The Critical Role of PPC in Your Multifamily Marketing Strategy
Compelling content is a crucial component to multifamily marketing so you can engage users and turn apartment leads into leases once they are on your multifamily website. But content also plays a role in multifamily PPC.
The old multifamily marketing maxim “the more you tell, the more you sell” is often dismissed in this modern era of digital marketing. This dismissal is often seen with online advertising like paid search (the ads seen alongside your search results) and social network advertising.
With the limitations of character spacing with this pay-per-click (multifamily PPC) advertising media — not to mention the limitations of the average online consumer’s attention — there’s a lot to be said for being concise, strategic, and capable of working within limitations.
In many ways, multifamily marketing is all about “thinking outside the box,” but online marketing is often about “thinking inside strangely shaped boxes.”
Consider Google AdWords: Between three lines (including the headline), you have under 100 characters of content to convince a would-be resident that your ad is a better pick than a page full of organic search results. Of course, there’s also Twitter, where your company faces the peculiar challenge of fostering a community with independent short messages.
No wonder many business owners who don’t get it look at online marketing with a loss for words. They’re not used to thinking inside boxes with such strange proportions.
But don’t be fooled. Even if you’re promoting your multifamily PPC campaign on Google, Bing, Facebook, or another medium, content is still king.
Want some tips for creating highly optimized blogs for your multifamily website? Check out our blog, the Ultimate Guide to Crafting Highly Optimized Blogs.
Getting the Apartment Lead
Yes, you face limitations in your multifamily PPC ad, but remember that getting the click is only the first step in your conversion.
Suppose you manage to capitalize on some objective or curiosity in a search or social user looking for a place to lease, drawing a click. Now, if you fail to make the sale or capture the apartment lead, you’ve only paid for a click, not a resident. A very expensive tiny mechanical movement of the finger that will never give you money. Not exactly good for business, right?
When your prospect arrives at your landing page, there needs to be sufficient content to firmly establish confidence in your property. Suppose you’re a luxury apartment complex trying to lease up. In that case, the sale you’re reaching for represents a more significant decision than a can of soda, an air freshener, or a screwdriver.
Decisions of such substance require a high level of confidence and comfort, usually a result of careful consideration. The average online shopper is no different. If anything, they’re more deliberate, more apt to research their options, than the rest. That multifamily PPC ad that led them to your multifamily website? It may be one of five or more results (organic and multifamily PPC) they check, and the sale may come down to which advertiser supplied sufficient information to facilitate confidence in the apartment community itself.
This comfort can overcome barriers like price that might impede prospects, particularly with larger purchases. A would-be resident might be willing to spend 10% more for your luxury apartments than the next guy, simply because they are confident they know exactly what they are getting. That willingness can result in a walk-through, which can result in a sale, all because your multifamily website was optimized with an intuitive user experience that kept the visitor engaged long enough to read a substantial amount of content. You have inspired confidence in your multifamily community, and all it required was some strategic copywriting and a willingness to go beyond “short and sweet.”
Getting the Click
It may surprise you that strategically substantial content also plays a role in determining who rules the roost in many multifamily PPC arenas. That’s right; content is king, even in the keep-it-simple world of multifamily PPC advertising.
Most valuable online advertising platforms have consideration for an ever-growing list of factors in their ranking of one ad over another, and the amount you are willing to pay is not the almighty trump card it once was in many platforms.
In other words, the ad at the top is not likely the guy who is paying the most. In fact, he might very well be paying less. Other factors play into the equation, including historical performance, ad copy relevance, and — more than ever — the landing page itself.
That’s right; the content on your multifamily website impacts how the third-party advertising channel handles your ad. Part of this is obvious. Google and friends want to be certain your ad is relevant to your landing page, and a well-executed content block on your landing page will go a long way toward that.
In addition, how a user responds to your landing page also impacts your multifamily PPC ad’s performance in the eyes of the medium. If the user clicks on your ad and returns shortly, it does not speak well of your relevance.
If, however, you capture their attention and lead them to spend a few moments reading some gripping content, that helps you look better to whatever advertising platform you are using — which gives you a better ad position and more clicks. If optimized, this ultimately results in more units getting filled and more money in your pocket.
Content Is King, Not the Jack of All Trades
While content is important, don’t seek content for content’s sake. Some situations can make it work against you. And unoptimized content (e.g., bad writing, poor aesthetics, and information overload) can overwhelm even interested users, perhaps driving them away.
You’ll want to tailor your content to the visitors you anticipate from your posted ad, which means identifying and pursuing your visitor personas. Content doesn’t fix every problem. In fact, it doesn’t even fix most problems. However, it does far more than it gets credit for. When it helps, it rules.
