How to Generate Demand For Your New Build

You have broken ground on your new build, now what? As construction starts on your property you may be wondering what happens next? How do I go from a concrete foundation to a fully leased-up building? This is where lease-up marketing comes into play. While construction crews are busy putting together your development, it's time to generate some buzz. 

By effectively marketing your new build, you can not only hit your leasing goals but ultimately improve your NOI (Net Operating Income) of your property. However, if property owners, managers, and marketers don't focus on implementing effective marketing strategies, they may find that they are unsuccessful in hitting their leasing targets. . Not sure what those strategies are? Well, you're in the right place.  Our team has helped fill 1000s of new units with our proven lease-up marketing plan, and we've outlined some of these tips to help you generate demand for your new build and lease-up successfully. 

Build your brand 

Before you can build out your website you need to create a brand. In your brand, you want to highlight your key messaging, showcase your logo, and create a visual representation of your property. This brand message should be consistent through all of your marketing channels (website, digital ads, signage, etc.). In an episode of, Sync or Swim, we spoke with our Marketing Designer, Kristen Cardwell, about how to design a unique brand identity for your property. One of the key points to consider when creating your brand is understanding that branding is tough when you're selling the same thing everyone else in your industry sells i.e. a place to rent. But those in multifamily know that not all properties are created equal. It's all in your ability to highlight your unique offering, and being able to create a brand that your target community relates to. 

"The trick in multi­family, especially because you're not just selling a product or service, you're selling housing, so you really need to be relatable through your brand and you need to just figure out what separates you, what makes you stand out, translate that into a visual story."

- Kristen Cardwell, Marketing Designer at Rentsync

 
Launch a registration page

The ultimate goal with launching a registration page is to capture prospects early in your development and build out a mailing list. 

By showcasing the lifestyle, location, and amenities that you offer in your community before prospects see your property in person you can use your unique brand to help prospects envision living in your community. Content such as 3D virtual tours, stunning photo galleries, eye-catching floorplans, unit renderings, and strong call-to-actions, will help your website become a key driver for converting leads to booked tours, and eventually leases.

Also, in the initial phases of your lease-up, prospects should be able to register to sign up for your mailing list to get the latest updates and news on your development. This list will come in handy for engaging prospects throughout each phase of your development and eventually when you're ready to sign leases. 

Create an email campaign

Remember that early registration page mailing list we just talked about Well, it's time to put it into action. 

As your list of prospects grows it's important to stay top of mind and keep them engaged. An email marketing campaign that provides development updates and news on a monthly basis is a highly effective way to stay top of mind with your prospective renters. Through your email campaigns, you are also able to give your email subscribers an exclusive opportunity to be the first to book virtual/in-person tours, to learn about special amenities, and to be the first to sign a lease. 

 

Develop a content strategy

Content is a long-term investment, and it requires consistent effort. Publishing relevant content on your website regularly is a valuable way to create demand for your lease-up. When building a content strategy you need to think about what your prospective renter would want to read about. Is your content providing timely insight into emerging real estate trends? Do your posts incorporate research or original data from the rental market? Is your content showcasing what a potential renter's lifestyle will look like if they live in your building? You can also consider including content that helps solve a problem, like budgeting for their rent.

Content writing and optimizing your website takes time, therefore consider outsourcing your content strategy to industry expert writers to keep things fresh and new. At Rentsync, we have a team of writers who are experts at putting words to your vision. We focus your content strategy around creating SEO-enriched content for your blog posts, property descriptions, and copy for your multifamily marketing pieces. When outsourcing your content writing to industry professionals, you are ensuring that your content will be working to not only capture interest with prospects and current renters but also boost your search engine rankings with specific SEO keywords. 

Be in all the right places 

Digital marketing is a great way to help you create demand for your build. With digital ads, you are able to target prospective renters more easily. With Google search and display ads, you are able to target renters based on their age, occupation, current location, interests, etc. When creating ads be sure to research your keywords, what are the types of words your prospects are searching when they are looking for a rental? If you are offering a rental incentive be sure to use that messaging in your ad to generate more interest. The more clicks you can generate on your ad the more visibility it will get. 

Digital marketing is a crucial way to create demand but it can be difficult to navigate. By leveraging a digital marketing team that understands the unique needs of your property, you'll be able to quickly fill your funnel with qualified leads. 

Another crucial way to drive demand is through rental listings. Tools such as  Ad Syndication can help you reach more renters faster with direct access to multiple rental listing sites.  We recommend listing with sites such as Padmapper/Zumper, Rentals.ca, RentBoard, Kijiji, which can help you drive qualified leads into your funnel Plus, you are not only able to syndicate ad content but you can sync your virtual tours from platforms like Matterport, YouTube, and Vimeo, via our CMS with select connections.

Promote on social media 

Social media is another key factor in finding prospective renters. Showing up on someone's feed is a great way to catch their eye. Plus, being present on social media builds trust with prospective renters. Through your social media channels, you can showcase your property with photos and renderings, you can feature video tours, and promote your rental incentives. Regular posting to your social media accounts is a great way to keep yourself top of mind to prospective renters.

In one of our recent podcasts, we sat down with our Marketing Manager, Leighann Frommann, and talked to her about ways you can develop your multifamily demand strategy to get better leads, and she mentioned that engagement on social media has increased, 

"With so many people at home and on their phones, searching online and...time on social media is higher than it's ever been... just showing up in feeds, showing up in stories Another one that's become really popular is Facebook. I've heard there's some complexity with posting on Facebook, so if you can automate with some ad syndication type tools, it will make it so much easier on you."

- Leighann Frommann, Marketing Manager at Rentsync

Leveraging paid ads on social channels like Instagram and Facebook is a  great way to maximize your overall target market reach. With paid social media ads you are able to reach new target audiences, drive more website traffic, increase lead volume, and ultimately engage prospective renters across every stage of their rental journey. 

Putting it all together

Creating buzz about your new build doesn't have to be a daunting task. Being consistent with your messaging, showing up on social media, targeting your ideal renter with rental listings and Google Ads, and staying top of mind by showing up in their inboxes are all ways you can generate demand for your new build. 

Renters are looking for a building that offers something more than just four walls. They want to see the lifestyle and community they will have with your property. They want to see the amenities, see the floorplans, and be the first to take a tour through the building. Creating demand is about creating a story for your prospective renters to follow, by taking them through the beginning, middle, and end of your build you are gaining their trust and keeping them invested. And an invested prospect is a lead that turns into a lease.

Are you planning a lease up? Understand the tactics required to effectively create demand for your new build by downloading our free eBook "The Ultimate Guide to Lease Up Marketing" and learn how you can start filling up units now!