How to Strategically Position Your Property for Maximum Growth, Value and Success
Do you understand the competitive engine that drives your property? Is your property positioned to capture the optimum balance between occupancy and pricing so that your property maximizes revenues?
I have developed a marketing and management system for the 21st Century called the Integrated Positioning Initiative, or “IPI”. This system will literally change the way property owners and managers approach their businesses. The IPI system focuses on building the long-term success of a local community while strengthening the bonds of a property as it appropriately integrates into an overall community.
The Integrated Positioning Initiative is a system designed for property owners and managers to build a long- term dominant presence in a local marketplace. This presence is created and perpetuated as the result of a property leader taking the initiative to build and grow a local market, as well as accurately positioning the property into the market.
The primary elements that are the foundation of this system are the property and the local market. Since a property is part of the overall local market, it is subject to the events occurring in the market. Understanding the market dynamics and how a property integrates into the overall market is the very basis of this system.
Position Your Property Using the 5-Step IPI System
This 5-step system is designed to enhance and optimize the operating and financial performance of an apartment property. A general step-by-step outline follows:
Step #1 – Discovery: Find the facts on the property and market. Evaluate and assess the property, market, competition and customer using tailor-made diagnostic tools.
Step #2 – Position Exploitation: Position the property in the market so as to achieve maximum business unit income. Exploit under-served needs, voids and gaps in the marketplace. Develop the unique selling proposition and strategy.
Step #3 – Integrate Competitive Positioning Strategy: Integrate the new strategy into all functions of the business unit. Train staff on the new strategy, enhance promotion material to reflect new positioning, and implement action plan.
Step #4 – Resident Relationship Program: Set up database marketing system. Implement an aggressive resident referral, customer service and retention program.
Step #5 – Strategic Alliance Program: Set up and implement referral system within the local market and business community.
To successfully integrate your property into a local market requires a procedural method. This process is built around the concept of finding gaps in your market.
These gaps are weaknesses that you can exploit by positioning your property in a way that creates a solution to the weakness, or gap, you identified.
In the chart below, the three cylinders on the left – market, property & competition - will be the key locations from which to gather information. Information is gathered and accumulated in the first phase.
After all gathered information has been collected, it is analyzed in the second phase. From this analysis, conclusions are formed about specific problems that will be solved. A property lifestyle is developed encompassing the soultions to the problems. This lifestyle becomes the target market of the property.
A marketing message is shaped in phase three highlighting the uniqueness of the property supported by poweful benefits. Finally, the property is positioned into the market by delivering its unique marketing message into the market.
In essence, the integrated positioning strategy involves the successful integration of a property into a local market. A property must appropriately fit into its overall market demographics, lifestyle, profile, personality, employment, and infrastructure. Being a leader and influencing the success of a local market will ensure your property’s exposure and business success.
Creating and integrating a lifestyle into your property that fits your local market will unleash your property’s income and value.
