Smart Marketing: The Ultimate NOI Growth Engine

Feb 10

Your marketing budget isn’t just an expense — it’s an investment in NOI.

For years, multifamily marketing has relied on single-touch attribution, meaning either first-click or last-click gets all the credit. While this data is helpful, it only tells part of the story.

Study after study shows that renters browse multiple ILS platforms, run Google searches, check reviews, scroll social media, and click display ads before signing a lease.

If you only credit one touchpoint, you miss out on the full impact of your marketing spend — and risk misdirecting dollars that should be driving NOI.

Understanding Marketing Spend in Multifamily

Let’s put this into perspective:

Most PMCs spend ~$300 per unit per year on digital marketing (per Rent., August 2024).
For a 250-unit property, that equates to $75,000 per year or $6,250 per month.
That budget is split across multiple channels — ILSs, PPC, social ads, display ads, and more.

So when a renter signs a lease, which source gets the credit?

Without full-funnel attribution, operators often cut campaigns that seem underperforming — when in reality, those sources play a crucial role in conversion.

Beyond Leads: Which Residents Stay?

Before diving into dashboards to analyze spend, consider a bigger (and better) question:
Which lead sources bring in residents who stay?

A one-year lease at $2,000/month = $24,000 in revenue.
A renewal with a (conservative) 3% rent bump = $48,720 over two years.
If a resident moves out after a year? Turnover costs stack up fast — vacancy loss alone can be thousands per month, plus make-ready expenses, marketing spend, admin fees, and more.

Maximizing NOI Through Smarter Marketing

To drive NOI, marketing strategies must be aligned with high-LTV residents and provide full visibility into the renter journey.

When marketing is treated as an investment, operators move away from rigid, set-it-and-forget-it budgets and adjust dynamically based on performance:

Scaling PPC, ILS, or retargeting based on real-time performance.
Boosting PPC in peak seasons, pulling back when demand slows.
A/B testing ads, platforms, and targeting for maximum ROI.

The Portfolio-Wide Impact

By strategically focusing marketing spend, operators drive renewals — and the impact adds up fast:

250-unit community → $296K in annual revenue
10,000 units → $11.8M
25,000 units → $29.6M
50,000 units → $59.2M

Better Data. Smarter Decisions. Bigger Results.

Smart marketing is the ultimate NOI growth engine — maximizing lease value, strengthening portfolios, and driving long-term success.

Want to grow NOI? Start with marketing.

Sara Graham