LOOK > LEARN > LEASE > LOVE: A Framework for More Effective Marketing

A diverse investment portfolio is proven to give you a better chance at succeeding long-term vs. trying to pick winning stocks.

Similarly, having a diverse marketing program puts you in a better position to build long-term success.

We see it time and time again — the customers that invest in every part of the resident lifecycle typically run far more cost-effective marketing programs (lower total marketing cost per door ... sometimes by as much as 60%).

So as you think about your marketing budgets, of course it makes sense to get to a marketing mix that’s as efficient as possible.

The best way to do that is to align your budget with customer behavior at every stage of the renter lifecycle. Build that diverse portfolio.

You can break that lifecycle down into four key stages. We’ve built our entire marketing framework around these stages — we call it:

Look > Learn > Lease > Love

(You actually want to break your budget down *five* ways; I’ll get to the fifth part in a bit.)

Using this framework, let's look at how to think about each stage based on where the customer is in their journey. In future posts, we’ll dive into the specific channels and vendors to consider in each area. (Yep, we're naming names.)

??? LOOK

At this point, the consumer has no idea who you are. Your goal is to create some level of awareness.

Why do you think car dealers are constantly advertising, even though only 2-3% of the population is in the market for a new vehicle at any given time? Because when it's your turn to fall into that 2%, they want you to already have some ambient awareness of who they are and why you should trust them.

Too often in multifamily, almost no budget gets allocated to this stage … and it’s a huge missed opportunity. Think about it: How much easier would marketing be if your prospects already had some base awareness of your parent brand and your properties? A lot.

?? LEARN

Your customer realizes they need a new place and starts doing some initial research. In markets with little to no brand recognition, this stage typically looks like, “I need a 2-bedroom apartment under $3,200/mo in southwest Austin.”

Sometimes, it’s even broader … more like “best neighborhoods for young professionals in Chicago.”

Anything that represents the slightest intent to rent puts the customer squarely in the LEARN stage — this is your first real opportunity to show what you have to offer and why they should consider living with you.

In a sea of sameness across the most popular marketplace sites, it can seem difficult to stand out. Building trust is critical; you want to be the best answer to the question, “Do other people like me like living here?”

?? LEASE

Your prospect is in it — they’re actively searching for a new place. They’re reaching out, they're touring, they’re asking buying questions, they’re doubling back and doing lots of research to make sure they get the perfect place with the best view or the exact features they need.

Among your peers, this is the most desirable audience. Everyone wants to reach these folks. Between LEARN and LEASE, these stages are typically where your fellow apartment marketers spend the vast majority of effort and dollars. They’re constantly hustling — more leads, more traffic. More. More. More.

What’s worse is that almost all the metrics we use to determine marketing success focus entirely on these two stages. Meaning we’re often either using the wrong metrics to measure certain parts of our marketing … or we’re simply not measuring the impact we’re making in what should represent the other 50% of our marketing opportunities.

?? LOVE

Your renter is in their new place and loving it. The more you can do to take care of your current residents, the less you’ll need to spend getting new customers through the door.

In super-competitive markets (any market, really), your current residents are your ace in the hole. They’re your buffer against concessions. Paying customers are awesome. Take amazing care of them.

Sure, some turnover is natural. But we also see clients with average resident stays of 30-40+ months. Think about what that does to your customer lifetime value — it skyrockets. ??

Note, I intentionally don’t use the word *retain* here — “retention” sounds like we’re trying to plug the dam with our finger, hoping residents don’t come flooding out. Retention sounds like we’re keeping residents against their will. “You’ll stay, and you’ll like it.”

We can do better than retain.

We have a client who firmly believes they haven’t been successful until they get a renter to renew at least once. I like that approach a lot. It takes so much of the focus away from endless lead gen and upfront concessions. They force themselves to deliver value every day. (It’s a huge reason why they now have over $20B in assets under management. Investors see the value and the returns, too.)

The fifth component?

Those are the four stages, but I did say there's a fifth piece of your marketing budgets and planning: You need a hub and strong connectors between these stages.

This is the glue that makes your brand “sticky” and connects each stage to the next.

In our business, that’s your website and your nurturing strategy – typically through email, but also SMS and retargeting ads.

Your hub and connectors should be non-negotiable ... which is exactly why I pull it out for budgeting purposes. If you lose these elements, you become a heck of a lot harder to find, and you end up spending way more on short-term fixes like ILSs.

No matter what levers you pull or turn off up and down the funnel, you always need your hub for customers to come back to and the nurturing connectors to move residents through each stage.

Everything we do at 30 Lines is built around real customer behavior. Using the Look > Learn > Lease > Love framework puts you in position to be the best answer for the customer, no matter where they are in their renting journey.

Build a marketing system that keeps you in front of happy customers and prospective renters as efficiently as possible.

When you think about a business where the average renter search is anywhere from 40-60+ days with 40+ touch points, you quickly start to see that it makes a lot more sense to build a diverse portfolio — a marketing system that keeps you in front of happy customers and prospective renters as efficiently as possible.

I'll dive more into the specifics of each stage in future posts. We'll get into the channels that make sense for a 2024-2025 world, as well as the supplier partners that we see are delivering top-tier results today.

Even with your current partners, share this framework with them. Look for ways to apply what you're doing with them across multiple stages. You might be surprised what you're already paying for and how much your partners can do that you never even knew about.

As you plan your budgets, invest wisely. Build that diverse portfolio. Invest for your success, both for the busy leasing season and for the long term.

We're here to help. If you think you could be marketing more efficiently, or if you need some guidance based on your unique tech stack, we can point you in the right direction.

Get in touch, drop me a DM, or email me at mike [@] 30lines.com. Onward to better marketing and more remarkable customer experiences.