Welcome to The Resident. Each month, we explore multifamily reputation and sentiment data. Our research is based on the Widewail Multifamily Reputation Index, a database of 400,000 resident reviews. For more, go to widewail.com/data.
Most marketers stick to two ways of measuring brand awareness:
However, there's a third metric that Operators & PMCs should be looking at: brand mentions in resident reviews.
Why? Because when your brand is mentioned in a review, it means you've made an impact, especially when your product (your community) doesn't carry your portfolio name.
We did a quick study of the NMHC Top 50 to see how often this happens. Here's what we found:
Here's the kicker: when people mention a brand, they're usually unhappy. The average rating for reviews mentioning a brand was 2.39 stars - well below the industry average of 3.91.
But it's not all bad news. Hawthorne Residential Partners managed a 4.53 rating in brand-mention reviews. So it can be done.
With low ratings, we typically first look to review volume to see if a super small sample size is skewing the numbers, but here, that is largely not the case.
Of the NMHC top 50 managers, 17 have less than 30 reviews mentioning the brand. For that cohort, the average rating was lower: 1.58. As expected, we see a higher average rating for the brands with 30+ mentions, reaching 2.53 stars.
Breaking it down further:
These numbers might seem small, but they're worth tracking. Small movements can signal big changes.
What the Experts Say
We talked to Mike Brewer from Multifamily Collective about branding in this industry.
He's skeptical about applying traditional branding strategies to multifamily, but he sees two ways it can work: creating remarkable moments and leveraging loyalty programs.
Mike points out three challenges with branding in multifamily:
“Trying to create cohesion between all those brands and keep a consistent brand message is hard. It's really hard. But they [successful PMCs] focus on it.”
While PMCs are increasingly focused on building cohesive corporate brands, pulling off across different asset types (e.g., luxury vs. affordable housing) is challenging.
"In multifamily, I think about that move like once every 12 months or once every two or three years... I'm not thinking about the brand name."
The hospitality industry is typically held up as the aspirational brand model among multifamily marketers. While this is a good mental model, Mike struggles to overcome the frequency issue.
"I don't go shopping for an apartment thinking Marriott or Starbucks or Airbnb...I think about the zip code and the school I want to be near."
Location and amenities (think nearby schools) are unmovable factors #1 and #2. Brand loyalty may play a role only after the basic location preferences are met.
What Mike sees working:
Remarkable Moments
Mike believes the central elements of building brand loyalty are memorable experiences and community-building initiatives.
"If a brand can create remarkable moments... that brand name [will be] imbued in the mind through emotionally loaded experiences."
Emotionally loaded experiences leave a lasting impression, much like those crafted by high-end brands in hospitality and retail.
Partnership Programs
There is a trend now of loyalty programs PMCs use to build their brands. For example, PMCs offer perks such as gym memberships or local partnerships to create positive associations with the corporate brand.
"I think communities do this... if you live in a Mike Brewer building, these are all the things that we're doing to make your life a little bit easier."
The Bottom Line
Brand awareness in multifamily is tricky; even a seasoned leader like Mike Brewer understands its limitations.
However, with the right measurement tools, marketers intent on building a brand will have more visibility into the impact of their work.
Katie and I spent an hour with Mike in the first episode of our new podcast we are producing in partnership with the Multifamily Media Network: Voice of the Resident. It will come out once a month.
Listen for the full interview with Mike Brewer.
If you haven't yet listened to Feedback Fatigue, a multifamily podcast by Widewail, check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Widewail.com.
We bring on multifamily experts to learn what they are doing today to leverage all of the resident feedback coming in the door.
See you next month - Jake, Marketing @Widewail