From the State of the Nation’s Housing 2016 report to NAA Education Conference sessions to Apartment Internet Marketing sessions, a lot of discussion is taking place about demand for apartment housing.

The State of the Nation's Housing 2016 report proclaimed that the nation’s housing market is recovering thanks in large part to rental demand. Yet, several sessions at NAA and AIM discussed integrating marketing and revenue management to generate more demand.

It may seem a little odd to talk about demand generation in a hot market. You might even be thinking: My community or portfolio is almost full and I have more demand than I need. There isn’t much need to create more demand. Is there?

The short answer is there’s always a need to drive more demand, even in this hot apartment market, for two very important reasons: 1. Demand drives rent growth. 2. Demand drives brand awareness.

Demand Drives Rent Growth

You might be 97 or 98 percent occupied, but, eventually, some residents are going to move out. When their leases come up for renewal, the demand you have for that apartment home is going to determine the rent listed on their renewal offer. The greater the demand, the higher the rent increase you can present for that apartment home.

If they choose to move out because the renewal rate is too high, you should be able to easily fill that home with someone willing to pay the higher rate. It’s really simple supply and demand economics at work. Whether you’re using revenue management software or setting your rents manually, the same supply and demand principles will affect your rent decisions.

Demand Drives Brand Awareness

We’re not just talking about national brand names here. We’re also talking about your local community brand, which is probably more recognizable than any national apartment brand name.

The bottom line is that the more demand you have for your apartment community, the more prospective renters are telling their friends and family about wanting to live there. If you’ve seen the studies on the power of online reviews, you know how effective strong word-of-mouth marketing can be in driving leases.

That’s a big reason why some of your strongest brands in the world, like Apple and Starbucks, are able to charge a premium for their products. Demand is high so the brand and the price of their products follow suit.

Sure, there’s a cost associated with demand generation. You have to keep advertising and you have to continue managing tours with prospective renters even when you’re full. But the payback in revenue growth more than offsets those costs.