The Evolution of Multifamily Marketing: What Worked Then vs. Now

Annette Valle
Jul 21
5 min read

When I started my career in student housing over a decade ago, marketing looked completely different than what it does today. I've had a front-row seat to one of the most dramatic transformations in our industry's history, and it's been incredible to experience.

After working through many roles, from property manager to National Director of Leasing and Marketing before launching Social Kapture in 2016, I've seen what worked then, what's working now, and what's already becoming outdated.

My leadership roles spanned the full spectrum of multifamily communities, including student housing, new constructions, rebranded assets, and beyond. I became an expert in building strategies to move assets from pre-leased to stabilized, and that experience across such diverse property types gave me insight into how marketing needs to adapt for different audiences and lifecycle stages. Let me take you on that journey.

How Marketing Has Shifted

When I look back at my early days in student housing and then moving through different property types, the biggest change isn't just the tools we use but how we think about connecting with prospects.

What Worked Then

Let me be honest: some of those strategies were incredibly effective for their time:

Personal relationships mattered more because there were fewer options for prospects to research independently
Print advertising had less competition for attention spans
Word-of-mouth was powerful because people had fewer ways to share their experiences
The leasing team had more control over the narrative during tours

But here's the thing: what worked then worked because the landscape was different, not because the strategies were inherently better.

The Digital Revolution Changed Everything

Today's marketing landscape offers so many more opportunities to connect authentically with prospects than we had before.

Digital-First Discovery: Today's prospects start their apartment search online – often on their phones while sitting in their current apartment. They're scrolling through dozens of communities before they ever pick up the phone or visit a website.

Social Proof Is King: Prospects don't just want to see your amenities; they want to see real residents actually using them. They're looking for authentic content that shows what life really looks like in your community.

Content Worth the Follow: This is our tagline at Social Kapture, and it perfectly captures what today's marketing needs to be. Your content has to be so engaging that people want to follow your community's story, not just rent from you.

Tailored Content Strategy: Different audiences respond to different types of content and messaging. The marketing approach that works for a student housing community will be completely different from what resonates with families or young professionals. Understanding your specific audience and creating content that speaks directly to their lifestyle is essential.

What's Working Now (And Why)

Authentic Visual Storytelling: Today's prospects want to see real residents enjoying real moments. While professional photography still has its place, user-generated content and authentic lifestyle photography often outperform heavily staged marketing materials.

Social Media as a Relationship Builder: Your Instagram and other social platforms aren't just advertising channels; they're community builders. The most successful properties we work with use social media to create a sense of belonging before someone even signs a lease.

Data-Driven Personalization: We can now track what content resonates with different audience segments and adjust our strategy in real-time. It's not about casting a wide net anymore; it's about being precisely relevant to each prospect's specific needs.

Multi-Touch Digital Journeys: Today's prospects need an average of 18 touchpoints before making their leasing decision. Our job is to create meaningful interactions across all those touchpoints, from social media discovery to email nurturing to virtual tours.

The Challenges of This Evolution

This transformation hasn't been without its growing pains. As someone who lived through it and now helps other communities navigate it, I see the same challenges everywhere:

Information Overload: Property management teams are overwhelmed by the sheer number of platforms, strategies, and tactics available. It's easy to get caught up trying to be everywhere instead of being strategic about where you show up.

Authenticity vs. Polish: Finding the balance between professional representation and authentic storytelling is tough. Too polished feels fake; too casual feels unprofessional.

Resource Constraints: Creating quality content consistently requires resources that many on-site teams simply don't have. You need someone who understands both marketing and the multifamily industry

Measuring What Matters: With so many metrics available, it's easy to get lost in vanity metrics instead of focusing on what actually drives leasing results.

What I Wish I Knew Then That I Know Now

If I could go back and talk to my property manager self, here's what I'd say:

Start Building Your Digital Presence Early: Don't wait until you have a vacancy crisis to start thinking about social media. Consistent, authentic content builds a pipeline of engaged prospects long before you need them.

Invest in Understanding Your Residents: The communities that succeed today really know their residents – not just their demographics, but their lifestyles, values, and daily routines. This knowledge informs everything from amenity programming to content creation.

Think Beyond the Lease Signing: Great marketing doesn't stop when someone signs a lease. Your residents are your best marketers, but only if they're genuinely happy and engaged with your community. This was especially true when I was working with rebranded assets because you needed existing residents to become advocates for the transformation.

Partner with Experts When Needed: You don't have to be an expert at everything. Throughout my career, I learned that sometimes the best investment is working with specialists who can help you navigate complex challenges. That's actually what inspired me to start Social Kapture because I saw how much communities needed dedicated expertise in the digital marketing space.

The Bottom Line

The evolution from then to now hasn't just been about adopting new tools and platforms. It's been about fundamentally shifting how we think about the relationship between properties and prospects.

We've moved from interruption-based marketing ("Look at our granite countertops!") to invitation-based marketing ("Come see what life looks like here"). We've shifted from feature-focused messaging to lifestyle-centered storytelling.

The communities that are thriving today aren't necessarily the ones with the best amenities or the perfect locations. They're the ones that have figured out how to create genuine connections with their audience and provide ongoing value beyond just a place to live.

That's what we're here to help our partners achieve at Social Kapture. Because at the end of the day, whether it was 2010 or 2025, whether you're marketing student housing or luxury high-rises, successful multifamily marketing has always been about one thing: helping people envision a better life for themselves.

The methods have evolved, the audiences have gotten more sophisticated, and the channels have multiplied exponentially, but that core purpose remains the same. And after building strategies to move everything from pre-leased developments to rebranded assets to stabilization, I can tell you that authentic storytelling and genuine community building work across every property type and market segment.

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If you have any questions about our services or want to learn more about how Social Kapture can help your business thrive, we encourage you to visit our Contact Page. We’re here to help and look forward to hearing from you!

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