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!