Make a SMART New Years Resolution

As the new year is now just hours away, I thought I would share this interesting article about how to actually keep your New Year's Resolution. This article from SuburbenChicagoNews gives some great advice from Craig Harling, the director of behavioral health and licensed clinical professional counselor at Provena Saint Joseph Hospital.

"In the field of psychology, Harling said they developed an acronym for making achievable goals. They refer to them as SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely."

You can read the whole article here. It's a great read because it makes since. Too often we set ourselves up for failure when it comes to New Years resolutions. It is a bad habit to get into, and one that lends itself to future failed attempts at change.

On the flip side, achieving your goals is a great habit to get into. But it has to start with the dynamics of the goal itself. Is it Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Relevent, and Timely?

Happy New Year. See you next decade!

Flip Your Vacant Apartments

Recently, at the annual CLASS Holiday Party, our Leasing Specialists were given Flip Videos.



Not only are the Flips fun, but they can be a very useful tool in the apartment industry. Kate Good writes about it here on her blog.

Imagine how much fun prospects will have playing with the Flip while they tour the property. Not only that, but I bet close to 100% of the prospects will open the email you send them in order to view the video they made of their new home. Compare that to how effectively your current follow-up methods are working and you will see that this is an amazing new tool!

Have fun...

Get a Better Twitter Background

I just came across www.twitterbackgrounds.com

This is a great site to change your twitter background in order to make it look more customized. When using Twitter, it is important to look like you are a credible source of information, and that you know what your doing. By having a better looking background, you encourage more people to follow you.

Check it out today, and replace those standard backgrounds with something with a little bit of "pop" to it.

The power of Social Proof

Social Proof is defined as a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. Making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation, they will deem the behavior of others as appropriate or better informed. (Thanks Wikipedia)

In other words, this is why it is so important to monitor your apartment ratings and keep tabs on what is being posted on the Internet about your community.

When people are unfamiliar with a product, they trust the opinion of others who have tried that product much more then conventional advertising.

I came across an interesting article about it here.

This is a good Monday AM read.

The best example I have heard about Social Proof is a story about a master violinist who typically played infront of thousands of people in gorgeous venus for hundreds of dollars a ticket. One day, as an experiment, they had the violinist start playing in the subway in New York. The result was that no one even stopped to hear him play. They would have paid good money to hear him play at Carnegie Hall, but without the social proof, the music meant nothing.

Social Proof is a very intersting phenomenon to keep in mind when selling and marketing our apartments.

What not to Tweet about

I feel like I need to take a moment and talk about the way some Apartment Communities are using Twitter. As people rush to jump on the social media bandwagon, many have done so without giving any thought to how they will utilize these new tools. The most often misused Social Media toy is The Apartment Community Twitter Page.

When I look at these Twitter Pages, I notice that many apartment communities have about >30 followers, most being vendors and residents. The Tweets seem to always be about specials that are going on, or links to the apartment website, or something that just says "Check out XYZ apartments, Great Specials!"

In order to make Twitter work at your property, you must provide better content. Content that will allow you to build your following, to appeal to your residents, vendors, and prospective renters.

Take a look at the people following you on Twitter. Will they care that you are having an amazing special this Saturday? Probably not.

Let's give them some information they can actually use. If you are providing a steady drip of information about movies you've seen, good restaurants in the area, happy hour specials, places to board your dog, funny blogs, discount shopping, when the pool will open, remember to let your pipes drip tonight etc., people will appreciate the information

What is the difference between your Apartments Twitter account and someone who has 1000 people following? The answer is CONTENT. Give people some info they can use and they will reward you by following you. Twitter can be a marketer's dream if used the right way. It's free and you can reach thousands of people. But, it starts with better content.

Good Clip to Start the Week

Our opinion doesn't matter!

“Marketers of successful ideas rarely market the facts. Instead, they market stories that match the worldview of the people being marketed to.”

This is a quote from Seth Godin’s Blog. I love it because it seems that every now and then we need to be reminded that we are not promoting a product to ourselves. Too many times we come across marketing ideas and say “No, I don’t like that.”

Well, the truth is it doesn’t matter if we like something or not, what matters is if our target market likes it. This concept is especially hard for apartment owners and managers to grasp because, in most cases, they are part of a drastically different demographic then their prospective and current residents.

Instead of saying “No, I don’t like that, we need to say “Will our target market like that?” Seems like marketing 101, yet this is a concept that it often forgotten.

Every time I see a commercial on TV that I do not like I remind myself that the person who concepted and created the ad probably doesn’t care if I like it or not. I am most likely not the demographic they are aiming for and, therefore, my opinion shouldn’t matter to them.

So, how do we apply this concept to our apartment communities? Maybe the answer lies in knowing our residents better? I am just throwing this idea out there, but what about getting some of our residents to fill out a survey so we can get to know their habits? How about having a free coffee and breakfast day in the office and when they come in to get their grub, we have them fill out a quick survey? Let’s find out where our residents shop, eat, and go to grab a drink. Let’s find out what their favorite radio station is, TV show, website, blog. Let’s find out what time they go to work, and whether they drive or take the bus.

If the secret to effective marketing lies in appealing to our target market, the first step is to understand our target market. Don’t ever forget that “our opinion” doesn’t matter. What matters is the opinion of our customers.

Best and Worst Marketing Ideas

This is a fun read about the best and worst marketing ideas ever. I agree with everything on here except for the Quiznos Subs Rats. Those guys were hilarious.

Movies meet social media

Back in 1998, America was just beginning to get the hang of this whole "Internet thing." Chat rooms were all the rage, and everybody was very familiar with the term "You've Got Mail". Who can forget the sound of your computer dialing up and connecting to the Internet?

Well it didn't take long for Hollywood to jump on the bandwagon and craft a movie around this new phenomenon. So in early 1999, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan starred in "You've Got Mail" and 125,000,000.00 million dollars later, we see the marketing gold of such a movie.
The funny thing is that today, anyone under the age of 18 probably isn't familiar with the term "You've Got Mail". It is as extinct at rotary phones and 8 tracks.

In a few weeks Hollywood is giving the same marketing concept another shot in the Romantic Comedy "It's Complicated" starring Alec Baldwin and Meryl Streep. For anyone at all familiar with Facebook, you will recognize the "It's Complicated" phrase from the popular way to describe one's relationship status on the social networking site.


The interesting thing about such a movie is that it revolves around the complicated relationship of a Babyboomer couple. The studio is attempting to create this decade's "You've Got Mail" by using a title that is familiar in today's society.

There has been much debate about whether or not the Social Networking Craze will reach demographics other than Generation Y. Like 1999's "You've Got Mail",
2009's "It's Complicated" is validation for the power of Facebook and social networking in general. Social Networking is not just a Gen Y tool anymore. If Facebook carries enough weight to greenlight a huge studio picture, it is safe to say that people of all ages are on board. Let's face it, who's mother doesn't love Meryl Streep?

It also makes us realize how drastically different the communication world will look in 2019. What will be the movie that defines the next decade's social tool of choice? Your guess is as good as mine.

Using Twitter at Your Property.

Today, everybody is talking about Twitter and Facebook and how social media marketing can be used to spread the word about your property or small business. The problem is that getting these new tools set up and running can be a very daunting task.
The secret to getting Twitter up and running at your property is actually easier then it seems. Follow these steps and, within a month, you will start to see the advantages of using Twitter

Step 1.
Create a property Twitter Account. Use the name of the property and post a picture as well as contact information.

Step 2.
Create a flyer that directs residents and prospects to the Twitter site. Remember that not everybody understands how to use Twitter. Include the twitter.com link and instructions on how to create a profile and follow someone.

Step 3.
Market your Twitter page to local vendors. Tell local salons, gyms, vets, bars, restaurants, tanning salons, etc. that you will be updating the Twitter page daily to include their specials and promotions. Use this outreach as a spring board to establish a working relationship with local vendors.

Step 4.
Update the Twitter twice/day. Below are examples of Tweets you can use:

-1/2 off a large pizza at Tony's across the street for all Hallmark Residents!
-Molly O'shea's has great happy hour specials every day from 5-7
-Mention that you live at Hallmark and get a free month of Tanning at South Beach Tan
-Don't forget Rent is due on the 3rd
-Water in building 3 will be turned off from 12-1 on Saturday afternoon
-Free coffee and fruit for residents in the office
-Tina's Boutique has some great clothes on sale
-Happy Birthday to Tom, our maintenance superstar!

Having a Twitter page can do many things for your property. It can inform residents of things going on in the community. It can educate residents about local sales and specials. It can help begin great cross marketing relationships with local vendors. It can help the office stay connected with the residents on a more personal level. But the best part of all....It's FREE!

Give it a try for 30 days, it's worth a shot!

the holiday spirit

Peter stopped by to get you in the Holiday Spirit...errr... sort of.....

Pounding the Pavement

The Internet has given us many new wonderful things such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Dateline's To Catch a Predator

The problem with the Internet is that it has made the apartment industry become lazy. A decade ago, marketing was done by getting out and networking with local businesses, putting out fliers, and chatting with residents. Now, the industry has become completely reliant on the Internet for any and all marketing. Not that the Internet is not a great way to market your property... but we must remember that it is not the only way.

Before the Internet, grassroots "pound the pavement" marketing was a quick, cheap, and effective way of driving traffic into the door, and it still is today. Don't let the Internet make you lazy. Don't forget that networking and connecting with locals is still an effective way to create traffic. You can and should use the Internet, but don't put all of your eggs in one basket.