PPC advertising is one of the most important marketing tools available to apartment complexes today. By targeting potential renters through online ads, apartment complexes can reach a larger audience and significantly increase their chances of leasing units. However, apartment PPC can be expensive. That’s why it’s important to make sure you’re getting the most out of your apartment PPC campaigns.
When you’re advertising an apartment community, it’s important to make sure that your campaigns are constantly being tweaked and adjusted in order to get the best return on your investment. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some of the things you need to keep in mind when running your multifamily PPC campaigns, as well as ways to improve them.
1. Inventory-driven Budget Adjustments
Throughout the lease up process, your available unit mix will changes as your inventory fills up. In most cases, you likely see different types of prospects interested in different unit types and layouts, your advertising campaign should be adjusting to to meet those needs as they change.
Ask yourself, why are you spending dollars to market to prospects looking for two bedroom units, when you only have one available? Or on the flip side, after stabilization, are you adjusting your ads based on your expected turnover?
Seems pretty simple right? You should adjust your budgets to a higher amount when you have more units to fill and turn it down during the periods where your occupancy is more stable. You’d be surprised how many companies and agencies are content with setting a budget and sticking to it all year long. These wasted dollars could have been put to use when you needed them much more.
Whether you adjust your overall budgets to different ad groups, or you can hyper-focus on a keyword level, making these dynamic shifts are what differentiate the performance of an average and a great ad campaign.
At Resi, we call this inventory-driven advertising and it is a primary factor in our advertising work for properties, as well as seasonality, performance, property geography, weather, leasing goals and many others. Read on to learn how we approach many of them.
2. Add appealing imagery
Property photos are one of the most important factors when determining how successful your ad campaigns will be. That said, not just any image will do, but make sure your images are both high-quality and inline with what will appeal to your target audience when they see your ad.
For example, if you’re advertising an apartment community in San Diego with beach views, then your ad should definitely include a photo of the ocean. Not only will people be more likely to click on it because they are drawn visually to what’s shown but also because these types of images tend to attract people who are looking for those kinds of things when searching online.
The same is true for other cities that offer specific amenities like parks or mountains nearby – make sure there’s something appealing about your property before using photos within ads!
In fact, even if there aren’t any natural features around, “ads with pictures receive up to 42% more clicks than ads without pictures,” according to a study by Google.
If you don’t have any high-quality pictures yet – maybe now would be time to get some taken by a professional photographer (or at least yourself). Also check out our other blog post “What to look for in a good property photographer.” Good luck!
3. Adjust your budget for leasing seasonality
Just as you would expect, leasing activity differs throughout the year. Depending on your market and the time of year, there may be more or less people searching for apartments online.
What that means is that your PPC budget should also adjust accordingly – especially if you’re looking to achieve a certain goal like filling up all of your units before a given deadline.
For example, in markets with high leasing seasonality (like college towns), it’s important to increase your budgets during those times so you can stay competitive against local competitors. Conversely, in slower seasons you can afford to decrease them without sacrificing leads or traffic too much.
By shifting your budgets to when you have the need for the most leasing activity, your digital ROI will improve significantly and your leasing metrics will be more representative of the actual supply and demand of your inventory. This is a great way to look very smart to your asset management teams without having to ask for larger budgets!
4. Understand how far out your prospects are looking
It’s not just important to know how often you should be adjusting your campaigns, but also knowing how far out in advance prospects are looking for their next apartment.
That way, you can make sure that your ads are seen by the right people at the right time. For example, if someone is only looking a month or two in advance, then you don’t want to waste money advertising units that won’t be available for another few months.
On the other hand, if someone is already looking several months ahead, then it might be a good idea to start advertising now so they’ll remember your property when it comes time to choose.
At Resi we use data science and predictive modeling techniques to help our clients understand how far out their different target audiences are searching for their next home.
5. Create urgency with limited-time offers
One of the most effective ways to get people to act quickly is by using a limited-time offer (LTO).
By adding an expiration date or countdown timer to your ads, you can create a sense of urgency that will prompt more prospects to take action.
For example, if someone sees an ad for a $500 off move-in special that’s only good for the next few days, they are much more likely to click on it than if the same deal was just sitting there without any time constraint.
At Resi we specialize in creating and managing unique LTO campaigns that stand out from your competitors that are all running similar offers – so if you’re looking to boost traffic and leads quickly, then this is definitely something worth considering.
6. Improve On-site conversions with dedicated landing pages
Another way to improve your PPC performance is by directing all of your traffic to a dedicated landing page.
This will help you track conversions much more accurately, as opposed to just tracking clicks from your ads. Plus, it allows you to customize the user experience on that page so that it’s more in line with what they were expecting when they clicked on your ad.
For example, if someone clicks on an ad for a one-bedroom apartment, then they should be taken to a landing page that specifically shows one-bedroom units. This will help reduce confusion and increase the chances of them submitting an application.
Not only does a custom user experience improve the likelihood of conversion, but ads that link to landing pages with a higher landing page rating will receive a higher placement in Google’s algorithm. That’s right! A better landing page can actually help you improve your ROI from ads on both cost and conversion.
At Resi we create custom-built and dedicated landing pages for all our clients and have found significantly higher conversion rates for properties that use this tool.
7. Expand your target audience profiles
Due to privacy concerns and a shift in how user’s control their data, targeting your ideal customers has become more and more difficult. One way to improve your PPC results is by expanding the depth of your target audience profiles. This means including the magazines they read, the stores they shop at, and even the causes they care about.
By understanding your target audience better, you will be able to better define who you are targeting and relate to them with your ad imagery and copy.
At Resi we leverage our in-house research and experience to identify audience segments that you should be targeting by creating very detailed target profiles with data points that can be focused on.
8. Regularly shift your keywords based on performance
As your individual market changes (new construction, newly renovated units, etc.), and the apartment renter’s search habits change, your ad keywords should also change. By regularly adjusting your keywords, you can make sure that your ads are always relevant to what prospects are searching for. Additionally, you can use keyword data to understand what type of language resonates best with your target audience. One of the most important things to remember about PPC advertising is that your keywords need to be constantly updated based on performance.
There are a few key metrics that you should look at when analyzing the performance of your keywords:
- Click-through rate (CTR): This is the percentage of people who see your ad and then click on it. A high CTR indicates that your ads are relevant to the searcher and are getting noticed.
- Conversion rate: This is the percentage of people who click on your ad and then take the desired action, such as submitting an application or scheduling a tour. A high conversion rate indicates that your ads are effective at driving leads.
- Cost per lead: This is how much you’re spending for each lead that you generate from your PPC campaigns. A lower cost per lead means you’re getting more bang for your buck.
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): This is how much revenue you’re generating for each dollar you spend on your PPC campaigns. A higher ROAS means you’re generating more revenue from your ads.
It’s also important to make sure that you are targeting the right keywords – ones that are relevant to your property and audience.
At Resi we use our team of experts to help clients choose the right keywords for their campaigns, as well as track their performance so they can be tweaked and improved over time. This allows us to stay ahead of the curve and ensure that our clients’ ads are always visible to their target audiences.
9. Optimize your keywords for voice search
With the continued growth of voice search, it’s important to start optimizing your keywords for this type of traffic. By optimizing your keywords for voice search, you can make sure that your apartment complex is one of the first results that appears when someone uses a voice assistant to search for apartment complexes in your area.
Here are a few tips for optimizing your keywords for voice search:
- Use long-tail keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific keyword phrases that tend to be less competitive than shorter, more general keywords. By targeting long-tail keywords, you can make sure that your apartment complex appears in the results for voice searches.
- Include natural language qualifiers: Natural language qualifiers are words or phrases that indicate the searcher’s intent. For example, including the phrase “near me” in your keywords indicates that you want your apartment complex to appear in the results for voice searches near the searcher’s location.
- Use conversational language: When people use voice search, they tend to speak in complete sentences rather than typing in keywords. This means that you should use complete sentences and natural language in your keywords, rather than just strings of keywords.
By following these tips, you can make sure that your apartment complex is one of the first results that appears when someone uses a voice assistant to search for apartment complexes in your area.
10. Test different ad creatives and copy
One of the best ways to improve apartment PPC advertising is by split testing ad copy and creative. This allows you to see which combinations work best for your target audience and property. It also helps you understand what messaging resonates with people the most, and can help fine-tune your campaigns for maximum performance.
When split testing apartment PPC ads, there are a few key elements to test:
- Ad headlines: Test different headlines to see which one gets the most clicks.
- Ad descriptions: Test different descriptions to see which one drives the most conversions.
- Images: Test different images to see which ones get the most attention from viewers.
- Call to action: Test different calls to action to see which ones get the most people to click through to your apartment complex’s website.
By split testing your apartment PPC ads, you can improve your click-through rate, conversion rate, and ROAS. So don’t be afraid to experiment with different ad elements until you find what works best for your apartment complex.
At Resi we have seen significant increases when clients change their ads every two weeks or so – this allows us to keep the content fresh while also allowing us time between tests so we can properly evaluate results.
11. Use apartment-specific ad copy and landing pages
One of the biggest mistakes apartment marketers make is using apartment-generic ad copy and landing pages.
This means that they’ll write an ad for “Luxury Downtown Apartments” or something similar, which doesn’t tell people much about the property itself except its location and general price range (i.e., it’s expensive). And then when someone clicks on one of those ads, they’re taken to a generic apartment search page with no details whatsoever other than which neighborhoods are included in their results.”
Just as in any other industry, specific landing page experiences should be designed for particular ad copy and keywords to present a prospect with the content they are looking for. By designing ad campaigns with specific landing pages, you will see a boost in your engagement and conversions.
If you’ve made it to this point, Bravo! You are ready to head into your next marketing meeting with some good questions and great strategies to level up your ad game. If you have any questions, our team would love to chat with you, so let’s hop on a call.
By following the tips in this blog post, you’ll be able to improve your campaigns and get better results from your advertising dollars. While these are just a few apartment PPC tips that we think are essential for success, there are plenty of other apartment PPC strategies available. Our team focuses on creating a strategy for each property and organization that makes the most sense for their goals and budget. Are you ready to start seeing improved traffic and conversions? Contact us today to learn more about our apartment PPC services and how we can help you achieve your marketing goals.
