Property Management

Book: The Soccer Mom Myth

I am down to the final chapter in this book and have enjoyed every word thus far.

If you have not read this book, go out and buy it today. For some of you, it will simply reinforce the things you already know about marketing to women and give you a few tasty nuggets that you can apply today. For others it will blow your mind open to the world of marketing to the world's most influential segment.

There are chapters on everything from WOM to blogs to in person touch points. They have covered nearly every aspect of marketing to women in just over two-hundred pages. That being said, it might be a tough read for anyone who has not touched a marketing book in the last year or year and half. Try it anyone.

Have an amazing day. M

Personalization and Apartments.com

Everyone is getting into the personalization game. How do we make it more real for the customer? How do we personalize the service or delivery? How do we connect with our consumer? How? How? How?

I ask, how will apartments.com do it given their new relationship with Omniture? This press release from Omniture gives us some insight;


By implementing
Omniture SiteCatalyst and Omniture
Discover, Apartments.com is now able to constantly measure traffic to
and from their Web site and simultaneously use multi-level segmentation to
understand and evaluate where conversion events, like media interaction and
direct contact to properties, have occurred. Apartments.com can measure and
compare multiple user segments in real time to identify the most valuable
user segments, increase overall site conversion by analyzing user fallout,
and optimize overall campaign performance and content placement by
measuring users' search patterns.

My question is how do you really ever segment the population? It goes so far beyond making generalizations about zip codes, income, gender, etc... I am anxious to see how they collect the data, what data they collect and what assumptions they are going to make about it.

I think sites like Brent Williams Aptconnect.com or Urbane's: The Urbane Lobby will become more and more relevant in the field of segmenting. Truly rewarding segmenting comes down to personas and the scenarios you create for each. For a deeper understanding of each check out The Soccer Mom Myth and Waiting for Your Cat to Bark. The more real the persona, the more real the scenario, the more real the useful data. Brent's site will farm the most critical data the apartment industry has ever seen. To me, then and only then can you create the most compelling, connective and collaborative segmenting. Then and only then will we be able to truly give the consumer what they really want/need.

Have a compelling and connected Tuesday! M

We: The ideal customer relationship

How do you want your customers to think about you and/or your organization?

Do you want them to see you in the distance...as "Them?"

Or, do you want your customers to think of themselves and you as closely interrelated...as "We?"

I took the time to read We this week and I was blown away by it's simplicity and downright authentic position of the topic of customer relationship.

It is a must read for everyone from your front line to your top executive.

Technorati Tags: We: the ideal customer relationship, apartment leadership, apartment prospect

The Game Changer

I am currently reading this book and I have to say two things pop into my mind; 1. Urbane Apartments 2. Personal Branding: read not corporate or company branding but rather personal branding.

I would not call it a must-read but it is worth the time.

I am reading another book that I will share in short and it, I will say, is an absolute must read!!! Interested in knowing what it is? MTechnorati Tags: Urbane apartments, apartment management, property management

Resident Forums/Portals

A big shout out to Eric and his team over at Urabane Apartments for starting what I think is the first completely open for public participation message board. [check it out and join the discussion here]. This is truly trailblazing stuff in my opinion.

A couple of items of note on things such as blogs and forums.

1. They take time (seems like a crazy notion in the age of the Internet)
2. It comes with quality and quantity. With this blog for example, once I crossed the 500 post mark the traffic floodgates opened up. Not sure what, if any, the magic number is but you will know it when it happens. The major point being, just as with forums, that it takes a bit of time.
3. You posts/forum entries must be easy to share. I use the example of Google Reader's, an RSS feed organizer, email function. At the bottom of every feed you have the option of emailing it on to anyone you might think has an interest. I use this function no less than 5 times a day to share posts.

To end, I put out a hopeful call to the community on this subject. I think we have an amazing opportunity as a community to participate in Urbane's effort and to use it as an example for our very own company. Please use the comment section on our blog to post your thoughts; good, bad and/or ugly. And, thank you in advance for taking the time. M

Apartment Marketing: A must read book

This is a must read book for all of you. It speaks precisely to the core of my thoughts on resident forums. As many of you know I am passionate about the idea that your forums and portals need to be open to the public as to be completely transparent.

Read this book and meet me back here with your thoughts. I will try to hold on to mine until I hear from you. Tap the link here, drive to the store right now or order it from your favorite on line bookstore. What ever you do, get it soon.

Technorati Tags: groundswell, apartment forums, resident portals

The soccer mom myth

I am ordering my copy today, I will let you know what I think as I get into it.

The room was a marketer s dream, filled with educated, savvy women with money and the urge to spend it. Holly asked a pointed question: "How many of you in the room consider yourself a Soccer Mom?" The silence reached a crescendo and nary a hand rose.

Every time Holly asks that question, usually only one or two women raise their hands. The numbers never change. Normally, only one to two percent of the crowd identifies themselves as a Soccer Mom. If you listen to marketers and politicians, there are millions upon millions of Soccer Moms out there, yet we've found only about seven.

What's going on here? Why aren't more women identifying themselves as Soccer Moms? Come on, there's nothing wrong with being a Soccer Mom, right? Right?

If women don't consider themselves Soccer Moms, what does that say about the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of billions of dollars of advertising aimed at this group?

It's time for a wake-up call about who today's female consumer really is, how she really thinks, and why she really buys both online and offline. Prepare to kick the Soccer Mom myth to the sidelines, and learn how to market to women in a way that translates into more customers, AND bigger profit.

Technorati Tags: the soccer mom myth, apartment marketing, property management, mike brewer

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Good to Great and employee reviews

Surely by now everyone has heard about this book. It was written sometime back in 2001 and gained a lot of attention in business circles.

I thought the book was just o.k., that is with the exception of one page. Page 56. I like to refer to it as page 56 thinking. The page speaks to the principle of having the right people on the bus and in the right seats in your organization. It speaks specifically to slackers and how allowing a slacker to exist on your team inevitably leads to low morale and superstars that leave for better environments. I really enjoyed what Mr. Collins had to say on the subject and would love to report that I have followed the wisdom without fail since. But, I have not.

I can say with great pain in those times I have not moved on an issue, the teams have suffered. Where I have done just the opposite they have flourished.

Pick up the book next time you are in the store and read page 56. Do it before you complete this years reviews. If nothing else it will validate both those feelings and those conversations you have with yourself when no one else is around.


Technorati Tags: Good to Great, apartment marketing, property management, mike brewer

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How

I just finished reading a book called Remarkable Leadership by Kevin Eikenberry which I highly recommend. I have now moved on to a book called how...

The Dream Manager

For those of you who know me, you know that I fell for this book the second I laid eyes on the title. Keep the wit and sarcasm to yourself. On second thought share if you must...

I will be digging into this book next week and will share my thoughts at some point as it relates to apartment marketing, apartment management or leadership of amazing apartment professionals.