The Marketing Mind Set By Russ Sandlin Did you every wonder why two similar communities, located in the same market, catering to the same residents, can have a wide disparity in occupancy? What makes one outrageously successful while the other is experiencing an occupancy challenge? What is the best approach to marketing your community? Well, the answer can be much simpler than you think. Marketing apartment communities revolves around three basic areas. This oversimplifies the issue, but the concept remains the same regardless of the size or type of community involved. The first issues to examine is your existing resident. If I were to ask you to paint a picture of the perfect prospect, one who at the time you rented them an apartment met all your community's qualifications, your answer should be your existing resident. Agreed, some residents are easier to deal with than others and we are constantly trying to upgrade the resident profile. However, on the whole, your resident profile should reflect the type of prospective resident you are looking. So you first step in developing an effective marketing plan is to develop an accurate and extensive resident profile. Maintaining a current profile, every time a new resident moves in, will save you a lot of time when marketing becomes a significant issue at your community. What should your resident profile include? Well, there are certainly some standard answers to this question: names, familial status, age, occupation, income, miles driven to work, reason for moving, media source, initial move-in date, pets, etc. (I am sure you can identify several more issues that would relate to your community or situation that can be added to this list.) However, for the moment, expand your vision and look at your resident profile as a marketing tool. What information can I gather from my existing resident that will help me focus on the future? How about some of these question: What type of vehicles do your resident drive? Where do they shop for groceries, clothing, gas? Where do they go when they eat outside their apartments? Where do they recreate and what games are they planing when they do? What churches do they attend? What shopping centers do they visit most often? What magazines and newspapers do they read? Where do they get their local news? If, in fact, my prospective resident is similar to the existing resident profile, this information should be invaluable in maintaining my marketing plan. Once this step is accomplished the next step, in this three step approach, is to develop an effective plan to utilize the information I have created. Creating a marketing plan does not have to expensive, it has to be effective. There are many inexpensive ways to attract prospective resident. The real challenge is to attract qualified prospective residents. How often do you tour prospects who are really unqualified to rent an apartment at your community? In surveying leasing and management personnel around the nation, the number one challenge facing them today is unqualified traffic. To reduce the unqualified traffic, your marketing plan MUST be focused on generating the highest quality traffic possible for your community. For example, if your plan includes distributing flyers to the local merchants, be careful where you distribute the flyers. First evaluate your profile. Where do your residents shop? If they get their underwear at K-Mart don't distribute your flyers to Rich's If they love to eat at McDonald's don't solicit the local 4-star restaurant. I know many of us have been taught to cast our bread upon the water, however it is essential you are selective which pond you choose. Additionally, be selective about the media you use. Advertising is expensive. If your residents read Pennysaver, a display ad in Georgia Today Magazine is probably not your best media buy. Common sense, sure, but it is amazing to me how often it is overlooked. It is also advisable not to be too quick to start with paid media at the top of the list. Why not start your marketing campaign with as many free sources as possible, before you start paying for prospects. What are examples of free, or at least very inexpensive, media choices? Bandit signs are one of the best sources, balloons placed at the entrance of your community is another. (Several of my clients tell me balloons are tacky. Well, I agree. However they work!) All of these decision will depend on your resident profile and what you are trying to accomplish. A simple flyer to local merchants works. Recently, one manager rented five apartments by putting an index card on the local grocery store bulletin board with her community phone number on it. Resident referrals should be your highest source of qualified prospective residents. I recently attended a client dinner at Fuddrukker's restaurant. The purpose of the dinner was to reward the employees for job well done. One of the managers in attendance had the foresight to bring several brochures, business cards and flyers to the dinner. During the meal, she talked to the manager of the restaurant and encouraged her to refer patrons to the community. The next day she rented two apartments as the result of that five minute conversation. There are a million stories in the naked city, these are just a few. Be creative. Step outside the box. Go for the gold, and a hundred other platitudes. Outrageously successful communities are highly involved in the community. They understand their residents' needs and they are paying attention to the smallest details they believe will generate one more piece of qualified traffic. The third and final issue involved in developing a marketing plan revolves around the old adage, "What you see is what you get." If you believe the prospect is a reflection of the resident, then the concept of creating a powerful and directed first impression will become a significant issue as a part of your overall marketing plan. I believe the perspective resident, when they see your community for the first time, get a series of first impression that create an IMAGE for the community. For example, When you go to a restaurant for the first time what is it that makes you like or dislike the experience? It isn't just one thing, it is a series of issues that make the restaurant become a favorite, that you will recommend to friends, or one that will go on you "once is more than enough" list. The image of your community is very similar. At each intersection there is a stoplight and every prospect must travel down this road each time they are exposed to your property. When they approach each stop light they encounter either a green, yellow or red light and they will react appropriately. Your challenge is to create a series of first impression that guide them through a series of green lights to their buying decision. Keep in mind all the effort you have to put into generating this piece of qualified traffic. To allow them to stop and turn around because of one red light at this point would be tragic. What are the eight areas of first impression that create your community's image? WORD OF MOUTH ADVERTISING The process of crating your image starts where the majority of the people seeing your property first hear about you, word of mouth advertising! From a previous resident, the local chamber of commerce, the apartment locator, neighbors merchants, What are you doing to create a positive image in these areas? PAID ADVERTISING Whether it is a newspaper, magazine, billboard, bus stop sign or flyer doesn't really matter. The question is, "Does the form of advertising you select project an image that is consistent with the rest of the street? Do your ads tell the real story about the property? Of all the areas of creating an image this is usually the most inconsistent. A property will spend a great deal of money to create an ad that gives the prospect a specific message they want the prospect to believe. Is it true? It is easy to develop a message in print that says we are the perfect place! It is a little more difficult to live up to the image you create. TELEPHONE MARKETING How do you answer the telephone? When was the last time you called you property just to feel the mood of the office by the way the phone was answered? Reality is that our sales peel are not sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. Other priorities take precedence over maintaining an attitude that this is an integral part of the IMAGE we project. If you are looking for a likely place to find an unfocused community image, look closely at this area. CURB APPEAL When you are competing with twelve other properties on the same street, ask yourself this question, "Why should the prospect stop here?" What is it about your curb appeal that makes you unique? It could be signs, flags and banners, (or the lack of them). It could be the monument sign surrounded by a spray of vibrant color created with flowers. It can be accomplished by the paint on the exterior of the building or making sure there is not tinfoil in the windows or towels hanging from the balconies. Is the image here the same "as advertised?" LEASING OFFICE As we survey the prospective resident of our clients, they consistently tell us that when they enter the leasing office they project themselves into what the apartment will look like. How easily can your prospect find the office? When they arrive is there a place reserved for them to park? When they walk in the door, what do the smell? (Stale cigarette smoke or freshly brewed coffee?) What do they see? What do they hear? Does the prospect say, "Someday I may give this person a rent check that is going to end upon that desk. What are the chances of it getting lost? OFFICE STAFF PERSON TO PERSON! FACE TO FACE! It is here the prospect meets a warm body for the first time. This where the real test of your image happens. What is IBM? When you think of IBM do you think of the chief executive officer? the board of directors? No, I think of the guy who fixes my computer. The one person I interact with on a regular basis. When the prospect is greeted in your leasing office, the attitude projected by that person screams this is ___(fill in the name of your community)! Is that impression consistent with the dollars you have spent on creating and maintaining your CURB APPEAL, ADVERTISING OR RESIDENT RETENTION PROGRAMS?   Russ Sandlin is the president of The Russ Sandlin Group, a nationally-recognized organization specializing in income-focused training and marketing for residential and commercial property. For more information on Resident Retention or other programs, call 800-535-8858. For additional information about the Russ Sandlin Group, visit us on the web: www.russsandlin.com or e-mail: theboss@russsandlin.com