Looking at the multifamily industry today, it’s easy to forget that many of our current best practices were born of necessity five years ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic introduced phrases like “stay-at-home orders” and “social distancing.”
As challenging as those times were, some of the adjustments we made ended up reshaping our business for the better. Nearly every aspect of multifamily has examples of these positive pandemic pivots.
Here are the three I consider the most significant in the realm of marketing, leasing and how we interact with prospects.
1. We Hit Fast-Forward on Technology Investments
While the early days of COVID put many aspects of life on pause, those uncertain times expedited our investments in marketing technology. It began with simple updates to existing tools that quickly became critical for the new virtual reality of connecting with prospects, like enhancing website content and bolstering photo and video assets when prospects couldn’t tour in person. Much of that effort happened organically.
At one of our largest Draper and Kramer-managed properties, our on-site leasing agent spent the early days of COVID shooting photos and video tours on his cell phone, capturing all of the property’s numerous floor plans and finish packages. These assets continue to be invaluable with prospects still doing a significant amount of advance research virtually. Now, the investment we make in professionally shot property photos and videos is much more robust than it was pre-COVID.
As leasing teams and prospects alike grew more comfortable with virtual apartment shopping, it also sped up our adoption of virtual tools that were already on our radar but, until COVID, weren’t widely implemented across our portfolio.
For example, mapping technology and virtual tours that give prospects 360-degree views of different spaces, and even demonstrate how their furnishings could fit into rooms, quickly became go-to resources. We also accelerated the implementation of self-guided tours, which have significantly reshaped the shopping experience by allowing prospects to tour a property at their convenience rather than on the leasing agent’s schedule.
Ultimately, one of the lasting effects of COVID wasn’t just new tools used in marketing and leasing, but rather an increased comfort level with exploring new technologies, having seen their benefits firsthand. Today, that receptiveness across the industry is fueling a willingness to explore opportunities with other new platforms, like those powered by artificial intelligence (AI), that could also have a significant impact on the industry and how we do business.
2. We Learned to Let Prospects Call the Shots
Prior to COVID, most operators expected prospects to follow a prescribed marketing funnel for researching a property before shopping in person, relying on leasing agents to close the deal. But during COVID, that well-worn path veered in a new direction. With in-person tours not always possible, prospects instead used online tools to shop and compare properties.
Five years later, that shift appears to be permanent. Pre-pandemic, prospects mostly shopped in person, visiting an average of 10 properties before deciding where to live. Today, that number is around three. Even with in-person visits available, prospects still do much more initial research online, often narrowing options before touring.
And just like prospective residents ultimately adapted, so too did multifamily marketers. The big takeaway for us from the past five years was that prospects like being able to discover a property on their own terms, and we need to meet them where they are.
What’s more, we better understand just how different people are in their shopping habits. Some like to scroll a gallery of photos. Some want a virtual tour that shows them exactly where their unit would be located on the property. Some love a tool that lets them see furniture placed in a floor plan. And some still want a traditional in-person tour led by a leasing agent. As a result, we’ve rounded out our leasing experience, investing in all these components to create resources for prospects to shop for their new home however they are most comfortable.
3. We Sharpened Up Authentic Communication
Back in early 2020, one of the last “normal” business tasks I completed before the shutdown was finalizing a new contract for social media services to enhance and strengthen our presence across all profiles.
In the ensuing months, when COVID limited opportunities to interact with prospects and residents face-to-face, I was especially glad to have that foundation and resource for social media interactions in place. Seemingly overnight, it became all the more important that every communication — especially online and virtual — was authentic and engaging.
For property marketers, that raised the bar for communication and emphasized the importance of every voice that speaks about us.
This was especially true with property-specific social media channels and online reviews that aren’t necessarily direct sales and marketing tools but are still sought out by prospects looking to see what life at a particular community is actually like.
It became more critical than ever that every online interaction was genuine, that we interacted with social posts and online reviews, that those responses were timely and that we monitored every conversation for any required follow-up. Likewise, as we came to better understand how prospects shopped, we tailored our web presence accordingly, with concise messaging and multiple tools that let them build their own story.
Five years later, we are simply better communicators across our channels. What’s more, after a period of not being able to engage in person, we have a renewed appreciation for opportunities to interact with residents and prospects
face-to-face.
We’ve even reorganized our operations, centralizing many reporting and administrative functions. We’re also using AI-powered tools for tasks that don’t require a personal touch. This gives our staff the ability to focus on providing the best possible in-person service.
At the end of the day, the quality of the experience we give prospects and residents — whether in-person or virtual — is the key to achieving our ultimate goal of resident satisfaction and retention.
— James Love is vice president of marketing and brand with Chicago-based Draper and Kramer Inc. This article originally appeared in the January/February issues of Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business.