My very lovely fiancee and were having an oh-so exciting talk about the mail we got a few days back when something out of the ordinary came up. She said that she received something in the mail from Publisher's Clearinghouse, cleverly disguised so she opened it up instead of immediately chunking it. But what really shocked her was that the letter was personally signed. She even took the time to examine it in order to see the pen indentation on the page. She was so amazed that she made a point of telling me how impressed she was. Now granted, it was probably just some lackey spending days on end signing these pages, or maybe even automated in some way, but the important thing was that it made an impact. It was no longer impersonal, there was actually someone that had touched that letter, and that made a difference.

 

 

This of course got me thinking about our own correspondence and how personalizing correspondence is all relative. Many communities send out signed renewal letters for something their resident spent over $10,000 for in just one year. Publishers Clearinghouse just wanted her to buy a few magazines and they were able to provide the same signed letter. When receiving junk mail, getting a signed letter was impressive, but when your resident spends thousands and thousands of dollars on your product, do you really think a signed letter is really enough?

We've heard many success stories regarding using Craigslist to find prospects, but what about using their job postings as a springboard to new leases with strong companies? I had a community approach me recently discussing how their market was very tourist driven, which was experiencing a significant downturn. Residents who left often left because of a new job elsewhere. But it's likely that there are still hirings in some aspects of the market, even if the market overall is struggling. So if you can target those companies, you will find not only stable jobs, but potentially people moving as a result of these new jobs. So why not look through Craigslist (or other) job listings to find these companies and approach them about working together? Give them a preferred employer discount and you might have a strategy to find residents in your down market!

Are business centers in Class A properties a waste? The more $400 to $500 computers I see, I really wonder how useful a business center is to your property. Of course, actual usage data might tell a whole different story, but it seems as though it's just duplicating something people already have, for the most part. Now, some communities really go all out with their fax, copier, and meeting room capabilities, and I can see how having a truly state-of-the-art facility might make a difference in resident retention and apartment marketing, but many are just a smallish room with a couple of computers and maybe a printer. Is it worth the square footage? Just a thought...

Urbane has once again shown me why I'm a true "fanboy" of theirs. I'm scrolling down my MySpace page when I notice a new picture in my top friends area, with "Urbane Apartments" right above it. It's not a picture of their hip, modern communities, but rather three (attractive) women. They truly understand that they aren't selling just a physical space, they are selling a lifestyle. And check out their new layout - it's pretty trippy: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=121171181

 

 

Communities do their best to show off their amazing, ground-breaking amenities to any prospect walking in the door. Check out our business center with free faxes. Take a look at our Olympic-sized pool. Our car-care center will make your ride shine. So prospects get all excited about the perks and decide to move in. Then guess what? They don't use them! Of course, it varies widely from community to community, but often, residents who thought the putting green was the greatest thing ever hasn't set foot on it once to practice their swing. But the question is, should it really matter to you? Has it already done it's job? It got the prospect to sign on the line, so why do you care? Well, that's where it becomes a retention issue, of course. I know it sounds odd to "market" your amenities to your residents when they already live there, but it's really a matter of perception of the value they are getting. Their apartment is getting "older" every day they are living in it, they have forgotten about the amazing amenities available to them, so their overall view of the place is a bit run-down by the end of their lease. So it's important to remind them of how great they have it!

In the resident's mind, it's often a matter of where to place "blame". For example, if they forget about an amenity, then it is the fault of the community for not offering them great things. However, if you remind residents on what they have to use at your community, then it is their own fault for not taking advantage of it. I don't have the source article on me (please forward it to me if you do), but residents will be happy with an amenity just by knowing it is there, even if they do not use it. I've had plenty of people take me on tours of their apartment and list off all the great things at their community (they are usually a new move-in so they remember), even though they had probably not taken advantage of hardly any of these unbelievable items. They were just happy to have them there. This is true in many different programs, clubs, etc throughout life. They might not actually use all the services at their gym, but there's a sense of freedom knowing that it is there and they can use is it if they ever want to.

So be creative and use your touch points to really market what you already have - make them remember why they leased in the first place!!

I absolutely love how more communities are using social networking tools as part of their overall marketing plan, either to existing residents or to prospects, but I get the feeling that some are still dropping the ball. Let's take the Bulletin Space for example on MySpace. Now, my gut tells me that a community's friends list is populated more by residents than by prospects. I don't know that for a fact, but it stands to reason that a person actually connected to a property will be more likely to be friends with the community than somebody who has not decided to actually live there. That said, in general you would anticipate that the majority of bulletin posts to be resident-oriented, right? Not in the slightest! I see countless posts regarding specials, deals, and all sorts of great things for prospects, but rarely a peep (relatively speaking) for residents. Granted, residents may be able to refer their friends, but it frustrates me to see a tool that reasonably should be expected to add value to residents instead being squeezed into the prospect marketing arena.