision-makers in the survey represented a range of roles, including property managers, regional managers, marketing and leasing leaders, property owners, and more.
How involved are property owners in the marketing strategy for their rental units? The smaller the property, the greater the role of the owner.
Owners of properties with under 50 units are more than twice as likely to be responsible for making advertising decisions, compared to owners of properties with 50 or more units. Owners of smaller properties are much more likely to decide both which advertising sources to use and how much to spend.
Rental networks are the top choice for budget-conscious decision-makers
Cost is a top consideration for any multifamily marketer. But for decision-makers of properties with fewer than 50 units, budget is an even greater priority.
These budget-conscious professionals are 34 percent more likely than their peers with larger properties to have cost-cutting as a current marketing goal.
At the same time, they’re stretching their budgets further. Decision-makers for these properties are managing smaller budgets, with less than half of their peers’ monthly spend per property.
How are they allocating their budgets?
The top advertising strategy among this segment is the internet listing service (ILS), with 65 percent of decision-makers reporting that they currently use an ILS. Email came in second, with 54 percent of respondents.
Less popular strategies include: organic social media (30 percent), display or banner ads (29 percent), paid social media advertising (26 percent), and organic search or SEO (26 percent).
And SMS-based marketing, online video, paid search, AI-generated marketing, and geofencing were used by fewer than a quarter of respondents responsible for these properties.
Leasing efficiency is essential
When managing a small budget, efficiency is crucial. Decision-makers for properties under 50 units were 41 percent more likely than their peers of larger properties to prioritize leasing efficiency.
Two in five of these owners and operators reported that their top marketing goals included reducing time spent by their leasing team.
So it’s no wonder that low-quality leads ranked as a top operational concern among 76 percent of survey respondents.
Nearly 60 percent of respondents also cited high vacancy and low or negative rent growth as a top operational concern.
Best practices for properties like yours
What can you do to keep your property occupied and profitable? Explore the best practices for properties with under 50 units. Watch now to discover the top tips for marketing your property, in under 10 minutes:
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