How are you competing against other apartment communities in your area? With so many different players in the rental market, it's important to be aware of approaches other rental marketers use to gain traffic and eyeballs (and eventually leases) from renters. By comparing their marketing tactics to your own, you'll be able to identify growing trends or new ideas for your own property.

As you look through your competition's Web presence, pay attention to their marketing strategy and ask yourself the following questions to benchmark your business against others in the playing field.

As you look at their listings:
  • Are there any deals or upsells they offer renters?
  • What property features are emphasized? Are certain brands included in listing descriptions, or are specific "green" features called out?
  • What kind of visual aids accompany the listings? Video tours, floor plans, amenity photos, etc.
  • How does their brand translate in the advertising copy?
  • Where can you improve in comparison?
As you look at their website:
  • How are they branding their business using the website?
  • What tone of voice do they use in their copy? What is their value proposition?
  • Do they offer any kinds of services that give them a leg up on the competition?
  • What kind of testimonials or data is used to promote the community and acquire residents?
  • Pay attention to the calls to action: what is the text, and how are they making them "clickable"?
  • Is the website navigation intuitive?
  • What kinds of keywords are they optimizing for in their copy?
  • What are some things they do well that you can apply to your own website?
As you look at their social media pages:
  • How often do they update the page or respond to posts?
  • What sort of content do they post? Is it mostly self-promoting, or do they include community news and events?
  • Are the posts mostly visual or mostly text?
  • What types of posts receive more shares or "Likes" than others?
  • How do they respond to negative feedback?

It's easy to keep your head down and work through your never-ending to-do list, but it's equally important to pay close attention to how other apartment communities are appealing to residents. Do your research to find your local competition, and keep tabs on them so your marketing strategy evolves with the changing marketing environment!

distributed by