You have your property amenities sorted, your pricing figured out, and your interior design developed. But what does that all mean if you don’t have a name that fully captures the specialty of your real estate building?
Choosing a brand name is one of the most significant aspects of a brand development process. The right name creates an image of your property and brand in the mind of potential customers, sharing the idea of what you’re all about. And, it’s the most important keyword for internet searches.
A strong brand name should be:
Meaningful: It communicates a brand story and creates an emotional response
Unique: It should be memorable and stand out from your competitors
Easily Understood: Avoid words that are hard to read or pronounce – they won’t stick in people’s minds
Visual: It should lend itself to strong brand colors and imagery
Future-Proof: You want your name to work now, and ten years from now, so veer away from names that feel really timely
Work backward. Decide what your brand identity, such as target audience, culture, mission, and purpose, will be, and then begin brainstorming names that line up with those needs.
Feeling stuck? Follow along for some tips for determining a successful name for your brand.
Reflect On Your Company Values
Think about your property’s mission statement or parent company’s values – what is it your company stands for, and how can your name tie back to that? Spend time with what your property is trying to achieve, focusing on your purpose and vision. Determining the heartbeat of your brand can lead to a stronger name association down the road.
Connect Your Name To A Story
We communicate in stories, and talking about a brand is no different. Effective marketing connects to a larger target audience through storytelling, which is why your property name needs to mean something. If someone asks you why you named the property what you did, and all you have to say is that it sounded cool, you’re missing out on some really good marketing.
Think about the history of the city your property is located in, what it’s known for, or what interests your target audience has, and then go from there.
Having a great story also allows for stronger visuals (think website design, brochures, signage, temporary leasing space designs), as the logo, colors, and brand patterns all have a north star to draw from.
Less Is More
Short and snappy wins the race! You want to limit the length of your brand’s name, as anything longer than three or four syllables will only be harder for your potential audience to remember. The final name should be punchy, and this is best determined by running any potential names by those who aren’t part of the brainstorming, allowing for fresh eyes and fresh opinions.
Here is where you’ll also want to factor pronunciation into the mix. Your property name won’t only live on signage and a website, it will be said by residents in passing, and therefore shouldn’t be something that’s hard to say or spell. So remember to say any names aloud!
Remember Your Competitors
The last thing you want is to come up with a really amazing name, only to find out a direct competitor has something similar. Standing out from your competition is a key factor in your brand name and final brand visuals, which is why doing research on your market early on is essential.
Consider Creating A New Word
The best way to avoid having the same name as someone else? Create a non-dictionary word. Your name should still have meaning behind it, and not just be created out of thin air, but there are a few ways you can create new words, like:
Mashing up two words together
Spelling an existing word in a new way
Creating a word where each letter stands for something
Plus, what’s more fun than being the owner of a completely new word?
Think About SEO
You heard it here first, do not skip thinking about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) when it comes to naming your brand or property. SEO plays a key factor in determining how popular a potential name is for organic and paid searches.
Say you’re naming your property Dragon (not a great name, but work with us here), then Googling that name will bring up a lot about dragons themselves, the television series “House of Dragon,” a speech recognition software called Dragon, and restaurants in your area with Dragon in the title. A generic name like that could make it hard to stand out in the very competitive search engine space.
Psst. This is why creating a new non-dictionary word might help!
In Summary
The success of your brand and property depends largely on the branding, which begins with a really great name. A name that’s meaningful to your audience, lends itself to great visuals, is short and snappy, and is easy to remember. A name that stands out from your competitors and can be relevant for your audience today, and in many years to come.
Don’t let determining a name feel overwhelming! Have fun with the process and see what unique options you come up with.
For more tips and information about company and real estate branding, take a look at the rest of our blogs, right here on our website! You can also subscribe to our email newsletter, or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
We know it isn’t easy to find a place to start when it comes to creating a marketing strategy for brand new developments. That’s why we’re here to help you! Check out this list of real estate marketing tactics for your new development, and let us help you get started.
Always Start With Market Research
Not sure where to start? Market research is the perfect place to begin to define your product and audience. Who are you trying to target? What are your biggest selling points? What differentiates you from your competition? Hold a focus group to see what really resonates with the audience you’re looking to target. Researching your market is only the first step in effectively building your brand and marketing strategy. In order to truly implement a successful marketing campaign for your new development, you must stay on top of marketing trends within your market and target audience.
Develop Branding Early On
After your market research is complete, it’s time to start branding your new development. Building your brand, even if you know exactly what you want to create, can be a challenging process, but take it one step at a time! Trying to do too much at once can result in your final product feeling rushed, and that’s the last thing you want for your brand.
Naming
Simply put, decide what you want your brand to go by – this is the fun stuff! Keeping your name simple allows you to focus on what you’re trying to promote so it doesn’t get lost in your messaging. Remember that focus group we recommended? Present your favorite 3-5 names to a diverse group of people who fit within your target audience to determine what name will resonate best in the market and with your audience.
Logos
Once your name is chosen, start working on your logo design. The most important thing for you to keep in mind when designing your logo is what kind of scheme you want to follow. Your logo will drive the rest of your brand, and creating a cohesive brand across platforms is what will set you apart from the competition and will seriously boost your brand image!
Voice
Similar to brand image, brand voice is something that needs to be established early on in the development process. However you want to be known is up to you, but keeping that voice consistent across all platforms and communication shows that your brand knows exactly what it is and what it wants.
Create An SEO-Friendly Website
Once you’ve nailed down your branding, it’s time to start building your website. The best way to connect with current and prospective tenants is to allow access to a functional and well constructed website. Launching a branded landing page while your full website gets built is the best way to begin building an audience while capturing valuable traffic. Encourage VIP sign-ups through your contact form and send them teaser content about what’s coming to the market.
While your landing page is getting to work on capturing leads and traffic, this gives you time to spend on your full website. Here are some key considerations you’ll want to be sure to include:
Invest in high-quality interior and exterior renderings to display until you have hi-res photography of your new development
Invest in high-quality 2D or 3D floor plans and prominently display them on your home page and floor plans page
Consider PMS integrations like Entrata or Yardi for a seamless user experience
Include virtual tours for those that may not be able to visit your property in person
Utilize a chatbot for lead capture and engagement
Include videos of your community or walk-throughs of your floor plans
While video and high quality renderings and photography are important to include on your website, don’t forget about including a well researched SEO marketing keyword strategy. Building a website that not only looks good but is built with foundational SEO is key to increasing organic traffic to your website for high volume, low competition keywords. And we can’t stress this enough, ensure that you have added Google Analytics to your website to measure traffic and user behavior on the site.
Design Branded Marketing Collateral
Even though our world is becoming increasingly digital, marketing collateral still has a purpose. If you are trying to save on print costs, one of the perks of brochures, flyers, or floor plan sheets is that they can all be digitized and sent through email or displayed on your website.
Printed or Digital Brochures
Printed or Digital Flyers
Stickers
Pocket Folders
Printed or Digital Branded Floor Plan Sheets
Permanent Signage
Bonus: Take advantage of QR Codes on your marketing collateral! Rather than just including a link, give them that direct and instant access with a QR code to whatever it is you are highlighting in your promo product.
Promotional Products
Let’s be real – every offer is a little sweeter when there’s swag involved! Creating and developing promotional products offers a sense of personalization. Always make your residents (both current and prospective) feel like they are important, because they are! When choosing your promotional products, be sure they are items useful and relevant to your target audience. You won’t want to give koozies and bottle openers to senior living residents, just as you wouldn’t want to give an eyeglass case to those in student housing. Stay on top of marketing trends to know what the best supplies are for your target market!
Take advantage of your location as well! Live near a beach, lake, or river? Items like sunglasses and beach bags are great products! Located near the mountains? Custom hiking and biking accessories could be a great way for you to develop that relationship with potential and current residents. See where we’re going with this? Marketing assets are all around you if you know where, and how, to look.
While it can be fun crafting designs for your promotional products, it’s best to keep things simple – you don’t want to overwhelm your promotional products. Using your brand’s color scheme and including a simple, clear logo is going to be far more effective than creating a flashy design that takes away from the purpose – to promote your brand!
Don’t Forget Content Marketing
Social Media
In today’s age of social media, it’s no surprise that it has become such an important part of marketing – especially in real estate marketing. Promote yourself across different platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, to ensure that your message reaches the maximum potential target audiences, focusing on content that sets you apart from your competition. No matter which platforms you use, remember to stay active to gain new followers, and to engage with them frequently.
Email Marketing
Email marketing, when done correctly, can still be a very powerful tool that helps drive and nurture leads. If you’re looking for how to more effectively utilize an email marketing campaign, we recommend taking a look at our recent post on How To Use Email Marketing To Nurture Leads & Learn More Leases.
Google My Business (GMB)
Completing and verifying your GMB profile is not only a great tool for boosting engagement and your online presence, but it also improves your local SEO ranking. GMB profiles provide the opportunity for people to review your business and it gives you an opportunity to engage with and respond to the reviews. But do you know about GMB posts? Promote events or offer limited time specials through your posts to drive traffic to your website. GMB posts are a must to help share relevant content and information all while building your location authority. This tells Google that your business is legit, so over time, you’ll rank higher in the search results.
Invest In Digital Marketing
Now that you’ve identified your brand, built your brand, and teased your brand through organic content, you might be thinking you’ve done everything you need to do. Not quite. Knowing how to effectively implement paid strategies during each phase of your new development is another great tool to have in your pocket. We recommend breaking your real estate digital marketing strategy into four phases:
Phase 1: Brand Awareness
Starting with a small budget, build brand awareness in the early stages while your new development is being built through the use of display campaigns. Serve ads through the Google Display Network or start with a social ads campaign with “Coming Soon” or “Sign Up For Our VIP List” messaging by targeting a local radius and specific audiences, like people who are “renters” and “moving soon.” As you continue to drive traffic to your landing page or website through both paid and organic channels, you’ll be building an audience that can be retargeted later on in your lease-up strategy.
Phase 2: Pre-Lease
As you move into pre-leasing, it’s time to think about ramping up your budget for paid advertising to drive as much traffic as you can to start signing leases. We recommend launching a Search campaign at this stage while utilizing “Now Pre-Leasing” or “Secure Your Spot Early” messaging. As you drive traffic to your website through targeted keyword searches, consider pairing your paid search campaign with a strong retargeting campaign to target previous website visitors to continue to build brand awareness and drive even more traffic to your landing page or website.
Phase 3: Now Open
Congratulations! Construction is complete and you are ready to start actively leasing for people looking to move-in now. Adjust your messaging to drive urgency around immediate move-ins. And if you haven’t had professional photography taken, now is the time. Don’t even think about decreasing your budget just yet! If you haven’t reached 92% occupancy, those paid advertising dollars are still going to be put to good use as you lease-up your remaining units.
Phase 4: Maintain
We think another congratulations is in order now that you’ve reached your leasing goals. Once you reach stabilization, we recommend pulling back on your digital marketing budget, but don’t turn everything off completely. You’ll start to move into renewals soon and may see some turnover, so it’s best to continue maintaining your online presence to create a steady flow of traffic to your website to capture renters at all stages of their journey. When they are ready to make a decision about their housing search, we want them to make that decision with you. Plus, turning off your paid advertising and turning everything back on later leads to higher costs down the line. We recommend checking out a previous post about Why You Shouldn’t Pause Digital Campaigns Once You’re 100% Leased.
If you enjoyed these new development marketing tips, feel free to reach out to our real estate marketing experts today to help you with any questions, concerns, projects, or tasks you may have involving your new developments!
We often think of a brand as just a logo and the name of a business. However, while a name and a logo are important visual elements for brand recognition and customer loyalty, it only scratches the surface of what branding can really involve. A brand strategy must be integrated in all aspects of marketing and development in order to create brand awareness, and to stand out from competitors.
The following are the 3 main brand components that are essential to address when building out your brand, and what types of strategies can be put in place to further develop these components.
A Strong Brand Identity
Create a meaningful visual identity: This consists of your overall brand image including logo, brand colors, website, and any other visual marketing materials. It represents the “look and feel” of your brand. This is the visual representation of what your clients will remember.
Consider your colors carefully – different colors have different meanings, and the colors you choose can speak to a specific target audience, resulting in various psychological impacts. As an example, many fast-food restaurants use red and yellow, because that combination of colors is thought to stimulate the appetite. Once chosen, ensure that you use consistency throughout all materials. (Always use the same typefaces, colors, brand patterns, etc.)
Questions to consider:
Is this unique enough to stand out from competitors?
Is it just a current trend, or will the design be timeless?
What is the meaning of the logo (icon, font, color)?
How will this resonate with the target audience?
Identify your mission: What is the business goal, and how does it reflect who you are?
Establish a Unique Value Proposition (UVP): This is a statement of how you will benefit your customers, how you will meet their needs, and why your offer is unique.
Increase your brand recognition: Think about different marketing methods such as building on different platforms and creating content that is optimized for SEO. Be sure to consistently add and improve upon new, fresh content under your brand guideline.
A Strong Brand Image
A brand image is similar to your brand identity. The key difference is, rather than how you want your brand to be perceived, your brand image is how your brand is actually perceived. Your brand image is like the reputation you have with the public. Ways to build and maintain a positive brand image: Establish a consistent social presence: Use social media platforms to engage with your customers, and keep them up to date on the latest news and product launches or programs. Engagement on a personal level can lead to increased overall customer service satisfaction.
Create innovative and high quality content: Content helps increase brand awareness by bringing in more web traffic while building your brand authority. You will become a trustworthy source of information, which will result in improving your reputation and increase brand trust.
A Strong Brand Culture + Brand Personality
Brand culture refers to your company’s core values and what you do everyday to live by those values. To establish a strong brand culture, consider the following:
Define your values: What exactly are those values?
Spread awareness of your values: Let your clients know what they are by promoting them
Ensure that your company is always reflecting those values (Always practice what you preach!)
In order to have a strong brand culture, your brand personality is an important factor in connecting with your audience on an emotional level as well as making your brand relatable to your customers.
In order to keep a consistent brand personality, consider these questions:
Learn who your audience is exactly; what is their age and location?
Be consistent in your tone; is it playful and bold, or mature and sophisticated?
To wrap up, a strong brand requires a strong brand identity, a strong brand image, and a strong brand culture and personality. By implementing these in your brand strategy, it will increase loyalty, trust, and awareness, and your brand will always continue to grow. In real estate, it is crucial to building a brand that will differentiate you from your competitors.
So the question is – how will you create a strong and impactful brand?
We’ve all been there: You have this magnificent idea, but you can’t get it out of your head and onto paper. Or perhaps you have grand hopes for a goal but are having trouble plotting out the concrete path to get there. Whether your project is visual, conceptual, or written, we all struggle with this process from time to time.
For clients working with agency partners, this creative block often manifests itself through statements like, “I’m not sure what I want, but I’ll know it when I see it,” a strategy that often leads to extensive trial and error that introduces added frustration for all involved. On the agency side, it can manifest in the form of hours spent staring at a screen until the imposter syndrome fully takes over and every idea feels equally terrible. In other words, creative blocks are no fun for anyone and often contribute to outcomes no one is satisfied with. So how do we combat them and break on through to the other side?
As an Art Director with many years of experience, I’d love to walk you through my process for dealing with creative blocks on the path to better real estate marketing (using a bit of good humor along the way).
Write Your Way Out of the Problem
The best advice I have ever received in my career—and one I pass on to my team—is that sometimes the messaging should steer the design and not the other way around. If you’re feeling like the idea isn’t quite there, often a great copywriter can pull it out of the trash with a magnificent tagline or bite-sized messaging idea that gets things going. Don’t be afraid to reach out for written inspiration to help get the gears moving again on your project. In lieu of external copywriting help, creating a word cloud of simple bulleted list of the big ideas you want to convey can also be a great place to start. You can also reach out to Threshold for help with your creative process! Our writers specialize in writing their way out of the problem and helping inspire messaging-driven content.
Walk Away For a Minute
A wonderful mentor advised me once to sometimes go walk a dog. Take care of your plants. If you must, mess about on social media or something. Just take that little break. Keep the thing in the back of your mind, let the ideas happen organically, and just see what comes up. It can be easier said than done (there is a certain inertia to overcome before getting away from your desk), but brains are excellent at working through challenges in the background and sometimes that’s the best path forward.
Personally, I rely on my garden and dogs for help with this. I didn’t acquire these things specifically for this purpose but they certainly don’t hurt. For others on the creative team, it might be pestering a cat, taking the trash out to the dumpster, or doing a crossword. Whatever your strategy, walking away from the desk is a fantastic way to consider, find, and explore new ideas.
Flip It Upside Down
So you’re looking at a possible idea. Say it’s a name. A logo. A website. But something isn’t quite right. What if you flip it all the way over to find new ideas? What is the opposite? And when you consider it, does it resonate? Is there a place to find a new perspective from flipping the idea and seeing the other side of it? Why or why not?
Often, our internal creative discussions start with “what if…” and that is why we succeed. Asking that question always leads to big ideas.
Sleep On It
This tactic is like “Walk Away For A Minute” taken up a notch. It works best when you’re partway through your creative process or have reached the end of a certain stage and can’t decide how to proceed to the next. In these cases, sometimes, the answer is to just muse for a moment. Again, your brain is great at working through things in the background, so sleeping on it (literally or figuratively) can really help you wrap your mind around a complex project or elusive strategy.
For example, at Threshold, we always encourage clients to give immediate ‘gut reaction’ feedback but also to think about it for a few days and offer additional thoughts after they’ve had time to sit with it. Sometimes, the presentation is what draws you. Or a color. Or a feeling. But ultimately, you need to make sure this is the right call for you and your company/property/startup/etc. and giving it some time can sometimes be the best way to get there.
That said, make sure the time you take is intentional and structure. Give yourself a deadline and think about the questions you need to answer in order to proceed. If you wake up the next morning and still like everything you saw, consider why. What appealed? Why did it resonate? How can we turn this into something that sells?
At Threshold, we are experts in this process, so we try to guide feedback based on our levels of experience. It’s a fun process, especially when timelines allow the opportunity to involve multiple stakeholders in the creative process to ensure the end result is something everyone feels invested in.
Phone a Friend
Sometimes, a single creative can do this. Often, it’s a group effort. “Hey, I have this idea, any thoughts,” is all it takes. Creative teams are naturally collaborative. We are stronger than each individual part, and the sum of a true team is far greater than you can imagine.
This is a strategy we use constantly as an agency team, but it applies to client teams too. If you can’t come to a consensus among those you collaborate with, it’s often wise to ask someone who understands the larger goals of the project. Their feedback, whether positive, negative, or neutral can help push past the half-baked concept and illuminate actionable steps toward a more perfect execution.
Threshold has a collaborative environment that demands that the best idea wins, regardless of who came up with it. At the same time, we pride ourselves on being a client partner who can work with everyone to make sure it’s a win all around. After all, if you can’t successfully champion the ‘why’ behind a particular strategy, there’s likely a better idea out there and working together is the best way to find it.
In Conclusion
Creative blocks and “I’ll know it when I see it” attitudes are a pain for both agency creatives and client-side stakeholders. But a holistic thought process and a willingness to collaborate can turn something that seems impossible into some of the biggest wins of your real estate marketing plan.
Setting a new start community up for success is among the most complex projects you can undertake as a real estate developer or property manager. From branding and positioning to floor plan creation and event planning, the sheer number of marketing projects necessary to attract new residents and turn great construction into a successful community can quickly become overwhelming. That complexity is multiplied when you take into account the various touch points you’ll need along the way to translate a central brand identity across every digital and print asset, from websites to brochures to signage.
That’s why new start developers and asset managers often turn to full-service marketing agencies to help them navigate all the moving parts. A full-service agency is a marketing partner that covers the full array of digital, print, and strategic services that feed into a successful marketing plan for you property. Because new start developments are working from scratch to stand out among the competition and reach an untapped audience, working with a full-service partner is key. Spreading your marketing needs across multiple partners and vendors can compromise your strategic vision and dilute your brand identity, leading to less effective real estate marketing.
So what services should you look for in a real estate marketing partner? For new starts, here are the key services your marketing partner should be able to cover.
Research & Discovery
Any good real estate marketing plan begins with research and discovery. Skipping this step can be tempting if you are already familiar with your market (especially if you live locally yourself), but that’s never a good idea. Every new start enters a unique market defined by its precise location, existing competition, and ever-changing audience demographics and interests. That’s why we always recommend working with a marketing partner that will do their own research and discovery before launching into the branding process.
Although savvy developers usually conduct their own internal market research in order to design communities that will meet market demand, a marketing partner will cover additional nuances that help you activate a specific target audience and ensure your vision comes through loud and clear. While a developer might pay attention to rental rates, amenities, floor plan availability, and housing density in the area, a marketing partner might pay extra attention to competing brands, audience demographics, local history and culture, and other details that complete the picture of how your community can connect with new residents.
Naming & Branding
Without a cohesive naming and branding strategy, all marketing collateral suffers. You need a brand identity that is unique and recognizable so that potential renters have something to latch onto when comparing you to a sea of competitors. After all, details like amenities and floor plans matter when selecting a home, but what matters even more is how you tell the story of those advantages so that your audience takes the time to engage and learn more.
Telling this story begins with a suite of branding decisions that can be consistently applied across all collateral in order to amplify brand recognition and brand loyalty. That means naming, logo design, colors and patterns, typography, voice guidelines, and lifestyle imagery guidelines should all be established with your marketing partner, then codified into a comprehensive brand guidelines document so that future collateral builds upon the central brand identity.
Web Design & Development
In many cases, a landing page or full website is the first place your brand will come to life and get the chance to connect with your audience. Working with the same marketing partner on web design and development that you worked with for research, naming, and branding helps ensure that this crucial milestone fully realizes the brand identity you worked so hard to create. Few things can compromise an otherwise solid marketing plan more easily than a poorly executed website that is out of step with your larger marketing strategy.
Along the way, it’s also essential that your web designers and developers understand UX and SEO best practices so that your website isn’t just pretty and on-brand, but also pleasurable to use and easy to find so that your audience of potential renters can actually connect and take action. Make sure your marketing partner is well-versed in UX and SEO so that your websites and landing pages continue to pull their weight long after they’ve been launched. In fact, we recommend working with a real estate marketing partner that offers long-term hosting, management, optimizations, and periodic design refreshes on your site so that as trends change, you can stay ahead of the curve.
Print & Digital Asset Creation
In addition to website design and development, there is a wide array of digital and print assets that contribute to your brand efficacy and help your audience make their housing decision. Included in this category are assets like floor plans and site plans, virtual tours, photography and videography, brochures, flyers, business cards, and letterhead. Each of these separate touch points is a chance to amplify your brand identity and engage your audience. If executed poorly, they can have the opposite effect—diluting your brand identity and failing to connect with potential renters.
Once again, consistency is key when it comes to asset creation. Every asset should be an extension of your larger branding and marketing strategy in order to maximize ROI. Details like these can often go unnoticed unless they clash with your brand or otherwise fail to meet expectations, so they can sometimes become an afterthought for developers and property managers. A great marketing partner knows how important it is to get these details right so that everything fits seamlessly together.
Environmental Graphics
The real estate marketing funnel is increasingly digital, but environmental graphics still play a key roll in raising awareness, driving foot traffic, and creating great tour experiences. From construction banners and billboard graphics to temporary lease space design decked out with floor plan graphics, rendering graphics, and targeted messaging that speaks to your unique differentiators, your marketing partner should be able to help with it all. Meanwhile, permanent signage should also be carefully crafted to amplify your brand identity so that you’re never at risk of blending in among your local competitors.
Digital Marketing
As you work hard to complete your new development project, your digital marketing should be working just as hard to raise brand awareness, generate leads, and nurture those leads so that your efforts pay off with a swift lease-up. When it comes to digital marketing, you’ll benefit from having the same partner involved in your ad campaigns and email tactics that was present for the research & discovery, branding, and design projects along the way. This digital marketing partner is then better equipped to target your unique audience with the right message at the right time in the right place.
Promo & Swag
As you prepare for open houses, housing fairs, grand opening events, and move-ins, branded promotional items can go a long way in keeping your new community top of mind with prospects and delivering a great move-in experience that turns residents into brand advocates. Welcome kits, giveaway items, and event promo should be more than an afterthought; the right item outfitted with a unique design can be the difference between a memorable brand experience and a throwaway object that people quickly forget about.
If you’re still looking for a new start marketing partner who covers all these bases from discovery to promo, we’d love to chat! Threshold covers all this and more in order to deliver cohesive marketing strategies that build on one another to accelerate lease-ups and drive high ROI. Keep us in mind for your next new start project or use our chatbot, Trent, to schedule a no-strings consultation to learn more about what we do.
As a real estate marketing agency based in Austin, we know how fun it can be to work with new developments in Austin. We know the Austin vibe. We know the districts and street names and how an Austinite would talk about them. We know what kinds of apartments and amenities and common in the market because we’ve searched for apartments in Austin ourselves. We have insider knowledge and insider passion about the Austin market. It can streamline the discovery process and inspire us to do excellent work in collaboration with our clients.
But do you want to hear a secret? Sometimes a local marketing agency isn’t the best pick. In fact, you can typically get the same quality of work—if not sometimes better—from a marketing agency partner outside the local market.
There are multiple reasons for this and they all come back to trade-offs. Yes, when you hire a local marketing agency, you’re likely getting certain advantages due to first-hand knowledge of the area. However, you’re also likely to suffer a variety of disadvantages affecting everything from pricing to the quality of work and the speed of your lease-up.
Wondering if a local marketing agency is right for your new development project? Let’s discuss some of the reasons why a local real estate marketing agency may not be your best pick. Along the way, you’ll also get crucial insights into what you should look for in a marketing partner when choosing between local and remote options.
Market Research Trumps Local Know-How
First-hand knowledge is an asset, there’s no denying it. But thorough market research is ultimately more important when it comes to making strategic marketing decisions. Local marketing agencies sometimes cut out the market research and discovery step entirely, believing they already know all they need to know to succeed in the market. Nine times out of ten, this is a huge mistake.
Market research and discovery is indispensable because it remains objective. When we have first-hand experience of something, we often feel we have the full picture, but really the picture is only as complete as our limited subjective view can make it. As a real estate marketing agency in Austin, we have many Austinites on our team, but not one of them has the complete picture of Austin demographics, rent rates, competitors, brand trends, local history, or current events without looking some things up. That’s why market research is so important. All these factors influence the success of new housing developments in Austin, especially due to the highly competitive nature of the housing market.
If you are considering a local real estate marketing partner, be sure to ask about their market research and discovery process first. Their answer could illuminate just how objective their process is and how deep they’ll dig to find the inspiration for out-of-the-box marketing strategies that will help you stand out from the crowd. Speaking of standing out…
Fresh Perspectives Create Innovative Outcomes
If marketers aren’t careful, we can easily rehash the same ideas time and time again. It’s only natural when we work on many projects that have similar goals and similar audiences. Out-of-the-box thinking doesn’t come naturally; it takes commitment and collaboration to pursue truly innovative ideas that stand out from the market.
The risk of in-the-box thinking is that much higher when working in a market that you are intimately familiar with. While you may have an advantage when it comes to ideas that resonate with your local market, you also have blinders on due to the natural inclination to focus on what’s familiar. It’s called confirmation bias; our brains tend to gravitate toward what coheres with our existing beliefs and experiences and ignore what doesn’t fit. This bias can be that much harder to overcome when we are so immersed in the familiarity of our own local market.
On the flipside, an outside perspective can provide a more reliable and efficient route to innovative ideas. From your brand’s look and feel to print marketing strategies to how you build your website, a non-local marketing partner may have the broader perspective and variety of experience that helps push you and your team out of your comfort zone and into marketing strategies that stand out from the crowd to drive buzz, loyalty, and leases.
If you’re considering working with a local agency, be sure to ask for examples of past work. This will help you assess how much range they have and their capacity for innovation within your local market. If their work samples all have a similar look and feel, that should be a red flag. It may also help to ask specifically about the most innovative project they have worked on so you can immediately get a sense of their potential for out-of-the-box ideas.
Local Agencies Have Fewer Resources
Because local marketing agencies tend to be smaller boutique agencies, they may or may not have the same resources that you’d find at an agency serving multiple markets. This is true in some areas more than others. For example, a local agency may have contacts with all the local printing vendors, but fewer digital marketing resources like a CTV marketing platform or a Google Premier Partnership.
Even when a local agency has plenty of local contacts to leverage for all your new development’s real estate marketing needs, you may not be getting the biggest bang for your buck. This is simply because local vendors tend to have local networks with fewer options overall, meaning they are less equipped to shop around and ensure a low rate in order to pass the savings along to you. An agency that serves markets across the country (or even across the globe) is likely to have a broader network of options as well as time-saving and cost-saving resources that allow them to promise more affordable rates. For example, at Threshold we have an established network of print vendors, audience databases, digital marketing partners, and more that we leverage to provide seamless outcomes for our clients while keeping costs low.
If you are considering working with a local real estate marketing agency, be sure to ask about not just their pricing but also their network of vendors for print and environmental graphics, digital marketing campaigns, videography and photography, video editing, and anything else your new development may need to establish great brand awareness and an accelerated lease-up.
Laura Robbins
Mai Mongelous
Written by Mike Krankota, Art Director
