By:   The Smart Girls of Smart Apartment Solutions, Dawn Ford, Paige Perry and Megan Orser

Millennials, also known as echo-boomers, a term used to describe those born between 1980 and 2000.  By 2010, this demographic will outnumber both Baby Boomers and Gen-X’ers, and is presenting vast and unique opportunities to the student housing market.

While not wanting to generalize, one might surmise from this generation that they are:

• Extremely technologically savvy.
• They have involved parents (sometimes referred to as helicopter parents).
• Visuals need to quickly catch and hold their attention; because of their activity on video/computer games at a very early age, this generation is accustomed to a high level of mental visual stimulation.
• Now more than ever, they are entering the ranks of the traditional and non-traditional academics with higher expectations of their standards of living than we have ever seen before.
• Statistics have shown that Millenials often change housing every year.

An interesting paradigm worthy of mentioning in any type of marketing and leasing strategy compelling the Millennial generation, marketing must not only appeal to this demographic, but also to the parents of this generation, as this age group relies heavily on input from their parents (the same phenomenon with senior housing, in reverse).

The impacts of the current economy have left their mark on nearly all areas of the multifamily housing industry, with considerable impact on the student housing market.  With pennywise parents and technologically savvy Millennials, we find ourselves struggling to satisfy the wants of both. If your properties are within a close radius to local universities and community colleges, you may find yourself impacting this unique market and must find a way to bring your properties awareness to the forefront. With social networks such as Facebook and Twitter growing at an explosive rate, the impact of marketing to the Millennial in the housing arena has become more about engaging in the conversation, rather than just presenting information in a traditional manner.  Projecting your property image through these social networks, will allow you to reach these specific demographics by utilizing the tools such as events, photos and fan pages.

Here are some ideas to build brand awareness to consider for this specific niche:

• Partnering with sponsors of products that are Millenials “must haves”, such as Red Bull energy drinks, as an example, is a great way to attract future and current student to your property.  Host a pool party for prospective new residents and have a company such as Red Bull at the event sponsoring drinks.
• Advertising your property on Facebook ad pages.
• Reach out to high school counselors and establish a particular day for each local high school in the area with that days events being in the name of that particular school.
• Sponsor high school events.
• Masterfully blend the students’ wants of luxurious amenities, such as Starbucks coffee carts, tanning services, vending machines with a choice of healthy snacks and high-speed internet with the parents wants of supporting education.  Compromise with items such as swanky coffee study lounges complete with Wi-Fi connections and areas where tutoring and quiet study areas are available.
• Limo rides to school.
• Offer apartment cleaning and laundry services for an additional fee.
• Offer meal delivery options.
• Include a “Club Med” for students; advance amenities to a spa or resort quality.  For instance, if there is a tanning facility, have lotions available.  At the gym, provide bottles of cold water and heated towels all with the community logos.
• Employ student residents to post blog and host mixers.
• Establish a play and stay for the family to book on weekends.
• Create a roommate compatibility service.  This initiative could be multi-layered.  Not only could the community host a web based listing with pictures and profiles to choose possible roommates from, but offer a compatibility quiz that asks questions about study habits, housekeeping, diet and exercise preferences, bringing others to your website to utilize the compatibility quiz.  Take advantage of one of the lead tracking software packages and use this tool to generate new leads.
• Offer a liberal transfer clause, should there be a bad match with a roommate.
• Use organized events and trips over school breaks to attract potential residents.
• For this generation, advertising needs to be entertaining and engaging. We find ourselves attracting an info-lust generation looking for info-tainment. The Smart Girls at Smart Apartment Solutions have used, with a great deal of success, a

60-second animated commercial, or more aptly described as an animated billboard.  This product, done as a mini-animation with a story line, is bright and sends a powerful and distinct message in a subtle and entertaining way.  The cost of production is reasonable, usually around $600; use this venue at high school fairs, trade shows, college recruitment efforts, coffee shops, events and community rooms.  The finished product is provided to the client in an electronic and DVD format, so the link to the message on You Tube can be forwarded on an infinite number of times.

• Offer rental discounts based on academic performance.
• One of the constants to keep in mind, when getting inside the heads of this uniquely qualified generation, customization and changes are a must.  This generation spends billions of dollars annually on items like cell phone ring tones and wallpapers, and if you can accommodate that need on some level, their desire to carry that customization throughout other aspects of their lives will tip the scales in your favor.  One inexpensive suggestion is allowing the student/resident to select, from a pre-determined palate, the color of their apartment home front door.

Keeping your property image current and staying in contact consistently is a must with the Millennial generation.  Millenials require constant stimulation and a strong need to consult their parents on decisions, your ability to cater to these demands while creating a unique footprint will allow you to speak the language the Millenials are talking.

By:  Megan Orser, Paige Perry and Dawn Ford, the Smart Girls of Smart Apartment Solutions

For many years, the fear of outreach marketing has caused those in the apartment industry to refer to outreach marketing as a four-letter word.  We budget for outreach marketing but can anyone say they have seen direct benefits from their communities outreach efforts?   When we ask clients and colleagues what their true feelings are on conducting outreach (and this goes for industries outside of multifamily) the facial expression says it all; fear, disgust and downright boredom.

So what is the point of outreach marketing?  Why are we spending time and money on flyers to the local diners, nail salons, and banks?  Truthfully, there is no point.  If this is your game plan regarding outreach marketing then the chances that you will actually see a return on investment is slim to none.  It is imperative to take the time to understand where your prospective residents are coming from and their wants and needs.  What works for one property may not be as effective at another, so identifying the trends is one of the most important aspects.  Another common truth about outreach marketing that it is about establishing synergistic relationships.

Identifying your customer

So how do you identify your target market, their wants, needs, and lifestyles?  The answer is there are several ways to obtain this information and we recommend that you diversify your efforts continually.  A suggestion is to start with your management software; in our industry, we pay big bucks for fancy software but don’t utilize this software to its fullest potential.  Sort your information by employers, past addresses, etc. with a watchful eye for trends.  More common than not, you may be able to tap into a hidden market of prospective residents migrating to your area for various reasons, a shift in employment hiring or socio-economic changes.

Working with two properties in Southwest Florida, we noticed a trend of prospective, current, and past residents moving from various locations in New York City.  Identifying this trend allowed us to dig deeper and utilize appropriate advertising venues to target this niche market.  One of the strategies to achieve promotion was placing a Craig’s list ad in New York.

Another valuable resource to put into your outreach toolbox is a free website, http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp , which we use to get a glimpse into consumer lifestyles of people who live in particular neighborhoods.  Understand while this free glimpse is not a through analytical representation of the cross-segment of a neighborhood, it is an interesting

perspective, by zip code, in broad strokes, of a neighborhood’s buying trends.  With this information, we are able to identify synergies with neighborhood businesses and incorporate this valuable information into our outreach plan and marketing pieces supporting that plan.

Outreach Items that assist in building relationships

After you have a thorough understanding of the demographics of your prospective resident, your next action item is developing promotional items that will promote your business in the best light as well as being memorable enough that people will engage and compel them to keep the item.  One of the most effective outreach items is food.  Rarely have we found anyone that will reject food, and it is typically affordable for most budgets and using a cute play on words like “we chip in” on individual size bags of chips is effective and to the point.

The next step in the outreach process is to create a well thought- out outreach action plan.  This is a little harder than finding the niche markets, because you are categorizing the ideas and planning the when’s and how’s of putting the plan in motion.  Prior to this formalization, you are just looking at great ideas, but writing the plan is how you are making the idea a reality as far as your budget and labor of implementation are concerned.

Some ideas specific to the college crowd might be:

Work with your campus theater and sponsor an opening night of a much anticipated movie premier.  Use facebook, twitter, fraternities, sororities, and student groups to promote and invite students to the premier.  Negotiate an ad spot during the premier.  Consider purchasing reusable drink cups with your community logos; provide that upon presentation of the drink cup that students, for a specified period, can receive drink refills at a discounted price.

In our experience with student communities, you can never go wrong with free food.  Sponsor a pizza party at the campus or even a studying party right before finals.  College students spend hours hanging out between classes to study and are typically hungry.  We recently attended a college housing fair and rented a cotton candy machine with supplies for less than $50.00 and attracted over 170 people to the booth within a three-hour time frame.  The cotton candy machine created a memory point for the community and allowed the students to comfortably approach us and ask questions.  If you are planning to participate in a housing fair at your local college, make sure to have plenty of give aways because that is the expectation of this millennial generation.

Host a week long textbook swap at your community inviting students to swap their textbooks at the beginning and end of the semester.  The rollingbean.com is a traveling espresso/ fruit smoothie bar available to provide a smart interactive coffee party and is a fantastic edition to this event.  College students will flock for a chance to exchange their books and treat themselves with a much-needed coffee break.

Send out invitations to college sophomores to attend an open house at your community.  Schedule tour buses to make runs throughout the day with the destination being your apartment community.  Consider hosting the event in November prior to the fall rush.

Partner with a local tanning business and provide make-up remover towelettes with a sticker displaying your community name adhered to the package.

Make a plan and stick to it

One of the last steps in bringing the plan to fruition is implementation.  Many times, we will find that some of the best marketing ideas just sit on the shelves without finding the time to put the plan into action.  Setting the time aside and committing to it is the single most important aspect to making outreach successful.  We find that preparing your outreach items and mapping out your contacts the evening before is the most realistic; complete your outreach efforts before you step a foot in the office.  Usually the minute you step foot into your office you will find yourself consumed.  Pick a day each week and commit to that being your day, or half day, to be out of the office, soon you will find outreach marketing to be a part of your normal routine and you begin realizing the benefits of your outreach efforts.

Unnecessarily redundant tasks are like weeds in a garden, and eliminating them can help you become far more efficient. Here are a few tips to help you turn your staff into a “mean, lean, operating machine”!

1. Give each member of your staff a stack of index cards. Ask them to consider all the tasks that they perform regularly outside of their basic responsibilities, and other special projects that they’re involved in. Have them write each task on a card, with a brief description, and sign their name.

2. Arrange all the cards so that similar or redundant tasks are next to one another (You’ll need a large conference table or bulletin board for this review).

3. As you categorize the tasks and descriptions, you’ll notice that a number of them connect, duplicate, or overlap each other. Kill the redundancies, consolidate them, or reassign them as necessary or appropriate.

This simple approach can yield tremendous results. Try it, and let us know how well this approach works for you!

A Cut Above

We promoted referrals by creating a special gift package containing a cutting board with various other items attached to it (Jolly Time popcorn, mixed nuts, berry fruit roll-up or candy, a Payday candy bar, and bottle of Sunny Delight juice drink).  These were distributed to locators and small businesses.  We had an overwhelming response because it was different and clever. The flyer we designed to go along with the gift package was made so it could be folded like a tent card. This card displayed the property name and logo on the front, and the following message inside:

Here's the SCOOP:
We're a CUT ABOVE the rest
So have your referrals POP on in to LENOX COURT where our JOLLY staff will go NUTS over them and treat them BERRY special. And soon it will be PAYDAY for you! Isn't that a SUNNY DELIGHT?
Contributed  by Cheryl Ducote