3 Ways to Market Your Community to Renters BEFORE They Begin Their Search

If you’ve spent any time looking to see what your competitors are doing, you’ll know that 90%+ of multifamily marketing focuses on renters already looking for a new place to live.

It sounds like a logical place to start, but there are serious problems targeting this market:

You’re trying to attract a highly competitive market and focusing on demand capture.

One of the secrets to success in multifamily marketing is marketing to residents before they start looking so that your community is on top of mind when their search starts.

With a proactive approach, you don’t have to guess who might be looking for a spot in your community and when.

Get started by focusing on these three multifamily marketing strategies to get results.

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1) Brand Awareness

Does your multifamily community stand out in a saturated market, or does your marketing look like everything else out there?

When you don’t differentiate your brand, you’ll end up with prospects looking for the best rent or amenities.

Instead, your brand can attract like-minded residents, whether you’re highlighting your tight-knit resident relationships or wellness amenities.

Raise brand awareness by:

👉 Placing flyers in local businesses, from yoga studios to coffee shops and dry cleaners

👉 Sponsoring local events to make more connections in your community

👉 Testing relevant social media channels to scale your brand awareness with short, engaging videos about your community or team members

👉 Share videos on your community blog and social media to showcase your residents, pets, and events

Some marketing channels are also going to offer a higher ROI than others, depending on the demographic of your ideal resident.

For example, TikTok is well-suited if you're trying to attract college students and recent grads. YouTube Shorts is also gaining traction in the young adult market.

Tip 💡: Keep in mind that brand awareness is more than just putting your logo on some marketing materials. It's also crucial to develop a consistent voice, graphics, and tone for a memorable brand experience.

Not sure where to start? 🤔

You can learn how to do a brand audit for your community here.

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2) Geofencing

We get it.

Multifamily marketing and brand awareness takes time and can feel hard to get off the ground.

You want a way to get your community in front of people before they start apartment hunting.

When executed correctly, geofencing can help skyrocket your results.

Geofencing leverages GPS or RFID technology to create a virtual geographic boundary.

Here's what geofencing all boils down to:

You can deploy ads when prospective residents are within a specific distance of your community.

Tip 💡: You can also tie your geofencing into a festival, a popular hangout, a public transportation hub, or your competitors’ communities.

Remember, your ad is only as good as your offer.

Make sure you entice prospective residents with a reason to take action.

Of course, people who aren’t looking to rent just yet aren’t going to jump at a discount on rent.

Instead, you can try waiving your application fees for the next 90 days in exchange for opting in to your email list.

Once prospective residents are on your email list, you can market to prospective renters for the long haul.

3) Local Partnerships

Sometimes building an effective marketing campaign or raising brand awareness can feel like a sprint to a never-ending finish line, but there are ways to scale up quickly.

Get in front of your ideal audience by fostering local business partnerships and cross-promotions.

The goal is to target like-minded audiences by:

✅ Cross-promoting each other’s businesses with flyers

✅ Co-hosting events

✅ Mentioning each other’s businesses in an email newsletter campaign

✅ Asking a dry cleaner for a resident-only discount code in exchange for being a preferred business in each other’s marketing campaigns

✅ Post each other’s content on your social media channels

✅ Hire a local restaurant to cater an open-house tour at your community in exchange for brand exposure

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There’s no shortage of ways to design local partnerships or cross-promotions as long as they’re mutually beneficial.

You don’t want to end up singing the praises of a bakery and hiring them to cater events when they’re not reciprocating with flyers and marketing shout-outs.

You’ll also find some ideas that seem like slam dunks just aren’t.

Tip 💡: The goal isn’t to find the best idea, but to find the most effective marketing strategy, whether it’s an old-school approach with traditional flyers or a more sophisticated geofencing campaign.

Keep experimenting and double down on marketing strategies that actually work for your community.

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