I know – it’s a buzzword. Integrated marketing communications has been the talk of MBA marketing programs, the talk of marketing circles and the talk of marketers in the apartment industry for probably the last decade.

It’s a pretty simple concept: Integrate all of your marketing and communications channels to enhance results in the most efficient manner possible. By linking all of your activities into one grand master plan, you ensure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect are relevant to them, which maximizes the impact of your marketing communications efforts.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to lose sight of integrated marketing communications when that shiny new channel presents itself – think about the onset of the social media craze. When social media came onto the scene, most apartment marketers had one of two reactions:

1. Disregard it as a fad that will fade. This was the easiest approach because it didn’t disrupt the plans that were already in place and humming along.
2. Create a stand-alone social media strategy that had nothing to do with the marketing plans in place. This was a cumbersome, expensive approach that required using resources to do something they’d never done before or hiring someone to do it for you.

While both of these approaches are natural, when an exciting new marketing opportunity presents itself, neither take advantage of the benefits of an integrated marketing communications plan. And neither was the right approach to a new channel that marketers didn’t have control over.

Ignoring these new channels was impossible because residents were posting reviews online or creating their own Facebook groups about apartment communities. In fact, a recent reputation management study we sponsored found that nearly 70 percent of prospective renters check review sites before leasing and nearly 70 percent expect apartment companies to respond to reviews online.

But the other extreme, creating an entirely separate social media strategy, was inefficient and ineffective because social media was unable to generate leads on its own. This is especially true for large apartment owners and operators that manage 100 or more apartment communities. Already busy on-site teams had to find time in their busy schedules to monitor ratings and reviews and post on Facebook, as a corporate team couldn’t handle the volume.

What marketers are discovering today is how they can use social media for specific promotions that fit within their overall integrated marketing communications program that is designed to generate leads and retain existing residents. By focusing their efforts on those things that assist in reaching the overall leasing and leads goals, marketers are able to efficiently utilize social media in a manner that is effective.

They’re incorporating reputation management programs and Facebook pages into their overall brand marketing and using social media for what it really is – an additional marketing channel to connect with residents and prospective renters in a branded manner.

Marketing channels will continue to change as the technological wild west that is the Internet continues to evolve, but one thing will remain – integrated marketing communications will be the most efficient and effective way to generate leads for your apartment company. Apartment marketers can’t ignore the new channels of today and they can’t run with those channels in a silo separate from their other marketing plans.

Much like your marketing team, the marketing channels are better together than they are as individuals. Buzzword or not, integrated marketing communications works.