4 Critical Steps to Create Lead-Generating Content for Your Property

The era of print ads, flyers, and "Leasing Now" banners is drawing to a close. To engage with your target residents effectively, it's crucial to begin transitioning to digital marketing methods. Digital content that is well-crafted can lead your target resident from being just a lead to becoming a customer, and it's through this marketing funnel that this conversion takes place. 

Creating exceptional content for digital marketing requires detailed personas and an understanding of your buyer's journey. Personas are fictional, specific characters that represent a significant portion of your target market. The buyer's journey is the process through which a buyer becomes aware of, evaluates, and purchases a product or service. The insights you derive from these two components are then used to personalize website copy and blogs to ultimately connect with your target audience.

1 .DEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE.

Identifying your ideal renters, their needs, and pain points is a crucial step in creating lead- generating content for your multifamily property. This information allows you to tailor your content to your target audience and speak directly to their specific concerns and desires. By understanding your renters' needs and pain points, you can create content that addresses their challenges and offers solutions, positioning your multifamily property as the best choice for their housing needs. Ultimately, this approach will help you connect with your ideal renters
and drive more leads and leases for your property.

2. CONSIDER YOUR GOALS & FOCUS YOUR CONTENT.

When writing content for your property, you might be eager to write about all the great luxuries your community can provide. Our suggestion? Slow down. While this is certainly important information that deems some exposure, this should not be the focus of every piece of content you write. Instead, take careful consideration of your goals and buyer persona in order to create content that converts.

Apartment marketing has historically been viewed as a cost center rather than a business builder. The perception is that marketing is necessary, but also expendable. It’s often diminished to an apartment logo or a flowery brochure. When you need to tighten the belt … goodbye marketing!

However, what most people don’t realize is that multifamily marketing is what drives the industry and keeps it afloat when times are tough or when the economy shifts. Content marketing especially can be a significant differentiator for your property and help you edge out the competition when leveraged appropriately.

3. LET YOUR RESIDENTS GUIDE YOUR CONTENT.

The creation of powerful content is where your personas and knowledge of your buyer’s journey come into play. People don’t drive around in search of a “For Rent” sign, or buy the latest newspaper for rentals in the area. Today, digital promotions are the most effective ways to reach your consumers. Personas will help you drive the right customers to your blog, web page, social media, and offers. You don’t want to attract just anyone, you want to attract people who will be interested in what you have to offer. Using your personas will help you create custom content that will appeal to their personalities, demographics, and needs.

Here is where understanding the buyer's journey becomes useful. Knowing where your target residents are in their journey when they are coming to your site, and how to help them move along their journey is important. Rather than focusing on promoting your property, focus on your target residents’ needs instead. Every interaction a persona has with your content should be tailored to the stage they reside in in the buyer's journey.

Let’s take a baby boomer, for example. He’s nearing retirement and sits down at his computer to search for “Best retirement cities in the country with golf all year round.” If I’m a residential resort community that practices content marketing, I’ve already anticipated what my best
prospects will be searching for.

Throughout the past few months, I’ve been blogging about relevant topics, including a recent blog post that highlights cities across the country with the best golf courses and ideal weather. I’m not directly selling my property, but rather I’m educating on what’s out there. My blog answers the questions of my target audience, who may be searching for answers online. The idea is that through education, transparency, and thought leadership,
I have an excellent platform through which to tell prospective customers about my property.

4. ALWAYS CONSIDER THE BUYER’S JOURNEY.

Another factor in campaigns is considering the buyer’s journey. Always write content for each stage of the journey, rather than just focusing on sales. What if a potential buyer reaches
your site before the purchasing point, and is still gathering information on his or her options?

For people at this awareness stage of the buyer’s journey, sales-focused content can be an agitation and mask any content that serves up information relevant to their needs because the potential buyer feels like they’re being “sold to” rather than “educated.”

For instance, you don’t want a “Buy Now!” banner to be the first thing they see on your site, but rather accessible information about your property, its amenities, and the area surrounding the property. Content that takes both your personas and the buyer’s journey into consideration will be more relatable and effective.

GO AGAINST THE GRAIN TO DRIVE NEW LEADS

Ultimately, personas and the buyer’s journey lead to great content that drives new apartment leads to your property. The multifamily industry is competitive, making it crucial for your community’s content to go against the grain. Make an effort to stand out among the clutter by creating content; while many properties are taking to this method, it’s important to stay creative and provide unique, resident-specific content that highlights your community’s personality.

While it can be tempting to want to present the maximum information that speaks to your property and reflects the positive aspects of your community, the best methodology is to hold off. Content is the core of how we are perceived online, and creating content that converts is the key to continuing quality lead generation for your property. By following a persona-driven content strategy those leads can become a reality.