Now more than ever, great property photos and videos are an essential piece of real estate marketing. With fewer prospects touring in person and renters looking to find all the information they need online, great photos on your property website and reputation management profiles can single-handedly make or break your property at the beginning of a prospect’s buyer journey. Not only that, but great photography is essential to building display ads that get users to click.
High-quality video has even higher potential to impact your marketing success. You probably know by now that video ads drive higher engagement and conversion rates than ads using still images. Landing pages with video are also known to increase conversions (by up to 80%) and get more organic traffic from Google. And a video tour on your website can bridge the conversion gap for potential residents even if they can’t visit in person.
So how do you create eye-catching photos and videos that do all this heavy lifting for your real estate marketing? With a few tips, it could be easier than you think.
How To Make Photos Work For You
When it comes to great photos, hiring the right photographer goes a long way (or you can have your agency partner do that for you). But whether you’re opting to hire a photographer or do it all in-house, there are a few things you can do to ensure you walk away with assets that bring your property website, Google My Business page, display ads, and social media profiles to life.
Capture All The Right Angles
Your prospects want to see as much of your community as possible and you want them to see your good side. Carefully curating your shot list will ensure you both get what you’re looking for.
First, think about what your key differentiators are and make shots that illustrate them your top priority. Do you have a state-of-the-art fitness center? Show it off! Is it your on-site staff that set you apart? A shot of the leasing office might be in order. Got a fantastic location? Bring attention to it with an exterior shot that shows your community as part of the neighborhood.
Regardless of what you’re most proud of, you should make sure prospects can find photos of as many amenities as possible, especially the apartment amenities. Folks want to know what their bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and living room will look like at the very least.
Whether you’re capturing your fitness center, your pool, or your apartment interiors, you’ll also want to think about the photo composition. You want photos that show things from a prospect’s point of view if they were to tour in person, but you also want to capture areas with the most visual interest and striking aesthetics. In other words, shoot your kitchen from a spot that captures the island, the stainless steel oven, the modern lighting, and the custom cabinetry all in one; don’t bother with a photo that only shows the sink and the countertops or is dominated by empty spaces like floors and ceilings.
Control Your Lighting
Good lighting is absolutely essential and natural lighting is best (even for indoor shots). The best times for taking photos with natural light are a few hours after sunrise and a few hours before sunset to ensure there is plenty of light without harsh brightness or exaggerated shadows.
If taking photos where no natural light is available, make sure to turn on all the lights in the area. You may also want to bring additional light sources with you (ones specially made for photography if possible) to ensure diffuse but bright light that doesn’t result in strange shadows or overly warm or washed out photos.
Set The Stage
An empty apartment doesn’t do your property justice. Whenever possible, stage your model unit carefully and stylishly to show your prospects its full potential. That means towels hanging in the bathroom, a cute succulent on the kitchen island, a colorful rug amongst the living room furniture, and so on. Careful staging helps ensure your prospects have no barriers to imagining themselves living in your community.
How To Make Videos Work For You
From video ads to stunning homepages to informative virtual tours, high-quality video assets can do a lot of work for your apartment marketing. Again, we recommend hiring a professional videographer and/or video editor (or getting your agency partner to help). Either way, these tips and recommendations can help you get video assets that drive conversions and inspire engagement.
Film a Breathtaking Flyover
Drone footage capturing your property from the sky is a great way to capture breathtaking visuals and add a luxurious feel to your community. This option is especially effective if you have rooftop spaces, lush interior courtyards, or lofty high-rise views. Videos like these are often displayed prominently above-the-fold on a property home page, and there’s a reason for that. They result in lower bounce rates and more time spent on-site, giving prospects a higher likelihood of converting.
Create Video Ads From Still Photos
If you’d rather opt for the budget version or need a quick turnaround, you might choose to turn existing photo assets into engaging video through the power of editing. Even a simple slideshow set to pleasant music and featuring a few key messages through written copy can enhance the impact beyond that of still photos alone, making for a great video ad strategy on Facebook or YouTube. Just make sure to keep it short; the most effective video ads, according to Facebook, are between 5 and 15 seconds long.
Shoot a Video Tour
Virtual tours are a must these days, and shooting real video of one of your leasing agents or community residents showing the viewer around a model apartment is one effective way to get that done. A video tour posted prominently on the website, shared on social media, or sent out in your email marketing is a great way to provide the experience of in-person touring without the hassle or the hazards of visiting the community in person.
Get a Matterport Video
Did you know you can get a simple video tour made for you that combines still images into a virtual 3D floor plan and allows prospects to measure and explore the layout with a click of the mouse? Matterport videos are one such tool, and another great virtual tour option that you can embed on websites, post on social media, or send in emails. For more information, talk to a Threshold team member (no strings attached).
That’s it for our property photos and video tips! From coordinating shot lists to editing videos, we hope these tips can help you create assets that work for your property. If you’re looking for more advice or help getting started, we’re happy to put the full force of the Threshold team at your back! Reach out to our team to learn more about our videography and photography services, or check out our product slick.
So you’re taking over a property and you’re ready to hit the ground running on all your marketing to-dos. Congratulations! We’d love to help you with next steps as you grow your portfolio. Property takeovers come with their own set of marketing challenges, but we’ve been around the block a time or two; here’s what you need to know to set your newest acquisition up for success!
Get a Handle on Reputation Management
One of the first things you’ll want to do is claim all the reputation management accounts for your acquired property, transferring the accounts over from the old management. Google My Business should be top of your list; request management of the page and then apply for ownership of the profile using these instructions from Google. You’ll also want to transfer ownership for management accounts on Yelp, Apartments.com, ApartmentRatings.com, and Apartment Guide, or set up management accounts on these sites if they don’t already exist.
Once you’ve claimed your property’s profile on Google My Business, you’ll want to ensure all the info is up-to-date, including contact information and the website URL.
When a property has poor ratings and reviews on reputation management sites like those listed above, you may want to consider a rebrand. A new identity including a new name and logo may help you shake off the effects of previous management mistakes or public relations snafus. If you’re looking for a marketing partner with experience in rebranding, we’re here to help!
Make the Website Work for You
Whether you negotiated for the website and domain or you need to create a new website, there are a few items you’ll need to check off in order to ensure your property’s website works for you.
Firstly, if you need to create a new website or revamp the old one, we recommend partnering with a marketing agency with experience building real estate websites that drive conversions and enhance organic traffic. We can certainly help with that, no matter what your budget looks like (let’s talk if you’re interested). In the meantime, you may want to build a single landing page that can go live while you continue work on your full website (and what do you know, we can help with that too).
If you’re using an existing website, you’ll want to request a domain transfer. The domain provider should have instructions on how to do this. GoDaddy.com is a common one; their instructions can be found here.
Whether you need a new website or not, your next steps are to set up Google Analytics and install new Google Tag Manager code on the site. Have ownership of Google Analytics transferred to you (including all GA that may be on the website; select one to move forward with to act as your primary GA account). If an ownership transfer is not possible, create a new Google Analytics account and add it to the website or have your digital agency create a Google Analytics account for you.
Claim Social Accounts
Social media accounts are essential to strong digital marketing, so it’s crucial that you also transfer ownership of these accounts from previous management.
When it comes to Facebook, you’ll want to first have the prior management add you as an admin of the page. Then you’ll need to go through the more demanding process of contacting Facebook to gain ownership of the page. Then remove any old admins that should no longer have the ability to manage the page.
For Instagram, you’ll simply need to have the previous management update the email address associated with the account, then share their existing login credentials with you so you can access the account and update the login info.
Update Existing Digital Ads (or Create New Ones)
Before launching new digital campaigns, you’ll want to find out if previous management had any running already that you’d like to continue. This may require some digging in Google Ads (ask for the ownership to be transferred by previous management if you haven’t already, instructions here), Facebook Ads Manager, and other ad management accounts. If display ads are running that need to be updated (for example with a new name, logo, or special), have your in-house marketing or agency partner update those for you so your campaigns can continue seamlessly.
Establish Great Email Marketing
As you get all the digital technicalities squared away, don’t neglect the human side of your property takeover. Existing residents want to know they can trust their new management and setting up great email marketing can be a great way to do that. Design a professional, branded email template (or two) you can use from your very first “Nice to meet you” message to every resident event announcement, community update, and holiday greeting to come. You’ll also want professional branded templates for your transactional emails and prospect responses. We just happen to have done plenty of email designs for real estate brands, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re looking for help.
That’s it for our property takeover tips! From reputation management to Google Analytics setup to designing new display ads and email templates, there’s a lot to check off your list to ensure a seamless transition. If you’re looking for more advice or help getting started, we’re happy to put the full force of our digital and creative teams at your back! Reach out to our team to learn more about our full-service agency.
When you’re launching a new development, there’s a lot to worry about, and your real estate marketing plan is just part of the puzzle. But while financing, designing, and building might seem like your most pressing concerns, a great marketing plan starts early—often before you ever break ground. The most successful new developments are those that make marketing decisions early and use marketing insights to inform construction, design, and management every step of the way.
So what are your marketing to-dos as you launch your new property development? There’s a lot to cover, from market research to branding to social media and more. That’s why we’ve put together this extensive New Start Marketing Checklist covering all your basics and our tips for getting them checked off successfully.
If you’re interested in getting professional help checking all these items off your list, contact our team at Threshold—we’ve been around this block a time or two.
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[su_spoiler title=”1. Perform Market Surveys” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] Your very first step is to do your research. This will inform everything that comes after, from branding to digital campaigns to community outreach. In particular, you need to understand a few things:
Competitor Research:
Take stock of your local competition, gathering all the information you can. In order to stand out from the crowd, you need to take stock of its composition. How are local properties branding themselves? What amenities are they offering? What audience are they targeting? What are their rental rates? What campaigns and specials are they running? Where are they located?
Keep your learnings together in a well-organized document or spreadsheet for later reference and update it periodically. This information will come in handy when developing your brand, launching awareness campaigns, and more.
Audience Research:
Understanding your audience is an indispensable step. Whenever you can, get out in the community to do market surveys. Ask what your target audience wants in an apartment community. Ask what amenities are important to them, what they think is missing from the market, and what makes a community a great place to live. This information is essential not only to building the sort of property that there’s actually demand for, but also to the messaging you use to market your property each step of the way.
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[su_spoiler title=”2. Develop Unique Branding” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] You have probably heard that your brand is your biggest asset—and it’s true. Developing a unique, cohesive brand that tells a story, establishes a personality, and gives your development purpose brings everything to life. It drives interest, action, and loyalty from your audience. When executed well, it informs every design, every marketing asset, even every hiring decision you make.
As you develop your brand, you’ll need to establish the following elements, then codify them into brand guidelines that everyone who represents the brand can reference moving forward.
Names
First and foremost, your property name should be unique within the market and resonate with your target audience. Your name, along with your logo, will be your brand’s face to the world, informing your audience’s impressions of your community from the word go. Take special care to select a name that has staying power, that won’t cause you to be confused with another brand, and that aligns with the brand personality you want to build.
Beyond that, you also need a property name that allows you to select unique and easy-to-use domain names and account names so that your online presence is cohesive and accessible.
Domain Name
Your domain name is the URL—or web address—where your property website will live. Before committing to a property name, ensure there are domain names available incorporating that name.
Online Account Names
Again, before committing to a property name, consider the account names—or handles—you’ll use for social media sites like Instagram and Twitter. Your account names should clearly connect the account to your property and avoid too much similarity to existing account names.
Voice & Personality
As you build your brand, ask yourself: if this brand were a person, how would they act? What would they like? How would they speak? In fact, your brand will do a lot of acting and speaking, through messaging on your website, your ads, your social media accounts, even your transactional emails. The more distinct and identifiable your brand personality and voice are, the more loyalty you can inspire and the easier it will be to develop new creative and digital messaging further down the road.
The elements below can help you establish your brand voice and personality.
Tagline
A tagline is a motto or catchphrase connected to your brand—like McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it” or Dunkin’ Donuts’ “America runs on Dunkin’.” Your tagline should be memorable while hinting at your brand voice and purpose. What’s the main takeaway your audience should associate with your brand? What short phrase hints at your brand’s core?
Manifesto
A brand manifesto is a mission statement for your brand written in the voice of the brand. Its purpose is to outline what key ideas define the brand as well as what sets it apart from the competition. You may not use the brand manifesto verbatim beyond the initial branding phase (though it may make a decent romance paragraph on a landing page) but it’s a very helpful tool to explore your brand voice and establish the “why” of your brand.
Logo & Logo Treatments
Your logo is perhaps the most visible feature of your brand. Along with the brand name, the logo is your brand’s face to the world, informing impressions of your brand before your audience knows anything else about it. Having a unique logo that aligns with your brand identity helps bridge the awareness gap as you reach new prospects further down the road.
Colors
Brand colors also communicate a lot about a brand, often in very subtle ways. For example, bright, saturated colors might communicate an energetic, playful personality while pastels or neutrals might communicate a more relaxed or professional feel. Select a few main brand colors that can be used throughout your branding, from business cards to websites to interior design so that your brand identity is consistent and obvious across all visual media.
Typefaces
Like brand colors, a typeface (or font) can subtly communicate a lot about your brand. Whether you want streamlined and professional, intricate and formal, playful and unique, or something else, the typeface(s) you use across your creative assets are part of building a consistent and clear brand identity.
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[su_spoiler title=”3. Establish Online Accounts” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] Shortly after selecting a name, it’s time to claim your social media handles on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll also want to set up a few other online accounts you’ll need, like your Google My Business page, Apartments.com, and ApartmentRatings.com accounts. These accounts will help expand your reach, manage your online reputation, and engage with your audience.
Once accounts are set up, ensure that one or more staff members are frequently checking these accounts for comments, reviews, and questions. Engaging with your audience and responding to any reviews helps build a positive online reputation and generate qualified leads.
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[su_spoiler title=”4. Develop a Conversion-Optimized Landing Page” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] As early as possible, you’ll want to build up a full online presence so you can start generating buzz and capturing leads. One of the central assets in those efforts is your property website. However, since building a full, multi-page website can take extra time and money, you might start with a single landing page containing just enough information to get your audience interested.
Consider including a simple form allowing interested parties to sign up for future updates as your property is further developed—you might call it a “VIP wait list” or similar. This is a great way to generate leads and set up future digital campaigns that will yield highly qualified traffic and high conversion rates.
Later down the road, make sure you develop a full website with great SEO and UX. While an early landing page is a great trick to jumpstart your digital marketing efforts, it won’t sustain you as your property grows and your marketing needs change. In order to drive organic traffic, continued conversions, and customer loyalty, a full website is essential.
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[su_spoiler title=”5. Set Up Analytics Tracking” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] Once your website is launched, it’s important to set up analytics tracking through Google Analytics so you can assess how you’re performing throughout your marketing journey. Getting this set up as early as possible will ensure you’re equipped to diagnose any issues and make improvements that impact your digital traffic and conversions.
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[su_spoiler title=”6. Launch Digital Brand Awareness Campaigns” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] Your first ad campaigns should be focused on building brand awareness. After all, you’ve spent a lot of time with your new brand, but your audience likely has no idea you exist yet. You can’t persuade prospects to sign leases until you’ve put yourself on the map, so it’s time to do the groundwork that will set you up for future success.
Social media platforms are great places to run ads targeting your local audience and directing them to your landing page. Gmail ads and other display ad tactics can help you make the most of compelling messaging and stunning property renderings. You might also use property renderings to create video ads which can be run on YouTube and social media platforms, often earning better results than static ads. Geofencing campaigns will also help you target a local audience and are an excellent tactic when focusing on awareness rather than conversions.
For more information on how to get your audience from the awareness phase to the purchase phase (and beyond), check out our Digital Buyer’s Journey resource.
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[su_spoiler title=”7. Design & Print Construction Signage” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] As you build your property, you can drive awareness and leads with well-designed signage around your construction site, especially if your location receives a lot of foot traffic or drive-by traffic. Install signage at your property location that leverages short, compelling messaging and property renderings or lifestyle imagery to attract attention from passersby. Make sure you include the URL of your landing page so you can turn looks into leads.
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[su_spoiler title=”8. Design & Outfit a Temporary Lease Space” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your property is likely to be in development for months or years before opening—and that includes your permanent lease space. While the property is being built, it’s important to give staff a place to engage with prospects in person and for prospects to learn more about the property. To this end, we recommend you design and outfit a temporary lease space where you can take advantage of foot traffic in the area and engage with your local community.
Your lease space design should align with your branding, leverage prominent outdoor signage, and be outfitted with all the information a prospect needs to convert. That means flyers, brochures, floor plan renderings, amenities lists, business cards, and other print media. If at all possible, building a model of the property and/or a model unit helps bridge the gap while you can’t offer tours.
Before officially opening your temporary lease space, make sure you have fully set up your preferred CRM software so leasing staff are ready to collect information, track visits, and follow up with prospects that come through the temporary leasing office.
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[su_spoiler title=”9. Partner With Your Local Community” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] For most prospects, location is the top priority when deciding who to sign a lease with. The more you put down roots in your local neighborhood and utilize this community to your advantage, the more you’ll see qualified leads making it to your website and lease space.
In addition to participating in local housing fairs (if applicable), we highly recommend partnering with local groups and businesses relevant to your audience. For student living properties, sponsoring an event or hiring an ambassador within Greek life, clubs, or international student groups can help expand your reach. For multi-family properties, you might establish a preferred employer program, ask local shops to display your flyer, or sponsor an event in partnership with a local restaurant.
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[su_spoiler title=”10. Launch Digital Lead Nurturing Campaigns” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] Once your landing page has done the work of generating leads, you can leverage that list of email addresses to launch lead nurturing campaigns. This is the power of establishing a “VIP wait list” or similar. This is your opportunity to reach out directly to prospects who have already expressed interest, staying top-of-mind with these warm leads and continuing to drive excitement for your property as you approach your open date.
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[su_spoiler title=”11. Capture Search Traffic With Paid Search Campaigns” open=”no” style=”default” icon=”plus” anchor=”” class=””] Search ads are a powerful marketing tactic, but should only be leveraged as you approach the peak leasing window prior to your official opening date. In the case of multi-family properties, prospects performing searches are mostly looking for quick—if not immediate—move-ins, so wait to launch search campaigns until you are six months or fewer away from your open date. Student properties, on the other hand, may launch search ads as much as one year in advance of their open date, since pre-leases are the standard for this industry.
Paid search ads will help you capture existing search traffic from prospects looking for housing in the area by ensuring you reach more of this audience than you normally would via organic results alone.
Once you’ve checked all these items off your list, you should be set up for success! Keep an eye on your analytics, connect with your audience, and put your brand at the center of everything you do—this way you’ll be poised to make continued improvements and get your audience to take the first step in their buyer journey with your property.
If you’re interested in getting professional help checking all these items off your list, contact our team at Threshold. Our marketing experts are here to help with tried-and-true strategies and high-performing creative assets that will ensure you’re making the most of every marketing effort.
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For a print-friendly version of this marketing checklist, download the pdf below!
You may have heard that print media is dead—that the rise of digital media has rendered print media irrelevant. It’s true that the digital landscape has changed the role of print media in real estate marketing, but print media is far from dead. In fact, when it comes to your real estate marketing plan, we highly recommend you invest in high-quality print media.
There are a few reasons we say that, and we’re getting into them all in today’s blog post. If you’d like to learn how print media can improve your brand awareness, brand reputation, and lease rates, then keep on reading!
Reason 1: Physical Objects for Physical Spaces
There’s no escaping the physical world when it comes to real estate marketing. You may do much of your advertising online, and your property may have a digital presence via its website and social media accounts, but at the end of the day, your product is all about physical spaces that people live and move around in. As opposed to a brand that operates mainly in a digital space (like a SaaS brand, for example), a real estate brand must always connect its digital presence back to a real, physical, brick-and-mortar property.
Because of this fact, physical forms of marketing like print media are that much more important for a real estate brand. Consider, for example, your property’s lease space. It’s essential, particularly in over-saturated markets, to have a lease space whose design is memorable, pleasant, and gives visitors a sense of how living in a unit at this property might feel. Your banners, posters, brochures, business cards, etc. all contribute to how a potential resident imagines conducting all the daily activities of their life within this physical space. Digital advertising alone can’t help persuade a customer at this particular stage of the buyer’s journey.
Reason 2: Cutting Through the Competition
We see digital ads all the time, and we’re usually in the middle of something else when we do. This means that digital media often goes ignored, or doesn’t command enough of a consumer’s attention to drive them to convert. It also means that competition is high for digital media—each digital ad is sharing digital space with a lot of other ads just like it. On top of all that, many consumers use ad-blocking programs when possible in order to avoid ads entirely.
Don’t get us wrong, digital ads are effective in their own right, but pairing them with print media campaigns as well helps generate particularly high-quality leads and drive even more conversions than digital marketing alone. When a potential resident reads a brochure, flyer, or poster, they’re devoting more focused attention to your property, and are automatically more likely to call the office, take a tour, or sign a lease than someone who simply glanced at a digital ad while scrolling through their Instagram feed.
Print media also doesn’t suffer from the same problem of competition (and ad-blocking) that digital media does. The ability to market to consumers in a physical space allows for opportunities to bypass the saturated and highly competitive digital landscape to get your brand in front of your audience.
Reason 3: Old-School Appeal
We expect different things from print media than we expect from digital media. For many, a message delivered in print bears more credibility, authenticity, and gravity than the same message delivered digitally. This impression is not always conscious, nor is it always strong, but it still has real impact on how a potential resident processes information about your property. Presented via print, information is perceived as more accurate, more official, and more worth paying attention to.
This effect is stronger for some demographics than for others, but it gets stronger the older your target audience is. For many adults, especially those over 50, the tangibility of print media is a benefit in itself. Some folks would vastly prefer making a decision based on a brochure they can hold in their hands and look back on later, rather than a webpage or digital ad they may only have seen briefly.
If you’re ready to incorporate stunning print media that drives conversions and raises lease rates into your real estate marketing plan, our team at Threshold would love to chat with you! Contact us today to talk about how we can design, print, and deliver fantastic brochures, posters, flyers, business cards, and more to help meet your brand’s real estate goals.
Congratulations! Your hard work has paid off; you’re fully leased and ready for the next phase of your marketing journey. But what does the next phase look like? After all, the journey doesn’t end here, and you need ways to keep this success going strong. So what’s next? There are a few key steps we recommend to keep lease rates high and set your property up for continued success.
Incentivize Renewals
Now that you’re fully leased up, you can shift additional focus to keeping current residents around for years to come. It’s the surest way to ensure that you continue to see high lease rates and avoid stressful periods of high turnover.
In addition to investing in the resident experience (which we’ll talk about in a moment), there are a few ways you can incentivize renewals. Consider offering renewal specials that lock in lower rent rates for residents who renew early or offer a free upgrade or service (e.g. free carpet cleaning) to those who choose to renew.
Another clever way to incentivize renewals is with strategic email marketing. When a resident’s lease is ending soon, send an email with move-out tips that, while helpful, also remind them of all the hassles of moving to a new place. Then let them know that if they want to avoid these hassles, you’d love to get them started on a renewal document so they can stay home and relax instead.
Focus On Reputation Management
With all those heads in beds, this is a great time to focus on reputation management. Encouraging residents to share their positive experiences is a reliable way to improve a prospective resident’s likelihood of signing a lease at your property the next time a spot is available. After all, according to Podium, 93% of consumers say online reviews impact their purchasing decisions.
You can also turn negative or mixed reviews into a boon for your property. Listen to criticism, address concerns, and take the opportunity to showcase that you’re invested in improving poor experiences. Not only will you continuously improve your community this way and ensure it’s an attractive place to live, but you’ll also give prospects a reason to trust you. If a potential resident reads a polite, professional, and thoughtful response your team wrote on one of your negative reviews, you’ll inspire their trust that, even when issues arise, the property management will take genuine steps to address it, and that trust can make all the difference when prospects are making their final leasing decisions.
Invest in the Resident Experience
At its most effective, reputation management goes hand-in-hand with investing in the resident experience. Now is an excellent time to go the extra mile with your current residents to both inspire them to renew and encourage them to share positive experiences through word-of-mouth and online platforms.
There are lots of ways to invest in the resident experience, whether that’s through upgrades to the property, staff trainings, community events, or resident perks. Even the smallest gesture, like a timely email or a personal interaction can make a huge impact on a resident’s experience of your property. Whatever you do, your efforts (and financial investment, if applicable) will pay off in the form of higher renewal rates, better online reviews, and strong word-of-mouth marketing.
How To Get Started
A lot of these tips can be implemented immediately by on-site staff, but Threshold can help you make the most of them with digital marketing, reputation management, email creative, and other services along the way. Reach out to your CSM or contact us here to discuss how we can support your continued success!
Video continues to dominate content strategy across the digital landscape, making it more advantageous than ever to incorporate YouTube advertising into your digital media strategy. In fact, YouTube is the second most popular search engine today, so taking advantage of this platform means you’re poised to capture lots more attention from users who are actually ready to make decisions. Not only that, but you’ll have the option of leveraging a variety of ad types across the YouTube platform, each with the ability to drive different actions and increase brand awareness. In other words, you can inspire and excite your audience more than ever before and get the results to match.
We recommend YouTube video ads for anyone looking to heighten audience engagement and conversions. YouTube ads make a particularly strong retargeting strategy, inspiring users who are already searching for housing in your area to emotionally connect with your brand and actively imagine themselves at your property. That’s because video ads have the power to communicate a mood and message more effectively than static ads alone, using a variety of images, movement, audio, and written copy to tap into your audience’s wants, needs, and dreams. It’s also because YouTube benefits from Google’s flexible and powerful targeting capabilities based on search behaviors, video topics, and user demographics, allowing you to reach prospects who are most ready to convert.
How It Works
When you sign up for our YouTube services, Threshold will recommend a YouTube advertising strategy based on your goals and spend budget. We will then work with you to define your success metrics, identifying the goals we can expect to reach at key milestones, starting with three months after launch.
Our packages allow you to choose between one video ad each month or every two months and campaign management and optimizations at monthly or bi-weekly frequencies. You can also opt for the addition of location extensions to your ads as well as our help in setting up a basic or branded YouTube channel for your property. We can help you ensure the package you select fits both your marketing needs and your budget.
To get ready for your first campaign launch, we’ll gather existing assets (such as high-quality property photos or video clips) or contract with a specialized YouTube videographer to conduct an on-site video shoot at your community. Once we have the necessary assets, we’ll arrange for our existing video editors to create a polished video ad that engages and excites your audience while delivering key information they need to convert. Our digital team will then help you implement the ad effectively, leveraging YouTube’s powerful targeting options.
If you’re already one of our fantastic clients, then reach out to your Client Success Manager to get started! Or if you’re new to the Threshold fam, you can reach out to our team here—we look forward to meeting you!
