Marketers often have to prove their worth to the rest of their team, largely because their efforts are considered an expense rather than an investment.
To combat that notion, it’s important to prove the ROI of your tactics and to communicate them early and often. We discussed these concepts and more during our latest #AptChat; here are the highlights. (Click on the links to jump straight to a specific question.)
- Q1: What are the top ways you typically show your marketing is working for your properties? What do you usually focus on?
- Q2: What is the typical perception of marketing from the C-suite? How do you help them see it as an investment (not an expense)?
- Q3: How do you share your current mktg activities/campaigns with the onsite staff so they know it? What are some tips for this?
- Q4: Where do we tend to fall short in communicating the value of marketing? What are the areas where we can still improve?
What are the top ways you typically show your marketing is working for your properties? What do you usually focus on?
@AthleteatHeart So this brings up a question … how much do you differentiate between marketing and sales/leasing? #AptChat
— Apartment Chat (@AptChat) December 6, 2016
A1: Mktg & Sales go together. Marketing could/could not be working. Have to rely on leasing/sales to use/implement correctly #AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
@AptChat Marketing drives sales and leasing and revenue generation #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@Marketing_Mommy @AptChat And to be fair… if marketing is off base it can kill sales/leasing #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat @AthleteatHeart Exactly! Mktg can be good & on point but if sales isn’t executing, it’s a wash. #AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
@AptChat Are the properties getting qualified customers (is marketing reaching/touching people who are qualified to live there) #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat continuation- because they have absolutely NO information about the site including rents #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AthleteatHeart @AptChat Why I love CRMs-we can run a report on the LP notes & start to see trends in quality of leads by source. #aptchat
— Stephanie Oehler (@StephanieOehler) December 6, 2016
@AptChat ahhh the attribution “question” again.. as best possible… measure which are converting and contributing and which not #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AthleteatHeart @AptChat This is where lead scoring comes in…#AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
@Marketing_Mommy @AptChat Needs to be automated..I’ve shied away because of possible FH implications if we are choosing scores #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AthleteatHeart @AptChat Most in MF are apprehensive. I think there are solid tools that could work AND alleviate FH concern #AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
@AthleteatHeart @Marketing_Mommy Lead behavior/interest level isn’t protected. Wouldn’t that be an argument in favor of using it? #AptChat
— Mike Whaling (@mwhaling) December 6, 2016
@mwhaling @AthleteatHeart Yep! On-site teams do it now. A prospect who has called or visited more often will be sold to harder. #AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
@mwhaling @Marketing_Mommy “disparate impact”- low scoring source (even if data driven) happens to be prevalent in one area etc #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AthleteatHeart @Marketing_Mommy “Disparate impact” is everywhere. ILSs are only seen by those with Internet access. It freezes us. #AptChat
— Mike Whaling (@mwhaling) December 6, 2016
@mwhaling @AthleteatHeart @Marketing_Mommy Rabbit hole. Ranking sales prospects is SOP (Hot, Warm, Cold, et al). #aptchat
— Stephanie Oehler (@StephanieOehler) December 6, 2016
@Marketing_Mommy @AptChat I think our software providers can make it happen in an automated fashion to take away the worry #aptchat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat @Marketing_Mommy I want to see them use the data within the CRMs to drive the scoring #aptchat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat @Marketing_Mommy most these days pull in secondary, tertiary sources in some way & could work to include that data #aptchat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat @Marketing_Mommy but it’s tough. There’s a reason we’ve all ended up in the positions we have an many #DontGetMarketing #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat @AthleteatHeart @Marketing_Mommy AptGuide used to give a % on a lead based on various data points, ex. time on site, cont..#aptchat
— Stephanie Oehler (@StephanieOehler) December 6, 2016
@AptChat @AthleteatHeart @Marketing_Mommy pages viewed, etc. Issue was LP ignored F/U for lower ranked leads. PMCs took umbrage.. #aptchat
— Stephanie Oehler (@StephanieOehler) December 6, 2016
@StephanieOehler @AptChat @Marketing_Mommy part of why automated would be great…. don’t show scores but push f/u on them to top #aptchat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat @AthleteatHeart @Marketing_Mommy Point being-needs to be done better so LP are confident in the scores & PMCs see value. #aptchat
— Stephanie Oehler (@StephanieOehler) December 6, 2016
@StephanieOehler @AptChat @AthleteatHeart If properties had (and used) that kind of data from their own websites it wld = more sales#AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
@Marketing_Mommy @StephanieOehler @AptChat Have used it to demonstrate why we do things; social as an example….. #aptchat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@Marketing_Mommy @StephanieOehler @AthleteatHeart So why don’t more do that? Too few know the closing/conv rate of their website. #AptChat
— Mike Whaling (@mwhaling) December 6, 2016
@mwhaling @StephanieOehler @AthleteatHeart They don’t know what they don’t know. It’s new. It’s not what they’ve always done #AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
What is the typical perception of marketing from the C-suite? How do you help them see it as an investment (not an expense)?
A2: Marketers are looked to as the forward-thinkers, expected to recognize new trends. #Trendsetters. Yeah, that’s what we are. 🙂 #AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
A2. Cont. But not every new trend sticks, so marketers have to research & be able to make a case to the C-Suite for the $ spend. #AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
@AptChat Depends on the company and the people. Have worked for companies that fully get it and some that don’t 🙁 #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat Q2: That data thing helps here 🙂 when you can use numbers to demonstrate almost anything they get it even more @AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat usually not questions just statements sharing that it wouldn’t work
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat Depends on the company. Some of my clients prefer a billboard over geo-targeting. But some believe in only drive-by magic. #aptchat
— Stephanie Oehler (@StephanieOehler) December 6, 2016
@StephanieOehler @AptChat I do believe that there its no “one size fits all” approach to multifamily marketing. So many variables #AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
@Marketing_Mommy @StephanieOehler @AptChat Soooooooooo true & I’ve seen even more so today than in the past #aptchat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
How do you share your current marketing activities/campaigns with the onsite staff so they know it? What are some tips for this?
@AptChat past couple of years since I was working with smaller groups, in individual training sessions #aptchat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat As to tips, for bigger campaigns, run an onsite team contest of some sort #AptChat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
@AptChat Big believer in training the team & involving the team. Share stats. Show them their impact. A quarterly webinar perhaps. #aptchat
— Stephanie Oehler (@StephanieOehler) December 6, 2016
@StephanieOehler @AptChat Agree. The better a program/campaign is tolled out, typically the more successful it is #aptchat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
Where do we tend to fall short in communicating the value of marketing? What are the areas where we can still improve?
@AptChat we don’t start trying early enough; meaning include leasing agents in marketing budget discussions etc #aptchat
— Karen Kossow (@AthleteatHeart) December 6, 2016
A4: Some marketing is NOT immediate & results can’t be expected overnight. Numbers should move,but marketing isn’t always a miracle #AptChat
— Kristi Fickert (@Marketing_Mommy) December 6, 2016
@AptChat Perhaps showing online reputation changes (i.e. campaign on social led to 45 new 4 star reviews) #aptchat
— Stephanie Oehler (@StephanieOehler) December 6, 2016
Our next #Apt Chat is slated for Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 12 pm Eastern, and we’ll be discussing the future of apartment marketing. In the meantime, be sure to sign up for #AptChat updates to get these recaps and more delivered straight to your inbox!