Tough news to start 2025 in the multifamily industry.
Redfin announced a layoff of 450 employees from Rent. This came after the company announced a partnership with Zillow to become the exclusive provider of multifamily rental listings on Redfin.
This move impacts major ILSs like Rent.com and ApartmentGuide.com, which offer Rent's marketing services beyond just listings. Now, many apartment teams are left wondering:
- What will happen to the digital marketing services they’ve relied on?
- Will traffic, leads, or leasing be disrupted?
Everything is still fresh, so we'll know more soon. However, this news indicates that apartment marketing is rapidly evolving, which urges operators to regain control of their strategy before future changes lead to further complications.
Having Control Over Your Apartment's Digital Marketing Presence is More Important Than Ever
Every property management company and apartment community is unique. Some feel that third-party marketing aligns better with their needs, while others prefer (and have the resources) to develop an in-house approach.
Neither is inherently right or wrong or better. Many marketing strategies are a blend of both approaches. You may have hired a marketing director or other personnel to own your strategy yet still use third-party platforms or work with third-party companies for help.
However, the Rent-Zillow merger is a wake-up call for many apartment operators, especially those who rely heavily on Rent's ILS marketplace and adjacent marketing solutions as key lead sources.
The uncertainty surrounding what this decision holds for the future is real—whether you currently use these platforms or not. Multifamily marketing is evolving faster than it ever has before. We must all be prepared for future changes that will inevitably come.
What is clear is that controlling your community's marketing strategy is more important than ever because those with greater control are less vulnerable to disruptions when things change.
Now is the time to reevaluate how much control you have over your marketing strategy and determine whether your current approach leaves you vulnerable.
The Path Forward for Apartment Marketing
If you are reevaluating your marketing strategy, here are three critical steps to take today:
1. Evaluate all of your marketing sources
Look closely at where your leads are coming from and what you are paying for. A couple of things to keep in mind here:
- Are your marketing channels driving qualified traffic that converts into leases?
- Are you overly reliant on ILSs?
- When was the last time you analyzed your website’s performance?
2. Identify where you can regain control.
Rent, Zillow, and other ILSs are examples of third-party platforms that don’t drive traffic to your website. Instead, they keep renters on their platforms, establishing the user experience, your lead flow, and visibility.
Are you still willing to give up that control, especially in light of recent events?
Other third-party platforms, like Google Ads, are much more valuable because they're designed to drive renters to your community website, not someone else's platform. They also give you more control over your apartment's digital presence and marketing performance.
One thing to consider is shifting part of your budget from ILS listings to Google Ads.
3. Assess whether you have the resources to take control.
Do you have the tools and expertise to manage website traffic, digital advertising, and lead generation internally?
If not, what resources or partnerships could help you make that transition?
If you are in that camp, you are not alone. Many apartment operators face the same challenge—but there is a better path forward.
RentVision Can Help You Take Back Control of Your Apartment Marketing Strategy
Rent's agreement with Zillow and ensuing layoffs are the latest reminder that your apartment community's marketing strategy can be vulnerable to changes outside your control.
The new path forward is shifting toward a marketing strategy focusing on your community’s needs, not another company's business model.
That's exactly where RentVision can help. Our company's purpose is to consider your needs first. We're not seeking to take away your traffic to grow our platform. We've built our marketing solutions to work for you and your apartment communities' unique needs:
- We build apartment websites with content specific to each of your floorplans, including engaging walkthrough video tours and photos of your units and amenities so that it helps you convert more leads to leases.
- We generate qualified traffic to your website with Predictive Advertising, an automated pay-per-click (PPC) solution that adjusts ad spending and visibility for your floorplans with the most upcoming vacancies and creating optimal visibility for them through crritical moments of a prospect's search.
- We help you align your marketing strategy with your leasing performance, driving traffic to earn more leases when needed and saving money when you don't.
Shifting to this strategy can feel like a lot, especially when uncertain about what the Rent news means for you. But taking the steps now to take back control of your marketing strategy and protect your marketing strategy from any future disruptions is the right path.
We're always here to help—schedule your demo to see how RentVision can help you take back control.