5 Creative Apartment Marketing Ideas to Attract More Renters
The last couple of years have been all about adapting, evolving, and finding new solutions when it comes to how we market apartment communities. While the world has gone digital for quite some time, it wasn’t until the pandemic that remote lifestyles became more normalized.
Today’s generation of renters is different from any generation of renters before them, and we have access to insightful data on their buying habits and what they want from a rental unit. Let’s dive into 5 apartment marketing ideas that will strengthen your apartment marketing efforts from SEO to creative social media content.
Our 5 Apartment Marketing Ideas
You can use this list to navigate our list of creative ideas to boost your apartment marketing:
- Optimize Your Local SEO to Unleash Your Organic Presence
- Craft a Memorable Apartment Website
- Leverage Social Media Content and Advertising
- Create An Exceptional Experience with Your Apartment Tour
- Use Marketing Automation and Personalization for Smarter Leasing
#1 Optimize Your Local SEO to Unleash Your Organic Presence
You need your apartment community to show up on the first page of Google. In order to do this, you need to lock down an apartment local SEO strategy. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of finding what keywords and phrases your target audience is using when they search on Google or other search engines. Knowing these keywords allows you to add them to the copy on your multifamily property websites so your sites get ranked higher on search results. We all know how important it is to be on the first page of results. These websites get more visibility and let’s be honest, how many times have you gone to the second or third page on Google?
LocalIQ conducted a study of renters and found that 93% of respondents used a search engine when looking for their next lease. 80% of respondents in the same study noted that they actually would visit three or more property websites before deciding which ones to visit in person. This shows that it’s important to be ranked higher up in searches, when 4 out of 5 renters will look at multiple property websites.
Local SEO needs to be prioritized in your marketing strategy and one of the first steps you might want to take is claiming your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business). There are SEO strategy agencies that can help you or you could have someone dedicated to this by using SEO tools like Moz or SEMRush. You might also consider supplementing your organic efforts with paid strategies like Google Ads, which allow you to target high-intent local keywords such as “2-bedroom apartments near [city].” When paired with local SEO, this gives your property both short-term traffic and long-term visibility.
To go beyond the basics, build out local landing pages with neighborhood-specific content and keywords. For example, instead of just saying “apartments in Tampa,” include content like “Best pet-friendly parks near [Community Name]” or “Top brunch spots close to [Property Name].” This boosts your long-tail keyword visibility and improves dwell time, both of which are strong SEO signals.
#2 Craft a Memorable Apartment Website
Once you’ve got your apartment SEO down, you need to have a property website that’s engaging and set up to collect insightful data on the prospect. Enhance your website’s performance with conversion-focused elements like interactive floor plan selectors, live chat features, and gated offers such as “Get 1 Month Free” in exchange for contact info. These tools not only increase engagement but also help you collect qualified leads while tracking what features renters care most about.
Another important and creative apartment marketing idea is blogging. Creating and maintaining blog posts can be a lot of work but it’s worth it. According to LocalIQ’s study, businesses with blogs have 55% more online visitors than those that don’t. Writing blogs will allow you to have more places to add keywords to the copy of your website page helping boost your search visibility. There are lots of things you can write about as a property:
- A Move-in/Move-out Guide
- Decorating tips for specific floor plans
- How to put in maintenance requests and what to expect from them
- Renter-friendly storage ideas and DIYs
- Recap of resident events
- Local business reviews
There’s a plethora of ideas you can explore for your blog posts. If you want to go the extra mile, you can also create guest posts on local blogs to expand your reach and obtain new links to your website, which can help it increase its web authority and reliability.
This is great not just for prospects but for residents as well. Creating a neighborhood/city guide will position your property website as the hub of information for what’s in your local neighborhood. When renters sign a lease with your community, they are also committing to the neighborhood. They want to know what life is like there and if it fits their needs — whether it’s vibrant nightlife or a quiet community, this impacts renters’ decisions too.
#3 Leverage Social Media Content and Advertising
Apartment-related content has over a billion views collectively on YouTube and TikTok. That’s why social media marketing is probably one of those apartment marketing ideas you can’t skip in your strategy. A study conducted by BusinessDIT revealed that, in America, 71% of small to medium-sized businesses use social media for their marketing efforts.
Getting your property in these tags will help you meet today’s renters where they are online. A lot of fun marketing ideas for apartments include Facebook contests, but let’s be honest, Gen Z don’t care for Facebook. A lot of them don’t even have an account.
While it’s important to keep a Facebook presence, social media marketing for apartments tends to be focused on Instagram and TikTok. Luckily with Instagram, you can easily share your posts on Facebook too so you don’t have to waste energy keeping your Facebook active.
When it comes to TikTok, a lot of the ideas of things you can blog about can easily be transformed into video content. Stay up to date on what the trending tags and sounds are as this is how you will be found.
Even if some of the trending hashtags don’t relate to what you are posting or relate to apartments in general, the way the TikTok algorithm works is based on adding those tags as well as #foryoupage and #fyp in order for your video to show up on renters’ feeds. Some ideas of posts, which can be done on both Instagram and TikTok include:
- Pet of the month
- Meet a member of the onsite team
- Move-in/Move-out tips
- Resident Event vlogs/recap posts
- Local business review
Consider using short-form video templates to standardize your content production. For example: a 15-second “Apartment Feature of the Week” series or a monthly “Behind-the-Scenes with Maintenance” story. Add geotags, link back to your website, and test local influencer partnerships to boost reach. Track success by measuring video watch-through rates and click-throughs to your leasing page.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. Launching a simple referral program—where current residents get a rent credit or gift card for referring a new lease—can turn your happiest renters into your most effective marketing channel. Promote it through social and email to increase visibility.
Apartment marketing needs to be more creative in order to get the attention of Gen Z renters. They will look at your competitors before making a decision so you need to make sure you stand out and really show how your community can be their future home.
#4 Create An Exceptional Experience with Your Apartment Tour
Apartment tours are a real opportunity to create a lasting impression. From the moment a potential renter lands on your website or apartment listing, you need to stand out from the crowd. Using PERQ’s AI tour manager and scheduler, you can simplify the tour experience for both the renter and the property manager, for example. Your potential renters will be able to schedule a virtual apartment tour or a visit to the property at their convenience. You don’t have to get your leasing agents or property managers involved until your leads are ready to take that step.
Pairing smart technology—like our multifamily chatbot—with your tour process helps reduce wait times and create a smoother experience for renters. But technology is just the beginning. Today’s open houses are more than a walkthrough; they’re a chance to make a memorable impression through thoughtful, engaging experiences.
Before giving a tour, make sure you’re prepared with key details about the apartment, community amenities, and neighborhood highlights. Go beyond facts and think about how each feature supports the lifestyle your renter is looking for. A strategic, empathetic approach helps you connect with prospects and show them how your property can truly feel like home.
Now that you are prepared, it’s showtime! Start with a warm welcome, personalizing each interaction. Share the story of the space, highlighting its unique features and the lifestyle it offers. Incorporate interactive elements like mini activities or highlighting community amenities to engage visitors. Appeal to their senses with music, scents, and a well-lit atmosphere. Encourage questions and conversations throughout the tour to tailor your pitch.
By weaving storytelling into the tour, property managers can paint a vivid picture of what life could be like in the space. Crafting engaging activities and exploring community amenities during the tour will further enhance the experience, allowing visitors to envision a vibrant and aspirational lifestyle that goes in line with their needs. During the journey, encourage meaningful conversations and address questions in a personable manner to build trust and create an engaging experience. In this way, property managers can transform a routine apartment viewing into an exceptional and memorable encounter, setting their listings apart in the competitive landscape of real estate marketing.
#5 Use Marketing Automation and Personalization for Smarter Leasing
In today’s real estate market, property managers are using marketing automation to streamline leasing and better serve the needs of prospective renters. While not always top of mind, this apartment marketing idea is a powerful way to improve efficiency and create a more personalized experience. Automation supports every stage of the renter journey—from first contact to lease signing—while highlighting what makes your rental property stand out.
Understanding the value of your campaigns and becoming smarter about your audience can be a game-changer for your apartment lead-to-lease conversion. There are several marketing automation solutions that can help with that and we’ve seen how many of our clients get up to three times more qualified leads and leases when these systems are in place.
In this article, we’ve explained what personalization is and why it’s becoming a crucial aspect of multifamily marketing. Personalization isn’t as simple as it sounds. The nurturing process has different layers of complexity; for instance, renters want properties to balance their communications and avoid spamming. Today’s renters want to talk to a person when they’re ready. PERQ installs on a property website to serve interactive and personalized experiences. This type of automated and personalized experience nurtures leads until they’re agent-ready. All the data gathered through the journey is shared with the leasing agent, who can personalize the renters’ journey even further by leveraging various insights and valuable information.