Marketing = creating demand

”Marketing means solving customers’ problems profitably” Randall Chapman

And how do you do that in the property management business?

Let me share with you how our friends at Urbane Apartments do it. My thanks to Eric and his team for allowing me to share all this over the top and insanely great stuff they are doing! I have never met them personally and I can say that they are class acts in my book!

Check out this beyond cool practice:

As opposed to paper leases and move in paperwork we started using memory sticks with a key chain and our Urbane Logo on it a while back. The resident has all of the pertinent paperwork and their apartment keys all in a match stick sized device that they carry with them. We scan a copy of the signed lease, pertinent phone numbers (we are very transparent at Urbane, every resident has all of our cell numbers posted, we welcome problem calls, it an opportunity in disguise to connect, the 1 in 100 calls that may be inappropriate are told as such and then a different relationship is created, all which is good), information map with our preferred vendors, bars, restraints, atm machines, etc, information about how the resident logs on to the Urbane wireless internet at their community and how they log on to their resident portal to file a Service Request or pay Rent on Line.  All stuff that we gave them before, but they would lose them, misplace them, etc. And who wants that mound of paperwork as you reference.

 

We are preparing to do the same with our marketing material right now whereas to your point, the floor plans and associated collateral material for the selected property would all be on a memory stick that the resident leaves with, and can print off what they need. Plus, it creates a “cool factor”, because for now it is different and interesting, for something that is mundane.