Marketing 101: How to Develop a Top-Notch Team
Tips for training your department—no matter the size.
Marketing is a critical business operation for any enterprise, but for those in the multifamily space, it’s one of the key drivers of success of any apartment community. After all, without skilled marketing professionals, how would you drive leads, attract prospective residents and, ultimately, convert them to leases?
“Marketing is the lifeblood of any successful apartment community,” said Matthew Mehon, director of marketing for Marquette Management in Naperville, Il. “It’s the engine that drives leads, fuels conversions and ultimately defines the triumph of a property. In a competitive landscape, effective marketing is the key to differentiating yourself from the rest of the pack.”
Here’s how to create a top-notch marketing team, what skills and experience to look for in new hires and how to develop the next generation of marketing leaders.
Image by katleho Seisa/iStockphoto.com
Structure Varies
The size and structure of marketing teams vary greatly among apartment operators. A small operation may need just one full-time employee to handle marketing, while an institutional owner with thousands of units may require a large team with specialized skills.
Michael H. Zaransky, managing principal of MZ Capital Partners in Northbrook, Ill., has one director of marketing, who works centrally but is supported by the community manager of each of his seven communities. Bozzuto, on the other hand, has 42 corporate marketing professionals for the 320 communities and nearly 100,000 units it has under management, according to Kelley Shannon, the firm’s senior vice president, marketing and customer experience.
Bozzuto’s marketing department consists of four teams. The largest is Performance Marketing, responsible for optimizing marketing to make sure it’s as efficient as possible. There’s also Brand Development, Digital and Customer Experience professionals to provide a balanced overall marketing strategy for the communities under management.
Doreen Jaworski, co-president of TRG Management Co. in Miami, said that while her actual marketing team consists of three people in her in-house digital team, five marketing managers and a vice president of marketing, she considers all employees to be part of the marketing team. “Those who work on site are the face of TRG Management and a reflection of our company as a whole,” she said. “This includes everyone from the leasing team to the porters and housekeepers. We all represent the brand.”
Collaboration among TRG staff at all levels is key to successful marketing, Jaworski said. During the lease-up of Wynwood 25, Related Group’s first market-rate rental community in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, the on-site team offered employees of local businesses a gourmet lunch from a local eatery and a 25-minute community tour. “Our on-site team collaborated together to successfully provide our prospective residents with the full Wynwood 25 experience in just under 25 minutes,” she said. “This was one of our most-successful lease-ups due to the efforts of not only our creative marketing department, but also our retail and neighborhood partners.”
Marquette Management’s marketing team consists of a director of marketing, a marketing manager and a digital marketing manager, Mehon said. In addition, Marquette has identified on-site “marketing ambassadors” for each community—the community manager or a leasing specialist responsible for responding to online reviews, creating social media content and interacting with residents and prospects.
When marketing Wynwood 25, Related Group’s first market-rate rental community in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, TRG Management’s marketing team adopted a collaborative approach to promote the community to area professionals, offering them a gourmet lunch as well as a 25-minute tour of the apartments. The efforts of the marketing department and neighborhood partners led to a successful lease-up. Image courtesy of The Related Group
The Skills for Success
Apartment professionals say that the skills needed for successful marketing have evolved over time.
Zaransky used to look for new hires with marketing degrees and the ability to create logos and printed materials. But those skills are less important now. “Now, I look for someone who is internet and technology savvy who has worked at the property level and understands the leasing process,” he said. “The industry experience, especially on the leasing side, is important.”
Lisa Gunderson, vice president of asset management for Bristol Development Group in Franklin, Tenn., also looks for digital expertise—someone who understands search engine optimization, PPC and websites. But she also looks for project-management skills that enable an employee to see a project through from start to finish and manage third parties, ensuring deliverables are received in a timely manner.
Many apartment professionals look to their own on-site teams when they need marketing staff. “A lot of times we fish from our sales and leasing agents for our junior marketing positions,” said Shannon. “At that point, they’ve been with Bozzuto a couple of years, they understand our core values, tools, technology, how we operate and client service, and then we just have to teach them to be a great marketer.”
Next-Gen Marketing
How can apartment owners and managers develop the next generation of marketing leaders? Strategies vary depending on the size of the organization and its budget. Leaders of small marketing teams often develop the careers of their employees by encouraging continuing education, such as in-person or online courses, and attendance at industry conferences where they can hone their skills and learn from others through networking. Larger organizations often have more structured programs.
TRG Management emphasizes continual training for its nine-person marketing team. “We attend conferences, pay for continuing education for our team members and have a centralized policy program and training center for every employee,” said Jaworski. “We also do a lot of role-playing exercises to help train our employees.”
“Education and training are a key to developing the next generation of marketing leaders, and providing access to workshops and seminars helps them think beyond today,” said Maureen Vaughn, vice president of marketing and communications for Habitat in Chicago. “I am a big proponent of mentorship—pairing young marketers with experienced professionals, who can expose them to all aspects of the business to foster a holistic understanding of the role.”
