WC Smith took a mostly mundane neighborhood in the Nation’s Capital and invigorated it with a three-property apartment community called The Collective.
The 1,200-apartment home masterpiece is thriving today as a result of its hard-working, outstanding marketing efforts from Day One.
Holli Beckman, CMO at WC Smith; Mike Whaling, Founder and President at 30 Lines; and Barbara Savona, Co-Founder at Sprout Marketing talked about the process in the session, “The Fastest-Paced Lease-Up in Washington, D.C.”
Savona said the effort was easier because Beckman truly had a vision for The Collective and its residents. To measure the mood of the neighborhood, Savona’s team spent entire weekdays and weekend days observing the “heartbeat” of the neighborhood to get a sense of its renter demographic and its needs.
Because it was under construction, she then chose appropriate stock images to represent the residents and bring the property to life.
Sprout Marketing also built a campaign around its amenities with the tagline, “Challenge Accepted” and showed people using the amenities such as the fitness room.
For branding execution, Beckman called for a 7-minute session for the C-suite decision makers where they came to observe logos and imagery placed on an office table and were asked to offer their opinions.
This time-limited exercise helped the company avoid “the cul de sac” of creativity, where a team might go round and round offering feedback but struggle to settle on a plan.
To optimize the communities’ website, Whaling scanned keyword phrases and other search terms that potential residents were using and continuously update the website’s text so that it represented those words, helping it perform better in search results.
Whaling also suggested not simply using “Apply Now” as the call to action, instead going with “You’re Right. I Should,” a more personalized activating phrase.
Whaling also suggested not simply using “Apply Now” as the call to action, instead going with “You’re Right. I Should,” a more personalized activating phrase.
Replays are $49 each or $399 for all of them.
They are complimentary for AIM attendees for the thirty days following AIM.
Click here for the slides.