Revenue management isn’t just about pricing. It’s about creating a cohesive strategy that drives success across the board. Here’s why aligning revenue management with marketing can transform your approach:
A good revenue advisor acts as the conduit that connects owners, investors, asset managers, regional, and on-site teams. This alignment ensures that everyone is executing a shared strategy. But here’s the thing --- the best conversations aren’t just about price; they happen when marketing joins the call.
Revenue management addresses far more than just rent adjustments. It’s about tackling the real challenges that impact leasing and resident experiences. Weekly or bi-weekly strategy calls with The Revenue Method® delve deep into issues that go beyond pricing:
Delinquency, skips, evictions and the shadow market that comes with it
Fraudulent applications and unqualified leads
Retention strategies to keep higher-paying residents
Marketing alignment to attract the right kind of leads
Online reputation management
Lease terms and expiration management
At The Revenue Method®, no topic is ever off-limits. Pricing, operational challenges, or deeper issues --- all are essential for understanding the full picture of leasing performance.
Dropping prices isn’t necessarily the solution to every problem. Instead, we focus on critical questions:
Are we targeting the right demographic?
Are we bringing in qualified leads who will pay and stay?
Are we building loyalty and engagement to reduce turnover?
Listen to your Property Managers
It’s crucial for owners, operators, and marketers to listen to property managers. They know their properties best. When they express concerns about an uptick in unqualified traffic, they aren’t complaining; they’re passionate. They are tired of wasting time touring unqualified prospects. Yes, they might be getting more traffic, but if that traffic is generating applicants who can’t meet the basic qualification criteria --- like not making three times the rent --- it’s a waste of everyone’s time.
In a recent case, one property found itself facing a dramatic change in its traffic dynamics after opting out of advertising on a leading ILS earlier this year, which had previously served as one of their main traffic sources. Without a foothold on this platform, potential renters searching for "apartments in (city)" suddenly couldn’t find them, leading them straight to competing properties. After abandoning the ILS and pivoting to pay-per-click advertising, they discovered that an astonishing 70% of their incoming traffic was now comprised of Section 8 voucher holders --- a demographic they had never engaged with before.
In another example, a property that decided to cut ties with a particular ILS is now grappling with the repercussions of reduced traffic. They’ve connected the dots between their occupancy challenges and the timing of their departure from the ILS. When prospective residents Google "apartments in (city)," they’re met with a sea of competitor listings, prominently featured on the ILS website. Meanwhile, this property has vanished from the lineup, thanks to the owner’s decision to cancel the service earlier this year. They are now exploring the reintroduction of this ILS for their property, as it’s clear that they need a surge in traffic --- because, in this scenario, pricing isn’t the issue.
The moral of the story? Listen to your property managers. Bring your marketers to the call so they can help solve these types of pain points and ensure we’re all aligned in terms of strategy. The best revenue management strategy calls are those where owners and operators bring their marketers to the table. Sometimes its just not a pricing issue; it’s a traffic, marketing or advertising issue.
And here’s where marketing becomes essential. While revenue advisors aren’t specialists in targeted paid media or geofencing, these tools are vital for reaching the right audience. With a marketer’s expertise, you can tap into micro-markets, highlight lifestyle benefits, and refine messaging to attract the ideal residents. It’s not just about ads --- it’s about strategic precision.
When revenue management and marketing align, that’s where the real magic happens. Every dollar spent drives greater value, ensuring we’re not just filling apartment homes, but attracting the right residents who will thrive in the community.
So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and forward those invites for your revenue management strategy calls to your marketers --- because this is a team effort, and trust me, they’ll have some ideas that might just blow your mind!
Until next time,
J Schu
🔗 Check out therevenuemethod.com for more details, or book a consult at calendly.com/therevenuemethod.
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