FIREBELLY PRESENTS

APARTMENT MARKETING PREDICTIONS 2014FEATURING MARK JULEEN, SARAH GREENOUGH, JONATHAN SAAR, MIKE BREWER, ERICA BYRUM, ERIC BROWN, & DUNCAN ALNEY

@MBJ @SGREENOUGH @MBREWER@JONATHANSAAR @ERICACAMPBELL @URBANEWAY @FIREBELLY

2014 IS UPON US. HERE’S SOME OF THE TOP PLAYERS IN APARTMENT MARKETING SOUNDING

OFF ON WHAT’S IMPORTANT.

This will be the year for Google+

MARK JULEENVP MARKETING, J.C. HART

@MBJ

THIS WILL BE THE YEAR FOR GOOGLE+

THE WEBSITE APARTMENT RATINGS, WILL CONTINUE TO GAIN GROUND ON THE TRADITIONAL ILS

This will be the year for Google+

MARK JULEENVP MARKETING, J.C. HART@MBJ

THIS WILL BE THE YEAR FOR GOOGLE+. I’ve been bullish since day one, but for marketers we may see a shift away from Facebook, or other platforms, and more effort over on G+.

THE WEBSITE APARTMENT RATINGS, WILL CONTINUE TO GAIN GROUND ON THE TRADITIONAL ILS. If they can come up with a solid mobile plan

they could overtake all of them, in my opinion.

SARAH GREENOUGH

MOBILE USAGE CONTINUES TO CLIMB

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, PRINCETON PROPERTIES

@SGREENOUGH

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE WILL CONTINUE TO GROW

SARAH GREENOUGH

MOBILE USAGE CONTINUES TO CLIMB with smart phones and tablets flooding the market. This trend will continue in 2014. We currently have over 25% of our web traffic coming from mobile. Just two years ago, it was only

3-5%! In 2014, our focus will be on improving our mobile exposure. One step is to convert from WAP pages to responsive designed websites. We have started this process already.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE WILL CONTINUE TO GROW. Residents use social sites, such as Facebook, to become part of a “virtual community” at their apartment buildings. Residents also use

these venues to contact management teams with questions and concerns. This source of communication will continue to grow; we embrace this way of doing business. It allows us to be where our customer is and provide quick and friendly answers. Social sites allow for us to be responsive and attentive in an environment that our

residents prefer.

One issue that I hope to resolve in 2014 is to try and gain more reliability and responsiveness from our marketing partner. As the “one stop shop” MFH partners continue to grow, we customers feel the growing pains. They are growing so large, trying to be all things to everyone that many issues are falling through the cracks. Monitoring our relationships with marketing partners to ensure accuracy has become a much bigger task for our team than

in years past. We always have to verify and then verify again!

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER PRINCETON PROPERTIES@SGREENOUGH

JONATHAN SAAR

FACEBOOK WILL ADD EASIER “CLICK-TO-CONTACT” OPTIONS FOR BUSINESS PAGES

VP MARKETING & EDUCATIONAL SOLUTIONS, TRAINING FACTOR@JONATHANSAAR

CONTENT WILL CONTINUE TO RULE

JONATHAN SAARVP MARKETING & EDUCATIONAL SOLUTIONS, TRAINING FACTOR@JONATHANSAAR

FACEBOOK WILL ADD EASIER “CLICK-TO-CONTACT” OPTIONS FOR BUSINESS PAGES in the same context Google does with its pay-per-click ads.

CONTENT WILL CONTINUE TO RULE. However, the trend towards shorter posts for the benefit of the reader will make more headway. Marketers will be more apt to include more images and short videos to

their content strategy.

MIKE BREWER

MY TWO PREDICTIONS CAN BE SUMMED UP IN TWO WORDS: FIRST, “RESPITE” AND SECOND, “ENRICHMENT”

MESSAGING THAT TRULY SPEAKS TO PEOPLE

THE WORD “ENRICHMENT” WILL FIND ITSELF FRONT AND CENTER IN OUR MESSAGING

VP MILLS PROPERTIES@MBREWER

MIKE BREWER

MY TWO PREDICTIONS CAN BE SUMMED UP IN TWO WORDS: FIRST, “RESPITE” AND SECOND, “ENRICHMENT”

MESSAGING THAT TRULY SPEAKS TO PEOPLE. People are flat out exhausted and their capacity to focus is all but depleted. I think 2014 marketing themes will start to incorporate words like rest, refuge, and respite. We will need to think about creating environments and messages that speak to people’s innate need to pause, reflect,

and be mindful about their lives. This will build toward my second prediction…

THE WORD “ENRICHMENT” WILL FIND ITSELF FRONT AND CENTER IN OUR MESSAGING. The really successful operators will find ways to truly enrich people’s lives. This is the year we look beyond the concept of “adding value.” We are going to find ways to understand people’s core values and create experiences that touch them

deeply.

BONUS PREDICTION – we should all get comfortable with the word “love” – because it’s coming. Loving each other where we are and aligning the future such that singularity has a true and trusting basis and a real chance

of taking our lives to a crazy amazing place.

VP MILLS PROPERTIES@MBREWER

ERICA CAMPBELL BYRUM

GOOGLE CAROUSEL WILL EXPAND INTO REAL ESTATE AND RENTALS

!

STAFFING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA TRULY ARRIVES

DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA, DOMINION HOMES MEDIA@ERICACAMPBELL

ERICA CAMPBELL BYRUM

GOOGLE CAROUSEL WILL EXPAND INTO REAL ESTATE AND RENTALS. Today Google Carousel only covers travel, hospitality, and restaurant queries, but I have a feeling Google will expand their categories into real estate and

rentals, which would be an awesome opportunity for our industry to gain that top placement across the carousel.

STAFFING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA TRULY ARRIVES. PMC’s will begin to realize that social media is essential to the marketing and leasing mix and they will start to hire full time social media managers that work onsite alongside the leasing and maintenance teams to handle the daily social media strategy and reputation management, very

similar to how the automotive industry has shifted over the years.

DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA, DOMINION HOMES MEDIA@ERICACAMPBELL

@URBANEWAY

ERIC BROWN

THE CROWD ECONOMY IS HERE

!

SOCIAL MEDIA PROVES TO BE INEFFECTIVE 

!

CONTENT MARKETING/BRAND JOURNALISM IS THE NEW WAY 

CEO, URBANE APARTMENTS

ERIC BROWN

THE CROWD ECONOMY IS HERE. Airbnb will add apartment search to their arsenal and turn the typical ILS on its head. They will revolutionize how we search and lease apartments.

SOCIAL MEDIA PROVES TO BE INEFFECTIVE. There will be more fallout from apartment marketers about using social media to market, not because it isn’t effective at generating leads, or that it doesn’t scale, but because

there are no good copy and paste, “easy solutions,” to social media marketing.

CONTENT MARKETING/BRAND JOURNALISM IS THE NEW WAY. This is the new way to advertise and market and will dominate most other businesses marketing and outreach plans, yet few apartment marketers will do it

successfully, if at all. Apartment marketers will struggle to think and act like a “publisher,” and likely will be very slow to tell good brand stories.

CEO, URBANE APARTMENTS@URBANEWAY

@FIREBELLY

DUNCAN ALNEY

SOCIAL BUSINESS IS HERE  !

GIMMICKY BUZZWORD-BASED MARKETING DIES 

CEO, FIREBELLY MARKETING

DUNCAN ALNEY

SOCIAL BUSINESS IS HERE. Social communications are here for a variety of uses. Marketing uses it for acquisition and retention. But clever brands are already using it for creating an entirely new customer experience and

recruiting employees. We’ll see the emergence of truly social brands.

GIMMICKY BUZZWORD-BASED MARKETING DIES. Okay, it won’t. But I wish it did. The phrase du jour approach will be abandoned and instead replaced with the winning combination of understanding the stories and vision of

consumer-centered experiences . That could be tactics for sure. But it will begin with visionary marketers seeing how it all comes together and embedding that secret ingredient into it all – the power of word of mouth –

whether it’s online or offline. 2014 is going to be a roller coaster.

CEO, FIREBELLY MARKETING@FIREBELLY

WHAT DO YOU THINK? WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS FOR OUR CROWD SOURCED VERSION OF THIS

LIST!

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