One of the top contributors to successful multifamily leasing lies in being able to generate consistent quality leads.
Some properties can run just on walk-in traffic, while others, usually the properties in more competitive markets, have to get more creative with their efforts to generate traffic.
Today, we’ll describe in depth how you can use PPC, also known as ‘search ads’ to drive quality leads for your property.
What are PPC ads?
PPC ads are ads that appear on search networks in a native format. These ads can be targeted to show up for specific keywords, in specific locations, and with a customized message.
The advertisers get charged per click. The cost per click can vary depending on the keywords, region, and seasonality.
Below are examples of these ads that show up for the term “apartments near me”
Why PPC is a powerful engine for apartment lead gen
When it comes to lead gen for multifamily, the typical route operators and managers go is purchasing a plan with apartments.com or some sort of ILS. Although that’s not always a bad strategy, there are downsides, including long commitments, and leads that are harder to convert.
PPC ads are run on channels like google ads, which are self-serving platforms, that allow you to control budgets in realtime, and allow much more flexibility in how you advertise. But the best part – the leads you get are much more exclusive, and not coming to you through a third party.
Additionally, your return on investment is usually much higher with this form of advertising.
Yardi published a study comparing different sources and how they affect your marketing cost per lease. PPC came ahead of the ILS networks.
Crafting a successful PPC campaign for your property
When building an apartment PPC campaign, there are a few points you want to focus on to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck.
- Your keyword strategy
We always recommend starting out using broad keywords, such as “apartments for rent” when setting up your campaign. This allows for the system to experiment, and identify where your ads perform best.
- Your landing page
The landing page is where users end up after clicking on your ad. This can be your website, or a separate dedicated web page.
We recommend going with the latter. PPC ads convert best when landing pages have a specific structure that focuses on highlighting call to actions, something not all websites do properly.
The key to a successful apartment landing page includes: Strong Imagery, Multiple ways for a prospect to make contact, Clear Pricing, and Description of the property’s top features and selling points.
- Setting up conversion tracking
Now let’s talk about conversion tracking. If this is not set up right, your campaign will not perform. It’s as easy as that, so make sure your conversions are set up to be properly tracked.
We recommend setting up conversion tracking through google tag manager, and connecting it with google ads.
A conversion can mean someone filling out your contact form, making a call, or sending a text. Any form of contact made is usually classified as a conversion.
- Campaign type should be ‘Maximize conversions’
This goes hand in hand with step 3. When you create a campaign, don’t maximize clicks, maximize conversions. What this does over time is train the system to understand who your target customer is. After some time, the ad platforms will be able to recognize based on machine learning and data points out of our view, which people to show the ads to that are likeliest to convert.
- Your ad copy and creative should be specific
When creating your ad copy, PPC doesn’t provide you with many words to describe your property, headlines are limited to 30 characters, which is why you need to make the most of it.
We recommend the following when crafting ad copy:
- Include your unit types, if you only have two bedrooms available, make your ad copy mentions ‘two bedroom apartments’
- Include your price. This will drive away clicks from an audience that is out of your budget, allowing you to retain your budget on clicks with a higher likelihood of converting.
These two points allow you to avoid ‘wasted’ spending that would result in clicks from users that are either not qualified or would not have interest in your property.
Conclusion
PPC, also known as search ads, or google ads, is a great way to drive qualified traffic to your website. It might even be the best source of traffic in some markets.
If you want to utilize PPC marketing to generate leads for your apartment community, feel free to reach out to RentPace. We specialize in creating high-performing PPC campaigns that get help get properties to full occupancy.