Top players in apartment marketing sound off on what will be important in 2014.

1. @MBJ
@SGREENOUGH
@JONATHANSAAR
@MBREWER
@ERICACAMPBELL
@URBANEWAY
@FIREBELLY
FIREBELLY PRESENTS
APARTMENT MARKETING PREDICTIONS 2014
FEATURING MARK JULEEN, SARAH GREENOUGH, JONATHAN SAAR, MIKE BREWER, ERICA BYRUM, ERIC BROWN, & DUNCAN ALNEY

2. 2014 IS UPON US. HERE’S SOME OF THE TOP
PLAYERS IN APARTMENT MARKETING SOUNDING
OFF ON WHAT’S IMPORTANT.

3. MARK JULEEN
VP MARKETING, J.C. HART
@MBJ
This will be the year for Google+
THE WEBSITE APARTMENT RATINGS, WILL CONTINUE TO
GAIN GROUND ON THE TRADITIONAL ILS
THIS WILL BE THE YEAR FOR GOOGLE+

4. MARK JULEEN
VP MARKETING, J.C. HART
@MBJ
THE WEBSITE APARTMENT RATINGS, WILL CONTINUE TO GAIN GROUND
ON THE TRADITIONAL ILS. If they can come up with a solid mobile plan
they could overtake all of them, in my opinion.
This will be the year for Google+
THIS WILL BE THE YEAR FOR GOOGLE+. I’ve been bullish since day one, but for marketers we
may see a shift away from Facebook, or other platforms, and more effort over on G+.

5. SARAH GREENOUGH
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER,
PRINCETON PROPERTIES
@SGREENOUGH
MOBILE USAGE CONTINUES TO CLIMB
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE WILL CONTINUE
TO GROW

6. SARAH GREENOUGH
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER
PRINCETON PROPERTIES
@SGREENOUGH
MOBILE USAGE CONTINUES TO CLIMB with smart phones and tablets flooding the market. This trend will continue
in 2014. We currently have over 25% of our web traffic coming from mobile. Just two years ago, it was only
3-5%! In 2014, our focus will be on improving our mobile exposure. One step is to convert from WAP pages to
responsive designed websites. We have started this process already.
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE WILL CONTINUE TO GROW. Residents use social sites,
such as Facebook, to become part of a “virtual community” at their apartment buildings. Residents also use
these venues to contact management teams with questions and concerns. This source of communication will
continue to grow; we embrace this way of doing business. It allows us to be where our customer is and provide
quick and friendly answers. Social sites allow for us to be responsive and attentive in an environment that our
residents prefer.
One issue that I hope to resolve in 2014 is to try and gain more reliability and responsiveness from our marketing
partner. As the “one stop shop” MFH partners continue to grow, we customers feel the growing pains. They are
growing so large, trying to be all things to everyone that many issues are falling through the cracks. Monitoring
our relationships with marketing partners to ensure accuracy has become a much bigger task for our team than
in years past. We always have to verify and then verify again!

7. JONATHAN SAAR
VP MARKETING & EDUCATIONAL SOLUTIONS, TRAINING FACTOR
@JONATHANSAAR
FACEBOOK WILL ADD EASIER “CLICK-TO-CONTACT” OPTIONS FOR BUSINESS PAGES
CONTENT WILL CONTINUE TO RULE

8. JONATHAN SAAR TRAINING FACTOR
VP MARKETING & EDUCATIONAL SOLUTIONS,
@JONATHANSAAR
FACEBOOK WILL ADD EASIER “CLICK-TO-CONTACT” OPTIONS FOR BUSINESS PAGES in the
same context Google does with its pay-per-click ads.
CONTENT WILL CONTINUE TO RULE. However, the trend towards shorter posts for the benefit of the
reader will make more headway. Marketers will be more apt to include more images and short videos to
their content strategy.

9. MIKE BREWER
VP MILLS PROPERTIES
@MBREWER
MY TWO PREDICTIONS CAN BE SUMMED UP IN TWO WORDS: FIRST, “RESPITE” AND
SECOND, “ENRICHMENT”
MESSAGING THAT TRULY SPEAKS TO PEOPLE
THE WORD “ENRICHMENT” WILL FIND ITSELF FRONT AND CENTER IN OUR MESSAGING

10. MIKE BREWER
VP MILLS PROPERTIES
@MBREWER
MY TWO PREDICTIONS CAN BE SUMMED UP IN TWO WORDS: FIRST, “RESPITE” AND SECOND, “ENRICHMENT”
MESSAGING THAT TRULY SPEAKS TO PEOPLE. People are flat out exhausted and their capacity to focus is all but
depleted. I think 2014 marketing themes will start to incorporate words like rest, refuge, and respite. We will
need to think about creating environments and messages that speak to people’s innate need to pause, reflect,
and be mindful about their lives. This will build toward my second prediction…
THE WORD “ENRICHMENT” WILL FIND ITSELF FRONT AND CENTER IN OUR MESSAGING. The really successful
operators will find ways to truly enrich people’s lives. This is the year we look beyond the concept of “adding
value.” We are going to find ways to understand people’s core values and create experiences that touch them
deeply.
BONUS PREDICTION – we should all get comfortable with the word “love” – because it’s coming. Loving each
other where we are and aligning the future such that singularity has a true and trusting basis and a real chance
of taking our lives to a crazy amazing place.

11. ERICA CAMPBELL BYRUM
DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA, DOMINION HOMES MEDIA
@ERICACAMPBELL
GOOGLE CAROUSEL WILL EXPAND INTO REAL ESTATE AND RENTALS
!
STAFFING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA TRULY ARRIVES

12. ERICASOCIAL MEDIA, DOMINION HOMES MEDIA
CAMPBELL BYRUM
DIRECTOR OF
@ERICACAMPBELL
GOOGLE CAROUSEL WILL EXPAND INTO REAL ESTATE AND RENTALS. Today Google Carousel only covers travel,
hospitality, and restaurant queries, but I have a feeling Google will expand their categories into real estate and
rentals, which would be an awesome opportunity for our industry to gain that top placement across the carousel.
STAFFING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA TRULY ARRIVES. PMC’s will begin to realize that social media is essential to the
marketing and leasing mix and they will start to hire full time social media managers that work onsite alongside
the leasing and maintenance teams to handle the daily social media strategy and reputation management, very
similar to how the automotive industry has shifted over the years.

13. ERIC BROWN
CEO, URBANE APARTMENTS
@URBANEWAY
THE CROWD ECONOMY IS HERE
!
SOCIAL MEDIA PROVES TO BE INEFFECTIVE
!
CONTENT MARKETING/BRAND JOURNALISM IS THE NEW WAY

14. ERIC BROWN
CEO, URBANE APARTMENTS
@URBANEWAY
THE CROWD ECONOMY IS HERE. Airbnb will add apartment search to their arsenal and turn the typical ILS on its
head. They will revolutionize how we search and lease apartments.
SOCIAL MEDIA PROVES TO BE INEFFECTIVE. There will be more fallout from apartment marketers about using
social media to market, not because it isn’t effective at generating leads, or that it doesn’t scale, but because
there are no good copy and paste, “easy solutions,” to social media marketing.
CONTENT MARKETING/BRAND JOURNALISM IS THE NEW WAY. This is the new way to advertise and market and
will dominate most other businesses marketing and outreach plans, yet few apartment marketers will do it
successfully, if at all. Apartment marketers will struggle to think and act like a “publisher,” and likely will be very
slow to tell good brand stories.

15. DUNCAN ALNEY
CEO, FIREBELLY MARKETING
@FIREBELLY
SOCIAL BUSINESS IS HERE
!
GIMMICKY BUZZWORD-BASED MARKETING DIES

16. DUNCAN ALNEY
CEO, FIREBELLY MARKETING
@FIREBELLY
SOCIAL BUSINESS IS HERE. Social communications are here for a variety of uses. Marketing uses it for acquisition
and retention. But clever brands are already using it for creating an entirely new customer experience and
recruiting employees. We’ll see the emergence of truly social brands.
GIMMICKY BUZZWORD-BASED MARKETING DIES. Okay, it won’t. But I wish it did. The phrase du jour approach will
be abandoned and instead replaced with the winning combination of understanding the stories and vision of
consumer-centered experiences . That could be tactics for sure. But it will begin with visionary marketers seeing
how it all comes together and embedding that secret ingredient into it all – the power of word of mouth –
whether it’s online or offline. 2014 is going to be a roller coaster.

17. WHAT DO YOU THINK? WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR
THOUGHTS FOR OUR CROWD SOURCED VERSION OF THIS
LIST!
Visit firebellymarketing.com to see more posts like this!