Client story: Fogelman on SEO, PPC & Marketing IQ

Real client, real results. See how Fogelman worked with REACH to supercharge their (already successful) apartment marketing strategy.

The story at a glance

Fogelman is a multifamily property management firm based in Memphis, Tennessee, with a 60-year track record of success. After upgrading the company’s property websites, the marketing team wanted to put strategies in place that would reliably drive rent-ready traffic to those sites.

Fogelman company background

As a fully integrated property management and investment company, Fogelman has a portfolio that includes more than 100 communities and 30,000 units. Founded in 1963, the company is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this year.

Melissa Brady is the vice president of strategic marketing at Fogelman. She oversees corporate and community marketing.

“The reality is that marketing is an essential part of the business team,” shared Melissa. “We drive revenue and are integral to the customer experience.”

The challenge

The challenge for any property management company, especially those with a long history in the industry, is staying ahead of marketing trends and renter behaviors. This is especially important when a previously successful marketing plan and budget is no longer generating the same results.

Before 2022, Fogelman was using SEO at some properties. Melissa and her team noticed those properties were delivering a high lease volume at a low cost per lease and wondered if it could be replicated across the entire portfolio.

“The decision to roll out SEO really came on the heels of our decision to invest in upgrading our RentCafe websites for all our properties. We were ready to drive more visits.”

At the same time, Fogelman wanted to reduce its dependency on ILSs. As a result, the team was looking for a partner to scale up their paid search efforts.

Ultimately, good websites deserve good traffic. Fogelman wanted reliable traffic sources that didn’t cost a fortune.

The solution

Seeking a marketing partner that could help develop a strong SEO and PPC strategy, Fogelman decided to learn more about REACH.

Since Fogelman already works with Yardi for its property management and operational needs, our agency — which is under the Yardi umbrella — seemed like it could be a good fit. Just as significant was our experience working within the multifamily industry specifically.

“We were excited to build on the existing relationship we had with Yardi and really bring the REACH team into our plans,” said Melissa.

After some initial consultations, Fogelman chose to make SEO the foundation of its marketing strategy, augmenting with PPC and ILS advertising as needed for each community and scenario.

The marketing team also chose to use Marketing IQ, a marketing analytics platform that gives them instant access to everything that’s happening at each property, in each region and across the portfolio.

“REACH by RentCafe understands our business. They understand how dynamic the multifamily industry is and that no two communities are the same,” Melissa asserted.

REACH SEO results

Since partnering with REACH, Fogelman’s cost per lease has plummeted while the lease volume stayed high. SEO is delivering a cost per lease under $70 and delivering 488% more leases than Fogelman’s ILS partners. This added up to 770 leases and $14.1 million in revenue in just one quarter (not even during high leasing season).

REACH PPC results

Fogelman’s marketing team uses PPC to supplement their SEO leads where needed. Here, they’re seeing a PPC conversion rate of 5.41%. This is much higher than the industry average for real estate ads (currently at 2.88% according to WordStream), and also significantly better than their ILS conversion rates.

In fact, the data shows that PPC is roundly outperforming ILS sources. During the same three months, PPC drove 84.87% more leases and 88.3% more rental income than Fogelman’s best-performing ILS.

In three months, Fogelman secured 220 leases through PPC ads, totaling $4.3 million in net rental income.

Marketing IQ benefits

The marketing team uses its Marketing IQ dashboard to hone in on lead velocity, conversion rates, acquisition costs and much more. By focusing on lead sources with high conversion rates, they make sure their leasing agents aren’t wasting time chasing bogus leads.

On working with REACH

Of course, working with a partner or third-party agency is different than doing your marketing in-house. For those hesitant to outsource, Melissa took the time to share her experience of working with REACH:

“The account management and client relationship that we see from our REACH team is second to none. It’s one thing to deliver great strategy, it’s another to develop great strategy with wonderful people that care about you and your business.

“Our marketing team has been so successful in driving the leads and leases we need in the most cost-efficient way because we have such a great partnership with the REACH team. They are truly an extension of the Fogelman marketing team.”

Watch the Fogelman video

Tell your story

Do you have a great story to share? Maybe you rebranded a website or increased your lead volume and REACH was involved. Get in touch, we’d love to feature you.