This storyline isn’t new. A friend, Brian Owen who is also in the apartment business just blogged about Bass Fishing and Leasing Apartments. As you can tell Gus is a dog, a mostly wonderful Bull Terrier. Gus is a year and a half old and is my first dog of my own. Gus goes to the office when he feels like it, and has learned to regularly tweet on his own twitter account @Gus_Urbane. He has created quite a stir from time to time and he has his own Mac Book. His leasing ratios are better than most other canine.
ENGAGE AND EMOTION
We have all heard about the Four P’s of Marketing, but what about the new two E’s, Emotion and Engagement, are you fully utilizing them? Gus, like most pets really knows how to evoke our emotions. In our small business, a boutique property management business, we decided to go after the pet market, and accept pets. Lots of places accept pets, but with weight and breed restrictions, and a hefty pet deposit. We decided to keep it simple; We Love Pets at Urbane, no fees and no breed restrictions. The theory was this, If we have a good resident, they likely have a good pet. If we have a bad resident, they likely have a bad pet. We worked really hard on an enhanced resident screening system and attracting great residents, which has also improved collections. A nice side benefit to accepting pets!
But the success of this program isn’t about accepting pets, It is about “Urbane Loves Pets” which has successfully evoked prospects and residents emotion. Consequently, we own the local pet market. If you are going after sliver markets, go with vengeance and own them.
MAKE IT A PLAYFUL EXPERIENCE
Gus is a pretty happy guy, tail always wagging. He just wants to play, play and play. He is Fun Boy. With that, we have lightened up the entire leasing process. Apartment hunting is not a walk in the park. We have a Centralized Leasing Center, known as Urbane Underground that is anything but typical. There are farm watering troughs with tropical plants in them. A forty-five foot long bamboo planter. Crazy music playing. A Tropical bird hanging out. A conference table that hangs from the ceiling with no legs. Anything but typical. Point is, it is very whimsical and fun. Before the prospect leaves, we do shots! No one cares about your apartments, they care about them and their lifestyle. You are selling lifestyle.
EVERYONE LOVES TREATS
Anyone who has pets know they love treats. Gus is no different, he lives for treats. We have developed a pretty interesting program and have created Urbane VIP cards. They resemble a credit card and enable the holder to take advantage of several discounts locally with participating Urbane VIP Vendors, each marked with a like sticker on their door or window . During the tour, we go through the program, explain the benefits and send them off with an Urbane VIP Card. I am pretty sure our competitors aren’t forking over any treats. It is a great way to differentiate, and is funded by the local commerce.
MAKE ME LAUGH
Gus loves to make me laugh, and he does a great job of that. Our marketing at Urbane is anything but typical or traditional. We set up movies that reverse play against a backdrop that show silhouettes of girls dancing together, guys dancing together and a variety of other wacky stuff. We can set up the movie in minutes, and it comes on at dark and shuts off at 2;00 AM. Cars and people literally stop in the street and stare. They laugh, and make lots of comments about Urbane, including some who think that two guys dancing together is too provocative. We like that. Is your marketing material causing your prospects to talk about you, or does it end up in the trash because it is outdated old and stale? BTW, the movie we made cost us nothing to make, the projector is reused over and over.
LETS CONNECT
Perhaps the most significant thing I have learned from Gus is that he loves top connect with people, and so do your residents and prospects. Our blog, the UrbaneBlog.com and the UrbaneLobby.com has caused lots of folks to connect with hip and cool local business, blathering and goings on and just a general give back to the community. But how can you do those kind of things one may ask, what is the pay back. Try this on, page one Google, number one ranking for apartments Royal Oak, one of the most used search’s. Where does your community fare with a Google Ranking. Even more, what kind of web traffic does your community drive? We will have over 14,0000 visitors this month. We only have 360 units. I think the blog is a great payoff don’t you?
You too can try these things. They aren’t hard, and they are not expensive. This is a dog eat dog world, you need to Break from the Pack of Apartment Commodity.
If you need some help, drop us a line, we would love to implement some radical ideas into your marketing program and help you achieve better occupancy and better retention.
We have lots more to report on too, as we are turbo charging our blog with local search capabilities, and we have added advertisement revenue. More to follow, make it a Great Week, and rent lots of apartments!
Eric Brown
Eric’s background is rooted in the rental and real estate industries. He founded metro Detroit’s Urbane Apartments in 2003, after serving as senior vice president for a major Midwest apartment developer. He established a proven track record of effectively repositioning existing rental properties in a way that added value for investors while enhancing the resident experience. He also established Urbane Media, a social media marketing and PR laboratory, where innovative marketing ideas are tested. Eric has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine and Business Week Magazine. You can connect with Urbane_Media on Twitter. Eric also writes regular articles for the following publications; Multi Housing News Social Media Examiner Search Engine Guide
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