Ever felt that like you just could not communicate with your designer? You provide what seem to be straight-forward instructions, but your designer just doesn't grasp the message you wish to send with your media?

While reading this article I could feel my face turn red in angst of what Ms Walkley must have experienced while working with Mr Thorne. Just imagine to her dismay the emotional trauma she must have gone through. On one hand, worried to tears about the safety of Missy while battling the cynicism of the ‘well experienced' designer.  

How often do we accept work presented simply based on the fact that we do not have the necessary tools to do it ourselves? Just because we have employed a team of consultants to handle our branded presence, does that mean they have ultimate control over our message, or should I say their message? Of course NOT! It is imperative to effective branding that the message presented via the experienced consultants match with those of the client's. For one group to supersede the others with the excuse ‘we know better' or, ‘the customer is always right' would negate the very essence of branding.

I, along with our team members certainly enjoyed this message this Tuesday morning, but hopefully the underlying message that it relays is heard, loud and clear. Next time, don't settle for what you're given, even if you have to leave work early to make a trip to the copiers.

Six years ago a revolution in the way society interacted with each other was brewing with the advent of a social networking website, now a household name, Facebook. It has changed the way we communicate with our colleagues, peers and idols. To share a thought which would spark conversation no longer requires the recipient to be available, but instead, a stable connection to the Internet will now suffice. How could an idea have developed from a means to connect with friends as many do on forums to expand to an entity where people spend over 700 billion minutes of their time perusing?

Facebook, along with YouTube, MySpace and Twitter have revolutionized the way we communicate with each other. We no longer require substantial capital in order to start a daily news update, share our opinions, or expose a local scandal. Instead, we merely need access to an Internet connection or smart phones and we're off, broadcasting messages to the World Wide Web whether they're immediately available or temporarily offline.

Based on statistics, Facebook boasts more than 500 million active users with an average of 250,000 new registrations per day since January 2007. Statistics provided by comScore indicate that Facebook is the sixth most trafficked site in the United States, and more than one million websites have integrated with Facebook platform.

The Social Network is a movie that archives how Facebook has grown. Consider it for a moment, how a website targeted to a small social group has grown to expand the entire globe and be the most commonly used social networking site the world has ever seen. Over 60 million active users, an idea so brilliant it has literally eradicated the concept of time-zones.

Bring the same level of reach to your website and online presence by linking your Facebook or twitter page to your Ellipse website.

Have you heard? June 8th, Google announced:

Today, we're announcing the completion of a new web indexing system called Caffeine. Caffeine provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches than our last index, and it's the largest collection of web content we've offered. Whether it's a news story, a blog or a forum post, you can now find links to relevant content much sooner after it is published than was possible ever before.

With Caffeine, we analyze the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally. As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index. That means you can find fresher information than ever before—no matter when or where it was published.

Caffeine lets us index web pages on an enormous scale. In fact, every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second. Caffeine takes up nearly 100 million gigabytes of storage in one database and adds new information at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day. You would need 625,000 of the largest iPods to store that much information; if these were stacked end-to-end they would go for more than 40 miles.

Want to know more?: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

[Source: Online PhD Programs for MashableMashable.com]

I've seen numerous auto-responders from apartment website contact forms since my time here at Ellipse. I can recall thinking some of them serve no purpose other than to add noise to an already full inbox. The following auto-responder however certainly grabbed my attention.

Thank you for contacting Abbotts Run,  we will contact you shortly, please see the reasons below that Abbotts Run is the Best place to live in Wilmington.

50 Reasons to Live at Abbotts Run!!

1.    Excellent Customer Service

2.    Fun Social Events

3.    A Friendly Staff

4.    Pet Friendly

5.    24-Hour Fitness Center

6.    Poolside Wireless internet connection

7.    Car Care Center

8.    5 minutes from the Beach

9.    5 minutes from Downtown

10.   Minutes from Restaurants and Shopping

11.   Close to the Airport

12.   A Stocked Pond

13.   Sand Volleyball

14.   1.2 Miles from UNCW

15.   Charcoal Grills/Picnic Areas

16.   Boat Parking

17.   24 Hour Laundry Center

18.   24 Hour Maintenance

19.   Package Acceptance Available

20.   Pest Control Services

21.   Trash Pick-up

22.   Close to MayFaire Town Center and Independence Mall

23.   Handicap Units Available

24.   Walk In Closets

25.   Preferred Employer Discounts

26.   Online Rent Payment

27.   6 Miles from Cape Fear Community College

28.   Sparkling Pool with Sundeck

29.   Entertainment Centers in Living Room*

30.   Built In Study Areas*

31.   Pre-wired for High Speed Internet

32.   W/D Connections

33.   Microwaves

34.   Free Movie Rentals

35.   Full Bath with Each Bedroom

36.   Neutral Colors Throughout each Apartment

37.   Safe Neighborhood

38.   Garden Style Floor plans

39.   Refrigerator/Freezer with Ice Maker

40.   Washer/Dryer Rental Available

41.   Close to I-40

42.   Resident Referral Bonuses

43.   Flexible Lease Terms

44.   Great Area Lighting

45.   Unrestricted Parking

46.   Professional Owner Managed

47.   Online Rent Payment

48.   www.liveatabbottsrun.com

49.   Helpful Links on Website

50.   Walking Distance to Target and Wal-Mart

Great job Abbotts Run!

I would consider myself to be an idea person. I often run across things that are just starting and I'd say I'm a pretty good judge of whether or not that idea will take off. Last week I saw an idea that I think is great, especially for the multifamily industry.

Introducing NeighborhoodGoods:

NeighborGoods is a safe community where you can save money and resources by sharing stuff with your friends. Need a ladder? Borrow it from your neighbor. Have a bike collecting dust in your closet? Rent it out for some extra cash!

The idea of NeighborGoods is so simple. Sharing stuff is good for you. It saves you money, it's more sustainable than buying a bunch of crap you don't need, and it creates a reason to meet a friend or a neighbor face to face where you might not have otherwise. Still, this very simple idea has the potential for monumental impact, especially when taken in context of a larger cultural movement.

We'll file this statistic from NeighborhoodGoods as shocking "Did you know that Americans are spend $22 billion a year on self-storage?"

I've heard of a few properties who have a for trade area, usually its for books but I could see the borrowing concept easily expanding into other area, tools, cooking utensils, etc..

Since the service launched in Los Angelos your community may not have many items to borrow yet but it's very easy to add items available for others to borrow.

What do you think of this idea?

Here are our takeaways* from the sessions we were able to attend. *Brief disclaimer:  many of these notes may have been scribbled on napkins, typed quickly in shorthand on hand-held electronic devices or hand written in notebooks at the speed of light… if we missed something important please let us know. We'd love to hear what you came away with from the sessions:

Resident's Use and Perceptions of Social Media and the Multifamily Industry: Strategies to Evaluate Your Community's Online Presence

Presented by:  Joseph Batdorf, J Turner Research; Robert Turnbull, RentWiki; Mike Whaling, 30 Lines; Jamie Gorski, The Bozzuto Group
Moderated by:  Donald Canfield, LinellTaylor Marketing

This session discussed the findings of an ongoing survey of residents, measuring their use of social media, online habits and interactions with communities on social networking sites.  This session identified the best practices for multifamily in the area of social media.

• The session started off with Joseph Batdorf introducing some pretty impressive statistics from J Turner Research's recent study on Social Media and Residents. You can see the full study here: http://www.jturnerresearch.com/socialmedia.php
• 93% of residents have NEVER visited an apartment's social media page
• 24% of residents in conventional housing (as opposed to Student Housing) do not participate in Social Networking
• Social media page can be used for posting property reviews:  A number of companies view this as a negative because posting cannot be monitored or controlled.  However the experts concluded that a client's/customer's negative posting about a company can be used as a way to acknowledge that specific issues and/or processes are being addressed by an organization.
• 67% of all reviews on Yelp are positive. Is your property on Yelp yet?
• Wondering where to start? 1) Setup Google Alerts 2) Create an Action Plan 3) Reach out to happy (and not so happy) people through your social sites
• http://knowem.com/ a resource to find out if your username is available on over 400 popular social sites
• And last but not least Jamie Gorski quoted Shaq “It's 140 characters, if you need a ghost writer for that I feel sorry for you”

Transformational Property Management Leadership

Presented by: Andrew Botieri, Total Peak Performance

• The difference between being a manager and a leader is that a leader gets things done by examples.  They show you the way to do something.  A manger gets things done simply by telling you to do it and nothing else.
• In order to be a good leader you have to be able to empower your employees.  They have to have the ability to make important decisions.  This creates buy-in from your employees.  They will not only be working for a paycheck, but work because they have invested themselves in the business and it is now very important to them.
• First rate people will hire first rate people.  Second rate people will hire third rate people.  This is because a first rate person wants to hire people that are just as good as they are.  They want to succeed as a team. Second rate people will want people around them that make them look good.

Military Housing:  Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Presented by:  Vicki Sharp, Balfour-Beatty Communities, Bob Mathis, Actus Lend Lease, Mike Rouen, Pinnacle, and Ivan Bolden, U.S. Army, Retired
Moderated by:  Sam Merrick, Lincoln Military Housing

Military Housing Privatization is now 10 years old.  Currently, there will be more than 15 property management groups with over 200,000 military family homes under management by the end of 2010.  This session featured stories of experiences from the professionals that blazed the trail.

• Military Housing Privatization creates a sense of community for the military.
• Increase events and announcements.
• Showcase benefits by displaying 2 – 4 events per month.
• Military Housing Privatization is a growing industry- privatization will replace barrack housing- especially for single people.

Idea Factory 2010 – The Apartment All Stars

Presented by:  Kate Good, Lisa Trosien and Mindy Williams, The Apartment All Stars

This session featured over 100 ideas and tips for your 2010 recovery strategy.

• Mobile markets are VERY IMPORTANT. Think about creating a marketing presence by using a mobile phone application to relay information to the community about your property.
• New creative ideas for multifamily properties:  Buy a leasing tablet for your leasing office, play games and give prizes - Community Bingo, Scratch and Win, use eye catching signs and plan activities for kids.
• Be an adaptive business - the world will continue to change!  We can create a better business model by doing new things.
• SALES - Why do people buy?  The Science:  Always Be Present (ABP) when dealing with others. 
• Tellers:  Give information, present features, avoid rejection, and try to win by showing knowledge.
• Sellers:  Solve problems, translate features into benefits, risk rejection and WIN by closing sales.
• Property Listing - with one or more floor plans receives 58% more leasing opportunities.

Titans of Technology – Multifamily Housing Industry Technology Solutions for Today, Tomorrow and Beyond

Presented by:  David Bateman, Property Solutions; David Post, MRI Software, Steve Winn, RealPage, Anant Yardi, Yardi Systems, Inc.
Moderated by:  William Wollinger, WinnResidential

• Anant of Yardi was of the opinion that “mobility” and/or mobile devices will have a huge impact on the logistics of leasing in the future.  The ability to physically drive up to a community's parking lot, have your portable device hook up with the property and view to make a leasing decision from the comfort of your vehicle will be huge.  Some of the mobile devices have the capability today.
• David Post of MRI believes that Search Engine Marketing is being treated almost as a “secret” in the marketplace.  David feels that SEM is working very well.  Anant of Yardi discussed how he feels that spending 1-2 dollars per click for Search Engine page placement is difficult and expensive, but a worthy decision (provided accurate market research is done).  No one on the panel refuted his comments.
• There was a significant portion of time spent defining and discussing “clouds” and “cloud technology”.  The general consensus was that cloud technology is certainly not a new concept, but there are some incredibly valuable facets of the technology that may be used today.  Steve Winn wants the industry to move away from self-hosting and move toward a cloud environment.  David Post did not yet agree with Steve Winn and stated that for his opinion, the jury was still out.  He noted that in Australia the trend is the opposite as here in the States – companies are moving away from a cloud environment and bringing hosting in-house. 
• David Bateman discussed his opinion that if all the Property Management Software firms would develop better quality architecture and communicate better on the back end, it would greatly service the industry.  Examples:  Up-grading from Yardi versions 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, etc….  The work put into up-grading from so many past versions to “version 2.1”, for example, is immense.

Sustainability in Action: Real Estate Veterans Share Lessons Learned in Implementing Green Initiatives that Reduce Costs and Increase Value in their Multifamily Portfolios 

Presented by:  John Klein, JDM Associates; Nick Stolatis, TIAA-CREF; and Doug Walker, UDR, Inc.

• Talk with the city water conservation department regarding replacing all toilets with low flow at little to no cost.  Be prepared before you go and speak to them.  Know your numbers.
• Start replacing light bulbs with energy star light bulbs.  May be more expensive now, but will definitely save in the long run as they will last longer and use less electricity.
• Go paperless.  (Relate 24/7^SM anyone?)

Improving Renter Credit Quality and NOI using Resident Screening Market Data

Presented by:  Jay Harris, CoreLogic SafeRent, Greg McDearmon, NTS Development Company, and Robin Robuck, Concord Management, LTD

This session discussed how to drive operational improvements by using reports and charts generated by screening marketing data generated by technology software programs.

• Technology is changing many aspects of real estate and property management.
• Specifically, technological advances create new opportunities for property managers to service their residents better and improve property performance.
• Technology allows property managers to maximize resident screening, help increase rental revenue, provide better customer support to residents, sell your customers more “stuff”, make it easier to find new customers and help create a rewarding environment for your employees.
• To achieve these objectives listed above many of today's real estate and property managers are turning to online resident screening services to help them make more accurate leasing decisions.
• Recent data collected within multifamily shows that technology can create value. The resident screening process is information intensive and when applied properly, that information can help you maximize your rental revenue.

Social Networking or Social Not Working?

Presented by: Ed Spiegel RentMineOnline.com; Virginia Love, Waterton Residential; Patty Blum- Crawford, Apartment Finder; and Janet Settle, Capture the Market- Video Production

Have a plan of how you will care for your social media program, you can't just set it up and leave it.

• Set Google Alerts to spot feedback.  This will allow you to respond to good and bad feedback. 
• Every comment on a social networking source warrants a response.
• The response needs to be immediate. Keep responses short and sweet.
• Take it offline!  When you have negative feedback, respond with simple statements and then take it offline to address the issues.
• Layer the information that is offered. Facebook is not the place for selling messages. The future is layering the communications and pushing the traffic back to your community website.
• Using Social Networking – 1. Make a plan 2. Set a test environment 3. Collect email addresses.
• Suggest having both private and professional Facebook accounts for associates.
• 178 million Americans watched videos.
• Video is 79% more important than photos.
• 98% of college students rate YouTube as the as the #1 video source.
• Social Media is the platform for Resident Retention and Referrals, not for sales.  You should not post statements in your "News Feed" that say "Great Summer Specials at ABC Apartments".  Social Media is not a venue for sales; it's an opportunity for communications and making connections.
• Use Social Media for Resident Referrals...direct the marketing power to the residents.  Use the Facebook News Feed to encourage residents to earn referrals.  Ask them to post why they love living at ABC Apartments and be entered into a drawing for a prize.

a little Thursday morning humor for you. This was an email forward sent to us by Anne Sadovsky.

Phase 1: You are listening to jazz — Your first day at work is great. Your co-workers are wonderful, your office is nice, you love your processor, and your boss is the best!

Phase 2:You are listening to pop music — After a while you are so busy that you are not sure if you're coming or going anymore.

Phase 3: You are listening to heavy metal — This is what you feel like after ONE month.

Phase 4: You are listening to hip hop — You become bloated due to stress, you're gaining weight due to lack of exercise because you are so tired and have so much work to do when you get home, you feel sluggish and suffer from constipation. Your co-workers are too cheerful for your liking and the walls of your office are closing in. You have started thinking ‘WHATEVER' about your boss.

Phase 5: You are listening to GANGSTA RAP — After more time passes, your eyes start to twitch, you forget what a ‘good hair day' feels like as you just fall out of bed and load up on caffeine.

Phase 6: You are listening to the voices in your head — You have locked your office door to keep people out, You wonder, “WHY am I even here in the first place?” and “WHY did I become a loan officer?”

PASS THIS ON TO FELLOW APARTMENT PROFESSIONALS WHO NEED A GOOD LAUGH.

According to SmartBrief "75% of Web users admit to making judgments about the credibility of a company based on the appearance of its website". This of course is no news to us since a large portion of our business is based around appearance of apartment websites.

Tiffany Jonas, presented “Building Online Credibility: Dos and Don'ts for Small Businesses,” on June 11 at the National Association of Women Business Owners‘ 2010 Women's Business Conference in Washington, D.C.

Here are some design mistakes/red flags to watch for when looking to build trust online:

• Websites that aren't professionally designed. It may save money to have your teenager design your business' site, but people will know you didn't pay to have it done. In particular, if you are in a business that is perceived to be a big moneymaker, such as accounting, consulting or medicine, people will wonder why you didn't have the money to hire a professional to design your website, Jonas said.
• Websites that aren't updated regularly — or at all. 73% of Web users say that knowing a website is frequently updated with new information is a factor in their choice to visit it, said Jonas. If you don't update regularly or haven't updated your site design in years, people will notice.
• Poor font choice. Huge fonts, tiny fonts or too many different fonts don't make your site look good.
• A visual mismatch with your target audience. Jonas gave the example of a business consultant whose website featured images of flowers. That just didn't add up. If you aren't a florist or landscape architect, flowers don't make sense on your site. Likewise, a neon color scheme makes no more sense for a therapist than pink does for a hardware store.
• Running pay-for-click ads. These can be OK on a blog, but for a business website, they just look shady.
• Unprofessional images. This can include cliched images — think a calculator on an accounting site, do-it-yourself photographs, a logo that wasn't professionally designed, and no images where they would make sense (if you're running a bed and breakfast, people want to see the rooms).
• A website that isn't intuitive to navigate. 77% of Web users say they won't stay at a website that they find it hard to navigate, said Jonas.
• Lack of information about the company. People want to know the basics: physical address, mailing address, phone number, e-mail address and fax number.
• Absence of policies. People want to know what you plan to do with any information they enter into your website. Of people who shop online, 54% report they have become more likely to read policies on privacy, returns and other matters, said Jonas. But, she warned, don't go overboard. Short and sweet is better than long and detailed. When you get into too much detail, people will think you're using all those words to cover something up.
• Worrying language: This includes poor spelling and grammar, fake-sounding or overly emotional testimonials, and content that is packed with keywords but contains little or no information.

Source: SmartBrief Smart Blog on Social Media

As of June 1 I have officially been in the "multifamily industry" for 1 year. Before June 1st of last year I didn't even know there was an industry around multifamily, in fact I'm pretty sure that I'd never heard the word "multifamily". I have been an apartment resident since 2002 (sounds crazy to think of it) but in the last year I've added words such as "resident retention", "lease up", and "resident portal" to my vocabulary. I read a blog post today from Heather Blume entitled "Didn't You See the Balloons?". In her search for an apartment building that was camouflaged by many other buildings, it took quite a bit of effort to find her destination. When she told the leasing consultant she'd had trouble finding the apartment his response was (you guessed it) "Didn't you see the balloons?".

So here's my question, is this how all of this property's marketing and "customer service" issues are handled? Do they get phone calls that resemble this:

Caller: Hi I'd like information on a 2 bedroom 2 bath
Leasing Consultant: Didn't you see our website? It has the floorplans.

While yes, I am mostly kidding, I hope this scenario doesn't happen I do want to piggy back on Heather's point (did you read her post yet?) are you assuming your prospects and residents know things about your property just because it's an industry standard?
 

Did you see the digest in the June 07th, NAA Industry Insider of "Homeownership Is Overrated" from
Wall Street Journal ?

Richard Florida, author of "The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity," writes that owning a home may actually be a drawback in today's economic reality. He notes, "My colleagues and I tracked homeownership levels across U.S. cities and regions to see how they correlate to other measurable demographic and economic factors. As we expected, the rates of homeownership are greatest where housing prices are lowest." However, cities with high levels of homeownership -- in the range of 75 percent like Pittsburgh and St. Louis -- had, on average, significantly lower levels of economic activity and substantially lower wages and incomes. Florida adds, "Far too many people in economically distressed communities are trapped in homes they can't sell, unable to move on to new centers of opportunity. The cities and regions with the lowest levels of homeownership -- in the range of 55 percent to 60 percent like L.A., N.Y., San Francisco and Boulder -- had healthier economies and higher incomes." He goes on to report that those who are not locked into mortgage payments have a greater degree of flexibility and resilience in the face of economic shocks and downturns than those who have a mortgage. Those individuals can downshift as needed or more easily move to take advantage of employment opportunities elsewhere. Florida currently serves as director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto.

Have you noticed that in the multifamily industry June feels like a new year? The National Apartment Association Conference is the go-to place to share ideas, hob knob with vendors, and see all the latest and greatest of what's going on in the industry. Because of the nature of NAA, many people leave ready to hit the ground running with new ideas, changes to websites, upgrades to marketing campaigns and a whole new outlook. Being in the forefront of the technology industry, we certainly love to answer questions, see our long-time friends and the shake and howdy that ensues during the annual multifamily reunion.

Since NAA 2009, here at Ellipse Communications, Inc. we have:

• Changed our corporate branding from Ellipse Group to Ellipse Communications, Inc.
• Expanded our leadership team through the directorship of our newly-appointed President, Lee O'Conner.
• Delved into higher education (expanding our minds beyond technology) reading such books as 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis chosen by our CEO, Lisa Benson.
• Promoted our top sales person, Susan Stroud (previously Wilson), to Vice President of Sales.
• Restructured the entire sales department to emphasize client relations and an additional role for Kristi Johnston as Vice President of Business Development.
• Hired 3 National Sales Directors: Becky Currie (23 years industry experience), Valerie Updegrove (11 years industry experience), and Brandon Jurkovich (7 years industry experience).
• Streamlined our programming and development department by hiring Amy Farmer as Vice President of Information Technology.
• Tripled the size of our design department now led by Creative Director, Naveen Nawaz.
• Increased our social media presence tenfold through blogging, Facebook and Twitter managed by our Emerging Media Consultant, Elysa Rice.
• Upgraded and rebranded our one of a kind content management system, the Apartment Toolbox®.
• Upgraded and improved our number one product Relate 24/7SM (the ultimate multifamily email machine) and celebrated another year with only a 1% opt out rate for our client's residents!
• Discovered through our Net Mystery ShopperSM Director, Julie Ramey that 64.37% of leasing inquiries are being responded to.
• Dressed up as Space Cowboys with very shiny silver boots.
• Spoken at Multifamily Pro Brainstorming, NAA Student Housing Conference, and Interface Student Housing Conference.
• Attended the Multifamily Executive Conference, NMHC Tech, Optimization Summits, 2 Student Housing Conference, and various Social Media Club events.
• Flown to various cities for Manager's Meetings (we love these by the way… especially if they are near a beach or a golf course).
• Almost given Richard Jahnel, our Chief Technology Officer, a heart attack by accidentally tripping over some pretty important wires (Don't worry! Everything was fixed within minutes).
• Appointed our 11 year anniversary Cow – Elliot.
• Had 3 Ellipse weddings and 4 Ellipse babies.
• And last but not least, we have officially run out of desks in our Dallas headquarters. Think we can double stack cubicles like bunk bed style?

So the cliff notes version is: we have been busy, and we are excited by all of the changes! Do you notice that your company calendar milestones revolve around NAA? What's been your biggest accomplishment in the last year? We'd love to share your success stories.

Seriously! Want.

The U-Socket Charges USB Devices Without an Adapter from Lifehacker

I've lived in my fair share of apartments over the years and I always enjoy the little added touch of a creative move in gift on the day I get my keys. Usually these gifts are very utilitarian, laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, a trash bag, etc. I ran across some adorable free printable greeting cards that Canon is offering. I think it would be fun to have a few (10 maybe) "I've Moved" cards waiting for a new resident to send to their friends and family.

Here are Moving cards from Canon:

A few Just Moved cards may also make for a fun addition to your new move packet you give when someone signs their lease. You could also have your designers create a custom card specific to your property or there are any number of sites that offer cute Just Moved graphics.

Chances are I'm not the only person who lives on both sides of the apartment hunting game. I am both - an apartment hunter and by profession an "apartment marketer". I've done the drive-in-circles, shop online, call all my friends, can't find an apartment game. And I've also coached clients on how I think they could best market to their prospects and retain existing residents. So, this morning when I saw a headline in my twitter stream "Apartment Hunting... Not So Fun" I was of course very curious.

I am not at all surprised to find that this apartment searcher, Heather, is frustrated and discouraged by apartment rating sites.

Right now, I'm scouring the internet for apartment listings and talking with friends about recommended neighborhoods.  I was feeling pretty good about our search.

Well, that is, until I started reading the online reviews about apartment complexes.  And that took me down an entirely different path.  Pretty much every apartment complex, with the exception of those completely out of our price range, has received dismal ratings.  Ugh.

Once again, ignorance was bliss.  Back to reality.

As an industry we talk a lot about the best way to respond (or not) to review sites but my question to you is, have you ever thought of how much apartment hunters become discouraged because of how easy it is to find negative reviews?

My suggestion - make sure all of your online marketing materials are up to date and consistent. If I can find all of the information I need about your property on your website or on an ILS I won't have to keep searching. Also, if you receive positive reviews via email or in person direct those people to Yelp or another review site that can be your go-to-source for reviews of your property. Sidenote - if you know of a property in Seattle (where Heather is looking to move) reach out to her on twitter or comment on her blog.

Do you have any other suggestions to ease the "not so fun" part of apartment hunting?

I found the following presentation through Gwen Bell, one of the marketing bloggesses I follow.

This is an audience member recording of a keynote at SIME Stockholm. Quoted to be "a thought provoking journey into your attention span and how new technologies create new (a)social behavior.

Keynote by: Linda Stone, author and thought leader with a background as VP at Microsoft and long time executive with Apple who coined the term “continuous partial attention”."

Ironically enough she speaks on multitasking and I started "watching" this video at the end of the day while finishing up a few minor tasks. I highly recommend taking 22 minutes of your time to watch and listen to this. You might have a new relationship with time at the end.

May I have your attention please? - Linda Stone - SIME 09 from Ayman van Bregt on Vimeo.

In a few weeks (June 1st to be exact) I will have my 1 year anniversary working with Ellipse. We work with various vendors throughout the year for print pieces, promotional items, banners, etc. I am working on something new (and fun!) for our marketing at the upcoming National Apartment Association in New Orleans. Today I contacted a vendor we've used before but I've never personally worked with. I called their offices around 11am to ask for some pricing information on my upcoming project.

I started the call with my usual "hi I'm Elysa calling from Ellipse, in the past you guys have done XYZ for us." At which point I asked her for pricing on what we previously ordered. The response I received was pretty rude, and certainly may cost them our continued business. In my book - any customer that's already familiar with your product/service/apartment/etc should be treated with a high regard. The person on the phone treated me the opposite, her attitude very much said "well of course you'd want new prices because you already buy from us."

Oh and did I mention she didn't answer my question or even offer to help. Her response to my phone call was "well you need to email [other person's name]." When I told her I didn't know who that was she responded with his email address. No thanks for calling, perhaps I can take you number down and get back with you, nothing.

I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt and say hopefully she's not like this all the time, but it certainly doesn't make me want to call them back again. I believe that every interaction is an opportunity to learn what works and what doesn't work. On this Monday afternoon, there's a local vendor one step closer to losing an existing customer simply because the wrong person answered the phone.

A question to ask yourself: are you missing renewals because your team is taking existing customers for granted?

Apartment Decorating

• Entry Tables Roundup
• Tips From Your Editor's Bathrooms
• Unwealthy live in under 400 square feet
• 5 Ways To Create Open Spaces In Small Places
• 10 Ways To Use Mirrors To Make Your Space Look Larger
• 5 Tips For Tiny Bedrooms

flickr photo: back_garage

In the fast paced world of social media there are links and resources being shared all day long - on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and email. Over the next few weeks we will be doing resource round-ups every few days. Feel free to use any/all of these links in your resident communications (particularly on your Resident Portal and/or Relate 24/7? resident messages).

Random Fun Resources for Your Residents

• Recycled Records
• 111 Navy Chair: Made From Plastic Coca-Cola Bottles
• The Office Craigslist Built
• 15 Awesome Storage Solutions for Under $10
• 10 Creative Ways To Use A Screensaver
• A Collection a Day
• 10 Ways to Green Your Home Office
• 45 Benefits of Optimism