Introduction
Student housing is always in-demand no matter where you are in the United States and for good reason. Students need a safe, well built place to live. Commercial real estate firms can help fill gaps in the marketplace.
As an asset class student housing is great if you can keep it filled to an acceptable operating capacity. In order to do that you need to reach people as they are searching for a place to live. Effective marketing is critical to close gaps in occupancy or to lease-up a newly built project. In this article by the Cindtoro team we will teach you various ways to market a student housing property.
Who This Article Is For
This article was created to help commercial real estate firms understand the various strategies that can be used to market a student housing property. These methods will work regardless if your firm is starting the lease up process or you are wanting to improve occupancy year round.
Know Your Demand & Academic Cycle
Marketing to different audiences involves understanding demand and the academic market cycles. Universities operate on quarters (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) knowing when new semesters start will allow you to position different offers at different points of the cycle. This will also help you to plan your marketing budgets around times of particular high or low activity allowing you to maximize your advertising dollars.
Make Your Community Easy to Find
Local businesses dominate local searches. Did you know 96% of users learn about local businesses online? If you are not found first you will fail to capture the engaged audience of people who are actively searching for a student housing facility in their local area.
The first place to start to make improvements is your Google business profile. This will allow you to rank in the Google map pack and be seen for the majority of local search’s. The best performing profiles have a consistent name, address and phone number also known as NAP data.
Increase Reach With Ads
Paid advertising on social media platforms, and search engines is one of the fastest ways to capture the highest degree of intent from any audience. With paid advertising you can target people who are in the process of looking for a a student housing facility in their local area.
Proximity, Access & Transit
University students are pressed for time. They need to get to and from places quickly to avoid wasting time on irrelevant tasks such as driving back and forth. Hence part of the reason why they search for student housing in the first place. Adding a “minutes to” card that showcases the key buildings, bike paths, and other important information can help students assess if your housing property is the right location for them.
Safety & Trust
Students and parents want to know they will be safe where they choose to live. We would hope the location where your student housing property is located is safe. Either way to overcome any objections where possible include your security protocols, incident response plan, and quiet hours if applicable. Doing this will help you build trust with both students and parents alike.
Amenity Stories that Drive Leases
Chances are your property is located around other student housing properties. Amenities are one of your best friends. Any edge you can get on your competition the better. Consider adding things such as solo and group study rooms, state of the art fitness areas and social spaces that will allow you to gain the competitive edge. We would not advocate to add every amenity under the sun just for the sake of it. A healthy mix will work best. This will also enhance overall marketing efforts helping to lease your space faster and with less marketing spend.
Pricing, Offers & Transparency
Creating the right offer will help you supercharge your efforts. It will also help you create advertising messages that resonate with your target audience. We would recommend something along the lines of “rate locks” “waived fees” or other methods to attract new renters. To get people to make decisions as fast and informed as possible provide them with as much information as needed for full transparency.
Tours & Experiences
A student may be in need of housing and could currently live in another state or they could be unable to schedule an in-person tour with a live person. Facilitating a virtual tour can be a great way to accommodate these individuals helping to guide them around the property without having to get a leasing agent involved until necessary. Virtual tour can also enhance overall marketing appeal as people will get the chance to “test drive” the property before scheduling an appointment for later.
Campus & Community Partnerships
Creating solid working relationships can be a great referral source using the help of other local businesses in the area. Some of the best places to distribute your advertising messages are to: movers, storage facilities, local, coffee shops and the university itself (if they will allow you to do so.) Doing this will help you reach an engaged audience of people who may be searching for a new place to live as a student. You can also encourage current residents to bring a friend so they can check out the community to see if it is right for them.
Ambassador & Influencer Programs
Marketing to young people requires a tactful approach. University students are almost always on platforms such as Tic Tok, Instagram, Facebook, or others. To reach more students influencers / brand ambassadors can be a great way to extend your marketing reach on platforms that students are already using on a regular basis. To keep your marketing messages on brand recruit, train and script content that sounds real and organic. To assess the effectiveness of this strategy consider adding trackable affiliate links for enhanced measurement.
Reviews & Social Proof
If you want to reduce your vacancies and marketing cost, reviews and social proof are an absolute must. The first place to start gaining reviews should be to your Google Business profile. The reason for this is because reviews are a massive driver behind your ranking within the Google map pack and local rankings. Reviews are also a key driver behind the public’s perception of a business. To make reviews a powerful asset for marketing highlight the things that matter to potential tenants such as cleanliness, staff responsiveness and safety.
Conclusion
Leasing a new student housing community does not have to be hard if you have the right plan in place. It is important to note that you do not need to do everything mentioned here to be successful reaching your ideal target audience. Pick a few ways and stick to what works for you. If you need help engaging your target audience, reach out to a member of the Cindtoro team. We would love to help serve your needs with our proven approach to CRE promotion.