Pre-leasing may be the most important phase of a new development. If you don’t have compelling marketing, you won’t be able to persuade leads to lock down their units early, and owners and operators won’t hit their occupancy numbers.

You can overcome the challenges presented by a multifamily lease-up by taking these nine critical steps while planning and executing your marketing strategy.

1. Build marketing momentum

To build marketing momentum, establish an inviting, branded website or landing page. If you’re using a corporate site or an independent listing service, consider creating your own website. You want leads to focus solely on your property. At a minimum, your home or landing page should ask leads for contact information and provide them guidance on the next steps in the leasing process.

2. Watch lead indicators

It seems intuitive that a new development will always attract the most leads but unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way. Go beyond focusing on your absorption rate. Make sure your leasing velocity is heading in the right direction and that you have taken seasonality into account. Adjust your marketing strategy as necessary, and always look for market opportunities to boost revenue, either by increasing rents or decreasing the concessions you’re offering.

3. Nurture renter leads

Don’t let your lead list gather dust. Invite leads to upcoming events and develop an email strategy that provides them information that's particularly useful to them at each stage of the sales funnel. 

Use email and social media to drive traffic to the content on your website. Encourage potential renters to follow you on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms to keep leads engaged and thinking about your property. In order for this to be effective, you must post regularly on social media and bring value to your page that potential renters would benefit from.

The goal here is to make prospective residents feel as connected as possible to the community you’re building.

4. Build anticipation

• Hold meet-and-greet events at local hotels, restaurants, or event spaces

• Present display boards with photos or mock-ups - including images of individual floor plans and community spaces

• Give prospective residents a glimpse into future community offerings using virtual tours or video specs

Face-to-face events give you the opportunity to communicate the benefits of your property effectively and learn about your prospects' needs and concerns.

The bottom line: These events help propel your prospects through the leasing process.

5. Advertise your properties

Use your advertising budget efficiently. Go beyond listing your property on Apartments.com, Rent.com,Craigslist, and the other usual suspects. Consider other promotional channels by brainstorming for both digital and traditional forms of marketing. This will ensure your marketing effectiveness is much more concrete.

For digital ad placement, combining pay-per-click and social media ad sources has proven to be a solid ad strategy for lease-ups. By marketing digitally, you are able to granularly target your desired customer and in turn, receive more bang for the buck.

For more traditional-style marketing, think about places your targets frequent such as local restaurants, shops, and leisure settings. Explore advertising or cross-promotional opportunities with merchants that would potentially appeal to your targeted demographic. 

6. Focus on benefits over features 

The tried-and-true mantra — “focus on benefits rather than features” — applies to multifamily lease-up marketing. Floor plans and amenities are important selling points, but don’t just pitch the number of bedrooms, the clubhouse, and other unit and community features and then call it a day. Convey to prospective residents the ways in which the various floor plans and amenities will provide value, convenience, and satisfaction to their lives.

7. Understand floor plan popularity

There’s no sugar-coating this - some floor plans are duds. The best approach to leasing these less popular units is to gather information from staff assessments and by collecting comments from potential renters who have toured the units.

Leverage floor-plan popularity in your pricing strategies. That will build demand for the less desired units while driving revenue on the highly sought-after ones.

8. Evaluate amenities constantly

Assess amenities as early and often as possible. Renters will pay more for a wide range of amenities beyond stellar views and high floors, such as parking and proximity to the pool. Keep an eye on the velocity of amenities and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.

If a particular view or location in the community is outperforming others, get your renter's feedback to see if that played a role in their decision to lease. If there's a connection, increase amenity value on that apartment home and take in the ancillary income.

9. Communicate

Delegating marketing tasks is vital during lease-ups. The lists of tasks seem to be never-ending for new developments, so distributing these deadlines — and assigning accountability for them — among your team is critical. Establish an open-door policy and stress the importance of communication.

Communication extends to leads and future residents as well. Keep them informed about timelines and other important information.