Hot Trends for 2023 Multifamily Marketing

Esther Bonardi, vice president, REACH by RentCafe, kicks off the OutREACH Live conference. Image courtesy of Jessica Fiur

Do your bots only chat with prospective renters? Are you discounting the ROI of SEO? Are you incorporating the hot color in your apartment websites? At the recent OutREACH Live marketing forum in Palm Springs, put on by REACH by RentCafe, top executives shared their insights on what marketers should keep an eye on in 2023.

Here are some of their suggestions.

Tech Savvy

According to Brooke Henderson, RVP of Strategic Partnerships, Yext, AI is going to become a key part of the leasing process. For example, you can use it to create FAQs for your content, or even to generate marketing copy. AI can be used for phone calls when a potential renter has questions about a unit, according to Paul Yount, industry principal, Yardi. However, as Yount explained, there will be questions the bots can’t answer, so leasing agents should be a part of the process as well.

“The party is not over,” Henderson said. “We have not hit the end of innovation.”

I Love Seeing ILS

ILSs remain crucial for marketers. Sarah Wieman, vice president of marketing, Northland, shared that though it may not be where you get most of your leases, 73 percent of consumers go to an ILS in their process. And according to a RentCafe survey, 71 percent of ILS listings with apartment tour scheduling have a higher average conversion rate. Another feature Wieman suggested to include? Virtual tours, which she said also lead to more leases.

Color Me Thrilled

Want a quick way to update your website? Include the 2023 colors of the year: Digital Lavender, a light shade of violet, and Raspberry Blush, a coral-pink shade. According to Neha Marathe, manager, REACH by RentCafe, Digital Lavender is calm, optimistic, cheerful and gender inclusive, while Raspberry Blush is cozy and warm, but also bright.

You can also try some of the hottest website design trends, including:

• Japandi, which features neutral colors and is calm and comforting and produces feelings of Zen
• Dark Academia, which is gloomy, mysterious and dramatic
• Maximalism, which is loud and eclectic with an ability to wow

Google That

In order for your apartment website to be affective, people need to actually find it. Enter: SEO. “SEO is the foundation before you build your house,” said Gretchen Walker, manager, REACH by RentCafe. “SEO is every day, every month, all the time. SEO is not set it and forget it!” Do frequent audits of your site so that Google has accurate information, and pay attention to what Google values in a search: scope, language, locality, freshness, relevance, quality and context.

Reputation management also should factor into your Google and SEO strategy. Chris Lindish, regional director, REACH by RentCafe, explained that search engines consider reviews a ranking factor, and look at quality, quantity and response. And, of course, bad reviews could also affect the leasing process. “Instead of managing the review, manage the customer experience,” Lindish said.