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party
software program to allow residents to make apartment reservations
online. According to
Kossow, one community received 30 reservations in
30 days, and in two weeks, KSI received 132
reservations at 18
communities. From the reservations, KSI saw a 20 percent closing rate,
which
was in line with typical tax-credit closings. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"My
expectations have been
exceeded,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Kossow said.
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nOne of the challenges unique to tax-credit
marketing is deciding
how to position the income requirements in the marketing
materials.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"There are two schools of thought,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Nevitt Casey
said.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Some owners decide never to show the income grid so as not
http://www.promociondigital.com.ar to
throw it in the face of the world that this is a tax-credit
community.
As a result, you get a lot more walk-ins who are over-qualified, and the
extra traffic can
wear down the leasing team. Or you can tell it like it
is and put the income grid in your
advertising.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nKSI opts to include the grid. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We found it valuable to
include
the income grid in all advertising,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Kossow said. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"This helps
pre-qualify
customers. We also include an income calculator developed by
a third-party software provider on
our Web site that lets customers know
that they over-qualify, but it does not stop them from
making
reservations.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nAccording to Nevitt Casey, the best strategy is to
study the
competition's income grid placement. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Talk to apartment
publications' account
representatives about what other companies
have had success with in your
market.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nTransitioning Techniques
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nWhile changing the way a
company views marketing for tax-credit
communities can be daunting, Nevitt Casey recommends
some simple steps
to get started.
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Look at your visual brand and see if it
needs some dusting
off before totally investing in a new campaign,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" she
said.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Before spending a dollar, take what is there and dust it off.
Remove the clip art
from the logo and give the leasing center a paint
job.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nInvesting in training
for onsite staff can go a long way toward
getting buy-in for a new marketing approach. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"If
you have been
doing things the old fashioned way for 10 to 15 years, you will need to
educate your
team,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Nevitt Casey said. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"They have been
order-takers for years and need to
learn how to be someone who listens
well and creates empathy--and that does a lot for existing
customer
relationships. If you have a dynamic tax-credit team, that is
an
accomplishment.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nKossow said KSI is continuing to take its marketing
efforts to the
next level. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We want all our marketing materials and all our
communities to
be the most appealing to residents,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" she said.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We did what we thought would
work and tried to add a lot more
sophistication to tax-credit marketing.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nA
POWERFUL PRESS PROGRAM
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nIn addition to advertising strategy and print and
online marketing,
community outreach is a key component of a successful tax-credit
marketing
initiative, according to Jennifer Nevitt Casey, CEO of Bravo
Strategic
Marketing.
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"With market-rate communities, it is not imperative that
you
have a press program in the community where they are located,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Nevitt Casey said.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"You don't need to send out press releases
and press kits. The community generally
understands the value of
market-rate apartment living.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nHowever, for a taxcredit community, the apartment company must
implement a robust outreach program.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"You are really going to be
doing a lot of street marketing,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Nevitt Casey said.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The
education process is critical to success. Keep in mind that the
community may look
down on tax-credit communities and think you are
bringing in prostitutes and drug
rings.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nAlso important is promoting your community, by sharing its Web
site
with human resources directors for local service industry companies.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"HR directors
look for tax-credit communities to point their
employees to affordable housing,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Nevitt
Casey said.
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nJeanine Gajewski is NAA's Manager of Communications. She can
be
reached at 703\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/518-6141 Ext. 141 or jeanine@naahq.org.
\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\"\\\"\"
http://business.louisville.edu/marketing/