Blog

In the last few months, I published a couple of articles about some of the shortcomings in how companies tackle content marketing, specifically content written to persuade people to buy certain products. 

I was recently discussing property management, operations, and technology with a senior asset manager, who made a comment that stuck in my mind: "Great regionals can overcome an average operating platform, but a great operating platform can't overcome average regionals." 

Like many people in the industry, I just returned from a few days with about 2,500 of my closest friends in multifamily ops and technology. NMHC OPTECH, which took place in front of a record audience, delivered its usual thought-provoking blend of sessions and related conversations. 

If, like me, you've spent a lot of years working in revenue management, you will be familiar with the reality that from time to time, you have to defend what you do for a living. We find ourselves in just such a situation, as a recent article published by ProPublica: "Rent Going Up? One Company's Algorithm Could Be Why," is the latest to inform us on how revenue management works.

When I conducted the interviews for this year's 20 for 20 White Paper, ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) was an unsurprisingly common theme. Based on the 20 conversations with senior executives, it seemed that ESG was becoming a driver in many decisions, including technology implementations.

In my last blog, I talked about the often-overlooked role of insight in creating persuasive content. In particular, companies that pursue engagement as defined by social media tend to produce content that is too similar to everyone else's for it to be persuasive. This post examines another essential factor that companies tend to miss: value and its role in persuading customers to purchase products.

Occasionally it happens that somebody else’s writing ties together a few ideas that have been on your mind for some time. A week ago, it happened while I was reading the excellent Justin Welsh’s Saturday Solopreneur, one of the most insightful newsletters about marketing and related topics.

Like much of the multifamily industry, I’m spending this week catching up after a great week in San Diego, enjoying what feels like the first proper NAA Apartmentalize since before the pandemic. In this blog, I’ll identify some things that caught my eye during the show.

A week ago, I was taking part in a panel at AIM 2022. The panel compared two pieces of research (the NMHC/Grace Hill Renter Preferences Study and 20 for 20) to highlight the differences between the viewpoints and priorities of operators and their residents.