Client story: Towne Properties on REACH SEO & PPC

“Thanks to REACH by RentCafe SEO and PPC services, we’ve been able to take multiple communities off ILS advertising, and we’re saving money. We’ve seen better performance for less cost.”

Michael Wilke
Towne Properties

Michael Wilke is the marketing strategist at Towne Properties. When he joined the company in 2014, Towne was dependent on ILS advertising for leads and leases. Towne’s property sites didn’t have online leasing yet.

In his current role, Michael has worked with the rest of the marketing team to modernize Towne’s online user experience to meet shifting renter expectations. When Towne shifted its strategy to include online leasing via RentCafe websites, it realized its property websites convert leads at a better rate than ILSs. Take a look at Towne Properties’ award-winning websites.

As a result, Michael started looking for the most effective and cost-efficient ways to drive traffic to Towne’s websites.

The challenge

Towne’s RentCafe property websites were converting at a better rate than ILSs, but they needed more leads.

Michael knew how to set up Google Ad groups, but he felt like he was just scratching the surface of what was possible. And he didn’t have the time to maintain and optimize campaigns for every property.

Ultimately, he and the Towne team decided to get expert help.

The solution

When looking for a marketing partner, the REACH by RentCafe digital marketing agency stood out. Since Towne uses Yardi and the agency is a part of the Yardi family, Michael knew that integration would be simple and data would be clean. 

Towne enlisted REACH search marketing experts to optimize their websites and set up ad campaigns quickly.

More importantly, Michael said, “[REACH experts] have the expertise that we don’t have. That became clear during the setup process. They were going over all the things they were going to do for us, the dedicated teams for search marketing, creative and more.”

REACH SEO results

Thanks to ongoing search engine optimization, Towne’s websites are getting more traffic that converts into leases. The websites are building authority, gaining impressions and increasing prospect engagement.

SEO is one of the top three goal conversion sources each month, converting at a rate of 10-12%. And Towne’s SEO cost per lease is just $63.

REACH PPC results

Although the Towne team knew how to set up Google Ad groups, they didn’t have the time or expertise to optimize their campaigns.

After REACH search marketing experts took over, Towne’s PPC ads started converting around 5%, significantly higher than the 1-4% conversion rate of an ILS. Towne’s PPC cost per lease is around $240, notably lower than the cost per lease of most ILSs.

Watch the full Towne Properties video with Michael Wilke

See the official Towne Properties client story.

Tell your story

Do you have a client story to share? Maybe you built a new website or decreased your cost per lease, and a REACH agency team member was somehow involved. Get in touch, we’d love to share your success.