Remarketing campaigns have always been an essential tool for multifamily marketers. They let you re-engage renters previously interested in your apartments and target them with digital advertisements that keep your apartments top of mind in a highly-competitive search.
But Google's recent announcement to sunset third-party cookies, which eliminates remarketing as a campaign type in Google Ads, is causing many advertisers to pause and consider, 'What's next?'
Can you still target remarketing ads to prospective renters who've previously interacted with your website?
Are remarketing ads still influential in leading those individuals back to your apartments and choosing you over your competitors?
Yes, and yes! Though the future of remarketing campaigns looks different, this blog will explain how they're still beneficial to multifamily advertisers.
How are Google’s remarketing digital ads changing?
Third-party cookies are tiny pieces of code that advertisers rely on to gather user information and track their online behavior. As they're invasive and violate users' privacy by tracking their online behavior without consent, Google is sunsetting their use.
As a result, Google is no longer going to allow advertisers to utilize remarketing campaigns in Google Ads via third-party cookies.
If you've historically run remarketing ads in Google for your apartments (and have seen great results), it's understandable that this change is worrisome.
But there is solid reasoning to remain confident in Google Ads remaining a highly-effective source for delivering quality traffic to your community website without remarketing campaigns. How?
Google will shift to showing text or display ads to genuinely interested prospective residents whose search queries already contain the relevant or specific keywords you've bid on.
This means that rather than relying on creating visibility from your apartments' Google Ads through targeting an audience of individuals who 'may' have interest in your apartments, the platform will shift to targeting renters actively seeking your community or one like yours.
Can you still target remarketing ads to prospective renters who've previously interacted with your website?
Yes! Remarketing will still be available as a targeting tactic on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook and Instagram create custom audiences of in-platform users who have previously engaged with your brand to target remarketing ads, thus negating the necessity for third-party cookies.
These remarketing audiences would only consist of users who have clicked on one of your community’s ads on Facebook or Instagram.
By collecting their contact information in this manner, you can safely nurture these individuals by targeting them again with remarketing ad campaigns within those platforms or adding them to a targeted email marketing list.
Why should multifamily marketers continue to use remarketing ads on Facebook and Instagram?
There are three reasons why multifamily marketers should continue to utilize remarketing campaigns on Facebook and Instagram:
1) Remarketing ads help prospects during their apartment search.
Your prospective residents are making a serious, financially-implicating, life-altering decision to rent.
They cannot confidently lease from your community without first searching for and reviewing all of the available apartments that fit their ideal location, floorplan arrangement, amenities, and rent costs.
Usually, these prospects start their search with zero knowledge of potentially available communities. It's unfair to expect them to convert to a lead and sign a lease immediately when they have yet to compare your apartments to others.
So, after they discover your apartments on social media and visit your community's website, remarketing to them is considerate of their search process and overall online browsing experience—not invasive.
You're targeting them with digital ads that remind them that your apartments fit what they're looking for as they narrow their choices.
When people are in the midst of their apartment search and see one of your community's display or video ads while scrolling their favorite social media app, they view it as relevant and helpful.
2) Remarketing ads align with the timing and intent of the typical apartment search.
Say you're in the market for new running shoes. You have an indefinite time to select which pair is best for you. Your shoes have hit their limit, or you want something more comfortable for longer runs.
In either case, while you know you want new running shoes, your buyer's intent is lower simply because you don't have to take immediate action.
In contrast, most prospective residents have limited time to research, tour, and lease a new apartment, so their buyer's intent is high.
There's always some rigid deadline they know before searching for an apartment when their move must occur. You can easily imagine a scenario where someone got a job offer that requires them to move out of state as soon as possible or something similar.
56% of respondents in a rent.com survey said their apartment search lasted less than three weeks, while 18% said theirs was less than one week. While we don't know why their searches were short, it's fair to assume that timing was of the essence and that they had more pressure on them to complete the leasing process faster.
Though apartment searches can vary in duration, all prospects still follow a similar pattern called the Leasing Funnel.
Remarketing campaigns are squarely in the middle of that funnel—between that point where they first discover your apartment community online and their final choice.
When a buyer's intent is high, you must ensure your community stays in front of interested prospects multiple times during their search so they return to you when they've decided.
Remarketing campaigns are best for accomplishing this, and using them in your digital ad strategy will maintain a competitive advantage for your apartments.
3) Remarketing ads have a powerful psychological effect on prospective residents.
Potential residents build a sense of familiarity each time they see your community’s logo, colors, branding, and property appearance in an advertisement. After about five impressions, they’ll remember your apartment.
And when they see images or videos of your apartments repeatedly, they begin to trust them more—this is known as the “mere exposure effect.”
Remarketing campaigns provide additional exposure to potential residents and help them feel confident that your apartments suit them. That alone makes them worth the cost!
Conclusion
Remarketing campaigns will remain a powerful digital advertising tactic for multifamily marketers. They keep your apartments in mind during a short, competitive search process, giving them more exposure to users who have already interacted with your brand or website. Though they will no longer be available in Google Ads, they will still be available on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Lastly, these changes to Google remarketing (and pay-per-click advertising in general) can feel overwhelming to most multifamily marketers responsible for running and updating multiple campaigns on multiple platforms for multiple communities.
That's where Predictive Advertising by RentVision comes in. It is a multifamily-specific PPC solution that automatically adjusts your campaigns and budget allocation to drive visibility across Google, Facebook, and Instagram according to your communities' upcoming needs.
Continued reading on digital advertising for apartments
Our beginner's guide to digital apartment ads is an excellent place if you're looking to incorporate Google Ads, Facebook, or similar sources into your multifamily marketing plan.