Why Your Campaigns Are Failing (Hint: AI Can't Solve This)

Marketing moves fast, and AI can help propel your campaigns forward and keep them from falling flat.

But we'll go ahead and say it… AI is not the end-all-be-all.

Your marketing also needs high-quality, first-party data to feed the right information to your campaigns.

Instead of waiting for your PPC ads and the latest marketing algorithms to do all the work for you, you'll see better results when you prioritize your first-party data.

So what exactly is first-party data?

First-party data is information you collect directly from your potential residents.

Pro Tip 💡: You can feed that data into your marketing campaigns, including third-party platforms, to enhance your results.

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Third-party platforms, like Google or Meta Ads, gather information and make adjustments to create their own data.

Sure, third-party data can improve your marketing campaigns, but it’s also missing a lot of info and insights your first-party data can provide.

Ready to get control over your campaigns?

Here's what not to do when collecting first-party data and how to avoid campaigns that fall flat.

You're Ignoring Email Opt-Ins

Email marketing can be a huge win for your community.

For starters, it helps current residents stay in the know about community updates and foster those relationships to convert into new lease renewals.

Just as important, you need to count those email opt-ins from potential residents as part of your first-party data.

You can collect more emails through:

👉 Cold email inquiries from prospective residents who found you on Google

👉 Someone who signs up for a lead magnet, like a request to get a link to your 👉 virtual tour or floor plans

👉 Responses from a PPC campaign that ultimately led to emails about a rent promotion

👉 Random emails requesting a personal tour but never followed up when you responded

No matter the reason someone opts-in or contacts your community, email from a potential resident is valuable first-party data that can help shape your campaigns.

After all, you can't email clicks from a PPC campaign.

But you can own your own email list and turn it into a goldmine of qualified leads.

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You're Overlooking Email Opens

Maybe you snoozed through the above point thinking, "Okay, yeah, we're already emailing everyone who's ever landed in our inbox."

But are you measuring your email opens?

Email marketing lists can get bloated with potential residents over time, but that doesn't mean anyone is actually opening anything you send.

Or you may be dropping emails from leads over a year old, forgetting that many of those prospects could be looking for a new community by now.

It's essential to measure the results from all of your email campaigns:

🤔 Who is opening your emails?

🤔 What types of email headlines drive the most open rates?

🤔 What links are people clicking once they open those emails?

🤔 How many people opt out of your email list after a campaign?

You could discover everyone is all over announcements about waived application fees or rent specials, but no one opened your emails announcing updates about laundry facilities or security features.

When you monitor what happens after sending out an email, you can gauge engagement levels, subject lines, and content to improve your overall strategy.

It also keeps your first-party data fresh and ready to be implemented into your other marketing campaigns.

You're Not Looking at Your Google Business Profile Inquiries

There's so much potential with a rock solid, high-performing Google Business Profile, yet they're often left neglected.

Here are some stats to consider:

• 64% of consumers have used Google Business Profiles to find contact information
• Near Me searches have increased by over 200%
• Nearly 50% of Google Business Profile engagement leads to website visits
• 16% of Google Business Profile Listings get over 100 calls every month

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There are all kinds of ways you can harness your first-party data from your Google Business Profile.

For starters, your leasing team can monitor its inbox, respond to comments and inquiries, and add FAQs directly to the profile.

Pro Tip 💡: Your agents can also record trends in your data. For example, are people asking the same questions about your community's amenities?

Keeping tabs on first-party data trends could shed light on what to focus on in your marketing campaigns and avoid falling flat.

You're Not Utilizing Leasing Agents for Foot Traffic Insights

We've said it before, and we'll keep saying it–your leasing agents are valuable sources of marketing information.

Tap into their knowledge and ask them to start keeping track of the following:

✅ What are people asking about when they drop in?

✅ What’s the general age and demographic of these prospects?

✅ How did they find out about your community–Billboard? Google ad? Word of mouth?

✅ Did they convert to a tour, requested more info, or asked about upcoming rent specials?

Empower your leasing agents to be super sleuths looking for commonalities and trends in the first-party data they're collecting.

Pro Tip 💡: Leasing agent feedback is one of the easiest ways to use first party data in your marketing.

You're Not Recognizing the Value of Your Resident Referral Program Data

Chances are you're already keeping tabs on which residents refer the most.

Then what? Are you rewarding top performers and superstars who refer to an endless stream of leads that convert more often than that?

You may want a separate commission or reward tier for those top performers to motivate more of your residents to start referring.

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Next step–What are you doing with those leads once you have them?

Make sure you're tracking which ones convert and which ones have feedback about your community.

Those leads may also end up referring more prospects, creating a trickle-down effect of first-party data.

You're Not Tracking Hits on Your Blog

A community blog can supercharge your content marketing to attract a larger audience.

It's also more than just a lead-generating strategy. Blogs supply valuable first-party data you can run with.

• Which blog topics are the best performers?
• What links in your blog get clicked on the most?
• Which blog posts directly lead to more email sign-ups for information about your community
• What does your website's analytics say about the audience demographics it tracks?

There is some gray area here.

Truth 💣: Blogging is performed on a third-party platform but still creates first-party data you can leverage in your marketing campaigns.

Pro Tip 💡: The goal is to dig deeper into the insights your blog provides. Don't just record that your readers like a specific post; track the comments, clicks, and other engagement.

You're Forgetting to Count Phone Calls

We're all pretty obsessed with all things digital and AI these days, and for good reason.

AI can supercharge your marketing. But again–it still needs first-party data, even the old-fashioned kind.

👉 What's happening to the phone calls coming into your community?

👉 What are people asking for?

👉 How many convert into a follow-up?

👉 Where are leasing agents losing those leads? You may discover no one wants to come in for a tour once they learn the only units available are on the first floor.

There's really no end to first-party data, but it takes more than AI to collect and feed it into your marketing campaigns to optimize your results.

Truth 💣: You still need a vested, human touch to feed your marketing machine.

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