Innovative Marketing Strategies in Real Estate

Scott Baumberger: Hello and welcome to the Creative 'Viz' podcast, where we discuss topics in architecture, real estate development, and visual design. Today, I'm thrilled to have Alaina Jackson Jackson with us. She is the Director of Sales and Marketing for PeakMade Real Estate in Fort Worth, Texas. Welcome, Alaina Jackson. Great to see you.

Alaina Jackson: Great to see you. Great to be here. I'm super excited.

Scott Baumberger: Oh, thank you. Well, tell me a little bit about what you're doing these days and how 2024 is going so far.

Alaina Jackson: So, I'm the Director of Sales and Marketing at PeakMade. I oversee all of our strategy for all of our verticals. Right now, that includes multifamily third-party management, student housing third-party management, which is our flagship property management, and then also our development company. 

I work hand in hand with development to get the properties launched with leasing. We step through that initial year, and then from there, jump right into renewal fees and things like that. I oversee all of that strategy in conjunction with overseeing the sales arm of our blended sales and marketing team. What that consists of is a group of regional sales managers. They split the portfolio four ways and oversee the execution of that strategy. 

So, really cool, very rewarding stuff. This year we are crushing it. Our portfolio is currently pre-leased at 82%, which is a really big deal because we've seen some really big rent increases across the board just across the country. We have also recently taken over some Canadian properties. So that's super exciting to see us evolve and expand into Canada. One of which is a new development and then the other three are stable student deals. So really busy at PeakMade but a really good busy.

Scott Baumberger: That's great. You have your hands full, I can tell. I'm interested to hear, you mentioned that the sales and marketing groups are integrated - everybody does this a little differently. I'd love to hear how that came about and what that looks like for you on a day-to-day basis.

Alaina Jackson: For the last two years, our sales and marketing support departments have been merged into one, but right before that, we were actually two separate teams. One focused on back-of-the-house marketing items and then front-of-the-house sales. So that regional sales manager team that I was talking about that I oversee is very much a front-of-the-house client-facing position. It is the position that I held right before this one, so it's way more hands-on with the execution piece of things.

Two years ago, we decided because we can't have one without the other, we might as well go ahead and blend the team. So with that blend came my promotion into this role and my direct supervisor's promotion into a senior vice president role of sales and marketing, which has been very beneficial because we're able to tap into each individual team member on the marketing arm of the team. They have a very specific area of marketing that they are focused on and are able to partner with the front-of-the-house sales arm of the team.

A good example is our digital marketing manager. It was something that we implemented a couple of years back when digital marketing really started to take over in the student housing and multifamily space. His sole responsibility is to oversee and work with agency partners to come up with a very robust digital marketing strategy for each individual property and each individual market. We have a few properties or a few markets where we have multiple properties or a scattered site where each individual building needs something else or serves a different demographic. Right. So he's able to really get granular and dig in there to find out what we need to be doing to target our renter for those specific sites, even though they may be in the same market just on totally different sides of campus. And so from that, he's able to work hand-in-hand with the regional sales manager that might oversee those properties in that market to execute the plan and get that digital strategy rolled out. So it's been very beneficial for us to just be under one umbrella, one big slide.

Rebrand is another really good example and cool way that it has been beneficial to be one team. The marketing arm of the team is going to come up with what that really cool brand looks like or work with the agency partner to be sure that we have the right branding and messaging and all the really cool things that come with the rebrand. Then the sales arm of the team is going to take that rebrand and roll it out the right way at the property to make sure that it penetrates the market the right way. So it's been a game changer for us to be blended. This makes things a lot more efficient. In 2024, it was one of our very big company goals to focus on efficiency in ways that we can streamline things. That is one of the ways that we came into this year, and it's been leaps and bounds better.

Scott Baumberger: Sounds like it's working. So with such a wide geographic reach that you guys have projects, they're gonna be marketed very differently. Florida versus Canada even, right? So how do you work with the agency to personalize that messaging?

Alaina Jackson: Yep, so we do. We actually have a vendor partner that we split 50-50 every day profit. Just all things are number one go-to and that has also been very beneficial. They're actually based in the great state of Texas. They're our go-to partner for branding, they're our go-to partner for the new developments when we need renderings for plans and things like that, messaging copy for the website. We actually just got a really cool award this year for our website project with them. What we did was because we're a third-party management company, we don't own and operate, we just operate. One of the things we were able to do is streamline the website process, the onboarding of a new deal, and how they're marketing and branding. We go about that through the website by coming up with four standard templates that we used across the portfolio. We were able to easily onboard properties when we get them onto one of those templates that meets their demographic needs and resonates with the renter.

But that project has been successful for us because it makes us be super efficient. Once we onboard a property, we're able to tap into that agency partner and say template A is going to go really well with this specific brand in this specific market for these specific renters. And so we're able to implement that fairly quickly, a lot faster than most companies probably can with those custom websites that they're doing. And it still has a very custom feel to it. So even though it's a template, there's still a lot of different things that you can do to make sure that it is exactly what your property needs.

So that's been really cool to do with an agency partner and it's been great to have them because they know the ins and outs of how we work. They know the lingo. Student housing lingo is very different from multifamily and any other housing sector, so they're familiar with that. They're familiar with what our renters need.

Scott Baumberger: It sounds like you're not having to reinvent the wheel every time. I mean, that's the downside of engaging with lots of different partners, right?

Alaina Jackson: You know what? I always say a lot. No need to reinvent the wheel, but there's nothing wrong with putting some new rims on it! Things change and evolve, especially in marketing, so we're able to do that. They're very tapped into what's trending in the market, so it's been very helpful.

Scott Baumberger: Very cool. So there's the geographic differences. What about differences between urban sites and suburban sites, low-rise and high-rise? How do you approach those differently?

Alaina Jackson: From a strategy standpoint, we saw some really big rent increases across the board at all of our different sites across the country. But I think for the most part, those sites that are in those tier 1 and tier 2 markets where there are big D1 universities or the household income is high, there are a lot of wealthy families in the area, things like that, we're able to go in and customize the strategy to really be able to reach those renters where they are. And so with sites that are in tier 3 markets, where the university or the college is a lot smaller, we might be servicing a trade school, something like that, we're able to go in and then customize the strategy to include maybe some extra ways to just really push the value of the property.

Most of those renters are looking for the best value, so I'd like to start there depending on which tier the market is in or what kind of property it is. For the most part, any of our properties that are in major cities—Chicago, Miami—we have some co-living deals in big major cities, we're able to hit the ground with brand awareness pretty quickly and spread it pretty quickly. Whereas in some of the other markets where we're not seeing those high-rises, they're more garden-style apartments and lots of big competitors in markets like that, we have to go in there and take our time with how we want to approach our renters and targeting. There's a wide variety of who those renters are. So we have to be a little bit more strategic in those markets because the word doesn't spread as quickly as they do in tier 1 and tier 2 high-rise in big city living. So we start with brand awareness at all deals. Doesn't matter what market or what type of property it is, but we really try to go in there and identify who our renter is, who our demographic is going to be that we're going to target, and then build the strategy that way. The marketing cost per lead and lease is obviously going to be more for development for a tier 1, tier 2, tier 3, or tier 4. A large, big-bed property just has a lot more heads that you have to get on beds in markets like that. In tier 3 markets, you don’t necessarily have to do as much to fill them out. What it’s going to do is take a little longer, but the marketing budgets are significantly smaller. For the most part, the only time they're not is if the market is not performing, and you just do a little bit more to create some urgency and get them before the deadline. But typically, we approach them all the same. We start with brand awareness and from there work our way through the leasing season. So that’s our approach: market by market.

Scott Baumberger: And I imagine the rents are reflective of the different budgets that you have as well. I can only assume.

Alaina Jackson: I can get as creative as I want. And because you're building a brand from scratch, right? It’s like a new architecture, the biggest new hot thing on the market. You really have to be thoughtful and intentional with how you spend those dollars, but it requires more to build a brand. So those budgets are always friendlier. I love a good new development,

Scott Baumberger: For sure! I’d be curious, what are you seeing in the last, say, 12-24 months? What are the things that appeal most to prospective renters when they're looking at new and existing properties?

Alaina Jackson: So I would say convenience is going to be number one. I'm seeing more and more products be heavily amenitized. And what those projects look like has changed, right? We've always had heavily amenitized properties in student housing and in multifamily for the most part. But how I'm seeing it shift is what those amenities look like. So no longer is your typical fitness center and free business center with printing enough. Our renters, both on the multifamily and student sides, are looking for podcast rooms and multipurpose rooms where they can record their own videos and things like that. Stuff that's very influencer-friendly. I don't think that that will change significantly over the next couple of years. Social media is here to stay for sure. That has definitely been a game changer in drawing in renters and what that looks like.

Every year we conduct focus groups and this year we focused on multifamily. We get some feedback from our renters on how they want to be marketed to, what they like to see, what things should be included in projects, and upcoming new development projects. Amenities ranked really high on the list, but they want things that they're actually going to use. I'm seeing that convenience be top of their list: proximity to restaurants and local hot spots, public transportation, things like that. Washers and dryers, things that really create that value for them. Because I think they're willing to pay top dollar if it's convenient and if that value is there.

We like to focus on those things. Some of the projects that we're working on for the next season and for 2026—we're already breaking ground and planning for 2026—as you know, every chance I get to make sure that that feedback is in my developer's ear. I'm like, "Hey, this has changed. We need to make sure we're multiple-room. We need to make sure we're close to public brands." So things like that are really drawing people in. That stuff really matters.

Scott Baumberger: So do you feel like it's still a pretty competitive environment out there?

Alaina Jackson: For sure. And there's some areas where we're seeing crazy saturation. Gainesville, Florida is a good example. How are people finding grass to even build in this market? Gainesville is a really good example of that. The Tempe market—we saw this really big plateau with leasing at the beginning of spring where things just stopped. And it's because renters were like, "Wait a minute, I'm not paying $1,500 a month for a four-bedroom apartment." And so renters are very sophisticated and they know what they want and they know what they're not willing to pay for. In some of the markets, it's going to be a madhouse until the end, fighting to the finish. We're seeing it so much more than in other markets.

Scott Baumberger: How do you stay on top of all of this? I'm thinking about some of the latest tech, maybe even some AI. Tell us if these things are in your arsenal and how you use them.

Alaina Jackson: Last year we made the big shift. That's what I've been calling it, the big shift, because I know a lot of companies are still doing research and trying to figure out what products fit them best. And I think that's the right thing to do, to start with research because not everything's going to fit every company. So for us, we have partnered with an AI company that is really well known. They're called Me Elite, and we have been doing some really good work with them.

So we launched the flagship AI, which was the leasing AI. And what that does is nurture all of our incoming leads. So our marketing dollars are hard at work generating quality leads and focusing on leasing. And the AI steps in and helps us focus on capturing and nurturing beyond that. And so we implemented that, and because of the success, we've seen our tours go up 20 percent. We've seen a numerous amount of leads get over the leasing finish line in a much shorter amount of time than we were seeing post-COVID. So very successful. Because of that, we are going to expand and launch some other AIs with them. AIs include maintenance and voice. The technology that they're working with is just so advanced. It is mind-blowing. I'm like, where were we when I was a leasing consultant 10 years ago? Do you know what I mean? It's so mind-blowing but super efficient and very helpful for the site teams.

It really does remove some of those tasks that they have to do. It takes that off their plate so that they can focus on the resident experience, which, as I'm sure you know, results in renewals and more leasing and just makes their lives much easier. Another really cool tool that we implemented is self-guided tours, which has been fascinating for me. I'm learning something new every day about it. But what it is, is we're partnering with Tour 24 for self-guided tours. And what it does is allow our renters, especially on the multifamily side, to be able to tour at their convenience when the office is closed or if they work really late and their schedules just don't allow for them to come in. But they really want to come take a look before they make a commitment. They are able to use an application to schedule and do that right through our website.

And it allows for the teams to input voice prompts and scripts and things like that for them without them needing an agent, which, as you know, saves our properties a lot of money. You always need a human resource there to complete. You no longer have to. That's been very beneficial for us and our partnership is really great as well. We've seen some really good conversion results because of our partnership with them. So the use of some of that technology, the results that we're getting, I've been very excited to see the shift and I think it'll only get better.

Scott Baumberger: That's great. So post-COVID, I'm seeing renters more comfortable, more site-savvy, viewing and interacting with marketing content remotely and not necessarily having to go to the site. Especially if they're a prospective student and they may not know where they're going to be living just yet. And they may not be able to do a site visit. Are you seeing that as well?

Alaina Jackson: So we do back up to those friendly budgets with new development. Have a product to show for those fields because they're getting built.

We have really good partnerships with agencies that create that content for us. They'll come out with some drone footage and utilize our renderings to really create that virtual experience for us. But yes, you're seeing more and more students and multifamily renters that may be relocating or in the process of making a housing decision but just don't have the time to be able to come in. And we have all of the necessary tools that they need right from the website to be able to still experience. Matterport tours are something that we utilize. Also, virtual tours, 360 panoramic tours—I mean, we have it all. Our floor plans are 3D for most sites if not all, so that the renter feels like, at my convenience, if this is all I can do to really understand what it's like to live at the property or to see what the floor plan options are, we try to make it as easy as possible for those different platforms. So they've been very helpful.

Scott Baumberger: Just want to follow up on that last question. Are you allocating your resources differently post-COVID as a result of the new kind of renter preferences?

Alaina Jackson: We definitely are. Both on both the multifamily and the student side. We really need to be able to meet them where they are. And so because of the technology, our teams are able to spend more time focused on the resident experience or focused on brand awareness and building the brand, making relationships in the communities that their markets, that their properties are in. So we're able to allocate their time differently. With all of the change in technology, there's so much access to reporting and things like that, things that we would typically spend a large amount of time having to dive into. I think that that's been very beneficial. That way, we can also reallocate our time into finding new rims for our tires, and that's been beneficial for us on the corporate side as well.

Scott Baumberger: That's really interesting to hear. Can you share with us a success story, something that you can point to, a particular project or a particular thing that has really been game-changing for you?

Alaina Jackson: Yeah, I actually have a favorite new development project that we brought on board this fall with our first time opening the doors, or last fall—sorry, fall 2023. So this has been our first stable year. But the property is in West Midtown Atlanta. It's a big beast, it's over 600 beds. And as you can imagine, Atlanta's a busy city. So we service Georgia Tech, but where the property is located, you're going to get a lot of young professional traffic as well as Georgia Tech because it's not right on campus—it's not far, less than a mile from campus, but this specific area is just a very busy city.

So we opened the doors, and that first year was just such a struggle. The initial reset year was a struggle because it was hard to identify who our renter was just because our amenities were great. We had some really good retail spaces. But because we did the development of the actual apartments and a different developer did the retail, the schedule got off schedule and things got crazy. Fast forward though, we were able to open the apartment complex on time while they still were able to see all the complex. But the retail still wasn't finished. So we really struggled to get to budgeted occupancy, to our goals.

And this year has been our first stabilized year. Retail is open, everything's going, and the property hit 95 percent recently, which is crazy good. It's basically leased itself because of all the hard work that went into the development and into those getting those retail spaces open and getting a really hot location in those retail spaces. They have a Starbucks, just some really cool things that attract young professionals and student renters. But the property has been a really great success this year. And they're utilizing those AI tools that I talked about. They have self-help stores. Like, Digit is like the model property spot. I'm not kidding. If you're ever in Atlanta, go to Theory Interlock. It is a beautiful project. It was really cool to watch it go from “struggle” to “glow up”.

Scott Baumberger: Yeah, it's funny, we have several projects in Atlanta right now. It's a real hotspot all of a sudden. So very exciting. I'm sure I'll get out there.

What then do you think you would attribute to the success? Is it just really good timing? That's often what it comes down to. It's a great location. What do you think really pushed it over the hurdle?

Alaina Jackson: So I think it's a few things. I think the people piece is very important. We had the right team in there from the start. They were able to get in there and be with us for the struggle of getting the timeline just right. Our development team is very intentional with the products that they build, from floor plan type all the way through materials that they're going to use, to the interior designer that they select. The location—you can't beat it for a West Midtown apartment complex. I mean, what a busy and popping area of Atlanta, and they were just able to get it right, even down to the retailers that they were able to rent out to. I just think that they were very intentional with this project, and that's what did it for sure.

Scott Baumberger: It sounds like there are a lot of lessons here that you can take away and apply to the next one.

Alaina Jackson: Yeah. That's the big idea, right?

Scott Baumberger: Awesome. Well, I could do this for another hour, but we need to start wrapping things up. So many things I've learned. Really appreciate your time and sharing your experience with us. Thank you so much, Alaina Jackson. Great to see you.

Alaina Jackson: Thanks for having me.

Scott Baumberger: Well, with that, we'll wrap things up and I will see you next time. Thank you.

Alaina Jackson: Thank you, Scott.