Top 5 Apartment Marketing Tips to Attract New Tenants

There are 2.25 million apartment buildings in the United States.

And that doesn’t count the apartments rented out by single families as one unit.

One big challenge an apartment building owner faces often is getting and retaining tenants.

That’s where marketing comes in.

You’ll want to use some great apartment marketing ideas to ensure that you get the people whom you want to see your apartment to see that it’s vacant.

In this article, we’ll go over some of the best apartment marketing ideas to make sure you’re never devoid of tenants!

1. Apartment Marketing: Take Great Photos of an Apartment in Your Complex

Want to make sure people are interested in your apartments? Take great photos of the interior to entice people.

You may choose a totally empty apartment, but often times what really gets people are the ones that are fully furnished. You can hire someone to stage an apartment, or you can ask some of your trustworthy tenants with great taste if you can photograph their digs.

Make sure you get it in good lighting and show off any special features.

You should also take photos of any of the amenities that you have, as these can lure in prospective tenants. For example, if you have a pool or gym, take the opportunity to show them off.

2. Have Floorplans Available Online

While prospective tenants can get an idea of what the apartment looks like from photos, a floor plan really helps them put it together. The photos are always a little disjointed and may not show how the apartment cohesively fits together.

Instead, you can show exactly what they should expect by drawing, scanning and uploading all of your floor plans.

Let interested tenants know exactly how many of each kind of apartment are available, and how many people can fit into each.

3. Know Your Demographic

This one is important for marketing generally, but can also be important for your apartment building.

Depending on the location, some apartment buildings naturally cater to certain demographics. Or, they may try to entice a certain demographic with deals and amenities they may like.

For example, if you live near a university, is your target tenant a group of university students living together? If so, think about what might attract them to live in an apartment.

Or, are you looking for single professionals or young couples without kids?

Make a “customer avatar,” which is marketing speak for your ideal tenant or client.

4. Appeal to Your Demographic

Once you know the demographic, appeal to them. You can do this in a number of ways, so we’ll break it down in this tip and tip number 5.

Appealing to your demographic means offering them amenities and leases that are specifically attractive to them.

If you’re looking for college or graduate students to live in your complex, you might consider leasing only during the school year instead of a year-round tenancy. You might also consider having a special agreement just for the summer months.

You might also want to consider offering each person living in the home their individual tenancy agreement or accept payment from each housemate individually.

You may also want to outfit your complex with things students would enjoy. This could include vending machines, a room to study or work, ping-pong tables, tennis courts, a pool and free WiFi.

In addition to your location, this would make a complex very tempting for students.

If you’re looking for an older crowd, you can offer other amenities like 12-month leases, a playground for children, and instate rules like quiet hours.

You’ll need for your apartment building to appeal to your audience.

While you may get some outliers, generally college students aren’t going to have as much fun at an apartment complex geared toward young families. Likewise, families may not appreciate college students yelling and screaming at 2AM.

Learn more about some of the questions tenants might ask to give you an idea of what you can consider providing.

5. Advertise Where Your Demographic Is

When you start to advertise, you want to ensure you’re targeting your customers where they are.

This means that if you’re looking to attract college-age tenants, you’re advertising on Facebook, Instagram and possibly even YouTube. These are sites they are on all of the time, and therefore will be more likely to come across your ad.

You can also advertise in college papers and on the campus itself.

If you’re after an older crowd, you can still consider Instagram and Facebook, just with Ad Campaign filters that target them directly.

You can also advertise in local newspapers, coffee shops, restaurants and even on office bulletin boards.

Basically, you want your ads to be where your people are.

Additionally, you’ll want to emphasize when advertising to these groups the amenities your complex has that makes it special. For instance, if you’re trying to appeal to young families and you have a playground and Saturday swim lessons for preschoolers at the pool, make sure it is advertised.

Many times, the extras are more of a draw the apartment itself.

Final Thoughts

Apartment marketing is very similar to marketing any other product. You’ll need to find your target customer and appeal to him or her. Once you’re able to do that, finding places to advertise and what your target demographic enjoy will be much easier.

Additionally, as you grow and your target demographic enjoys their time in your complex, they will start to spread the word. Word of mouth is always a very powerful marketing tool and one that cannot be ignored!

For more information on marketing and harnessing its power to gain tenants, visit our blog.