AIM 2025: Maximizing Marketing Efficiency

Maximizing Marketing Efficiency: How Two Industry-Leading Multifamily Owners Achieved Success Through Consolidation & Specialization

In a highly practical session, Michelle Moriello and Todd Newton delivered actionable insights aimed at helping multifamily marketers do more with less. Against a backdrop of rising costs and shifting renter behaviors, the panel focused on refining strategy, data usage, and internal collaboration to create marketing engines that produce consistent, quality results—even with constrained budgets.

Michelle kicked off the conversation by highlighting how marketing teams can reclaim control over fragmented spending and performance data. She emphasized the importance of pushing back on the status quo—especially when working with third-party vendors. Rather than relying solely on vendor-reported metrics, she advised attendees to build centralized dashboards that combine advertising costs with lead attribution, allowing marketers to have a single source of truth. This enables better decision-making and cost savings, particularly in identifying and eliminating low-value ad channels.

Todd picked up the thread by reinforcing the importance of establishing standardized KPIs across internal stakeholders. Without alignment between marketing, leasing, and operations, even the most optimized campaigns can fall short. He recommended setting property-level goals in collaboration with onsite teams and regularly reporting performance back to those teams to foster accountability. The goal: avoid over-reliance on lead volume and focus instead on metrics that reflect actual leasing success.

The conversation then shifted to the role of automation in driving efficiency. Michelle shared how her team uses automation not only for lead nurturing but also to identify "leaky" parts of the funnel—points where prospective renters disengage. With tools like CRM-integrated bots and automated email campaigns, marketers can both reduce the manual workload on leasing teams and rescue leads that might otherwise be lost. She emphasized that automation isn’t about replacing human touch, but about optimizing when and where that touch happens.

Todd discussed how cost-per-lease—not just cost-per-lead—should be a north star metric. He cautioned against throwing money at top-of-funnel lead generation when what’s really broken may be a conversion issue. He illustrated this with a case study where reallocating budget away from underperforming ILS sources and investing instead in nurturing existing prospects led to a 15% improvement in conversion rates with no additional spend.

A recurring theme was the importance of visibility. Michelle shared how her team creates weekly scorecards that compare budgeted spend, actual spend, and performance by channel. These not only guide marketing decisions but help frame conversations with executives and property owners. Todd reinforced the value of these kinds of tools for building credibility and securing buy-in for marketing initiatives.

When discussing team structure, Michelle highlighted the benefits of decentralizing some marketing responsibilities. By training and empowering onsite staff to handle certain aspects of social media and reputation management, corporate teams can stay focused on strategic initiatives. Todd agreed, adding that this hybrid model works best when supported by clear brand guidelines and a shared asset library.

The panel concluded with a reminder that efficiency is not just about cutting costs—it’s about elevating impact. With better collaboration, transparency, and strategic focus, marketing teams can weather economic uncertainty and emerge even stronger.

Whether it's aligning cross-functional teams, automating intelligently, or tightening the feedback loop between marketing and leasing, Moriello and Newton made one thing clear: true efficiency is built on clarity, collaboration, and constant refinement.