Building a multi-million dollar property is not for the faint of heart. When trying to fill vacant units, many developers toss and turn at night wondering how they’re going to fill the property quickly. Every vacant unit is lost revenue and, after maximizing resources to build an apartment building, every month a unit sits empty is money wasted.
Toronto-based KG Group recently faced this situation when building the Harrison – a modern condominium-style apartment tower whose units demand between $1,200 and $2,300 a month in rent.
How did KG Group manage to rent out the entire building in just over a year?
The company turned to e-mail marketing.
E-mail marketing is a digital form of direct mail. The term is often used to describe the act of sending direct promotional e-mails to either try to acquire new customers or persuade existing customers to buy again, or to encourage customer loyalty and enhance the customer relationship.
KG Group developed an e-mail marketing program whereby the company collected an e-mail address from each prospective renter that visited the building. It then aggregated the e-mails into a professional e-mail marketing program, which allowed the company to keep each prospect informed about the progress of the development.
In each e-mail, KG Group also highlighted services that would be available in the building.
“Our prospects liked how we kept them ‘in the know’,” says Jeff Goldband, property manager of the Harrison. “The e-mails (also) kept interest levels up during the final days of construction, allowing us to rent units throughout our final development phase.”
E-mail marketing is a great way to deliver messages to potential renters quickly, easily and affordably. It’s an effective form of communication because the messaging sent is targeted to appeal to a select group of individuals who have opted to receive the communication. People who receive the e-mails begin recognizing the value being delivered and they become more receptive to the messaging. In time, this receptiveness presents an opportunity for the landlord to expand its e-mail campaign to include more sophisticated calls to action that can further drive sales.
As a result of the success at the Harrison, KG Group has taken its original e-mail marketing campaign and applied it across its building portfolio. The real estate company now uses e-mail to communicate with residents on a variety of matters, including upcoming events.
“E-mail marketing has given us tremendous insight into what our customers want and, in some cases, it has opened our eyes to what we need to offer them,” says Goldband. “By knowing what content is clicked on by our recipients, we are able to determine what services are most important to them (and) then (we can) make actionable operational decisions based on (that information).”
Carissa Drohan-Jennings is the director of marketing and communications at Landlord Web Solutions.
