CLASS is very honored to have guest blogger and Student Housing Consultant Michael Coakley join us to weigh in on the amenity arms race that we are experiencing in Student Housing.  We would like to thank Michael for his great insight into the features and amenities that truly ad value for Student Housing developers.

THINK BEYOND THE WALLS OF AN APARTMENT:  BY MICHAEL COAKLEY

At the recent BISNOW conference in Philadelphia, several of the panelists, including me, expressed concern that some college and university markets are being overbuilt with properties that offer high levels of amenities.  Granite countertops, stainless appliances, resort style pools, and extensive fitness areas are norm in many new off-campus properties catering to the college student population.  While these premier properties are appealing, there is a finite percentage of the student population that can afford to choose to stay in such a property.  There is even a larger percentage of the student population that is looking for more affordable accommodations within close proximity to campus or with mass transit close by.

As the 21^st Century Project determined students are driven by the following: privacy, technology, community, and sustainability.  2/2s and 4/4s will continue to appeal to the majority of the student population.  Units that provide the greatest degree on technological integration with their multiple devices will be valued.  A property that encourages and promotes the development of community will stand above the rest of the competition.  A property that promotes sustainability via energy efficient heating and cooling; easy to access recycling;  ease of bicycle parking/storage; and the use of sustainable products in all aspects of the operation will have a market advantage with the generation of students who are now attending institutions of higher education.

At the same time, students and their parents are becoming much more astute customers.  What makes your offering stand out above the competition?  Instead of offering a free month’s rent, or a chance to win the latest and greatest techno toy, or the opportunity to have a unit that faces the pool, consider what adds value to both the student and their parents.  Instead of requiring it, why not offer renter’s insurance as part of your rent?  In addition to providing washers and dryers in units or in close proximity, why not offer a weekly laundry service pick-up and drop-off with one of the local businesses?   Depending on your location, why not provide free shuttle service to and from the local airport during holiday season?  The opportunities are endless on how you can make your property stand above the rest of the market at a relatively low cost but will be viewed by students and parents as being invaluable.  Students and their parents are seeking more than just an apartment, they want an experience and value.

Michael J. Coakley

Coakley and Colleagues, INC

You can reach Michael at michael@coakleyandcolleagues.com

Coakley and Colleagues, INC, is a consulting firm focusing on higher education, with a particular focus on student housing both on and off campus.

www.coakleyandcolleagues.com

For today’s consumer, there is purpose behind a purchase.

If you watched The Masters last month, you may have noticed ExxonMobil’s campaign for their National Math and Science Initiative.  Rather than promoting their product, ExxonMobil utilized a marketing technique known as Cause Marketing.  Coke also just released a very cool video campaign based on cause marketing that you can see here.

Be prepared to see more cause marketing as consumer buying behavior is trending towards purpose purchasing.  In other words, people are starting to support brands that actively support a charity or cause.

Here is an amazing stat from the CauseMarketingForum.com:  purchases from brands that utilize cause marketing are up 47% since 2010. Over the years, consumers have taken increased action on behalf of brands with purpose.  When product and price point is equal (as is usually the case within multifamily submarkets), consumers tend to choose organizations that partner with and promote a charitable initiative.  Marketing Directors are seeing the ROI on these efforts and cause marketing expenditures are expected to reach nearly $2 billion in 2013, up 5% from 2012.

It may be time to leverage this trend into your marketing plan.  Here are a few ideas.

1. Establish a charitable donation referral program.  When a resident or local business refers a move-in, make a donation to a charitable organization.   Send a notice to that business or individual to let them know that the donation was made in their name.
2. Develop resident events that raise money for organizations like The Wounded Warrior Project.  This can include drawings, rummage sales etc.
3. Partner with local food bank and schedule a day where your residents can help donate their time.  Provide a shuttle service, food and drinks and build a sense of community for your residents while assisting at the food bank.

Make sure to take plenty of pictures of these events to document on your Facebook page.  This will act as great exposure for your community while also providing much needed funding and assistance to a good cause.

CLASS has spent the past month leasing a by-the-bed student property at Texas A&M University.  In a saturated market it is extremely important to quickly identify emerging trends in order to capitalize on market share. By gauging these trends and tweaking our sales process, the property is almost ten percent ahead of last year’s pre-leasing numbers.

Here are three trends we’re seeing this year:

• Enhanced focus on cost-effectiveness

Having leased-up the same property last year we have noticed an unmistakable uptick in the number of students paying rent on their own, whether through part-time jobs or student loans and grants. This results in a consumer far more involved in the buying process than we’re used to seeing. Whereas last year’s student, with parents footing the bill, didn’t care about price tags, this year’s student wants to ensure they’re getting the most bang for their buck. It is imperative that value is conveyed to this year’s student. Whether that means calculating how much money your community will save them on utilities each month or charting out the bus route to show how much closer they’ll be to campus, you must be communicating value at all stages of the sales process. In order for the price-conscious student to lease at your community, they need to perceive some sort of value in your product. Resident events and parties are no longer cutting it for a lot of students.

• Short-term leases

Reading that may have you cringing, but it’s true. The reality is that many students don’t want to lease an apartment over the summer if they aren’t planning on staying in town. However, students want short term leases so badly that they’re willing to pay almost anything for them– and Mom and Dad are too.

At my current property, the only alternative to a 12 month lease is one beginning in August and ending in May. With our current rent concessions taken into consideration, the 12 month lease actually ends up being the cheaper option when compared to the 10 month lease. Naturally, you would think that students would agree with the math and choose the longer lease. However, that is not the trend. Students are choosing the 10 month lease at almost every opportunity and sighting their “summer freedom” as reasoning. Our competitors have also taken notice of this tendency and one property in particular is charging a premium fee of $100 a month for 9 month leases.

• Applying and leasing online

There is nothing this generation loves more than the ease of technology. While some of you would never personally apply for an apartment online, this year’s students are doing that and more. Recently my property expanded upon the typical process for applying online. Instead of filling out the standard contact form and having a leasing agent get in touch with the prospective resident, our new website allows for the entire lease to be signed via our property website  without ever stepping foot on the property. While this approach certainly won’t appeal to every student, it definitely has caught the attention of some. In almost a month’s time we have received an average of about 20-25 online leases. While this number may pale in comparison to the number of leases signed in the leasing office, it is significant nonetheless. It’s very likely that the property may have lost out on these leases had we not had the online process in place.

With all the talk about marketing and leasing to college students, we often find that a critical decision maker is left out of the sales process.  I’m talking about the parents.  You know, the folks who are actually writing the rent check.  While the property must first appeal to the student in order to have any hope of procuring a lease, we often underestimate the influence that a parent can play in the decision making process.  This is especially so if we are looking to maximize rents and the price point is going to be a key issue.

Before we explore some ways of marketing to parents, we first need to understand the basic dynamics of buying behavior.  When two parties are considering a purchase, one typically finds that the party who initially identifies the product will take a pro-purchase stance, while the party who was not present during the initial inquiry will often play devil’s advocate.  This is true in most cases, whether it’s the wife who first viewed the apartment and the husband must now be convinced, or the senior citizen who identifies a 55+ community but must now talk it over with skeptical children.  In other words, don’t just focus on the person who made the initial inquiry.  It is often more important to sell to the party who was not present when the property was first viewed.

As the Student Housing Industry continues to mature, most CMO’s are aware of the need for a robust, year-round marketing program.  Targeting students used to begin in January and end in May.  Today’s student properties incorporate resident functions, social media, web presence, reputation management, and traditional marketing strategies into a 12 month program geared at building a sense of community and a recognizable brand.  While these robust programs can make identifying the source of traffic and quantifying the ROI on marketing spends very difficult, it also means that prospective residents are very familiar with our properties by the time the leasing season gets cranked up.  But how do we sell the property to the parents?  Below are 3 ways that you can target this all important decision maker and ensure that they are happy to pay the rent each month!

• Get parent testimonials during lease renewals or lease signings.  Offer a free Starbucks card to any parent who provides feedback via email or on a review site regarding the ease of move-in, convenience of rent payment or overall satisfaction with the operations of the office.  It is not just the younger generations who value the feedback of their peers!
• Get their email address.  Have your CA’s acquire the parents’ email addresses on the phone or during the initial tour.  If received on the phone, send the parent an email and Cc the student. (Cc’ing the student is very important, as generation Y hates any lack of transparency and will want to be privy to the conversation).   The email should be short and personal.  It should explain that their son or daughter has contacted the property and you are writing to simply introduce yourself.  It should include pictures, floor plans and pricing as well as an attachment with some testimonials from both residents and their parents.  It should conclude by providing a good contact number and an invitation to either call or visit the property if they have any questions.  Finally, include a coupon for a free coffee or sandwich from a local restaurant or coffee shop for the next time they are in town.  With the click of a mouse you will become the parent’s first choice. This will help overcome any price objections by demonstrating value and customer service.
• Direct Mail.  As the postal service continues to scale back operations and mail volume declines, direct mail is becoming a viable marketing source for the older generations.  Have a direct mail piece drop during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays while the children are at home.  Direct it to the parents and it may become the catalyst for a dialogue between parent and student about their housing plans for the following year.

Make no mistake, if the student does not consider your community as a housing option, any of the above suggestions will be futile.  However, marketing to the parents can be an extremely effective compliment to your existing student focused strategies.  Parents can’t make the sale, but if they are not on board they can certainly break it.

Traditional marketing is dead! Or so claims The Harvard Business Review.

But is it really dead, or has it drastically changed along with the rest of the today’s communication landscape. With social media, hundreds of new channels have been opened resulting in a constant bombardment of product messaging. So how does your message stand out in such a red ocean? People hate to be interrupted (Pandora commercials), but what about being disrupted? And what is the difference?

There is much debate about the meaning of disruptive advertising, but I describe it as “what the heck was that?” advertising. And to get that reaction today, you have to go over the top! Maybe that is why the Old Spice or Dollar Shave Club campaigns were so popular. Much like the popular show Family Guy that goes over the top with every joke, todays marketers need to bring the heat if they are going to get the attention of a consumer.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the multifamily industry. Whether it is the generic “Free Rent” or “Now Leasing” banner, or your local Craigslist page, it’s almost as if our industry is afraid to stand out. But that is exactly what needs to happen in today’s leasing landscape. When marketing an apartment, remember that the attention span of a consumer is shorter than ever. If the image and message does not disrupt them, they will not notice.

Below are 3 “Disruptive” apartment marketing ideas.

1. Branding the toilet paper. For a student property in Michigan, hundreds of rolls of toilet paper were purchased with the words “tired of your crappy apartment call….” and the logo printed on each square. These rolls of TP were then placed in bathrooms all over campus.

2. Disruptive Images. Images like this completely random picture of Jeff Goldblum might seem strange to some CMO’s, but when placed on a stall in a bathroom you get disruptive marketing. An image like this with an apartment’s name or website will certainly get attention.

3. Burritos on a Bike. The Leasing Director at a property in Texas recently purchased $100 worth of $1 burrito’s, put them in a basket on a bike, and road around the property and the town handing out burritos. The reaction on Facebook and Twitter to the burrito bike stunt drew traffic and renewals for the property.

Stop thinking about how best to describe your property, and start thinking about how to disrupt the attention of your prospective renters. If they see your message and it is interesting and outside the box, they will remember your brand!

At the NAA Student Housing Conference and Expo this year, a game of Family Feud was put together pitting five University of Las Vegas students versus five parents from that school in the ultimate showdown of student housing.  The responses to the game were based upon “11,195 college students and 3,605 parents from 159 different colleges and universities, who were polled via email Jan. 20-Feb. 1 by J Turner Research” (Units Magazine April 2012).  Ultimately the purpose of the survey was to determine what both students and parents want, or are looking for, when it comes to picking the perfect apartment in their respective college towns.  The survey is also a great education tool for all parties involved in multifamily from site level to developers, because what students and parents are looking for in an apartment community can vary greatly.

The entire summary of the survey can be found at www.naahq.org/resources/data/StudentHousing, but I am just going to highlight a few of the key questions and corresponding responses given that I found interesting from the showdown of parents versus students:

• It shouldn’t come as a surprise that word of mouth is typically one of the, if not the top marketing resource when it comes to a student deciding upon where they want to live.  I know when I was in school I always wanted to live either where my friends were living, or where the majority of students in town were looking to spend their time.  According to the survey of students polled, 38% of students learned of their apartment community from college friends/roommates, while 29% learned of their current community through an internet search.  I’d be willing to bet that the internet search somehow correlates Facebook and other word of mouth reviews as well, which adds up to nearly 70% of students being influenced by other individuals when picking their new apartment.
• When parents are searching online for their students new home, the number one thing those polled said they were looking for on the community’s website are rental rates (48%).  We typically encourage communities to not post their rental rates on the website, because this could lead to many individuals pre-qualifying themselves, or their students, and therefore not even calling your community to learn more information.  Even when prices are posted on a website, we like for the prices to be the market value, rather than the special price, to allow for the leasing specialists to sell the value, as opposed to just the special, of the apartment.  Surprisingly, parents were not concerned with finding out any additional information about the number one most important factor when selecting the actual apartment, safety, on the apartment community website.
• With the top tier student properties, you can typically expect to see more amenities than with conventional properties.  Movie theaters, pools, fitness centers and business centers are usually a must with many additional features stacked upon these.  So, if amenities are often times the main selling points of a student community, surely this is the number one feature students are looking for in their new home, right?  Not exactly.  The number one item students were looking for in their new home was a professional leasing and management staff (19%), followed by friends living at the community (19%) and a fitness center (18%).  It appears that students are concerned a little more with how they will be treated, rather than the amenities available for their use.
• This last stat from the survey I found of interest was one that I had actually heard before first hand at multiple communities, as well as in other student housing publications.  When asked what service or utility upgrade they would be willing to pay more for, of course the overwhelming response was none (26%), but after this the second response was high speed internet service (16%).  Current students are in the bulk grouping of the Facebook generation and absolutely have to have their high speed internet connection.  With internet venues such as Hulu and Skype, students rely upon fast internet access for entertainment just as much as they do for education purposes.  A student housing developer can plan on calling upon us sooner than later if a community is not designed with high speed internet access, because they will have a tough time leasing to students with that as an overwhelming objection.

It’s a two sided coin when it comes to student communities, because not only do the students have certain needs to be met, but the parents of these students also have concerns of their own that have to be addressed.  The tough scenario that can be encountered all too often is that the desires of the student and their parents can be very contrasting, so leasing agents must be able to cater the apartment and the community to both parties.  Just remember that when it comes to student housing, it’s all about being able to learn what both students and parents want in order to secure the lease!

For any apartment community out there, having a video made to show the features and benefits of the property is a must have in the marketing repertoire.  A high quality video can definitely be the difference between a potential prospect coming to tour your community and leasing, or just continuing to scroll their mouse right on to your competitors website.

Property videos can be as simple as using a Flip Cam, or something similar since Flip Cam is no longer produced, to film the property, show apartments, the model, residents enjoying amenities, etc.  This video allows for simple pictures posted on the community website to come to life and really accentuates what the community has to offer.

If you are really looking to get a vamped up and professionally made video for your community, ShowMyProperty.tv may be what you and your community need.  ShowMyProperty.tv takes the typical apartment video and exponentially increases the marketing potential by inputting:  a script; actors for hosts; high quality film production; editing; rights to the video.  Using ShowMyProperty.tv will allow your community to take a step above the competition as the video will also includes clips of surrounding venues, so potential residents can see what the location of your property also has to offer.

I strongly encourage clicking on the link and watching a few of the apartment examples to see what ShowMyProperty.tv has to offer.  The great thing about the video is that once it is made, it can be plugged into all outlets of social media allowing for a significant increase in property awareness and ultimately, more leases!

There are constantly many ideas and articles being tossed around in regards to designing the perfect Facebook Page for an apartment community and what exactly that entails, or if there really is such a thing.  Facebook, being a social media website, or I should see “THE” social media website, is only beneficial if it is seen by many viewers.  Taking the time and effort to create a page is great, but then it comes down to how exactly the page is made to be viewed by web surfers.  A Facebook Page is no different than creating any other web page in that it must be viewed as relevant to associated content in order for it to be searched for and found.  The typical apartment community Facebook Page is not searched for in a generic search and found, rather apartment community pages are usually directed to in other forms of marketing (i.e., embedded links in other web pages; Facebook Page URL in flyers; word of mouth; etc.).  There are some basic steps that need to be followed for any Facebook Page, as well as for apartment community Facebook Pages, to ensure that the user is providing themselves with the opportunity to have a successful Facebook Page.  Here is a break down of 10 basic steps for any Facebook Page courtesy of Jeff Bullas:

1. Keep your posts short
2. Post photos, videos and quotes
3. Post consistently
4. Ask for your fans opinions
5. Ask questions using the Facebook questions app
6. Try posting “fill in the blank” posts
7. Give fans access to exclusive information
8. Reward your fans with deals and perks
9. Be timely
10. Localize your posts ff they are relevant to a specific audience

When it comes to creating a Facebook Page for an apartment community, the steps to success that should be taken are a little more specific, but can still be utilized as a model for multiple venues of business.  Stephanie Burns put together a great list in Multifamily Insiders of 10 steps for an apartment community to follow to help ensure Facebook Page success:

1. Make sure your apartment community’s page is setup as a page-NOT a profile
2. Create a vanity URL for your Facebook Page and promote it
3. Don’t start by promoting yourself and using Facebook as a means to lease apartments
4. Share meaningful, relevant information with your fans on a consistent basis
5. Utilize Facebook Places
6. Offer Facebook deals
7. Cross-promote and market your Facebook Page with local businesses and offer exclusive offers for Facebook fans
8. Find interesting and creative ways to engage and interact with your residents
9. Attract fans that are relevant to your business
10. Use Facebook to post comments as your apartment community

Utilizing Facebook as a marketing venue is a fun and interactive way to show that your community is actively involved when it comes to communicating through social media.  If your community does not in fact already have a Facebook Page, then get one now, because the longer you go without one, then the longer you leave the window of opportunity open for your competitors to capture the Facebook market.

With a majority of apartment communities claiming their number one traffic source from ILS’s and other property specific websites, it’s very beneficial for communities to do everything possible to capture the highest percentage of these viewers.  Often times there is no real way for a property to know if someone is viewing their material online, or exactly how much online traffic they are turning into foot traffic through the community doors.

One such way for a property to be able to engage their online viewers more is through the use of ContactAtOnce!.  Through ContactAtOnce! an apartment community is able to sign up for the Apartment Chat package and reach out to these online viewers through the various ILS’s and social media pages the community has.  If there is a potential prospect that visits a particular ILS (i.e., Apartments.com, Apartmentfinder.com, etc.), the leasing agent will have a notification that there is currently a visitor viewing their information on the apartment site, as well as the prospect will be notified that there is a leasing agent available right now for them to speak with.  From here the leasing agent can type in an introductory question in order to give the prospect the initial opportunity to ask any questions they may have about the property before they even visit.  With this unique opportunity to communicate with the prospect online, it would still be very important that the leasing agent withhold from giving any specific information about pricing and specials for this material needs to be saved for the closing table after the prospect visits the property.

Using ContactAtOnce! gives the leasing agent the upper hand in creating their initial rapport with the prospect and allows the prospect to immediately have a connection with someone at the property.  I’d personally love to get property specific feedback from communities that use ContactAtOnce! to see how beneficial it was to the leasing agents, because I feel that this would only help to get more online traffic through the doors of the property.

It’s that time of the year again. The weather is finally starting to cool down…a little. Soon the leaves on the trees will start to change to the fall colors. College football will once again consume every second of my Saturday afternoons, which also means that college campuses just recently started classes back. If you’re reading this and you’re a property owner/manager at a student property, then hopefully you are patting yourself on the back as your property sits 100% occupied from the hard work you put forth during the Spring and Summer months marketing your property. If you’re not quite at your occupancy goal (maybe you should give us a call!), then there are some steps that you can take next leasing season to ensure your community being completely full.

The idea for this post came from reading Kerry Sugrue’s blog in Multifamily Insiders, which was great, so I am going to give my thoughts and expand on her topics she covered to give some tips on how to succeed with a college property:

1. “You Need To Have School Spirit”

Obviously if you are a student property, then your main marketing efforts need to be geared tremendously towards whatever college it is that your potential residents will be attending. This means that your community name needs to be in front of those students as much as possible. Attending events, such as open houses, orientations, group meetings, sporting venues, etc. are an absolute must. At any of these campus gatherings, little things can be handed out that pertain to college students (i.e. book bags; water bottles; food of any kind), because if there’s any category of any individuals that appreciate free stuff, then it is college students.

2. “Encourage Your Residents To Bring Friends”

One of the most powerful marketing tools that will influence your success at a college community is going to be word of mouth. In any college town students want to live where their friends live. I can vouch for this point, because even when I was in college, I literally moved every single year of school, because I wanted to live at the community where a majority of my friends lived. If I was going to be hanging out with these people everyday anyways, it just seemed to make sense to live in the same apartment community. Therefore, at any sort of community party that you plan, make sure to give an additional incentive to current residents for bringing their friends. One of the easiest things to give would be something along the lines of an increased resident referral where if anyone brings a friend and they fill out an application to move-in, then it’s a 2 for 1 deal and the typical referral given is doubled.

3. “Start Advertising Immediately”

A marketing plan for a student property should be something that encompasses the entire calendar. Whereas with a conventional property where marketing can be done per occupancy status and pushed when vacancies arise, marketing for a student property is never-ending. If a property is looking to become filled for the Fall, then the most important marketing window is without a doubt during the Spring. The reason behind this is that some student leases may be ending in May, so students will be looking to sign a new lease before they leave for Summer vacation. This is a key marketing point that cannot be forgotten, because college cities typically turn into ghost towns during the Summer since a majority of the population will be college students going home until the Fall. With no one being in town for the Summer and you being a property that needs to be filled by the beginning of school, you will absolutely be facing an uphill battle with a very short window between the time students actually come back in town and the first day of classes.

4. “Partner With The University”

The university should be your partner at all times, because all of your clientele will be coming from this all important place. Getting your foot in the door with any sort of housing related departments should be priority number one, because students that are not looking to live in a dorm may stop here to get their referral for apartment communities in the area. We actually worked at a student property that advertised themselves as the official student housing for the university (with permission from the university since they did not have any on-campus housing). This ended up being a huge marketing tool, because we were actually allowed to setup a mini office in the housing department to offer information to any student interested in living at a community that was not only sanctioned by the university, but was also where their peers would be living.

5. “Get Involved”

College prospects fall into the Generation Y category, which means that they are a group that is extremely connected with one another and seek to be very informed with all aspects of life they are involved with.  Therefore, as a student community, it is pertinent that the property actively engage these college residents to ensure that they are aware the community is there for them.  Have a huge welcome home party at the beginning of each semester to make the new residents feel welcome.  Make them feel as if you are a community that is directly tied with the local university and be a presence on campus by sponsoring a tailgate for a football game.  The more you can do for your college residents the better, because they are a very impressionable group and you want to do everything possible to ensure your property is known as the place to be.