A multifamily operator will tell us 9 times out of 10 that their target residents are "young professionals." What does that terminology mean? How can you brand your community to reach these young professionals?

Start by understanding "young professionals"—their wants, needs, desires, and habits. Typically young professionals are beginning their careers in corporate or technical fields. Knowing who falls into this group can help tailor the community's brand to speak directly to them, where they are (physically, mentally, psychologically). If a brand doesn't identify who it's trying to reach, it doesn't know what kind of branding one needs to develop to make it be successful.

Targeting specific personas will make your budget and efforts go farther—it's more efficient to narrow the target and more cost-effective, as well. Let's look at what "young professional" means and how to determine whether you should build your brand around this specific customer persona.

"Young Professionals"

Who are "young professionals"? What do they do? How do they live? What do they value?

OVERVIEW

Generally speaking, young professionals are defined by their work and by their age. They're generally college-educated and trained professionals working in either white collar or blue collar industries. Their age can range from about 25-34. The following are other demographics and stats assumed about young professionals, taken from a national average:

Young professional demographics:

• $50,000-75,000 annual income
• Make up 6% of all households
• 34% are homeowners
• 50% have a college degree

Knowing that 34% of young professionals are homeowners can lead you to understand that the remaining approximate two-thirds of this group make up the potential renter pool.

GENERATIONAL CONTEXT

Beyond their work and age, their defined birth year span also plants them pretty squarely within the millennial generation—that's even more information to draw from.

Millennial statistics:

• Born 1981-1996 (28-43 years old in 2024)
• Concerned with financial future, even with higher education
• Budget priorities:
  • Rent/Mortgage
  • Food
  • Transportation
  • Basic Expenses
  • Student Loans
• Delay long-term commitments (i.e. marriage; purchasing home)
• Use internet 3 hours, 45 minutes/day
• Values:
  • Competitive
  • Civic-minded
  • Open-minded
  • Achievement-oriented
• Influences/Shaped by:
  • Columbine shooting
  • 9/11
  • Rise of the internet
• Communication preferences:
  • Instant messaging
  • Texts
  • Email
• Worldview / Seek out:
  • Challenge
  • Growth
  • Development
  • Fun work-life balance
  • Change

Are Young Professionals Really Your Target Audience?

Of those 9 times out of 10 our client tells us that their audience is young professionals—how many times is that fully accurate? Neither we nor our client knows until the market is assessed and the target audience is verified. If you don't do either, you're wasting time, money, and energy on one group when you should be examining who you really want to reach. Plus, you may need to narrow down your search even further, as "young professionals" is still a large target.

ASSESS YOUR MARKET

Create multifamily customer personas to fully align your brand. By defining the ideal resident profile (IRP) you can create your brand strategy around who is most likely to be the target audience. As an IRP is created, demographics are considered: age, gender, income. Additionally, analyzing your location (who lives and works in the area) will indicate even further information about who may want to live in your community. By understanding local growth patterns, that success can be folded into the community's success.

VERIFY YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Compare young professional stats against the research stats. Do they line up? If not, young professionals are indeed not the main persona group renting in your market. Match your branding efforts with accurate resident profiles based on actual data and actual research.

ALIGN BRAND WITH IRP

Align the brand with the IRP and see multiple benefits:

• Informing brand development - Knowing the values and preferences of the target group isn't for nothing—they exist to establish a pattern. Slip into the predictable pattern and reach them where they are and where they will be.
• Efficiency in targeting - Get your brand in front of those ready to listen (and resonate with brand messaging) and ready to make a rental decision
• Cost effectiveness - Stretch your (already stressed) marketing budget further by targeting the right audience instead of wasting ad spend and messaging on those who will never convert to lease-signing residents.

Branding to Reach Young Professionals

If our client was correct, and we find through research and discovery that their target audience is indeed young professionals, then we can work to help create branding to reach young professionals.

BRANDING STRATEGIES

Use the values found in the millennial realm (which overlaps nicely with young professionals) to tailor your brand. Millennials are concerned with money, use the internet a ton, and like challenges, growth, and change. To reach and attract millennials, build a brand strategy that solves their challenges and speaks their language. They're concerned with housing—make it easier. They're aware of social issues—create a fundraiser. They're constantly trying to balance between work and play—emphasize your WFH-friendly community aspects.

Meet them where they are with your marketing efforts: online on websites and social media.

Note: Location will function heavily into this. For a group of communities—do separate research for each location. Where one community may be tailored for young professionals, another may appeal to middle-aged families. That branding and messaging and targeting should look different.

Demographic research and creating an IRP should always come before developing a brand identity and strategy. You'll spend more time up front determining your best audience, but the efforts will get more dialed in as you go. Target young professionals if that's your multifamily customer persona. If it's not, keep up the research to align your brand strategies accordingly.