How to craft more effective ads.

With all the talk about Internet, Internet Internet, some apartment companies have been rethinking their investment in print advertising. And while it is generally true that Internet advertising provides great prospects, print ads can drive people to the Internet to look at apartment advertising.

A recent telephone survey--designed to determine how renters found their apartment homes--was paid for by HPC Publications and was conducted by independent research firm Opinion Research Corp. in November 2004. It found that of consumers who moved into new apartments within the past three months, 79 percent used a combination of print and online sources and 62 percent of those renters used a print publication to find their new apartment homes.

Rather than cutting back on print, companies and communities should work on improving the language they use in print and online advertising. Most advertisements today seem to contain the same verbiage over and over again, regardless of the community's resident profile.

For example, a survey I conducted of a major print publication for one of the larger apartment markets in the United States found that the text of a lion's share of advertisements were remarkably similar. Some of the following words or phrases appeared at least once in almost every advertisement in the guidebook:

* 24-hour maintenance

* Clothes Care Center--used to describe the onsite laundry

* Convenient

* Executive Business Center

* Fully equipped--typically used to characterize either the fitness center or the kitchen

* Gourmet kitchen

* Lush--primarily used to portray landscaping

* Resort-style pool

* Sparkling pool

* Oversized--used liberally throughout to depict everything from closets to the sparkling pool

* Private

* Spacious floor plans

* Spacious interiors

* State-of-the-art--typically used to convey the image of either the fitness center or the kitchen

Why does this happen? According to Justine Song, Account Supervisor with Merrick-Towle Communications, an advertising agency that specializes in advertising for the housing industry, "Everyone just gets comfortable using that language, so they stick with it." The end result: many ads that all sound the same.

Also problematic were descriptions that were not descriptive enough, leaving the prospective resident to wonder what the copy actually meant. Two examples:

* Breakfast Bars Available. Does this mean that every prospective resident gets a granola bar when they stop by?

* 10% Preferred Employers. Does this mean that 10 percent of the employers in the area are preferred? Or does it mean that 10 percent of the preferred employers are in the area? What exactly DOES this mean?

Stand Out From the Competition

Some companies, however, have found the key to having livelier copy in their advertisements. Here are some prime examples:

* Hi-Tech Fitness Center. This is much better and, most importantly, different from "state of the art."

* Conference Room with 42-inch Plasma Screen for Multimedia Presentations. This actually describes the conference room, rather than describing it in generic terms.

* Poolside, Wireless Internet. So many communities have this now, but very few actually mention it in their advertisements.

* Cyber Room with Computer Trainer. Even if a community does not have a computer trainer on its team, doesn't "Cyber Room" sound fun?

* 24-Hour Responsive Maintenance. This makes the maintenance team sound much more professional.

* Same-Day Application Processing. If the community has a competitive advantage by offering this as a service, make sure the ad talks about it.

Photos and Floor Plans

Photos and floor plans help the prospective renter visualize what it will be like to live at a community. However, floor plans that are so small that it would take a magnifying glass to read are no help to prospects. Make certain floor plans are large enough to be read and understood by future residents. Photos should be as perfect as possible. Paying a professional photographer to shoot a community is money well spent.

And remember, no prospective renter was ever moved to lease at a community because of the photo of the sign in the ad. Stop including signage photos in advertisements.

Two last words: Make sure every word in the ad is spelled correctly. The word "floor plan" is two words--not one. And is there a difference between a "tray ceiling" and a "trey ceiling"? Tray is the accurate usage. Make sure ad writers know what they are writing about when you craft ads.

NAA Conference Speaker

Lisa Trosien and the Apartment All-Stars will present "90 Proven Marketing and Service Ideas in 90 Minutes" at NAA's 2005 Education Conference & Exposition at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center June 9-11 in Orlando, Fla. Trosien will appear at 8:45 a.m. Thursday, June 9.

Lisa Trosien has more than 20 years of industry experience. She can be reached at [e-mail].