By Tami Siewruk Multifamilypro
The multifamily industry is on the cusp of a revolutionary shift in how we market our apartment communities. Everyone in the industry will soon be marketing to bots, not just prospective residents. We’ll be targeting the personas that live on their phones. Think about it—each prospect will have multiple AI-driven personas: a value-focused renter looking for deals, a luxury seeker prioritizing amenities, or someone explicitly searching for pet-friendly communities. Gone are the days of marketing to simple ad IDs.
What is an Ad ID?
An Ad ID (Advertising Identifier) is a unique, anonymous identifier assigned to a mobile device or user that advertisers use to track and target ads. Think of it like a digital fingerprint that helps identify a device for advertising purposes but does not reveal personal information about the user.
Instead of one ID per person, we’re looking at phones carrying five, ten, or twenty different personas. These digital avatars are our new target audience.
AI-driven “agentic systems” are already transforming how apartment seekers find and choose their next home. As a multifamily professional, I’ve seen firsthand how we’ve mastered making our apartments visible to search engines through SEO and SEM. But we need to adapt further. Traditional leasing workflows are becoming obsolete. The future of multifamily marketing lies in super-automated processes and multi-agent systems—apartment marketers who don’t adapt risk falling behind in capturing qualified leads.
The Death of Traditional Apartment Searches
The way prospects find apartments is fundamentally changing. Traditional link-based search is ending. AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity are revolutionizing how people search for apartments. These tools don’t just list apartment communities- they summarize them, compare them, and provide direct answers about amenities, pricing, and availability. When a prospect gets a comprehensive overview of your apartment community through AI, they might not need to click through your website. This changes everything about how we present our communities online. Yes, websites are changing!
Creativity vs Execution in Apartment Marketing
We often make a critical mistake in multifamily marketing by combining creativity with execution. Consider the difference between designing an innovative resident experience and implementing a flawless leasing process. Both are valuable, but they’re fundamentally different skills. Every property manager and marketer is inherently creative – we know our communities, understand our residents’ needs, and can envision unique solutions. But when it comes to execution, AI tools can help us implement these ideas with unprecedented precision and efficiency.
The Post-Curation Era in Multifamily
Since November 30, 2022, we’ve entered a new era in apartment marketing. Before this date, humans created almost all apartment listings and marketing materials. We’re now in the generative era, where AI helps shape how we present our apartment communities online. This shift brings opportunities and challenges for maintaining authentic, distinctive apartment community branding.
Looking Ahead
As a multifamily professional, I see AI as not just a technology issue but a leadership challenge. The tools will only get more sophisticated, faster, and more accessible. Our role is to guide our teams through this transformation, innovating our leasing workflows and super-automating our processes while maintaining the human touch that makes each community unique.
We must embrace this new reality where we are no longer the sole creators of our apartment community narratives. By understanding and adapting to these changes, we can better serve our residents and communities in this transformative era of multifamily marketing.
of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when this doesn't happen
ChatGPT reached 100 million users in just 2 months, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history
