Gift Certificates

Mother's Day is around the corner and everyone is looking for gifts to wow their Mom. If you offer a product or service why not create gift certificates? It's always appealing to customers to purchase for future use. It makes us feel that we are getting more for our money when we can choose to come back later and shop. It's also a great way to take the pressure off when looking for a gift for someone. You can print gift certificates easily on line with free templates offered or you can have them printed up by your favorite printing company along with beautiful boxes and bows to wrap them up and make them special for your clients and customers. Either way this is a wonderful option to offer. Be sure to make up signs to post in your store or office to make your customers aware that you offer gift certificates. You may even want to offer an incentive for buying them such as an extra $5.00 for every $50.00 purchase of a gift certificate or a 10% coupon to go with their purchase. Send out an email blast letting everyone know you now offer gift certificates, post it on social media sites and send out a mailer. Gift certificates guarantee return customers and possible new customers with every sale!

Set Up a Seasonal Photo Booth!

A fun way to get your residents excited about the fall season is to create your own Harvest photo booth! Purchase some hay, some pumpkins and some decorations. Send out a flier and invite all of the residents to come on by and take a picture. Ask them to bring the kids, their friends family etc. Let them know you’ll be sharing the photos on Facebook so they can access them and share them on line with their friends. After each person takes their picture give them a flier with your Facebook address and ask them to like you on Facebook. This is a great way to get more followers! Make a day of it or let everyone know that you’ll be taking pictures all season long!

Freebies!

Make touring future residents a fun experience by getting in the spirit of giving. Make it festive with ribbons and tissue paper so that the gifts are colorful and decorative. I like to have many free gifts available to hand out when touring. Future residents love to leave with a little gift to remember where they were since they visit a large amount of communities in one day. Touring is a hard job. It can take many hours of driving around to find the perfect place to live. Why not give out fun stuff to make the tour memorable. First I make sure that I have plenty of water bottles with our community sticker on them. Keep them cold and tie your business cards to them. Anything that I purchase to use as a free gift will always have our community name, logo, website, phone number etc. as a tool for the visitor to refer back to. Some items that I have given out are sports water bottles (great in the summer!) Lanyards and whistles (great for senior communities) and magnets are a really great tool to use also. Put the office hours of operation and emergency numbers on it. They will be sure to keep this on their refrigerator for reference. Buy coffee cups with your logo on them, put tissue paper inside with some candy! Have several made up and have them sitting on your desk. Let the visitor know that they will get one free once they have toured your community. You can put your brochures, cards and even referral cards inside gift bags with a surprise free gift inside. Make up a survival kit for their apartment hunting day with cookies, water and a laminated map of the town with your logo and information at the top. Purchase a large basket and let them pick from an assortment of gifts. Anything to make the experience fun and most of all memorable! Give out T-shirts to the kids or to the ten tour of the day. Make a game of it to get the office staff excited!

Eye Catching Expo Tables

Make your table or tent stand out when participating in an event! Set up a bright colored pop up canopy and decorate it with balloons and streamers. Add a banner or table cover with your company name as advertising. Music playing in the background is always a nice touch and creates a positive atmosphere and mood. Have everyone at the event dressed in matching t-shirts. This can be the color of your logo or a bright color of your choice just make sure it all ties into your theme. If you invite a friend to help you or you have volunteers or employees in charge of the table it is important that you express to them firmly that good customer service is a must! If you do not have a store front and you sell on line this event table acts as a store front for you. This is your chance to interact face to face with customers and future customers. If you already have a store front or office that you work out of treat people just as you would there. Stand up and engage in conversation. Ask how you may help and talk about your product or service. One way that helps this process is having a raffle or a game at your booth. Purchase or make a spin wheel and ask people to spin for a prize. Everyone loves a free gift! Have plenty of cards, brochures, flyers, promotional gifts on hand to give away. Make up bags with your logo on it. Everything should have your business name and logo on it! Buy a roll of logo stickers before the event to insure that you don't miss anything. Attach business cards to prizes. Participating in an event or expo is a great way to network and sell your product or service. Make sure you use this opportunity wisely. Interact with people. Ask for contact info to follow up with interested customers later. Even if you are selling a product it's a good idea to get contact info so that you can start a customer data base. Most importantly have fun and enjoy your self!

Pets are People too

Pets are a great way to break the ice with residents and future residents. When I have a community that is “Pet Friendly” I keep a jar of treats on my desk and in the leasing office. Everyone loves their furry companions. Pet owners are wonderfully surprised when you welcome their pet into your community. When a community claims to be pet friendly I think it’s important to really take that to the next level. Creating a pet corner on my bulletin board was my next idea to let the residents know that we adore their pet as much as they do. On facebook we have the “Pet of the day” Bring your pet in and we will take their photo and post it on facebook and the pet receives a free treat! Purchase labels with your community logo on it and put on mason jars filled with treats. Leave a stack of your business cards next to the jar at vets, pet hotels and pet smarts in the area. Purchase bandannas with your logo on it and hand out at dog parks. Advertise in Pet Scene Magazine and other publications geared toward pet owners. The Animal Foundation has several events each year and you can place an ad in the program. One of the biggest is the Best in Show. It’s a huge event that brings in lots of publicity and is backed by many local celebrities. This is an inexpensive way to reach out to future residents looking for a pet friendly community.

Relationships=Referrals

Everyone you meet has the potential to refer residents your way. I keep cards and any other marketing materials handy in my office, my purse or in my car to hand out when I come across anyone new. I especially do this when meeting vendors, salespeople and industry partners. Usually they stop by my office to drop off their materials, I will in turn hand them mine. Always! This is just good practice. We all want to help each other in business so I really try and take the time to do so. I will ask them about their business even if I may not need their services at the time. I can always refer them to another Community Manager etc. When outreach marketing I have small gifts with me. Instead of just handing out fliers, I’ll put the fliers in a gift basket with some candy or tie them to some baked goods. This way it brightens someone’s day and they remember me. For years now I have made sure to send holiday cards to everyone I know and then some. The holidays (not just Christmas) are a wonderful way to keep in touch and remind people of the community that you are working at and they will be happy to send you referrals. I send my business card so that they know how to get in touch with me. This is not just networking. This is building lasting relationships. Outreach marketing is an everyday job. Not just something I do when my occupancy is low. Keeping in touch and asking how I may be of service is one way I have built many friendships. I go to new business owners and offer to take photos of their place of business and post them on my facebook page. I feel that supporting each other is not only the right thing to do but it helps us all keep our units occupied and keep the doors open to large and small businesses alike.

Fun with Themes

Make the office a fun place to be! I have a different theme monthly. I usually follow the holidays however there are lots of others themes such as football season, baseball season, Hawaiian luau, casino, just to name a few. You can match your specials with the monthly theme and come up with great slogans for banners etc. Slide into home base here at XYZ Apartments and create a baseball theme in the office. Everyone can wear baseball t-shirts. Buy party favors at the party store to hand out to future residents when they stop by for a tour. Buy baseball tickets to your local high school or farm team and give them out as a free gift for leasing at your community. This way you are supporting your local teams and creating a fun atmosphere in the office. Where there is fun people want to lease!

Locator Services are your Best Friend!

Locator services are your best friend. They are a free service to the public and they make their commissions simply by referring future residents to apartment communities. We pay them once a referral has moved in. It can be a set amount or it may be half of the amount of the first month’s rent. I call my locator services in my area and find out their address, fax number and email address. Once I have their information I contact them at least weekly with what vacant units I have available. I email them my specials and any other information that they may need to help promote our community. Once a month I make a personal trip to their office bringing them muffins and coffee along with my fliers and or brochures. I really get to know the agents in the office so that I am the first one they think of when someone calls inquiring about an available apartment. I have contacts at locator services that I have been working with for years. So make them your best friend and let the referrals roll in!

Community Cookbook

We wanted to create a community cookbook. So we spent the next several months collecting recipes from our residents. They were so proud to offer up recipes that they have been making for years. Some recipes had been passed down from their Mother’s and Grandmothers. Once we got together a stack of recipes we sent them off to our designer and publisher to put it all together for us. She did a beautiful job! It had lots of color and we called it “Recipes and Tasty Treats loving shared by our residents” Once it was completed we used this cookbook as a marketing tool. I gave it away as gifts to our area business owners along with our fliers wrapped in a bow. We gave it away as move in gifts and we used it to show future residents what a great community we have! The response was amazing and we made sure our website address, phone number and address was clearly marked on the cover. It was much more fun to hand out instead of a business card!

Gratitude Board

During the holiday season it occurred to me that many people are without family and friends but they have their apartment community and we tend be extended family. We see them every day if not at the very least picking up mail, paying rent or walking their dogs. I also noticed that people can be sad or even angry during this season of joy. So I decided to create a gratitude board. Something eye catching and welcoming. I found an old frame and installed wires across the length of the board and purchased decorative clothes pins to clip the pieces of paper on it that would tell the story of what each resident was thankful for. These papers would remain anonymous however would reveal many wonderful thoughts of what they were happy for even if it is the smallest of things. I hung this in a conspicuous place in the clubhouse. At our community events and anytime I saw a resident strolling by I asked if they would like to participate. Pretty soon the board was full of positive thoughts. It has been a conversation piece every since!

Pictures Speak 1000 Words

I have found that most people don’t like having their picture taken however they LOVE looking at photos! So I decided that I would take lots of pictures at every resident function. I would then take them to my local Walgreens or Walmart. and have them developed. I put four bulletin boards along the wall in my clubhouse and FILLED them with photos. I made the bulletin boards very cheerful with decorations and trim. The residents loved them! Now they look forward to having their picture taken and seeing the new ones posted! It really created a sense of Community

Planning an Event on a Dime

After taking over a senior community with a tight budget and no activities director on staff, I had a challenge ahead of me. I started thinking about our health care vendors that come by from time to time with donuts for the residents and a handful of their fliers to leave in our clubhouse. I wondered if these vendors would consider furnishing lunch if I could guarantee them the opportunity to talk to our residents and have their undivided attention. A lunch and learn type thing only better! I decided to create Fun Fridays! I started asking vendors if they would be interested in providing a pizza party or a sandwich lunch for our residents? I asked the first vendor and they were very receptive so we booked it. Then another then another. Pretty soon we had vendor lunches planned for every Friday that month! The vendor brings lunch and gives a 15 minute presentation on their health care product or service. It benefits both the vendor and the residents. The resident not only gets a great lunch but they get to hear about many benefits that they may not have even known were out there. I still buy lunch and plan events for each holiday but now my residents don’t have to wait for a holiday. They get to have a free lunch and social hour each and every Friday and I have formed great relationships with our healthcare partners.

The Testimonial

Create a testimonial form that you can hand out when a resident comes in to your office to give a compliment. Many times a resident will come in to see me and they want to tell me how great my maintenance technician or my leasing agent is. They want to express what a great job they did moving them in or taking care of their repair. Hand out the form and ask them if they wouldn’t mind filling it out. The written word goes a long way when encouraging or motivating staff. When they feel that they are appreciated it makes them proud and happy to come to work and further serve the residents. A copy can go in the resident’s file and the in employee file. Ask the resident if you may post a copy on face book or on your website. Don’t forget Google Reviews! This is a great way to show future residents what a great place your community is and how friendly and competent your staff is.

Facebook Banners

I created a facebook banner for my property. It reads “Meet your neighbors on facebook!” of course you must list your facebook address as well so that they can find you on a search. Post this banner in a high traffic area like a pool area or near the mail boxes or clubhouse. Encourage the residents to like your page by making sure that the facebook logo is on all letterhead and newsletters as well. Make fliers that have your facebook address on them asking everyone to like your page. Put the logo on business cards and post cards. Order window stickers or plexiglass signs for the office. Ask your residents where they work and offer to like their page in return. Post pictures on your facebook page regularly and invitations to upcoming events. Make it a social destination!

Cupcakes and Crafts

What goes together better then Cupcakes and Crafts? I picked holidays or seasons to schedule this event. Purchase all of the fun stuff you need to create bright and decorative art to take home. Make or purchase a cupcake stand to display your colorful and yummy cupcakes.
Art supplies consist of things like colored paper, ribbon, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, paint, paint brushes etc. Michael’s has a huge array of craft ideas and $1.00 items that can be painted or decorated. I also collect pine cones in the winter and toilet paper rolls year round that can be made into something. These items are FREE! No cost to your property! You would be surprised what your residents will come up with! Once you purchase your supplies there are many things you won’t have to buy again. Keep a place in your supply closet just for your craft supplies. Bins can be labeled and kept organized so that you will always be able to find them and you won’t spend money on items you already have. I spread a table cloth out on the tables so that paint does not stain the tables. Buy bright colored table clothes and decorate the room so that it’s cheerful. I then purchase colorful cupcakes that are decorated for whatever holiday we are celebrating. Offer refreshments such as water, ice tea or juice. Once the art is created make sure to take lots of pictures for your face book page and to share on your bulletin boards etc. Residents will love showing off their creations. I purchased cork board to cover a wall in my clubhouse so that once the creations are completed they can be displayed and viewed by all! This day can be used on any type property. Seniors love craft days but so do children and get the parents involved. They can volunteer to help set up or clean up. Some residents may even want to bake the cupcakes. Either way have fun with it!

Branding and your website

Add your web address to EVERYTHING! I’m sure you have heard this before but take it to the next level. I purchased vinyl stickers and added them to my golf carts. I bought t-shirts for my maintenance staff with the web address on the back. Make sure it’s on all fliers and letters to residents. Buy a roll of stickers or print them off the computer. Put them every where. If you buy gifts to hand out to new move ins or for outreach marketing make sure the web address is big enough and clear enough to read. Purchase mats with your website and logo on them. Promote your web address to make rental payments or apply for an apartment on line. Keep the website fresh and exciting. Add your newsletter, resident testimonials etc. Keep the photos current. Add events and links to vendors and area businesses. You website tells a story about your community. Make it a positive and fun experience!

Say it with a Sweet Slogan

Have fun with slogans! Buy blank labels and print them right off of the computer. Put a catchy slogan on the label and stick them to candy bars, pop corn and jars of candy. Give them out when you tour future residents. You can also give them out to current residents at rent time. The resident gives you their rent check and you in turn give them a candy bar. Make sure the labels have the slogan on it, the website address and phone number. I have listed a few slogans for you below:

1. Reese’s Pieces
We love you to “Pieces”!
You are the “Piece” we are missing at XYZ Apts!
2. Dots
You help us connect the “Dots” at XYZ Apts!
3. Mints
We “Mint” to tell you how much we appreciate you!
You are”Mint” to be here!
4. Snickers
Live with the best “Snicker at the rest!
5. 100 Grand
You are worth a “100 Grand” to us!
6. Popcorn
Thanks for “popping” in!
7. Mounds
Have “Mounds” of fun at our events!
8. Suckers
We’re a “Sucker” for great residents at XYZ Apts!
9. Tootsie Rolls
“Roll” in the dough and refer your friends to XYZ Apts!
10. Pay Day
Make the most of your “Payday” at XYZ Apts.

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Be Direct with Direct Mailers

Direct mailers are a great way to reach out to residents living at apartment communities in your area. Communities that you notice have a similarity to your property however they do not have one very important thing. You and your staff. When creating a mailer I like to mention our friendly staff that will take care of your needs or we will go above and beyond to meet your needs. Mention 24 hour maintenance or service requests complete in 24 hours guaranteed. Focus on the residents needs. What makes them feel at home. If you are a senior community focus on the services you offer such as free shuttles or your hair salon and meals offered. I send mailers in a post card form. Post cards are great because it does not give the person receiving the post card the chance to throw it away before reading it. If you send a letter they have to open the envelope to see what is inside. Holidays are a great time to ask your neighboring residents to make a change. If you are on a multifamily community send out mailers before August. Do a back to school theme. It’s the last effort to make a huge impact and get some traffic before everyone has settled in and the kids have gone back to school. Send them out with the mention of a free gift or free application fee. Make sure that the card is eye catching with bright colors and use a heavy card stock. Always double check your information such as the phone number, website and address. There’s nothing worse than a misprint! Also don’t limit yourself to just apartment communities. You can send direct mailers to area businesses. Find out where your residents work or spend their free time and reach out to those companies. Offer to do preferred employee discounts or marketing partnerships with them. During the New Year make one side of your post card a calendar. This way they keep it throughout the year. When sending to area businesses offer a drawing or raffle if they stop by your office with their business card so you can have a face to face meeting and maybe even tour them around your community. Do your research before mailing and don’t forget to have fun with it!

Networking at Expos

Expos are usually a free service to the public. It is a great place to go and meet a lot of people in one place. Health, pet, crime prevention or any other subject that you can think of that may benefit your community. When you go to an expo make sure to bring plenty of business cards. You will meet a large amount of people that you will want to give your card to as well as taking theirs so that you may do business together in the near future. I make an effort to shake hands, remember names and talk about how I can help them in their business. Remember they paid to have a table at the expo for a reason. Offer to partner with them in marketing by possibly listing their website as a helpful link on your website. I like to explain that I am a Community Manager and have access to a large audience that might be interested in hearing about their product or service. Ask if they would consider a lunch and learn at your community. In return you would give them fliers, brochures and cards to refer future residents to you. Let them know that you are excited about working together. Also don’t forget to mingle with the people visiting the expo. Maybe have lunch there so that you can have conversation with the visitors and you can always leave your cards on the tables. Once you have visited the exhibit tables and met plenty of people evaluate all of your business cards and brochures that you took with you. Put notes on them to remind yourself of what each person you met is interested in doing. Make sure to follow up. This is very important. Email each person and say thank you for taking the time to talk to me. Explain that you met them at XYZ Expo and ask when a good time would be to get together. This does not cost you any money it only takes effort so make contacts and enjoy yourself while doing so!

Send the Right Message

Sign spinners, inflatables, balloons, flags, banners and bootleg signs are all ways to attract attention to your community. These items are important whether you are on a main street or not. In my experience one of the things that makes one or all of these things work is only if I’m paying very close attention to them at all times. The flags must be bright colors and changed out quarterly. If my flags start to look dingy it really reflects that I don’t care and if I don’t care about the entry of my property what is that saying about how I handle the inside of the residents apartments. This can send a message to future residents. The same goes for banners, balloons and bootleg signs. If my balloons deflate by mid afternoon. Take them down and blow up some more or just leave them down the rest of the day. I would rather have no balloons then old deflated balloons hanging at the end of my signs. If your property has an American flag. Update it quarterly as well. Sign spinners are a great way to promote a special on the weekends however this can be really successful or it can send the wrong message. Make sure to use a professional sign spinning company that uses uniforms or costumes. Drive by the property and check on your sign spinner. Make sure that they are actively spinning that sign and not texting or inappropriately dressed. This way your marketing dollars are well spent! When purchasing signs or inflatables for my property I always make sure the phone number and or website are large and I use a color that can be seen from a distance. If you have a text number use that. Make sure to incorporate your For Rent or Apt Guide ads into your promotional signage. Banners should be changed out often. I ordered a banner for each holiday or season and since they are not up for more then a month at a time I rolled them up, labeled the back and this way I didn’t have to order many more banners after the first year. When you are driving around town make an effort to look at other properties. Look at the curb appeal when shopping communities. It really makes a difference so keep your entrance crisp and clean and send a positive message to future residents!

55 Reasons to live at a 55+ Senior Community

When shopping comps I look at more than just the price. I know we are asked to do a market survey once a week and compare prices and specials however so much more goes into the decision making process. Future residents are looking for amenities, location and convenience just to name a few. Sometimes communities are considered to be our comps because they are near our location however they may be newer or larger and have a larger staff etc. I decided that I would look at what makes living at my community better than living anywhere else. I started to write down our amenities first inside the apartment and then outside, next came the community amenities and conveniences. I wrote down events and free items that we offer. I thought about the location of the community and how close we are to shopping, golf courses, banks etc. Pretty soon I came up with 55 reasons to live at XYZ Community! I decided 55 would be a great number because I was managing a 55+ Community but you could tie the amount into any catchy slogan related to your community. This would be a resource that I would use when touring future residents. It can be handed out with the application and brochure. Sometimes there are so many great things about the community you may actually forget to mention something on your tour and this gives the future resident something to refer back to. They may see reasons on the list that appeal to them. Use this as a marketing tool that you can proudly hand out while outreach marketing. I typed the list and printed it on a heavy card stock giving it a high end professional look. Instead of looking at the negative have fun looking for the positive reasons to live at your community!

Partnering with Restaurants

My favorite thing to do is to talk to the marketing directors at the local restaurants such as Apple Bees and Chili’s. They are more than happy to give me coupons for free deserts or appetizors. These coupons can be used as a closing tool or to offer while on the phone to a prospect. I offer a free desert or appetizer for taking a tour. You can also take copies of their menus to put inside your move in baskets. Give out the coupons to new move ins along with a gift card. If you purchase several gift cards for marketing or resident retention the restaurant is excited about posting your fliers in their employee break rooms. Offer discounts to the employees 10% off of their monthly rent for being a preferred employer. You can also partner with a local pizza place. Have them bring their pizzas to your community to sell around the time your residents get off work. Create a flier for your residents promoting the sale. This is a benefit for your residents because they can pick up dinner right there at the clubhouse.

Brochures and Price Sheets

I can’t tell you how many times I have gone to shop a competitor and I am handed bad copies of old brochures or maps that you really can’t read. The copies are faded or the print is not straight on the page. I know there must be an original somewhere! If you do not have the budget to purchase brand new brochures or other hand outs at least make sure that the copies are clean, easy to read and printed on a little higher grade paper. You can also turn to print companies like Vista Print. They are very moderately priced. Remember this is your first impression. This is true for lease contracts, lease renewals and addendums as well. The message that you will be giving if you take the extra time to print clean copies is that you take pride in your community and in your residents. Make sure that the stand in which you keep your brochures is clean. It should not have any old stickers on it
or scratches on it. Present it in an area that will catch the eye of the future resident. You may want to have the brochure near your business cards. If you do not have a brochure and you must create one from scratch make sure to mention your entire list of amenities and if you have room add a testimonial from a resident or vendor. Pick up brochures from other communities in order to get ideas of what you would like your brochure, price sheets or amenity list to look like. No matter what your budget is just remember that with just a small effort you can send out a message of competence and value to your visitors.

Welcome to our Open House

There are times when you have several ready units available. You know they look great and you want to show them off. If you had the traffic to show them to you would be able to close and help a future resident find their home there with you at XYZ Apartment Homes. So how do you get the traffic? Host an Open House! Look at the apartments that you have available and ready to go. Do you have one of each size? If so what kind of view do they have? Make a list of the qualities for each of these units. Once you have done this turn them into mini models. Purchase items from the 99 Cent Store or local discount store. You can buy things like bathroom towels and soaps, Kitchen towels and small appliances such as a toaster and a coffee pot. Red is a really nice color that stands out. When the mini models are complete advertise the Open House in the local newspaper. Put a starburst in your For Rent or Apt Guide ad reflecting an Open House at your community. Make sure to put the date and time you will be hosting the event. Offer refreshments and always have free gifts available to the first 50 visitors! Purchase a banner, bootleg signs and balloons so that upon entering your community the visitors are able to find your office easily. Decorate the office for the occasion with balloons and festive colors focusing on the Open House. You can even advertise an open house each Saturday while quantities last. Make it fun and watch the traffic roll in!

Be Back Bucks

Creating a sense of urgency is very important when touring a future resident. One tool I have always used that has been very successful has been the “Be Back Buck”. Create a flier with cash on the front and label it. Make sure to leave a space for the expiration date which always expires in 24 hours. If the visitor returns with their deposit and application within 24 hours they receive a FREE application fee or a set amount off of their move in fees. Keep these in the models along with applications, pens and brochures so that while touring them you can explain the application process in a comfortable setting. Give them the coupon and explain to them that if they love the apartment as much as you think they do they can use the coupon to save even more money by making a commitment today! If you want to make it really fun tape it to a candy bar with a catchy slogan or popcorn that says “Thanks for popping in” This makes the tour memorable. After the visitor leaves your property you have a great reason to call and follow up first thing in the morning to remind them of the great savings they will get when returning their application and deposit that day!

Kids Corner

Managing a multifamily community where there are a high volume of children can sometimes be a challenge. Embrace the fact that you are near a school or that you have three bedroom apartment homes at your community. Here are a few things that I do to create a sense of community and involve the children that live there. Make it fun and creative!

1. Have coloring pages in your clubhouse and have a monthly coloring contest with a small prize like coloring book and crayons.
2. Ask the Police Department to come out and sign up each child for an I.D. or give a speech about bike safety. Make an event out of it with cupcakes and juice. Invite parents to come out so they can receive great tips from the police about how to keep their child safe.
3. Purchase sunscreen especially for children and put your logo sticker on them. Hand them out at the pool.
4. Keep ice cream handy in the freezer and hand out at the pool to the kids. Let them know it’s for following the pool rules and being good while swimming.
5. Invite the Girl Scouts to sell cookies in your clubhouse.
6. Purchase T-Shirts with your website or logo on them in child sizes and hand them out to residents at events
7. Send out a Direct mailer with the Back to School theme.
8. Advertise in the school newspapers or in the Football programs
9. Purchase a banner and ask the high school if you can place it on the fence at the football games or softball games.
10. Ask if you can sponsor a popwarner team and your Community can be advertised on their T-Shirts.

11. Create a good grades rewards program. Have the children bring in there report card and give out small treats or gifts for A’s and B’s.
12. During the Christmas holiday I put an old style mailbox in my clubhouse that I painted red and called it Santa Mail! Kids put their letters to Santa in it. I made copies of preprinted letters with the heading Dear Santa so all they had to do was fill in what they wanted and drop the letter in the box. I kept a box of candy canes near the mail box so they could have a treat after they dropped off their letter.

Engage with the kids and create a sense of community!

Donut Thursday

A great way to partner with your area businesses is to invite them to host a resident function. A very easy and inexpensive way for them to get to know your residents is to have the vendor purchase a few dozen donuts and orange juice and bring them to your community. They can set up a table in your clubhouse and have coffee, juice and donuts with your residents. It’s a great way for them to answer questions that your residents may have or drop off brochures and explain what their business has to offer. I created “Donut Thursdays” at my community. I book vendors in advance so that each and every Thursday the residents get to have a treat and also get to know what the businesses in their area have to offer. This would work for any type of community multifamily or senior and on any day of the week. If you choose a weekend. You can ask the vendor to bring news papers along with their donuts. I purchased a sign advertising the event to post in front of the clubhouse. Make it a success by posting fliers on doors and letting your residents know that the vendor or business will be there providing goodies. Add it to your newsletter. If you will be doing it on a regular basis order signs or banners. Partnering with area businesses creates relationships, saves the community money and educates the residents. So when you’re doing your outreach marketing let the business owner know that you want to create a relationship not just drop off your brochures with them. You want to work together. This way you refer customers to each other!

Memorable Move in Gifts

I’m always looking for new and exciting ways to Welcome our new residents on their first day inside their new apartment home. Adding a little humor to their very difficult task of moving. I have listed a few ideas for you:

1. Plungers – Thanks for taking the plunge with us at XYZ Apartments.
2. Cutting boards – Our Residents are a cut above the rest at XYZ Apartments.
3. Fortune cookies- We’re fortunate to have you as a resident at XYZ Apartments
4. House Plant- Grow with us at XYZ Apartments
5. Wild flower seeds- We’re Wild about our Residents at XYZ Apartments
6. Decorative Candle- Other residents just can’t hold a candle to you XYZ Apartments.
7. Picture frame- We’re glad you pictured yourself here at XYZ Apartments.
8. Coupon for a free Pizza- We hope you enjoy your slice of Heaven here at XYZ Apartments.
9. Clock- Time to start a new at XYZ Apartments.
10. A canister of Coffee Beans- We’ve Bean waiting for you at XYZ Apartments!

So be creative. Think about how hard it is to move and maybe a catchy slogan and a fun gift might make their day. You can always add to these items. For example if you are giving the canister of coffee beans pair it up with a coffee pot or coffee grinder. They are very inexpensive and yet they are always a welcomed gift!

A Night at the Movies

It doesn’t matter if you have a built in theater room or a clubhouse with a TV in it. You can make Movie Day or Movie Night a big hit! Start by decorating for the occasion. The Party store has really great decorations geared toward the movie theme. Put up balloons and make it as festive as possible. Ask around a week or so before the movie and see what movies your residents are interested in viewing. You may want to have a sheet with choices that the residents can fill out to give you an idea of what movie to purchase or rent. Once you decide on the featured movie (make sure to keep it PG13) put out a flier to let the residents know what day and time you will be showing the film. Put it in your newsletter. Offer free refreshments such as popcorn and hot dogs. Purchase movie candy like Dots and Milk Duds. Ask your residents to sign up for the event. This will give you an idea of how many hot dogs to buy and it also makes the resident more likely to attend when they feel committed to the event. Ask the residents to bring a friend or family member to the Movie. This way their guest can get an idea how fun your events are. They may remember this when looking for a place of their own. Remember resident functions can bring in many referrals. Give your residents an incentive for bringing a guest. Have movie trivia with prizes before the movie begins. Make it fun!

The Three P's

If you have taken over a community that is in the red zone or below 93% occupied you are probably feeling a little overwhelmed. I like to start with the basics. The three “P’s”
People- Talk to the staff. Ask if they have any thoughts on what is going on with the occupancy. See if you can be of a support to them. They may need tools to make their job easier or they may need some extra training.
Product- Walk the community from the back to the front. See if it’s clean. How is the curb appeal? Do you need new signage or fresh flowers planted? Walk each and every vacant unit. Make sure that the ready units are really ready. Maybe they need a touch up clean. Make a list of any items you can improve. Make a couple mini models with some really great move in gifts inside them.
Price- Next you will need to do a market survey. Check your prices to make sure that they are competitive. Look at each floor plan and square footage to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Look at the move in special that other communities are offering. Maybe you need to make your special more interesting. If everyone else is offering a free month’s rent you can offer a $299 move in. Sometimes a price point is more appealing.

Once you have evaluated the three “P’s” and you have put your goals in place you will be able to track your success!

Starting a Book Club?

A book club can be a great way to get residents together. They can meet new people who have a similar interest. The fun thing about a book club is that the residents can choose the book. They meet in the clubhouse once a week and you provide the coffee and treats! Start by advertising. Send out fliers to each apartment asking for volunteers to be your core group. Once you have two or three volunteers you can begin to decide what book to read. If they are not sure or do not really know where to start pull up the best sellers list and make a choice from there. You can also follow Oprah’s book club. Each person would be responsible for purchasing their own copy. Depending on how much interest you have in the book club you may want to have more than one book club meeting on different days. The suggested amount of members for a book club is ten to twelve people however don’t feel discouraged if you don’t have that many to start. Once you have the members set up and the books purchased you can decide on what day and time to meet. Make sure to set ground rules in the first meeting and pick a host or hostess to help set up and serve the snacks. This makes the meetings fun and keeps things moving. Also have the hostess in charge of choosing a list of questions for the meeting. Some questions may be things like 1. who was your favorite character? 2. What character did you like the least? Ask each member to invite friends from outside the community. Purchase bookmarks with your logo on them and give them away at the meetings. Post on Facebook and start a discussion there as well. People may be interested in posting comments on Facebook instead of coming in person. Reach out in many different avenues to get as many people involved as you can. Invite new authors to do a book signing. You may want to pick a book for your book club by the author that is doing the book signing. You can also get the kids involved and have a book club just for them as well. Happy Reading!

Resident Appreciation Week. You've Graduated to VIP!

Make your resident appreciation week a little different. Have your Resident appreciation week coincide with graduation month May or June. Purchase graduation promotional products and decorations. With signs that say “You have graduated to VIP! Purchase a graduation cake and have fun prizes to give out or raffle off tickets to Disneyland! Give out certificates for a VIP FREE carpet clean. Create an event for each day of the week. Graduation breakfast, Graduation dinner, Have a photographer there one day to take professional photos. Make it fun and be creative.

Make Bingo Work for You

At our senior community Bingo is the be all end all event on our calendar and we are always looking for ways to make the game better. We look for great prizes and fun signs and banners to post to attract new players. I thought it would be a great idea to create a T-shirt as a prize for bingo. I noticed that residents had bingo hats and good luck charms that they brought with them to every game. Why not create a T-shirt that would not only be a great prize but would also advertise our community! The casinos do it why not us? So I ordered the T-shirts to say “ I’m a BINGO winner at XYZ Senior Community” with our phone number at the bottom. I purchased them in a variety of colors and sizes. The residents loved them! It was a huge hit and they are happy to be a walking billboard for our community! So try it! They will love their T-shirts and they will be proud to wear them because they enjoy living at your community where they have a great time playing Bingo!

Back to School

If you are a community that is near a school and your demographic is mostly families with children now is the time to start thinking about back to school. You will need to lease up before August when the kids go back to school. By then parents are already settled in their new homes and will not consider moving until the following year. If you want to capture those families now is the time to act. Send out a direct mailer to your target communities or homes with the back to school theme. If you do not have it in your budget to do a direct mailer create a flier that states what schools you are near or what school district you’re in. Create a sense of urgency by creating a special that ends on the first day of school. Encourage the parents to move into your community now so they can enjoy their summer! Let the parents know that your community has many great amenities and fun activities that focus on children. If you’re near a high school inquire about putting up a banner on their football field. Practice starts way before school begins. Offer to donate water to the practice field with your labels on them. Or hand them out to parents in the stands. Offer to sponsor a team. Many of these sports events start creating their t-shirts etc. during the summer months so that they are ready when football season begins. Offer to sponsor a softball team. See if you can be apart of Open House for parents. Get involved with the schools in your area. Advertise in the school newspapers. Get to know the parents at your community and see if maybe they can introduce you to one of the teachers or staff members that can help you in your marketing efforts. Go to the Community Rec Centers in your area and leave fliers or coloring pages for the smaller kids with your logo and contact information on them. See if you can put up a banner there. Parents will be dropping off their kids to the community pool or play area and will see it. Approach the area day cares and see if you can drop off coloring pages or maybe you can donate juice boxes with your labels on them. Use the summer to set the ground work for the school year. Create relationships now and create a sense of urgency to move into your community before “Back to School”

Line Dancing

Line dancing can be a fun activity to offer to your residents! Find a local dance instructor and offer a series of classes that will prepare them for a final recital! A few weeks before the recital design t-shirts for all participating to wear. If you can get your vendors to sponsor the classes list the vendors that donated on the back of the t-shirts. Make an event out of it by offering your residents lunch or snacks to come out and support their neighbors. Invite local business owners or vendors to the event. During the recital event video tape it and put it on UTube! This will show the world how much fun your residents have living at your community.

Neighborhood Watch and Crime Prevention

Starting a Neighborhood watch can be a great way to interact with your residents and can also act as a marketing event as well. Here are a few tips that can help you have a successful meeting:

1.       Instead of calling it a neighborhood watch meeting you can hold a Crime Prevention Fair.

2.       Get to know your crime free specialist at your local police department. They will work closely with you and will offer fliers and safety tips for your event. You may even be able to get them to speak at your event and answer any questions your residents may have.

3.       Decide on a date for your event and then have one each month or each quarter depending on your circumstances.

4.       Be consistent and pick a topic each time and stick to it.

5.       Invite area business owners. If you are experiencing crime you can be assured that the rest of the neighborhood is as well.

6.       Purchase snacks and drinks or have it in the morning and see if your local donut shop will donate donuts. Invite them to the event and let them know it benefits them as well.

7.       Invite a representative from one of the security companies. Ask them to donate a gift basket for a raffle.

8.       Invite your competitors. This way you will let the other apartment communities in your area know that you are open to working together. This will pave the way for a future relationship and referrals.

9.      Pick block captains for each building. Make sure to write down their phone numbers and encourage neighbors to exchange numbers as well. This way they will keep an eye out for each other.

10.    Order plenty of business cards and promotional gifts to hand out.  Whistles are a great safety product. Make sure to order them with your logo on them.

11.    Exchange email addresses with the local business owners and Apartment Managers so that you can keep each other abreast of any incidents in your community.

12.    Get the kids involved. Invite the police to provide ID’s for the kids and teach stranger danger and tips for safely walking home from school or bike safety.

Crime prevention and safety are very serious subjects but you can make your event fun. It will leave everyone talking about what a great time they had and how much valuable information they received. Everyone involved will want to attend each and every time!

Planting a Community Garden

Spring is here and what a great way to get the residents out of their apartments and breathing the fresh air than to create a garden? If your owner permits you may create a community garden in one corner of the property. 1. First you will need to start by preparing the soil and building a 4 x 4 garden box. 2. Once you have built your box then you need to till the soil. 3. Add top soil, compost or peat moss straight into your garden box. 4. Add seeds or purchase things such as tomato plants. 5. Make sure to keep the garden moist not soaked and pick a spot where the plants will receive six to eight hours of direct sunlight. Start small and see where it goes. You will be able to get an idea of how many residents want to participate. Residents can pick what you will plant and take turns caring for the garden. If your owner does not want you planting anything on site it is very easy to find FREE containers to plant seeds in. Start by saving and collecting tin cans or jars. This way all you will need to purchase are seeds and soil. Make it an event. Offer refreshments and maybe even have a raffle where you give away a basket with gardening tools and gloves and a small gift card to Lowes or Home Depot. Everyone loves the change in weather and this is a fun way to get your residents together as a community!

Motivate your Leasing Team

Let’s be honest, leasing consultants are sales people and we should consider this when vacancy is high. They are the first smiling face you see when you enter the office. It is very important that the leasing people stay excited and motivated not only to lease our apartment homes but to give great customer service to our current residents and vendors. So in order to inspire my leasing staff I like to start a little friendly competition among them. Purchase a large dry erase board and put it up in the office away from the front leasing office. You can decorate it and make it festive. Post motivational quotes on and around the board.
Pick a theme or just make it colorful and eye catching. Next print the availability or target sheet. Look to see what units have been sitting vacant the longest. Then list those units on the dry erase board. These units are usually the apartment homes with less than desirable locations or they may be my upstairs units etc. Next to the units I will list the commission for each one. This way the leasing consultants get a visual for the money that will go into their pocket once they lease! The commission will vary by the units that are the hardest to rent so a unit sitting for over 100 days will pay $75.00 when a unit sitting for 50 to 100 days vacant will pay $55.00 etc. On top of the commission purchase $5.00 Starbucks gift cards and tape them to the dry erase board so that the minute a unit is rented that leasing consultant can take the gift card and buy themselves a treat! You can create a sense of urgency to close this way. Last but not least I create a leasing contest each week. The leasing consultant with the MOST leases closed for the week can pick from my grab bag of gifts. Depending on your leasing consultants and what their likes and dislikes are you can have things like gifts from Bath and Body Works or BBQ grilling items for the guys. Get to know what your employees like. Have pep rallies each week and go over your board with your leasing staff. Be creative and watch the team clean off that board!

Sight, Sound and Smell

Have you ever walked into a leasing office and it’s dark and quiet? No one is around to greet you. You wonder if you’re in the right place. You look around and suddenly hear a voice from a back office asking if they can help you. Sound familiar? I like to make my office welcoming and inviting. I spoke about decorating your office using a holiday theme to keep things bright, cheery and welcoming however some offices are not able to do this. You may be working on a brand new community or a community where it is against policy to decorate with themes. There are other alternatives. First make sure when you open up in the morning turn all the lights on and open the blinds and let the sun in! Purchase a small radio for the office and tune it to a jazz or classical music station. Keep it low so that you always have back ground music. Make sure your air conditioner or heater is set at a temperature that is comfortable. Some communities have Otis Spunkmeyer cookies that you can bake in the morning. This is usually to make the office smell good. If you do not have Otis Spunkmeyer or you want the office to smell great all day purchase a candle warmer. These are only around $15.00 and the wax is around $3.00. Use Vanilla as the scent. It will make your guests feel comfortable. When the office smells good and has a comfortable feel to it your guests will want to stay. They will feel at home and will want to make your community their home as well. Add a mini frig to your leasing area and keep it stocked with bottled water (with your label on them of course) to offer to future residents after touring. This goes along with offering cookies or any other treats as well. Last but not least if you are working alone try not to work in the back office if it’s in an area where someone walking in cannot see you. Try and stay up front so that you can greet your guests right away. They will love to see your smiling face!