MHN Executive Council: What’s Your Unpopular Opinion About Multifamily? (Part 1)
Go ahead, buck the trends.
Just because “everyone is doing it” doesn’t mean that’s the best way to go about something, especially in the apartment space. This month, the MHN Executive Council shares some of their hot takes about the industry that others should consider.
Not a Lead Issue
We don’t have a lead problem, we have a conversion problem.
It can be easy to look at traffic numbers and immediately assume we need more leads, more advertising, or more marketing dollars, and sometimes we absolutely do. But before increasing spend, I think it’s important to understand what is happening with the leads we already have.
The bigger opportunity is answering faster, asking better questions, creating a better tour experience, and actually following up in a way that feels personal. More leads won’t fix a broken process.
The best marketing strategy isn’t finding more leads; it’s doing a better job with the opportunities already in front of us. My piece of advice? Stop spending more money on marketing until you know what’s happening to the leads you already have. —Jess Carpentier, Regional Marketing Manager, CSM Corp.
People Problem
My unpopular opinion? We typically have a people problem not a marketing problem.
We can have great technology, beautiful websites, sophisticated campaigns and plenty of leads—but none of it matters if we don’t answer the phone, follow up quickly, know our product, ask good questions and make people feel genuinely welcome.
Sometimes the problem isn’t that we need more leads. We need to do a better job with the ones we already have.
The fundamentals may not be flashy, but they still lease apartments. —Maria Pietroforte, President, Maria Pietroforte Consulting
No Follow Up
Multifamily doesn’t have a lead problem. We have a follow-up and authenticity problem.
We spend enormous amounts of time and money trying to generate more leads, more clicks, more impressions and more traffic. But too often, we overlook what happens after someone raises their hand.
Did we respond quickly? Did we personalize the conversation? Did we actually answer their questions? Did the experience they received match the experience our marketing promised?
Technology and AI can make us faster and more efficient, but they can’t compensate for a broken customer journey. And more leads poured into a leaky funnel are still lost opportunities.
The strongest multifamily marketing isn’t just about getting attention. It’s about making sure the experience after the click is worth the promise that earned it. —Stephanie Anderson, Senior Director, Grace Hill
Brands Don’t Equal Marketing
My unpopular opinion: Multifamily treats brand and marketing as interchangeable, and it shows (and also, they’re not).
A brand defines a community’s position: who it is for, what it promises and what living there should feel like. Marketing takes that position to market. It attracts the right prospective residents, gives them what they need to make a decision, and helps turn interest into leases.
The two efforts should work closely together, but asking a marketing campaign to create the brand often leaves a property with attractive materials and no clear point of view. And asking a brand strategy to do the work of leasing misses the practical job of getting people through the door.
Some people have the skills to lead both. They’re rare. Whether one person or two owns the work, the distinction matters: First decide what you’re promising. Then make sure your marketing communicates it and your community delivers it. —Josh Kassing, Managing Principal, Mary Cook Associates
Target That Message
Branding, when done right, is evident in all visual aspects of the property. The architecture, interiors, color choices, landscape, digital and print collateral, etc., are all cohesive with crystal clear messaging. Marketing is getting that message out and bringing renters in. Often in multifamily the separate disciplines are not fully coordinated with that end goal. They are all individually doing great work, but not targeted in their message. None of these processes should be done separately to be fully effective; collaborating efforts is a “day one” thing, not an afterthought a few months before delivery. When all these are synchronized it takes a good property and makes it a memorable one. —Christina Johnson, Creative Director, Private Label International
Make People Feel Valued
I think we’re too obsessed with leads and not focused enough on the people behind them. We spend so much time measuring lead volume, response times and conversion rates that it’s easy to forget there’s a person on the other side of every inquiry, making a decision about where they want to live. At Kairoi, we believe the resident experience starts long before someone signs a lease and continues throughout their entire time with us. The most effective marketing is simply making someone feel valued, from the first online search to the everyday interactions that make a community feel like home. Marketing can get someone through the door, but it’s the experience we create for them that earns their trust, their loyalty and, ideally, their recommendation to others. —Michelle Alicea, VP of Marketing & Public Relations, Kairoi Residential
Interested in joining the MHN Executive Council and sharing your insights? Email Jessica Fiur.
