Attracting today’s renter has never been more competitive. Whether you’re leasing up in a fast-growing submarket or managing a stabilized asset facing new construction next door, the playbook has changed. Success now depends on a synchronized mix of brand storytelling, digital precision, on-site experiences, and resident engagement.
The good news? You don’t need a bigger budget—you need a sharper plan.
Before jumping into these tactics, make sure your marketing foundation is solid. Without it, you’ll waste effort layering on new strategies that won’t stick. Time and again, we see the greatest results come from revisiting the basics.
Once those fundamentals are in place, every advanced tactic will perform better. As Michael Jordan put it: “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”
Let's get to it.
1) Create city, neighborhood, and employer-proximity landing pages. Target long-tail queries like “apartments near [employer] with parking.” Include commute maps, pet-friendly details, and internal floorplan links. Pair these pages with Google ads for consistent placement.
2) Improve Core Web Vitals and conversion rate optimization. Slow sites lose leads. Ensure fast load times, responsive design, and sticky CTAs like “Schedule a Tour.” A/B test form layouts and hero copy monthly. Get a website audit from a reputable company (Like Lease Engine) and start optimizing.
The tips below are less tactics and more of a checklist to fully optimize your GBP. That being said it is one of the more important things you can do to ensure your apartment is found on search so we thought it warranted a callout. This is a big topic, and one we plan to revisit in a future blog article with more in-depth information, so stay tuned!
3) Claim, verify, and choose the right categories & attributes for your Apartment’s Google Business Profile. Start by claiming your listing, completing verification, and selecting the primary category that best matches your asset (e.g., Apartment Building or Apartment Rental Agency), plus relevant secondary categories. Add attributes like “Wheelchair accessible entrance,” “LGBTQ+ friendly,” and “Pet-friendly” if applicable. Consistent naming (no keyword stuffing), accurate address pin placement, and complete fields (hours, holiday hours) build trust and improve map pack eligibility.
4) Turn your profile into a conversion hub with CTAs and UTM tracking. Add a dedicated Appointment link that routes to your online tour scheduler, and ensure Website, Call, Directions, and Messaging are enabled. Use UTM parameters on every link (website, appointment, posts) so you can measure calls, clicks, and booked tours inside analytics and your CRM. Review “Calls,” “Website clicks,” and “Directions” in GBP Insights monthly to prioritize budgets by top-performing zip codes.
5) Publish fresh visuals weekly—cover, team, amenities, and short videos. Upload high-quality photos that reflect seasonality and lifestyle: lobby arrival, fitness center, pet areas, rooftops, and nearby landmarks. Use a compelling cover image and add 15–30 second vertical videos that show tours, amenity moments, or neighborhood highlights. Avoid stock; name files clearly, and aim for a steady cadence (e.g., 3–5 new assets per month) to keep engagement signals strong.
Remember that anyone can publish photos to a business, meaning your residents can, and will share sub-par images that don't always reflect the best on your property. When that happens be sure to add updated imagry that takes user images off the first page of images.
6) Use Posts, Offers, and Events to promote tours and limited-time specials. Publish a weekly Post (tour openings, floorplan spotlights) and create Offer posts with start/end dates for move-in incentives. Pair each with a single CTA (Book, Call, Learn more) and UTM links to the exact landing page. Repurpose content from social and email so your GBP stays current between campaigns.
7) Manage Q&A, Reviews, and Messaging with clear internal guidelines. Seed the Q&A with owner-posted FAQs (parking, pet policy, application timeline) and answer new questions within 24 hours. Enable Messaging and route notifications to the leasing inbox with templates that capture move-in date, floorplan interest, and tour availability.
8) Implement local business schema and maintain NAP consistency. Mark up the address, hours, and reviews. Align website, Google Business Profile, and ILS listing details. Consistent information across platforms helps with ranking and discoverability. Encourage photo uploads on GBP to boost visibility.
Want to make sure your schema is implemented correctly? Reach out to Lease Engine about our local SEO services for apartments.
9) Build high-intent campaigns mapped to precise landing pages. Group ads by search theme (geographies, unit sizes, luxury, etc.), use strong negative keyword lists, and optimize for qualified conversions (tours, applications)—not just form fills or clicks whenever possible.
Looking for more advice on running Google Ads? Read our Guide to Google Ads for Apartments & Multifamily Complexes.
10) Geo-fence employers, competitors, and retail nodes. Serve tailored ads to audiences near key demand drivers using display and social ad platforms. Highlight differentiators—covered parking, EV charging, or short commute—right in the ad. Monitor overlap with your retargeting pool to manage frequency.
11) Use creative ad sequences that mirror the renter journey. Start with amenity carousels, then floorplan features, then a time-bound incentive. Refresh every 30 days to avoid fatigue and keep frequency under control. Use exclusions for recent applicants to safeguard budget.
12) Sync ads with real-time pricing and availability. Dynamic feeds reduce disconnects between ads and reality, protect you from false advertising claims, and help reduce low quality clicks from unqualified searches. Prospects see current specials without extra clicks, which improves trust and conversion. Use a system like getflair.io to make setting these systems up a cinch.
13) Enhance ILS listings strategically. Premium placements can be worth it during lease-up or seasonally soft months. UTM every link to evaluate lead quality, tour bookings, and leases—not just clicks. Keep photos and descriptions up-to-date and consistent with your website to improve your chance of securing a lead. Apartment hunters shop images first. Don’t waste an expensive ILS placement by showing them outdated views of your property.
14) Use lifestyle photography with model casting. Capture aspirational yet realistic moments—remote work in a sunlit alcove, a dog on the rooftop lawn, or friends gathering at the fire pit. Cast talent that reflects your target renter’s demographics and lifestyle. Secure content rights for use across your website, ILS, ads, and email campaigns.
15) Produce a 90–120 second brand film plus short cutdowns. Anchor your homepage with a cinematic “hero” film, and use shorter edits for paid social and YouTube ads. Include drone shots for scale and an immersive “arrival sequence” (porte cochère, lobby, elevator ride) to position your property as an experience, not just a building.
16) Geo-target high-affinity zones with quality ads. Serve your premium assets to prospects near competitor properties, upscale gyms, private schools, and country clubs. Layer sequential messaging so repeated exposure builds urgency to tour.
17) Neighborhood luxury partnerships. Collaborate with high-end restaurants, galleries, pet spas, and fitness clubs to create resident-only perks and co-branded offers. Co-host events, exchange QR codes, and cross-publish content to extend reach. Hosting “Taste of the Neighborhood” nights in your lounge positions your property as a lifestyle hub.
18) Champagne & Sunset Tours. Host invite-only golden-hour open houses with valet, live music, and your most impressive views. Drive RSVPs via a minimalist landing page with capped attendance. Incentivize resident referrals and re-engage last year’s lost leases to fill the guest list with high-intent prospects. Use SMS follow-ups post-tour with direct calendar links and pre-filled applications for their preferred floorplan.
19) Partner with micro-influencers aligned with your brand. Think local interior designers, pet trainers, or fitness coaches. Negotiate content rights to repurpose influencer-created reels across ads and listings. Attribute ROI with UTMs and promo codes.
Read our blog on luxury apartment marketing strategy for more ideas.
20) Install a photogenic feature wall or mural. Place it where tours naturally pause, add your @handle and a subtle QR. Seasonal props or lighting variations keep it fresh. Encourage residents to tag you for a chance to be featured and get perks or promotions.
21) Stage seasonal vignettes. Create shareable sets—holiday lounges, game-day spaces, or spring plant bars. Involve residents for authenticity and batch-shoot content to fill your calendar without last-minute scrambles.
22) Launch a structured UGC program at move-in. Collect resident consent, then curate monthly “Life at [Community]” reels. Reward contributors with small perks like gift cards or amenity credits to increase participation. Some starting ideas would be activities like pet of the week highlights, shoutouts to charities or non-profits that residents may assist with, and meet your neighbor questionnaires.
23) Interview residents for monthly ‘Life at [Community]’ features. Showcase authentic stories from 3-5 residents per month about commutes, amenities, and favorite neighborhood spots. Cross-post to your blog for SEO value. Say thank you with a catered lunch for residents.
24) Run Facebook Ads with lookalikes and lifestyle targeting. If you have a CRM, you have all the data you need to build quality audience targets on social media platforms. Build lookalike audiences with resident data, layer in interests that correlate with your differentiators—fitness, pets, remote work. Set your geography to your neighborhood or section of the city. Use lead gen forms that prefill data and route instantly to SMS or messenger chats.
Looking for more tips on Meta advertising? Check out our blog on Meta Advertising for Apartment Lead Generation.
25) Publish employer- and university-focused relocation guides. Include commute times, parking, transit options, and nearby amenities. Add maps, estimated gas/ride-share costs, and pet-friendly recommendations. Gate a PDF version to capture emails from relocating prospects. Drop physical guides off at local businesses featured to increase visibility.
26) Publish renter FAQs and policy explainers. Clarify deposits, fees, utilities, pet policies, and lease terms in plain language. Transparency earns trust, and trust wins leases. Include examples, calculators, or comparison tables where helpful. Fewer unanswered questions equals faster tour decisions. Bonus points if you add these Q&As to your Google business profile.
27) Write neighborhood cost-of-living comparisons. Contrast Downtown vs. Suburb or different transit corridors. Be honest about trade-offs and show who might prefer different options for different reasons. These posts help renters self-qualify and save your team time.
28) Build a YouTube playlist of floorplan walkthroughs. Title for intent (“Studio with Den in [City] – Virtual Walkthrough”) and add timestamps for room sections. Link each video back to the exact floorplan page. While this may be time intensive, YouTube is gaining more visibility on searches, often being featured ahead of many organic results.
29) Add 360° VR tours with clickable hotspots. Layer amenity and neighborhood highlights into the tour to tell a fuller story. Embed on your site, on youtube and ILS so prospects can explore anytime. Track engagement to see which floorplans need reshoots or more context.
30) Offer partner-backed perks that feel premium. Bundle a month of boutique gym, pet grooming, or coworking credits with move-in. These benefits align with lifestyle and create perceived value beyond rent. Co-market with partners to expand reach at low cost.
31) Add touchscreen floorplan selectors in leasing offices. Let visitors filter by price, view, and move-in date, then email or print their favorites. This saves agent time and keeps prospects engaged while waiting. It also provides a useful artifact that prospects can reference later. Just don’t use self-serve options as a way to ignore people in the lobby. Examples of this would be services like Engrain TouchTour.
32) Enable secure self-guided tours. Use ID verification, smart locks, and clear wayfinding. Self-guided options capture after-hours interest and reduce no-shows. Make sure you have cameras installed to monitor activity and set clear parameters for when a self-guided tour should be completed. Help your units sell themselves 24/7. Follow with an automated text that invites questions and offers a quick application link.
33) Create ‘Welcome to the Neighborhood’ packs. Include discounts at coffee shops, gyms, and dry cleaners. Partners get exposure; residents get value from day one. Highlight the pack on tours to reinforce community ties. Hand-written cards or cute inclusions can help these packs spread on social.
34) Host seasonal pop-ups. Many community courtyards and lawns go unused. Connect with local farmers’ markets, maker fairs, food truck organizations or pet adoption agencies to use your space fully on select days, drive foot traffic and build goodwill. Capture opt-ins via QR and schedule same-day tours. Photograph the event for ongoing social material..
35) Automate review requests at peak sentiment moments. Trigger requests after maintenance resolutions and move-ins. Keep it simple: one link, two steps, and 2-3 reminders. Track response rates by channel to refine timing. Need help setting up your review collection system? Lease Engine can help.
36) Add QR codes for reviews at events and welcome packets. Place QR codes at community gatherings and in welcome packets. When residents share praise in person, ask permission to send the link on the spot. A friendly, human ask consistently outperforms SMS and email.
37) Use software to centralize review monitoring. Categorize issues (noise, parking, staff) to spot patterns quickly. Share monthly insights with ops to close the loop. Celebrate wins publicly and fix root causes privately. Respond to all negative feedback and continue to work toward solving repeat resident issues quickly.
38) Create a response playbook with tone and templates. Thank happy reviewers and personalize a detail; for negatives, empathize, state next steps, and offer an offline path. Consistency builds trust for future readers. Avoid defensive language—resolution beats rebuttal.
39) Offer alternative feedback pathways. Make sure your tenants know they have direct lines for feedback outside a snarky Google review. Add feedback forms to the website and create pathways for negative feedback on automated review collection systems. Ensure that your team responds to negative feedback from these channels quickly and empathetically before the thought of a 1 star review ever crosses your resident’s mind.
40) Add 24/7 AI leasing assistants. AI assistants answer FAQs and capture intent while your team sleeps. Route hot leads to senior agents for immediate follow-up. Measure success by booked tours and show rates, not just chats.
41) Build SMS nurture drips for booked-but-not-signed leads. If you’re not already doing this, it’s time to start. Send timely reminders, floorplan alternatives, and limited-time offers to hot prospects. Use automated tools to make sure your cadence is consistent. Keep messages short with a single CTA per text. Respect quiet hours and opt-out preferences to protect deliverability.
42) Deploy chatbots for FAQs and service requests. AI chatbots like EliseAI can automate answers for parking, packages, and pet policies to reduce call load. This allows agents to focus on value-add conversations and high-stakes issues. Review chat logs monthly to improve knowledge base coverage and ensure that prospects aren’t finding answers lacking.
AI currently can’t replace human interaction and some people may be frustrated by AI assistants and chatbots. Be sure to screen interactions with your AI tools to make sure they aren’t losing you leads.
43) Upgrade signage and wayfinding. Refresh your main entrance sign so it’s clean, high-contrast, and well-lit—people should recognize your community from the street, day or night. Add simple arrow signs from the nearest main road to the leasing office/visitor parking, placing one at every decision point (turn-in, internal turns, office entrance). This “wayfinding” prevents missed turns and drop-offs. Keep the message minimal: logo, a single benefit or “Now Leasing,” and a short URL or QR code.
44) Test billboards or transit ads. Place ads along busy routes near major employers, campuses, or commuting choke points—especially during pre-lease. Match the message to your digital offer (same special, headline, and imagery) so prospects see one consistent story. Keep copy ultra-short and readable at a glance. Track results with a unique short URL or QR on each ad and compare inquiries/tours during the ad flight to your normal baseline.
45) Host themed open houses. Events aren’t just for luxury communities. Think dog-friendly “Yappy Hours” if you have a dog park, or brunch-and-tours that feel like an event—not a walkthrough. Offer both guided and self-guided routes so guests can choose their pace. Add a few staged “photo stops” with good lighting and a subtle @handle/QR to encourage sharing. Capture quick testimonials and post an event recap to extend the buzz after everyone goes home.
46) Offer tiered incentives by urgency and behavior. For example, “Apply within 48 hours for a $X credit,” or “Sign a 15-month lease for Y bonus.” Concessions are a tried and true method of securing leads and leases for good reason. Always test incentive framing to avoid unnecessary concessions.
47) Refresh your property images. We mention this in a few places above, but imagery can win the day when a prospect is considering reaching out to your property. If your imagery feels outdated, uninviting, or washed out, it can turn people away before they ever get to the call.
Here are a couple of tips to get the most out of a shoot.
Remember that none of these tactics is going to move the needle if the foundation of your digital business isn’t solid, meaning you should have current, quality photography across your digital portfolio, a user-friendly website, timely follow-up systems, and a consistent method of tracking in place.
But once you’re foundations are set, stacking a handful of these tactics—balanced across digital, social, and on-site creates momentum you can feel in weekly tour traffic.
Ready to turn this checklist into signed leases?Let’s map a 90-day test run that fits your market and budget. Explore our Apartment SEO Services, browse our Apartment Marketing Case Studies, and see how Google Ads for Apartments keeps tour volume steady. Or reach out for a quick consult—we’ll audit your submarket and asset class, then tailor a tactic-by-tactic rollout to lift NOI and lower vacancy.
