Add Curb Appeal To Your Marketing Materials!

In my mailbox this week was the newest issue of Units magazine. If you've never had an opportunity to browse through this publication, you should know that Units magazine is the ultimate source of information about the apartment industry, and its reputation is irrefutable. I often get great marketing ideas just by flipping through the pages and reading articles that aren't related to marketing at all. For example, I got excited when I saw the title of the July 2008 cover article: The Annual Check-Up: Improving Curb Appeal Brings a Healthier Bottom Line. A lot of people don't realize that the same principles that apply to property management apply to all aspects of apartment marketing!

When you improve your aesthetic curb appeal, people start to see your community in a whole new light. New paint can bring in new renters. New kitchen upgrades bring smiles to the faces of prospective renters. New landscaping catches the eye of people who have never noticed your community before. A new dog park can attract a sector of renters that you've never reached before. Upgrading your curb appeal increases your bottom-line EVERY TIME!

These same principles can be applied to your marketing materials. If you pass out old or outdated marketing materials, don't be surprised if that's how prospective renters view your property. Think about it. How many people come for a first visit and sign a lease the same day? Hardly any. Instead, they go home and study the marketing materials that they collected throughout a hard day of apartment shopping. Once they've sorted through it all, which property stands above all the rest? It is the community with the newest and freshest marketing materials on the street.

If you're serious about wanting to boost your occupancy, stop viewing your brochures as brochures, your flyers as flyers and your marketing cards as marketing cards. Instead, start viewing them as sales agents that are working hard to get you leases long after your prospects have left your community. Refreshing the "curb appeal" of your marketing materials will increase your bottom line EVERY TIME! Try it today, and I guarantee you'll see results!