By Charity Hisle Multifamily Insiders
How are you writing your apartment community craigslist ad titles? Are you using rent concessions to drive traffic to your property? What if you don’t have any promotions? What content are you posting to your Facebook and Twitter pages? Are you just posting your rental rates and promotions? Did you know that more than half of American adults are attempting to save money?
A new Harris Poll shows interesting statistics regarding ways adults are trying to save money:
* 36% have switched to tap water and refillable bottles instead of bottled water.
* 21% have cancelled or cut back on their cable TV service.
* 20% have stopped buying coffee in the morning.
* 14% have been carpooling or using mass transit.
Let’s face it, not every community can compete with ever-increasing rent promotions and concessions. Sometimes, the rent cannot get ANY lower. How do you differentiate your ads and your content from competitors when the properties are so similar?
Try this: if your community offers something of value, highlight that feature in your ads, in your Facebook Page content, and occasionally in your Twitter feed. Please understand: I don’t mean use a long list of amenities. Frankly, that’s boring and exactly what everyone else is doing. Use the statistics above to create ad titles/headlines that are unique for your community.
Below are a few examples of ways you can turn your apartment community features into a call-to-action.
Your community offers –
Free water and trash services.
“Save $50 a month with our FREE water and garbage service!”
Free cable.
“Thinking of canceling cable to save money? If you lived at “XXX Apartments” Cable would be FREE!”
Excellent location.
“There’s no need to carpool to work when you live a block away!”
Free morning coffee to residents.
“Why buy expensive coffee? Get yours free every morning before you head to work, just bring your own cup!”
Free theater room.
“Date nights are expensive! Book our FREE theater room for a cozy night out, just bring your own goodies!”
Fitness center.
“Cancel your expensive gym membership and workout for FREE in our community fitness center!”
Community room (magazines, movies, games, coffee)
“Magazine subscriptions are expensive! Save money and read your favorite magazines for free in our community center!”
Don’t forget to rotate your new headlines, I’m sure there are many other ideas just waiting for you to discover.
How have you used your community features to appeal to potential renters? Please share some of your examples with us!