Operations: Can’t Someone Else Do It? (or, where am I?)
Posted: March 22nd, 2009 | Author: mfguide | Filed under: Costs, Operations | 5 Comments »In the days before handheld and car based GPS, asset managers were either good map readers or took no detours between their office/airport and the property inspection.
Invariably there was a failure and after 10, 15, or 30 minutes we’d call the property. The phone call always started with “Where are you?” followed by “Where am I?” All to often the reply was a laugh before hearing, “I don’t live here” or “Let me ask someone”.
I had one of those experiences again last week, so I’m re-linking to a January post on this subject.
To take it a step further, I want to highlight some other ways that owners and managers are letting someone else do it, particularly in the area of marketing communities. J. C. Hart of Indianapolis recently ran a contest for residents called “Live the Life”. Run as a way for residents to share what and why they liked living at a Hart property, the resulting videos were posted on YouTube. The contest resulted in 44 entries and generated over 30,000 views.
Urbane Apartments in Royal Oak, Michigan recently created the “Urbane Lobby” as a social network for their residents. Together with the “Urbane Blog” residents contribute blog posts, highlight local businesses, and build the type of community that most advocates of ‘social media’ can only dream of. Taking things even further, the owner of Urbane Apartments, Eric Brown, has found this model to be so successful that he eschews typical multi-family advertising such as printed guidebooks and uses Twitter and other social media avenues for part of his outreach. Leasing materials are provided on a flash drive, tours are self-directed, and units are improved, not rehabbed.
In my own portfolio, we’ve provided open space and materials for garden plots, worked with local religious centers for relationship counseling (which helped reduce delinquency from 8% to 1.5% in 4 months), arranged classes with the local Home Depot, and recruited local health agencies for on-site blood pressure monitoring, nutritional advice, and children’s dental care.
Even in straitened times, many towns and cities have a wealth of untapped resources. From saving money to creating a better environment for residents, it makes imminent sense to let someone else do it.
First, Thank you for the shout out herein, much appreciated!
We are working hard to Break From the Pack of Apartment Commodity. The more we market within, at and toward our existing resident base, the stronger we become. It is a fascinating journey, Good Luck on your endeavors as we all traverse this crazy economy,
Great post.
We have been using community blogs since early 04′ and find them to be a huge value add for not only the resident base but the management teams as well. That is not to mention the amplified effects with regard to SEO. One item of note – unlike the amazing blog team over at Urbane, all of our writers are strictly volunteer receiving no compensation whatsoever. Right, wrong or indifferent – we think it is much more authentic that way.
I do struggle with creating yet another social network for our resident base as it seems like you can accomplish just as much if not more with a Facebook Fan Page. There might be some unique experiences out there, like Urbane’s, but I think as more and more of social networks pop up – users will ultimately choose one space to hang out. That is unless someone comes along that can truly be the one stop shop for posting everything – “me” – for lack of a better way to put it – to every site I have a profile on.
Again, great post – thank you for taking the time.
M
Mike:
You make a valuable point that there are an awful lot of social networks available and no one company can cover them all. I think we’re still in the early days so we’re likely to have to make extra effort to cover our bases until this shakes out. I think maintaining a consistent voice is essential and very hard to do.
I also agree that things like search engine optimization (SEO) and using online marketing dollars effectively is essential. I’ve been online since ’94 in some form or another and there’s so much to learn about reach prospects and interacting with residents.
I remember when it was first proposed that my company (at that time) move more dollars online. We were still battling the perception that LIHTC residents did not have Internet access but we eventually won out in ’04 and the results have been astonishing.
Thanks again for the comments!
mfguide-
Thanks for mentioning our resident promotion. We made a conscious decision to focus our marketing dollars on our current customers (residents) in lieu of print advertising for 2009. When studying our marketing data for the last 3 years we found print leads declining while Internet and referrals were increasing. Thus, “The Year of the Resident” and a focus on online marketing. Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks again for sharing it on your blog.
Mark – The Marketing/Apartment Nerd
Eric Brown was kind enough to provide an update via Twitter on his advertising related expenses:
“@mfguide We are not using any paid ads, no paid Internet or print. We use CL, and Rent.com, which we only pay if we get the rental.”
(http://twitter.com/Eric_Urbane/statuses/1375684817)