The better way to nurture property leads

Why You Need Company-Wide Nurturing

At its core, a nurturing campaign is typically defined as a series of automated emails sent to a specific group of subscribers to build a relationship and move them through a sales funnel.

The goal is to deliver valuable content (and relevant content) to subscribers at regular intervals to keep them engaged with the brand and increase the likelihood of a conversion.

What's a conversion*?

In this case, we're talking about things like:

• Coming onsite for a tour
• Replying to the email with specific, actionable questions
• And of course, a new lease signing

(*More on conversions at the website level next week.)

In a perfect dream world, the content of each email would be tailored to the subscriber's interests and needs, with the ultimate goal of persuading them to take a desired action. For example:

• An email focused on studios
• An email focused on an interest in pet amenities
• Etc.

IMHO, nurture campaigns are a grossly underutilized way to build trust and loyalty with a growing audience in multifamily developments and companies. They're a great tool to drive more revenue for a property and a company.

But therein lies the problem: only a few groups do it.

To be more specific, not many groups stick with it and/or understand the value it provides.

We see it all the time.

Property-Specific vs. Company-Wide

I've gone back and forth about this over the years—the ole property-specific versus company-wide debate—but where I've landed is that both serve a purpose at different times.

Here's an example of a simple campaign sent out to nurture during the later stages of a lease-up for our Kenton House project.

Nothing overly complicated, but allow me to touch on a few important takeaways:

• It's fully branded and interactive, like all other touchpoints
• The tone it sets is, "become a founding member"
• Using words like "claim" pique the reader's interest

Campaigns like this are crucial and move the needle every time.

If kept consistent and valuable, nurturing campaigns can lease up a property faster—months faster—and drive revenue faster.

Why, then, do we need company-wide nurturing?

The question we should really be asking ourselves is almost laughably obvious when said aloud: What happens to that audience once the property is stable?

🤔

Think about it. You've got two, six, twelve, twenty... properties that have leased up over the years.

Each runs a lead capture form and, hopefully, some semblance of a nurturing campaign.

But when all is said and done, that audience is still an audience.

And that audience compounds every time a new property leases up and every time interested renters submit their information.

250 leads / per property x 8 properties over time = 2,000 renters

Sure, not every renter will stay on the list.

Sure, someone already renting might not pay a lot of attention.

Sure, there is work involved in a (quarterly, even) newsletter.

But let's also think about the upside: the "low-risk, high-reward" side:

• The list keeps growing: you will still collect leads on every property to be imported into the master list.
• Every email will inevitably be shared with friends and family, which means more subscribers will organically join in time.
• Portfolio-wide openings will get in front of 100s or 1000s of your already engaged audience without spending a dime on the ILS or ad networks.
• You slowly build brand loyalty and trust without significant effort.

There's no sense in sugar-coating the effort it takes to get an initiative like this off the ground, but once it's airborne, its net revenue gain compared to its investment will be off the charts.

You don't need a big or fancy MarTech stack to make this happen, either.

Start small, be strategic, and build your campaigns with your brand identity and values in mind, and the rest will follow.

1. Build it
2. Nurture it
3. Learn from it
4. Evolve it over time

There's a lot more to dig into with this topic, but within a macro environment where everything costs money and data ownership is questioned across the industry, I encourage your development, operator, and management teams to consider trying your hand at nurturing in-house.

Or at the very least, align with a partner who can help you take the first steps toward nurturing your existing fanbase.

What are you waiting for?