A 5-month case study of a multifamily housing portfolio that, by using Axiom Media Service, increased occupancy and revenue while cutting marketing expenses by more than 56%.

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Multifamily Housing
Internet Marketing
5-Month Case Study
! Revenues Increased 3.8%
! Marketing Expenses Reduced 56.3%
! Occupancy Increased from 96.2% to 99.9%
! 850-Unit Portfolio
! Results Tabulated December 15, 2009 – May 1, 2010
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Multifamily Housing 5-Month Case Study:
Revenues Increased 3.8%; Marketing Expenses Cut 56.3%
By Michael Menche
Managing Director, Axiom Media Service
On May 1, 2010, Company A, an owner/manager of
multifamily housing in the Northeast, reported one
Company A vacancy out of 850 units, down from 32 vacancies on
increased its December 15, 2009.
occupancy
rate from A 99.9% occupancy rate is remarkable in any
96.2% to market, but it is especially so in this economic
99.9% and climate. In the apartment industry, vacancy rates
cut its track with the unemployment rate. In the First
marketing
Quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate was 9.7%
expenses by
nationwide and 9.8% in New Jersey, according to the
56.3%!
New Jersey Department of Labor. New Jersey’s rate
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was just off a 33-year high of 10.1% in December
2009.
Reports on vacancies vary. National vacancy rates in the first quarter
2010 were 10.6 percent for rental housing, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau. Reis, the New York research firm, announced that
nationally, the apartment vacancy rate stayed flat at 8%. Reis added
that apartment rents rose during the first quarter, ending five straight
quarters of declines and signaling the worst may be over for the hard-
hit sector.
This gloomy environment begs for an analysis of Company A, which
increased its monthly revenues 3.8% in less than five months. Here is
a snapshot comparison of the portfolio’s performance:
Table 1
Company A Portfolio Statistics
Dec. 15, 2009 May 1, 2010 % Change
Number of Properties 9 9
Total Units 850 850
Occupancies 818 849
Occupancy Rate 96.2% 99.9% 3.85%
Average Monthly Rent $1,000 $1,000
Monthly Revenues $818,000 $849,000 3.80%

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Integrated Int ernet Marketing
“The Internet has emerged as the primary tool consumers use
to find their next apartment,” said David Cardwell, National
Multi Housing Council Vice President of Technology and Like any other
Capital Markets. “More than 70 percent of renters begin business
their apartment search online, and many firms now report reliant on
more than 50 percent of their leasing activity is coming from consumer
online sources.” search, an
apartment
This observation dates from April 2008. Since then Web 2.0 owner/
technology and social media platforms have exploded in manager
popularity and accelerated consumer’s online activity. must optimize
Facebook alone has gone from 60 million users to more than its Internet
400 million users as of February 2010. presence to
avoid
Like any other business reliant on consumer search, an competitive
apartment owner/manager must optimize its Internet irrelevance
presence to avoid competitive irrelevance and prohibitively and
expensive catch-up in the future. Web 2.0 is becoming 3.0; prohibitively
Internet search is becoming mobile and personal. Social expensive
media networks are impacting organic search engine catch-up in
rankings. the future.!
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Company A chose to leverage its existing strength to the
Internet, hiring Axiom Media Service to conduct an
integrated program to boost occupancy and reduce the cost of tenant
acquisition.
Craigslist & Paid Search
In December 2009, Axiom Media Service initiated its craigslist
program, featuring V-flyers, which are enhanced templates with
photos and descriptions. A pay per click campaign with hundreds of
keywords was begun via Google AdWords.
In two weeks, eight units were rented at one property. As a result of
the occupancy upswing, the company received an FDA $5.5 million
refinancing loan that it had been in danger of losing.
Directory Listing & Content Rep urposing
Axiom Media Service created or edited each of the nine communities’
profiles—with key words, photos and links as appropriate—in dozens of
search engine directories and third-party sites.

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All suitable community and corporate promotional literature was
repurposed for SEO visibility, tagged with keywords, and
hosted on the Axiom Media Service platform, with links to As a result of
Company A’s website. its Internet
marketing
Social Media campaign,
Company A
For middle-market housing stock such as Company A’s, reduced its
social media supplements marketing indirectly by facilitating marketing
leads and improving SEO rankings through link-building. expenses,
Axiom Media Service created community pages on increased its
Facebook, to be used as multimedia bulletin boards for occupancy
tenants and local businesses, and on other platforms such and received
as Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. a $5.5 million
refinancing
Reducing the Cost of Tenant Acquisition loan.
The demonstrable success of the integrated Internet
marketing campaign allowed Company A to slash its
marketing expenses by more than half.
Table 2
Company A Monthly Marketing Expenses
Dec. 15, 2009 May 1, 2010 Change % Change
ApartmentGuide.com $7,020 $7,020
Newspaper $6,000 $1,600
ApartmentFinder.com $5,220 $0
Realtor (one month rent) $3,666 $0
Apt.com $1,790 $0
Rent.com (avg. 4 leases/mo.) $1,556 $0
Axiom Media Service $0 $1,250
Google Paid Search $0 $1,176
V-flyer $0 $95
Total $25,252 $11,046 -$14,206 -56.3%
Conventional media were weaned from the marketing mix and
replaced by lower cost online sources. With its apartments almost
entirely leased up, Company A now has a larger referral base for
future rentals.
Company A’s accelerated web presence continues to attract more
qualified traffic. The company now maintains a waiting list at every
property. The strong will get stronger.

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Axiom Media Service: Experts in Online Residential
Management
We take on only one property or portfolio per market so each of our
clients dominates its niche on the Internet. Our service is remarkably
affordable and takes less than a month to implement. To schedule an
introductory office visit or web demo, call us at (201) 348-8998, or
visit www.axiommediaservice.com.
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