Introduction

Most multifamily resident prospects today come from the Internet.  While we know this, what is the flow from interest to Internet search that leads a renting lead to contact your  apartment complex and eventually rent?

In General

First, we can’t ignore how the prospect ends up in front of their computer searching for a new apartment home.  This can and often does pay a large role in how the resident prospect finds your apartment community or ends up at your competitor.  And, once they become a lead, we should consider how we assure that if they are a qualified tenant that we believe is attractive to our community that they sign our apartment lease.  Or alternately, if our multifamily competitor wins the first look, how do we take advantage of the mistakes most will ultimately make, how do we position to become their replacement and the ultimate winner of this prospects signed lease?

Before the Internet Search Begins

Prior to the resident prospect beginning their apartment search, what is happening to this consumer that we hope will eventually rent our apartment?  They are receiving many inputs that effect the choice that will ultimately affect their decision including:

• Distance from work
• Convenience to services and shopping
• Access to friends
• Minimum features, amenities, floor plan
• Recommendations from friends
• Community quality and area quality

The Well Prepared Apartment Community – Before the Internet Search Begins

The well prepared multifamily community is addressing the issues prior to the tenant prospect taking the first apartment search key stroke.  How does an apartment community prepare?

The key issues include:

• Know who your prospects are.  Identify the kinds of jobs they will have their probable age.  Determine broadly sets of interests they  will have.
• Based on interests, where do they work?  Where do they play?  Where do they eat?  How do they relax?  What do they drive?
• Based on where they spend their time, how do you put your apartment community in front of them in those environments?  Should you be a sponsor on a local softball league?  Are you active in the  religious community and should you be?  Have you established referral programs with the right  employers?
• Have you set up partnerships with garages, dealerships, etc.
• Do you have partnerships with entertainment and dining to make your community more attractive through a coupon plan or discount plan that is mutually beneficial?
• Do you have right signage disbursed around the community?  Can you establish more signage?

If these are in place, your community is significantly better positioned to be recognized in advance and potential to win the lease afterwards.

On the Internet

Once the prospective renter takes the first key strokes, what happens?  You can be certain that there is little likelihood that they type in your website address.  Many people aren’t even firmly aware of URLs as they have become entirely dependent on search engines and bookmarks to find an refind sites that are of interest.  This means that if you aren’t well positioned on the Internet your access to potential renters will be sharply limited.

However, if you can position your community to appear first on search you have 2.5X the opportunity to gain the prospect’s attention than if you are second on the list and 3X than if you are third on the list.  After that, one can argue you gain little even being on the page.  Gaining this kind of position requires a combination of web posting, pay per click, and Internet Listing Service (ILS) provider support.  In all likelihood, the three together are too expensive and you will have to make choices.  But hey! That is ok because if you are before enough searching renters, your property will have plenty of prospects.

Most apartment communities know that Internet presence is enough, but few understand how damaging having to share space with other communities can be.  Unfortunately, this is a trend that shows no sign of falling…  All an apartment property can do is choose the best compromise of solutions.

What You Can Count On

Apartment Finder, Apartments.com, Rent.com, My New Space are paying for presence and have traffic and content enough to rank well.  Choosing these services (with some attention to which  does the best in your area) is effective.  This may be enough to satisfy the needs of your apartment complex.

What You Can Do

If the third party sources are not enough, then you have to invest in creating a strong web page.  By invest, I don’t mean pay thousands of dollars.  I mean choose a low cost site builder, and develop the content to attract prospects.  Then over time, you can develop a competitive edge that will put you at the top of the search list for a solid number of searches that the ILS will be unable to deliver on.  How do you do this?

1)      Set up a page using Wordpress, Typepad, or similar services.  The cost is only a few dollars per month (less than $20).

2)      Include lots of content:

1. Floor plans,
2. Amenities,
3. Rates,
4. Neighborhood descriptions,
5. Directions,
6. Shopping destinations,
7. Entertainment,
8. Government services,
9. Lists of annual activities,
10. Schools and school contacts,

3)      The content needs to be tailored to use the search term you would expect consumers to use to find your apartment complex.

4)      Finally, if the property wants to really get the most from the site, they should add weekly “blog” updates to apartment activities, events, etc.  This is likely beyond what most property managers or property management staffs will or can undertake.

With these items in place, your community stands a good chance of performing better than most of the local competition attracting resident prospect calls, visits, emails, applications, and finally leases.