An Inside Look at the Multifamily Industry’s Marketing Practices

Driving high-quality leads and converting leads into signed leases is taking precedent among apartment marketers — even more so than cost per lease, according to a recent survey by Apartments.com. These results are based on 650 survey responses from a blind survey of those who own or manage five- to 600-unit apartment communities. The group represents $240 million in advertising spend. Other big takeaways from the survey are that advertisers and renters take advantage of a wide range of search options and that renters overwhelmingly prefer Facebook and Instagram for their social media search channels.

Decision-makers’ titles vary widely

There is great variety in decision-maker titles when it comes to marketing. Regional managers represent the top category at 30 percent; followed by owners (22); property managers (20); marketing leadership (19); and national or headquarters (5). Communities use a wide range of advertising sources, with internet listing services (ILS) preferred at 80 percent. Others include organic social, display advertising, pay-per-click marketing, online video, geofencing and search engine optimization.

Marketing deeks exposure, conversions

High-quality leads trump quantity and high lead-to-lease conversion rates are preferred, according to the survey. For larger companies, they lean more to generating exposure. At smaller communities, they primarily aim for higher conversion rates, as they have fewer staff who are wearing more hats.

What’s driving leads

Driving the highest-quality leads is video marketing (46 percent); followed by ILS (39); SEO (39); and PPC (37). These results have not changed compared to recent years. For conversions, video again is king at 46 percent; followed by a three-way tie for ILS, SEO, and Paid Social at 36. At 49 percent, video and ILS are tied for driving the most applications, followed by SEO (41) and PPC (38). Facebook and Instagram are overwhelmingly renters’ top social media preferences, well ahead of Twitter, TikTok, and Snapchat, among others, each registering at less than 10 percent.

Talk to your local Apartments.com representative to learn more about this survey and how we can help you to improve your exposure and conversion rates.