Apartment Guide vs. ForRent

Hi Everyone,

I know every market is different, but I'm really starting to see a trend in Apartment Guide and ForRent performance. At least in the Georgia and Florida market, it seems ForRent is leading in performane and cost, but who is the best on a National level in both print and online marketing? Please give me your input.

Thanks,
Pedro

Pedro,
Have you checked out Apartment Finder? I am part of the AF Family and we have invested heavily in our internet presence. At the same time we have continued to maintain our same level of high volume, prospect focused onland print distribution.

This is definitely among my most asked questions at seminars and consulting visits. In the spirit of full disclosure, I did work for For Rent for a time about a decade ago. But I also started print magazines in various markets and I know this business inside and out. If the two are competing head to head in a market, and if there may even be a third candidate like Apartment Finder or a locally-produced guide, it all comes down to distribution. In some markets, Apartment Guide blows For Rent away by being in better supermarkets or convenience stores. Go out in your market area and look for the magazines. Are they hard to find? Are they everywhere? It is a numbers game - the number of distribution points and the number of magazines printed. I used to laugh when the print guide reps would come into my office and try and hand me thirty magazines - I'd say, "No thanks! I am not a distribution point for your publication, it looks like you are printing too many, which means I am paying too much." As for the online exposure, this changes all of the time. All of the major online guides, which includes For Rent and Apartment Guide's .coms jostle for position and paid placement. Do your own research to see who better penetrates your market. AG didn't concentrate on the online side for many years because they felt it took business from print. But they have gotten over that and have steamed ahead. For Rent has more coverage in markets they don't have a print guide in. So many variables, anyone who tells you one is simply better than another without doing the market specific research is selling you a line!

I definitely AGREE with you here, Christopher. APARTMENT GUIDE is
without a doubt, the BEST source...on-line and in stores. And
"no", I am not affiliated with this publication in any way.

It would be easy if you could set up your Qui'ja board and ask what was going to be the best for both now and in the future. Unfortuantely, it doesn't work that way. This question is one property managers have struggled with for decades, and will continue to debate. Technology and our prospects change consistently, as are distribution points as publishers vie for market share. I have always believed there are key factors and needs assessments that should be reviewed with every budget and market analysis, as well as periodic reviews with any plan to insure you are on track...and if not make changes. All of them can tell you why their service is the best and give you reasons why you should "choose" to spend your valuable dollars with them. Here are a few considerations before signing any marketing contract.

1. Perform a CBA or "Cost Benefit Analysis" on your current publiations and those in your market. Call competitors in other locations and ask specific questions. (a) What publications and internet marketing sites are you currently in? (b) If more than one, which one provides the most leases and leads and how many on average per month? (Look at leases and not just traffic. Afterall, leases impact your financial) (c) What other publications would you be in if you had the budget and why? If you have confidence in your leasing staff, look at your breakdown of leases for the publications you are in now and what is your "Cost per lease?" Look at your research data and compare.
2. As previously stated number of copies distributed is good, however, innefective if it doesn't get in your prospects hands or hit your target market. Drive a five mile radius of your property and visit every location where any type of publication can be found. Take notes such as what publications where found at what type locations, were the racks full or empty, where were the racks located and was it easily accessable to potential prospects? Most publishers will also provide you with a copy of distribution locations. I might expand my research if several major employers who were current or potential resident targets located outside that five mile area and visit sites in that area as well. I once had a publisher tell me they had "X" number of copies quarterly in distribution. When we drove the primary market we found a lot of competitor books, but few of theirs.
3. If you are in more than one publication (or internet site for that matter), you have got to make sure you are documenting leads correctly. Also remember that studies show over 92% of prospects that said they saw you in a publication also used the internet. This is why all of the "print" publications have put millions into electronic mediums as well.
4. Here is the clincher. Maybe it is not who you are advertising with, but what your are saying in your ad and how your ad looks (i.e. colors, pictures, how your bullet points are listed, how your directions are given, and what words you are using, etc.

Do your research, hit the road, verify what you are being told, check your current advertising, look at your staff, look at your property, and be prepared to justify the basis for your decision.

Nobody said the job was going to be easy!

It varies widely by market, you really need to watch the local results. But overall, i go with apt guide.

Each ILS advertising source performs differently. And that simply isn't by DMA at-large. I once had experiences where single cities in my DMA had one sole service that outpeformed all of the others. And the city next door had success with another (completely separate) source.

This is about knowing your market well. And if your ILS representative knows your market just as well (as they should), they should be able to 1) be honest with you and 2) be willing to work hard to ensure simliar cost-effective results to keep your business.

But the blog is also right in that tracking/responding to leads and ad content mean A LOT. Again, work with your ILS rep. (as they should be actively working with you) to find the right balance.

As always with advertising and marketing, variety is key and no one source is the answer. You never see big brands like Coke, Honda, Target, etc advertise in just one source or on one channel. That's why we all know their names and what they offer. Same needs to be done for properties unless you are a very big fish in a really small pond.
Ask your print guide reps for the locations of their distribution -the addresses are not a secret and they should be able to give you a list. Check to see that current magazines are there. Apt Guide has removed the dates from their magazines so it's hard to know if they are the current addition or not and at least in my markets they are very hard to find anyway.
And as has been said before every market is different and apartments can be rented without using any print guides at all...

I am a current Apartment Guide customer. We ended our relationship with ForRent a little over a year ago because the leads were just not coming in at all. On average I get about 75 leads each month from Apartment Guide compared to my 25-30 leads I would get from ForRent. The biggest difference between the two is the customer service. I received very little customer service from ForRent, not to mention the turn over was horrific... In the two years we advertised with them I had 4 or 5 different reps. One of my biggest problems with ForRent was their random showings at my property. They never called in advance, never made any attempt to see if it was okay to come out, or attempt to set up an appointment. On several occassions they would come in and act like I would drop my appointments for the day to assist them. These meetings were never about how they could improve their service for us, it was always a way for us spend more money to get better features that could help with the concerns we already had. I believe our costs were just shy of $1000.00 per month. I was getting as many leads from advertising in the local paper and college paper. I was happy to be done with my contract with ForRent and so far I am very pleased with Apartment Guide. Nichole, my rep, calls me or emails me before she comes out for a visit. She's prepared when she gets here and is actually knowledgable of her product. She can pull up my leads right away and we discuss closing techniques as well as follow ups. It's definately worth the money!

Great discussion everyone. I have to agree with many of the comments and points being made. One thing that I have noticed since joining Apartmentguide.com a little over 2 years ago is that there are lot of different vendors and their product is always better than the competition. I am glad and confident when I say that I believe in our products at Apartmentguide.com and have the facts that can back up my beliefs. I have been in the multifamily industry for about 8 years and since starting my career at Apartmentguide.com I have learned a lot.

As a community manager or regional or even an owner of a community if I am trying to maximize my return on investment I want to know where my leads are coming from. One thing that I have noticed is that there is a disconnect in the tracking process when prospects come through the door or contact the community. That is why it is imperative to have good customer service from your vendors. Tracking where your traffic is coming from is one of the most important factors in deciding where to advertise. Your relationship with your vendor is very important in achieving your goals.

That is why we at Apartment Guide make it easy. Apartmentguide.com has an industry leading back end system with the our online product that helps differentiate your leads (print, or online) and tells you where your leads are coming from when they are contacting you and also when you are responding to them as well (email leads only). We also have a family of sites that is leading the industry nationwide and have been for the last 5 to 7 months. I understand that many prospects are using multiple sites in searching for the right place to live and therefore they might be giving false information when telling you how they found your community. Not because they are lying but because they have used a few different sources.

One way around this is to make sure that you have a catch phrase or incentive on your listings weather online or in a print publication that will make them remember that they saw your listing on a particular site or in a particular print publication. Make sure that if a prospect has seen your community that they have something to remember you by. Not just the photos and amenities that you have on your ad. Everyone loves a special and everyone loves getting something in return so the little things can help you in tracking your leads.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Apartmentguide.com and our family of sites please feel free to contact me. I would love to speak with you at any time to discuss how we can help. I look forward to your feedback…..