Apartment marketing tactics and digital technologies are always evolving, but the most powerful tool you can use to draw people to your apartment community is as old as time: Storytelling.

Humans have been telling stories for as long as there has been language. Research shows that our brains are hard-wired to prefer stories over a list of facts -- they’re more memorable and engaging, and they stand out in a sea of content and advertising that we’ve learned to ignore.

The days of bombarding potential customers with the same marketing message over and over are gone. Now, marketers strive to offer experiences and lifestyles instead. Using a story to pull in a prospect is a powerful way to create a genuine connection between them and your brand. And, once you have that connection, trust and loyalty will follow.

The goal of storytelling in the context of apartment marketing is about piquing interest and sparking desire rather than closing the deal. It’s about drawing the customer in so they take additional steps to look into your apartment community in more detail. 

It might seem that apartment community stories amount to little more than the facts: address, the cost to rent, number of bedrooms, square feet, the existence of a pool. But the multifamily space is brimming with ways to tap into people’s emotions through storytelling and, in turn, motivate prospects into taking action. 

A good story has characters, conflict and resolution. Using video, social media, website copy, branding elements and email, you can weave a story that will tap into emotions and give the apartment community an edge over the competition. Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Show, don’t tell. Apartments are meant for living, so find a way to bring your apartment community to life. Rather than saying that your community has a fitness center, show people how they can use it or how it can fit into -- and improve -- their daily lives. Instead of saying that a kitchen has been renovated, point out how they could benefit from that renovation. It could mean additional counter and storage space to help make it easier to create delicious meals.
   
   
2. Identify your key message. Make sure you have a clear idea as to what you want to communicate about your community, and work on summarizing the core message into 10 words or less. What do you have to offer that no other apartment community can? What makes it unique?
   
   
3. Know your audience. Define the renter persona and determine the voice of your apartment brand in order to come up with stories that will speak to your prospective renters. If your community is a high-rise in an urban setting that offers eco-friendly apartment features, your target renter might be a college-educated professional who cares about the planet. If your community is kid-friendly with a dog park and in a great school district, your target renters would be families with kids and pets.
   
   
4. Embrace the conflict. Every great story needs conflict. People looking for an apartment often have a problem they’re looking to solve. For example, if a person has a long commute and sits sits in traffic for an hour each way, they could be missing out on valuable time with their family. Once they move into your apartment community, they’ll have a quick 10-minute drive to work and they’ll get to sit down to dinner with their family every night, improving their quality of life as well as their relationships.
   
   
5. Establish your call-to-action. The ultimate goal is to inspire people to make their home in your community. So, make it easy for them to take the next step by having a link to your online application, or a button they can tap that will allow them to set up an appointment for a tour. 
   
   Have you embraced storytelling in your apartment marketing efforts?