The Importance of Branding

Have you ever thought about what a brand is and what it means to your consumer (prospects and residents)? Let’s think about it for a minute. A property is more than just a name. It represents a promise to prospects and residents, in conveying the value of the community. Think of brands that you frequent as a consumer. When they come to mind there is an emotional connection between you and that brand. That connection creates a positive buying response. 

One very popular global brand that exemplifies this is McDonalds. When you hear the name you think of the golden arches, the smell of the french fries and the speed at which you can get the food. No matter where you travel in the world, the McDonald’s brand promises you those golden hot fries and fast services. The fries are the same no matter where you purchase them in the world. That is their brand promise. Consistent and true to value.

A brand is most commonly represented in a brand mark or logo. This mark distinguishes the product, or in our case, community from that of its competitors. This distinction allows each community to create a unique value proposition that has an appeal to a target market segmentation (demographic). It's represented in words, fonts and abstract designs etc, in creating a lasting element in the mind of the consumer. Thus, the word branding.

In the multifamily industry, we often create great names for our communities, but lack in creating the identity that needs to support that name. That trend is mostly due to the competitive nature of our marketplace prior to today. We simply didn’t have to engage in strategic brand development and management like other industries. Our consumers (prospects) simply shopped for an apartment. Today, our prospects seek to purchase lifestyles. It’s now much more than just an apartment. It’s also all of the amenities and customer care engagements that combine to make a brand experience. We now market this brand/brand experience to target audiences who have lifestyle needs parallel to our community value propositions. This new consumer trend, coupled with access to smart phones with on demand consumer information, has resulted in a new strategic direction for us in developing and managing our brands.

A community name should be created as a brand concept. Meaning, what does the community, as brand, mean to prospects and residents? Is this meaning represented in taglines, apartment features, community amenities, location etc.? Your community brand should be a short cut in conveying all of those elements to your target audience. And your brand should also represent a consistent brand experience for your residents. You should execute residential services that are aligned with the promise of your brand, as propositioned in your brand concept. Consumers in all industries are hungry for a brand that satisfies their multi-faceted lifestyle needs. Our continued success in the industry will be defined by our brand promise. We are operating in a highly competitive and crowded marketplace.

So, I ask you.....Is your community just a name? Or a brand?