As real estate investors are well aware, determining the return on investment is vital to the success of any project. Unfortunately, many real estate investors become so caught up in calculating the overall return on investment of a property that they forget the importance of calculating the individual ROI for advertising and marketing a property. This can be particularly important when managing multiple multifamily properties.
Without understanding what is working for a property in terms of marketing, it can be easy to continue funneling money into an advertising system that simply does not work or is not as effective as it could be. It also a mistake to assume that what works for one property will also work for another property. Each individual property and community is different, which means it is vital for property managers to determine what is effective for a specific property, so as to avoid wasting money on advertising that will not provide the desired return on investment. As the old-school marketing cliche goes, “I know I’m wasting half of my money on marketing. I just don’t know which half.”
In the past, there were few metrics available to assist property managers in evaluating the performance of marketing and advertising initiatives. Fortunately, with the availability of today’s technology, it is now much easier to track and calculate the return on investment of specific marketing campaigns. It is even possible to drill down further and determine the ROI for marketing initiatives for specific properties.
The new technologies made available today, combined with increased media opportunities and the ability to target specific audiences in a more precise manner, have made it possible for property investors to measure their overall marketing efficiency as well as the performance of specific advertising campaigns at a more granular level.
While new techniques and tools have added to the complexity of evaluating property marketing performance, the ability to measure return on investment and target what works and what does not has become vital to competing in today’s property investment industry. Now, property managers can ensure they are reaping the highest ROI possible on marketing initiatives.
This is one area where Genaro Diaz Lozano, the CEO of GreenWater Asset Management and GDL Investments, has excelled with a novel approach to advertising and marketing Nova Eagle Communities. Currently, Nova Eagle has a systematic process in place for all properties to be properly listed online. Through the implementation of a customized system, each property manager is able to submit data regarding leads and how those leads came to know about each property.
Through this process, it is possible for data to be filtered according to property. This gives the team vital insight into which advertising efforts work best for each specific community while providing a clearer picture of the property’s ROI for all advertising and marketing campaigns. Just a few of the promotional approaches currently used include move-in specials, search engine optimization, tenant referral programs, and local listings.