How to Personalize Your Marketing Strategy

Ever get the feeling that your phone is listening to everything you say? Well, it’s probably not. (Though maybe it is.)

Instead, the platforms you use–such as TikTok, Google or Instagram–are using everything they know about you based on your online searches and browsing data to serve you relevant ads. This marketing practice, known as personalization, is common in other industries, but it’s one that multifamily has so far struggled to adopt.

“Personalization is all about meeting the customer where they are,” said Scott Berka, senior managing director of brand, loyalty and innovation at Greystar.

While the industry faces some unique challenges with adopting personalization, there are ways, both online and offline, of creating a better and more tailored experience for prospects and residents.

What does personalization look like?

When you buy a coffee maker from Amazon, it might send you a follow-up email recommending coffee pods that go well with your new brewer. When you order a pair of leggings from Lululemon, it might suggest sweaters or tops that match your new pants. These little moments help to make customers feel seen and make it easier for them to make another purchase.

While this may be relatively easy for e-commerce brands with loyal followings, applying the principles to multifamily can be tricky, though not impossible, according to Michelle Moriello, vice president of marketing at Windsor Communities.

“One of our biggest challenges is that there’s a lower purchase frequency,” Moriello said. “You’re leasing an apartment once per year, maybe once every several years depending on if you’re renewing, so that really limits how we can personalize for more of a customer acquisition focus.”

We need the technology to support personalization, but really, it’s that human touch and that human element that helps our resident feel known.

—Michelle Moriello, Vice President of Marketing, Windsor Communities

However, multifamily also has some unique strengths that can enable deeper personalization compared to other industries. After all, Berka noted, the industry deals with providing people with a home, which is a deeply personal and impactful transaction.

“We have the most important and most engaged purchase decisions for the consumer and also (more) ongoing interaction with them than really any (other) product category or industry that exists,” Berka pointed out.

Using digital tools to your advantage

Most prospects start their apartment search online, whether through a search engine, an ILS, an AI chatbot or a social media site. The online realm provides a wealth of opportunities for personalization, according to Xiyao Yang, senior vice president of digital marketing at Bozzuto.

Many consumer brands target and personalize based on consumer demographics–such as age, sex or income level–but Fair Housing rules and other regulations can make it trickier for multifamily marketers to target while remaining compliant.

For multifamily, “personalization is less about targeting for the demographic,” according to Yang. “It’s more about providing the customer or renter or user with a better experience.”

One challenge Yang pointed out is the use of ILS sites, which may collect a lot of useful info about a prospect but typically don’t share that information. This means that when a prospect moves from an ILS site to filling out an application on a property’s website, they must reenter information they’ve already given to the ILS.

Yang said Bozzuto utilizes an in-house customer data platform that collects information about a user when they visit the property’s website, including if the user explores multiple units and if they open the application portal, which can tell agents whether the consumer is a high-intent prospect or just browsing the site. The firm then uses the information collected to re-target the prospect with specific units once they return to the site and in email or media campaigns.

In an ideal personalization scenario, ILS providers could share more information with a property’s internal customer data platform. This could include the number of bedrooms the prospect is looking for, whether they have a car or a pet, if they’re looking for storage space or what neighborhood they would like to live in.

Personalization is less about targeting for the demographic. It’s more about providing the customer or renter or user with a better experience.

—Xiyao Yang, Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing, Bozzuto

Then, when the prospect reaches the property site, they don’t have to share all those details again, and the community’s leasing agents have more relevant information to guide the process.

However, Yang pointed out that when using digital marketing targeting or sharing tools, there’s a fine line between being helpful and being creepy.

Marketers and operators need to balance personalization and customer trust, said Yang. “We’re not tracking you everywhere you go. We’re really just trying to provide you with the best experience that’s relevant to you.”

In-person personalization

For smaller or midsize operators that may not have a robust digital operation, there are still ways to make your marketing and leasing strategies more tailored and personalized.

Everyone has had the customer service experience where they describe their issue to a representative and then are transferred to someone else and must recount their whole story again. Berka’s advice for making your prospect’s leasing experience smoother is simple: Don’t make them repeat themselves in their interactions with you.

“The best starting place to personalize is to look at all of the information that the person has given us and make sure we’re factoring that in,” Berka said. “It really is something that is conceptually simple, but it’s still so important.”

So, if a prospect tells a leasing agent they have a dog and are looking for a one-bedroom, have that information on file and easily accessible for another agent who’s conducting a follow-up call.

Personalization is all about meeting the customer where they are.

—Scott Berka, Senior Managing Director of Brand, Loyalty and Innovation, Greystar

And for current residents, Moriello had a refreshingly analog idea for our increasingly digital world: sending a birthday card.

“This may be the only birthday card that person receives,” she noted. “There’s so much technology that those human moments are rare.”

Moriello added that the birthday card example emphasizes how personalization is crucial across all stages of the housing journey, especially in retention and resident satisfaction. A resident that feels seen and remembered is much more likely to want to sign again.

“We need the technology to support personalization,” Moriello said, “but really, it’s that human touch and that human element that helps our resident feel known.”

Read the March 2026 issue of MHN.