The word of the year for the 2021 real estate market was inventory. There simply wasn’t enough. That created a seller’s market, but also challenged brokers to have a more robust lead management system.

That is also true for owners of multifamily properties. And the brokers who market rentals are doing it all at scale, which requires a more service- and data-driven approach. So we asked top brokers to share their strategies for marketing multi-family properties.

1. Be smart about your spend

The most expensive solutions aren’t necessarily the best. It’s also not just about volume. You need to drive quality traffic to your properties, not just quantity. Find inexpensive marketing outlets and channels that provide enterprise results without enterprise costs.

For example, Zumper offers resources and solutions to drive qualified traffic at a fraction of the cost of other ILS services.

2. Prioritize renters with the right characteristics

A full pipeline sounds like the ultimate marketing goal, but it can in fact be very costly in terms of time. You are often operating as a team of one or two and can’t afford to waste valuable time on ‘junk’ leads with missing contact information or key details that would indicate their lead health.

According to a recent Zumper independent survey, nearly 80% of leasing teams indicated that having more prospect data would help close more deals. When you use technology solutions that pinpoint which leads are more likely to convert, this optimizes your time and puts quality leads into your pipeline.

Zumper PowerLeads AI™is an industry-first product that leverages artificial intelligence to analyze renters’ behaviors and confidently predict the likelihood of that renter signing a specific apartment lease. The Power Prospects tool can identify and flag renters who are statistically proven to be up to three times more likely to lease immediately. Additionally, the system can surface and provide leasing agents over 50 unique renter characteristics — more than five times the information than the competition — that will help leasing agents best meet renter needs.

3. Stay on top of market trends

81.6% of respondents plan on moving in the next 12 months, according to the Zumper Annual Rent Report 2021. So while demand is high, inventory is still low in many major markets. Therefore, we have to be ready for a large influx of renters resulting in an extreme amount of competition.

Brokers need to be able to cite accurate industry data to advocate for and implement market rate rents depending on location. Zumper provides a monthly rent report that is an industry standard for market analysis, and includes exclusive, hyper-local data and analytics.

Brokers say the market has shifted in the last few years more than they have ever experienced. Sustainable marketing and growth practices have to be rooted in reliable and real-time data, allowing them to work smarter, not harder.

4. Rich virtual media is mandatory

In 2020, the number of survey respondents who said they signed a lease on a unit they toured virtually was 16.2 percent. As reported in the Zumper Annual Rent Report 2021, the number hasn’t moved much — 16.9 percent. This suggests that far from a temporary trend, virtual showings are here to stay as a tool prospective renters will use now and in the future.

Zumper and Matterport conducted a survey finding that virtual tours have a massive impact on owners’ abilities to lease their properties and renters’ confidence in signing a lease. Some highlights include:

• 82% of property owners that have advertised with a 3D walkthrough were able to rent their property entirely virtually.
• 95% of renters would be more likely to rent a property with a 3D virtual tour on the listing site.
• 90% of renters would be more interested in a listing that offered a 3D virtual tour over one that didn’t.

For single-unit operators in the rental space, it is often difficult to find solutions and resources tailored to the broker’s needs. Many upgraded their Zumper marketing with rich virtual media without a massive price hike. Virtual media is a must-have and makes a huge difference in driving qualified traffic to properties.

5. Scale your marketing and diversify your audience

Syndication automation is mandatory because agents/brokers/owners can not spend time listing on multiple platforms. This creates repetitive tasks and can lead to misinformation represented on listings that are not up to date with current rents and descriptions. Zumper partners have their listings syndicated to other major platforms including Bing and Movoto, therefore expanding their impressions to quality traffic in the millions.

But be sure to augment your marketing automation with organic social media. The only investment is time and provides a great deal of value.

“We understood that tapping into our consumers through emerging marketing channels was more important than ever. This year, BHS recruited top real estate TikTok influencer Madison Sutton to work alongside our marketing/social team to capture a new, emerging audience and help train our 2500 agents on how to leverage TikTok to drive their own results,” shared Brown Harris Stevens Chief Marketing Officer Matthew Leone.