"How did you hear about us?" It's not as easy to answer as you think, but marketers have more tools that ever to help them understand how their efforts are working. This presentation explores a typical apartment search process and identifies some tips and tools to help marketers get a better handle on proper attribution of their various marketing sources, as well as ways to pinpoint how well your website and overall online presence is performing. Originally presented by Mike Whaling at the Multifamily Brainstorming Conference, November 2013.

1. Mike Whaling, 30 Lines
Put Your Money Where It Counts:
Marketing Attribution
#MFBSConf

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Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted.
The trouble is, I don’t know which half.
John Wanamaker

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This is not 1911.

4. 10.7
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The average shopper uses 10.7 sources of
information to make a buying decision.

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Digital is measurable.

6. GOOD QUESTION, BUT IT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH:
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“How did you hear about us?”

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What is attribution?
Attribution is a process for assigning/crediting a
lead or conversion to a specific set of marketing
activities or touchpoints.

8. For today:
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• How are people finding us?
• How are visitors using our site?
• Are visitors taking the desired actions?
• What marketing sources are working best?

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How are people finding us?

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“Time to start looking for an apartment.”

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Actually, it looks more like this…

12. 1.
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Organic search: “apartments in Las Vegas”

13. 2.
Paid ad on search engine
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14. 3.
Search ILS.
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15. 4.
Check Craigslist.
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16. 5.
Logged-in organic search:
“Tivoli apartments Las Vegas”
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Keyword: “Not provided”

18. 6.
Visit website.
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19. 7.
Check reviews.
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20. 8.
Ask friends.
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21. 9.
Branded organic search (or Direct link):
“Tivoli apartments Las Vegas”
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22. 10.
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Contact property to schedule tour!

23. The Path to Conversion
Organic Search >
PPC >
ILS >
Craigslist >
Organic Search (Logged In) >
Property Website >
ApartmentRatings.com >
Facebook >
Direct traffic to website >
Guest Card
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Which source gets the credit?

25. Attribution Models
• Linear (All equal)
• Last Touch
• First Touch
• “Funnel Position”-Weighted
• Custom
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26. Linear: All sources get equal credit
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1
0.75
0.5
0.25
0
Search
ILS
Search
AptRatings
Direct

27. Last Touch: Last source gets all credit
9
6.75
4.5
2.25
0
Organic Search >
PPC >
ILS >
Craigslist >
Search
Search
Organic Search (Logged In) >
Property Website >
ApartmentRatings.com >
Facebook >
Direct traffic to website >
Guest Card
#MFBSConf
Direct

28. First Touch: First source gets all credit
9
6.75
4.5
2.25
0
Organic Search >
PPC >
ILS >
Craigslist >
Search
Search
Organic Search (Logged In) >
Property Website >
ApartmentRatings.com >
Facebook >
Direct traffic to website >
Guest Card
#MFBSConf
Direct

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Funnel-Weighted: Closer to conversion = more credit
9
6.75
4.5
2.25
0
Organic Search >
PPC >
ILS >
Craigslist >
Search
Search
Organic Search (Logged In) >
Property Website >
ApartmentRatings.com >
Facebook >
Direct traffic to website >
Guest Card
Direct

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Tweet it! #MFBSConf
Know the value of a customer
to understand the value of visits and leads.

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Your Attribution Toolkit

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google.com/analytics

33. What to measure:
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• How are people finding us?
• How are visitors using our site?
• Are visitors taking the desired actions?
• What marketing sources are working best?

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Is our website working?
Set goals. Is your site working?

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What sources are working?

36. Potential Conversion Goals:
• Guest card completed
• Application started
• Signed up for e-newsletter
• Spent 5 minutes on site
• Watched property video
• Shared floor plan
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Google URL Builder

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Track campaigns, know what’s working
Track campaigns. Know what’s working.

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URL Shortener + Tracking
Bit.ly
bit.ly
URL Shortener + Tracking

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URL Shortener + Tracking
Add + to see stats
bit.ly
Try it: bit.ly/mfbsconf13+

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Dynamic Number Insertion

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Know how they get to your site.

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Customize your offer.

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Tweet it!
Use landing pages to keep
visitors focused.

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Understand your social reach
Facebook Insights
Understand your social reach.

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Craig killed links. What now?

47. Dig deeper:
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• Audience segmenting/targeting
• Remarketing
• Split (A/B) testing
• Social reach/influence/sentiment
• Ad forecasting
• Lifecycle marketing
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What now?

49. Do these next week:
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• Identify one trend in Google Analytics
• Develop a landing page for your offer
• Create/update your email responder
• Send Tami a thank you note
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How do we use the data
to get better?

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Want more tools and resources?
30lines.com/li

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Let’s talk.

53. Mike Whaling
!
apartments.30lines.com
mike@30lines.com
@30lines