Marketing Summer School: 3 Strategies to Try Next

You didn’t have to fail to end up in this summer school—chances are, you’re an overachiever who signed up by choice. Refining your marketing strategy starts with learning what actually drives results, and we have 3 easy-to-learn strategies for you.

The Marketing Summer School session was led by an awesome duo: our very own Izzy from LCP Media and Esther from REACH by RentCafe. Together, they walked through three practical marketing lessons every multifamily team should be paying attention to:

1. Media That Converts

2. Neighborhood Marketing

3. Flexible Marketing Options

   Let’s dig into why these 3 strategies matter so much right now.

Lesson One: Media That Converts

When we think of restaurants, we eat with our eyes first. The same is true for your future residents. Before they ever walk through the door, they’re forming opinions based on what they see in your digital presence—on ILS websites, ads, and listings.

Renters today expect a complete digital experience. Esther shared findings from a survey of over 10,000 renters on RentCafe.com, and the results were clear:

• 73% of renters said interior photos are the most influential media when choosing where to live.

• 83% said a virtual tour of a floor plan is important or very important to their decision-making process.

As Izzy put it during the session:
“These surveys are telling us what renters want. It’s telling us they EXPECT a full digital experience. It’s not a luxury—it is essential.”

That expectation is why unit-level content is delivering such strong results—and why communities investing in high-quality media are seeing measurable success.

Izzy walked through a unit-level virtual tour case study. LCP Media partnered with a major property management company, where all 311 apartment units were captured at a lease-up community in Austin, TX. When compared to a similar lease-up property in the same submarket without unit-level tours, the difference was clear:

• 40% more leads

• 72% more leases

• 38% higher lead-to-lease conversion rate

And it’s not just one case. A supporting study from Greystar found that apartments with virtual tours leased five days faster on average. That kind of acceleration saves money and increases NOI, especially during critical leasing windows.

This is where TourBuilder makes all the difference. By giving leasing teams an easy way to capture, organize, and automatically distribute unit-level content across platforms like RentCafe, LCP Media helps teams meet expectations without adding work to their plate.

More Media in More Places

Following the case study, Izzy and Esther reinforced a critical reminder—it’s not just about having media, it’s about making sure it’s everywhere renters are looking.

As Izzy said, “You want to fish where the fish are.”

That means your virtual tours should appear across all key marketing channels—from Internet Listing Services (ILSs) and property websites to Google Business Profile, digital ads, and email campaigns. With LCP Media’s integrations with REACH by RentCafe and other marketing platforms, your media is automatically distributed where it matters most, saving time and creating stronger, more consistent visibility.

Get More Out of Your Media with TourBuilder Clips

Circling back to the idea of more media, TourBuilder Clips helps you take your visual content even further by turning virtual tours into versatile, short-form assets that are easy to use across marketing channels at no extra cost!

Using AI, TourBuilder Clips automatically generates GIFs and short-form videos from your existing virtual tours. These Clips can be shared across:

• Email marketing campaigns and follow-ups

• Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn

• Google Business Profile and Google Maps

• YouTube Shorts

• Digital ad placements

This gives your team a fast, scalable way to extend the reach of your content and keep prospects engaged—without recreating anything from scratch.

As Esther put it, renters and marketers alike are now “expecting more from our media—and getting more out of it with greater conversion and greater revenue.”

Lesson Two: Neighborhood Marketing

Lesson Two spotlighted the power of local, lifestyle-driven marketing.

Most of the time, renters know the location they want to live in before they know the exact apartment. They’re not just looking for square footage—they’re looking for a lifestyle and experience that aligns with their daily routine, preferences, and personality.

Highlighting local restaurants, parks, transit access, and community culture adds valuable context—and boosts SEO performance with locally relevant content that helps your property stand out in a crowded market.

With LCP Media’s nationwide network of professional photographers and videographers, your team can easily capture both the neighborhood vibe and nearby attractions—creating a full visual story that connects with renters from the moment they start their search. This local content should be placed in neighborhood marketing pages not only to educate prospects about the surrounding amenities in the area, but also to help improve SEO and drive more qualified leads and leases.

Lesson Three: Flexible Marketing Options

Lesson Three emphasized agility. Your marketing strategy should flex as your availability, budget, or occupancy shifts. RentCafe.com provides flexible listings that adjust based on your property's current availability—so your placement stays optimized based on your vacancy needs.

LCP Media supports this flexibility by offering content solutions in your RentCafe.com listings and your other marketing channels with our visual media platform, TourBuilder, making it easy to adjust your media strategy based on what’s working and what needs a boost.

Expect More!

This session wasn’t just a lesson in marketing—it was a reminder that great media isn’t optional anymore, it’s essential.

Today’s renters want more. More visuals. More access. More clarity. As marketing and leasing professionals, you should expect more from your marketing spend. And with LCP Media, you can get exactly that—without adding more to your workload.

Now that LCP Media is officially part of the Yardi family (under the RentCafe Marketing umbrella), our integration is stronger than ever.  That means enhanced automation, smarter tools, and broader distribution of your media. And while we’re proud to support that partnership, LCP Media continues to remain platform-agnostic, working seamlessly with a wide range of property management systems, CRMs, and ILS platforms to meet your needs.

From unit-level tours and lifestyle visuals to AI-powered Clips and effortless syndication, you can now expect more from your media—and get more out of it.

Connect with us to learn more about our services and how we can enhance your next project.
For more information, please visit LCPMedia.com.