A CONVENIENT TRUTH

Let’s face it, the world runs on lattes and 5-hour energy these days. People constantly en route from one destination to another, and during these transits they are going ... mobile.

What once was a sedentary task, web browsing has evolved: users are accessing the internet via phones and mobile devices from the convenience of wherever they happen to be.  Statistics show that mobile Internet search is more than a trend:

• Based on a study, mobile users are 3x’s more likely to convert to a lease than from a traditional website.  Based upon their own analytics of mobile-access users versus network-access users. (Rent.com)

• Mobile Users clearly want to be able to do more with their mobile devices and while commercial transactions are not the primary stated reason for so much usage, consumers want to transact in cyberspace when they need it.  Desired services include, among other items, the ability to pay bills, purchase tickets and financial services. (BuzzCity 2009 Study)

• A January 2009 study indicates that more than 80 million Americans use their mobile devices to access or browse the internet for news and information.  35 percent of those users are doing so every day, more than double the comparable 2008 numbers. (comScore)

• Statistics show just about all US “general internet users” (96%) go online at least once a day. Sixty-one percent (61%) say they access the mobile Internet six or more times a day, well above the 50% network-access average. (BuzzCity 2009 Study)

• Connecting to the web via a mobile device is outpacing PC’s by 2.5x (Juniper Research Study)

Are your property websites putting their best face on to meet the current mobile market demand?

:: LETS GET MOBILE

As mobile users grow in number and sophistication, so do their expectations of how they want to interact with properties on their mobile phones. Users want the same functionality, features and access on their phone that is available on the desktop web browser, but optimized for a limited space. This means providing easy access to key information and features (while stripping non-essential graphics and layout options) in order to ensure prospects and residents have a satisfying mobile browsing experience.

Many mobile providers have entered the market: UDR has created its own mobile program; many industry vendors are now offering mobile service add-ons. With a growing variety of options in the market, clients can find the best fit for their needs.

Gone are the days when you had to advertise a different URL for your mobile site (no more “wap.bravotv.com,” Tim Gunn).  The best mobile sites have code that detects when visitors are using a mobile device and redirects them to the appropriate format for that phone, whether it’s the iPhone, Android or BlackBerry.  So all you have to do is navigate to the primary website and the technology does the rest and gives users a satisfying browsing experience.

:: TO MOBILE OR NOT?

Is it worth the added expense to meet this growing market trend? You bet.

“Based on where technology is going, mobile websites are truly a no-brainer"
-    Drake Powell, Principal of Echelon Property Group, LLC

Whether your goals are simply to provide a satisfying experience for mobile visitors, to avoid frustration, to attract new prospect demographics, or to give yourself the edge in closing leases, mobile options are an affordable way to stay out in front.

:: MARKETING MOBILE

Although redirection to your mobile site should just happen “automagically” behind the scenes, don’t let that keep you from patting yourself on the back … and do it publicly and often!  It will benefit you to let your prospects and residents know you are an early adapter with a leg up on the competition, and that you are committed to keeping up with technology to meet consumer needs.  If you integrate a service request form, contact form, mobile rent payment, or specialized mobile GPS-enabled features, those are substantive features you can advertise.   Mobile conveniences are valuable amenities to prospects and residents on-the-go.

About the Author:

Dana Zeff is Cofounder and Principal of The DZAP Group and LeaseLabs™. LeaseLabs™ is a suite of web-based tools designed to manage the branding and promotion of apartment communities both online and with on-demand marketing.  Visit us at www.leaselabs.com to learn how we can help you go mobile.

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So you had another brilliant idea today. It’s so good, you can’t wait to roll it out immediately in every single community! We’re talking an idea so brilliant that it’s just too good to fail! But is it, really? Does the brilliance of an idea alone guarantee that it’ll fly no matter when, no matter where? Sadly, no.

Maybe there was a time when you could get a lot more mileage out of a single, great marketing idea. Properties and markets were similar enough once that what worked well for one property would probably work at least as well for another, requiring only a few minor adjustments from one property or market to another (if it needed adjustment at all).

Today, we live in a very different time. Both our consumers and the products we market have become increasingly segmented in a world driven by transparency, choice, information on demand, and other trends that call for us to be as individual in what we offer as customers are in their wants, needs, interests, and lifestyles.

But along with all that individualized differentiation, it’s also important to present ourselves as a cohesive brand, so to be truly effective today, our marketing efforts have to take a somewhat two-headed approach. This means that for every marketing idea, you have to ask yourself not just the usual “Is this idea brilliantly awesome, or what?!?” but also:

1. Is it in keeping with our branding efforts?
2. Is it in keeping with the wants, needs, interests, and lifestyle of this community’s unique target market?

So what we have there is kind of a two-headed marketing approach that requires you to assess each idea within the top-down context of your overall brand, and the bottom-up context of the community itself. By adding just a few points of consideration to your marketing strategy, you can serve both purposes and help ensure that your branding and advertising efforts meet with success.

Some questions to ask in determining whether the idea is in keeping with your brand (and remember, to be cohesive, each of your marketing efforts should answer these questions in a consistent way):

1. Does it speak to how we wish to represent ourselves as a company?
2. Is it in keeping with our primary mission?
3. If a customer saw this ad or effort alongside others from our company, would they recognize important common themes?

Some questions to ask in determining whether the idea is in keeping with the community’s needs (and remember, this is where your approach has to be as unique as possible in order to stand out from the crowd):

1. Does it address a specific want, need, interest and lifestyle (or all of the above) in this market segment?
2. Does the ad or effort clearly communicate what we’re offering?
3. Is it different and/or better than what’s being offered by this community’s direct competition?
4. Is the message represented so that the customer will grasp the value (what’s in it for them) in a meaningful way?

There’s so much more to be said about making sure your brilliant marketing ideas best match the needs of your assets than we can fit into one blog post, so if you’re coming to Brainstorming 2010, be sure to attend Lori Snider’s two-hour session, Millionaire Matchmaker: Matching Million Dollar Ideas with the Right Asset, on Thursday, September 16th. Her program will include techniques and strategies to help you evaluate whether a specific program or marketing initiative will provide value at a specific asset … and when it won’t. You’ll learn what specific market segments desire and are responding to, how to match your million dollar idea with the right audience, and how to optimize response and minimize wasted effort. You’ll also learn why taking a more multidimensional view of the consumer may lead to larger opportunities than the lease or even renewal, and how to effectively execute your idea. It’s a not-to-miss session for anyone in the business of marketing apartments today, and I hope we’ll see you there!

Part ONE: You lost me at Hello!

There is a culture shift today between businesses and the customer. This transition is from commercial to social, from product to relationship.  Marketing success is requiring businesses to convert well-calculated commercial messages into an authentic human voice spoken from a word of mouth ambassador. Social does not simply describe the media, but the message and method as well. Social communication strategies are crossing over into all forms of media. Are you ready to shift your ad copy from the detailed physical description of your asset to celebrating your resident’s LIFE at the community?  In this series I hope to guide you through the marketing culture shift from commercial to social in your over all approach to both residents and future residents.

Consumers are tired, bored, over worked, stressed by the economy, looking for answers, quick fixes and the easy button. They are attempting to survive the most serious economic crisis in the history of our planet while keeping track of a virtual renaissance in technology. How can you make their life better? How can you answer a questions, solve their problems, provide them with extra time, money, laughs, love, peace, joy - even one moment of happiness?

How can you help me? Can you make my life better?
Nothing about you matters, unless it matters to them! It is the consumer who has changed the channel. They skip past the sponsor page, fast forward past million-dollar ad campaigns with their DVR, spam-block emails, have added their name to the no call list and check caller ID. Traditional marketing is now being referred to as “outbound” or “interruptive” marketing. Businesses that insist on talking about themselves in commercial terms will continue to be deleted by their potential customers. Setting up a Facebook page with a commercial photograph, with no faces, making friends with your vendors and sister properties and then soliciting in your posts does not count as engagement in social media. It’s time to make it your fervent goal to become a truly valued partner in your resident’s life! Businesses have been talking about themselves for so long that the procedures; policies, strategies, principles, practices, reports, accounting and mission statements are saturated with their self-interest. How quickly your organization can switch from commercial to this new social era will determine the level of your frustration and success.

I agree with every firm who has said “NO” to Facebook until they have a good strategy, and perhaps professional assistance, to be successful in this new world.  Is it better to have Facebooked and lost, then to never have Facebooked at all? YES!!! This is a fundamental change in the way we will do business in the future, which extends beyond social media to every form of commercial language. Today’s messages require a communication style that has true meaning to the life of the consumer! You can stumble on it, tweet it, Facebook it, digg it, share it and post it on YouTube but if you are commercializing your message – YOU LOSE!

Where is your firm’s culture in the shift from commercial to social?  National Marketing Consultant and Speaker Lori Snider shared a great find with me – the “We We Monitor” from FurtureNowInc.com. This is a quick way to test your current message.

Futurenowinc.com has developed a “Customer Focus Calculator” to help you determine whether your message is consumer centric.  When you are ready to see if your “pride” is getting in the way of progress, follow the link above and test your next marketing piece before you publish it.  Futurenowinc.com will evaluate the counts of certain words as key indicators of your customer focus. Discover what your word choices say about your true message.  All you have to do is enter your text (you can copy and paste) and company name, then click on "submit." This first step on the journey is to stop being about YOU and to start being about THEM!

You will need to conduct focus groups. Listen, find interests, discover needs, get in touch with their pain, problems, worries, and stresses. Find out what you do that matters, that brings them joy, helps their cause and keeps them happy. Find out what you can do that will create more support, meaningful service and value in your relationship.  I have a simple, “Home Dinner” focus group plan that you can print down at Apartment Social Media Dance Steps on Facebook that will show you how to create an open environment for your residents to give you this very valuable information.

Are you ready for the journey, are you ready to stop commercializing your message and be social with your customer? This is going to be a series of messages on the Culture Shift from Commercial to Social. In my next message I will address the fears you will need to let go of to engage with the consumer! Get ready to SHIFT– but don’t pack your bags, its time to leave the old behind and find something new! Join me – through your hands in the air and get ready to enter the social world of media!!!

Toni Blake
Host
Apartment Social Media Dance Steps on Facebook

Next week’s Optimization Summits Meet & Greet Tweet-Up, Sponsored by For Rent Media Solutions, will be webcasted live online and FREE, featuring interviews with several of our Workshop Leaders! Monday March 22 6:30pm central time.  Register today!

Social Media Optimization Summits Meet & Greet Tweet-Up
Not able to travel? You can still join us for a portion of our Optimization Summits event live and online! We're webcasting from the Meet & Greet Tweet-Up, sponsored by For Rent Media Solutions, from 6:30-7:30 pm central on Monday, March 22nd! Sign up to receive your FREE username and password for access!

Hosted by Tami Siewruk, the webcast will include interviews with several of our Workshop Leaders, including Jason Falls, Mack Collier, Chris Penn, Erica Campbell, Mark Juleen, Duncan Alney, Brent Williams, Charity Hisle, and more!

Please note that each free registration will generate password access for only one computer (controlled by IP Address) and cannot be shared for access by another computer simultaneously. Attempting to share your username/password will result in cancellation of your access. Multifamilypro reserves the right to cancel scheduled broadcasts, should unforeseen technical difficulties arise.