The world of apartment marketing can be somewhat conservative and slow to adapt (to say the least): a place where open dialogue and honest conversations are hard to come by. Enter the Digible Dudes. Hosted by Reid Wicoff and David Staley, this podcast is a forum for multifamily marketers to share insights and experiences, surface tough questions, and riff on trending topics. Ready for a fresh perspective? Buckle up.
In this episode, we sit down with Yao Morin, CTO of JLL, to explore the fascinating journey of one of the world's oldest real estate companies and its transformation into a tech-savvy global powerhouse.
Discover how JLL, with a history spanning over 200 years, leverages advanced technology to manage operations across 84 countries and 100,000 employees.
Yao Morin shares her insights on JLL's strategic focus on technology, the challenges of integrating modern solutions into a historic company, and the future of real estate tech.
Join us as we delve into the stories and strategies that have kept JLL at the forefront of the commercial real estate industry.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
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In this episode, Jake Hughes and Katie Ritter from Widewail reveal the game-changing strategies for mastering reputation management in the multifamily industry. They dive into innovative review generation tactics, the art of balancing AI with human touch, and the seamless integration of technology with personalized service.
Discover how Widewail's unique approach transforms resident feedback into multifamily success, boosting online reputation, enhancing operational efficiency, and driving customer satisfaction.
Join us for an insightful conversation that uncovers:
The Power of Reviews: How generating and managing reviews effectively can fuel growth and build trust.
Human Touch vs. AI: The crucial balance between automated responses and personalized service.
Data-Driven Insights: Leveraging review data to provide actionable insights and improve resident experiences.
Scalable Solutions: Efficiently handling high volumes of reviews with a blend of human expertise and technology.
Building Trust in Multifamily: The role of trust in consumer decisions and how feedback enhances community strength.
Future Trends: A look into the future of reputation management in the multifamily sector and Widewail's innovative solutions.
Whether you're a property manager, marketer, or multifamily professional, this episode is packed with actionable tips and expert insights to elevate your reputation management strategy.
Subscribe to our channel for more insightful episodes, and join the conversation by sharing your thoughts on the evolving landscape of multifamily reputation management and customer experience.
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In this episode, Heidi Turner from Blanton Turner and John Carlson from Mark-Taylor Companies discuss the power of centralization and specialization in Multifamily.
Discover how the integration of AI and technology is revolutionizing property management, enhancing operational efficiency, and improving both employee and customer satisfaction.
Heidi and John share their experiences and insights on navigating the challenges and benefits of shifting towards a centralized model.
Join us as we explore the innovative strategies that are reshaping the multifamily sector, creating new career opportunities, and driving profitability.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
The Centralization Advantage: Learn how centralizing operations can streamline processes, reduce redundancy, and improve overall efficiency.
Specialization in Action: Understand the importance of specialized roles in boosting employee satisfaction and productivity.
Technology's Role: Dive into how AI and CRM tools are enhancing property management and customer engagement.
Employee Engagement: Discover strategies to retain talent by offering clear career paths and growth opportunities.
Customer Experience: See how improved operational efficiency translates to better service and happier residents.
Overcoming Challenges: Hear about the common hurdles in adopting a centralized model and practical solutions to overcome them.
Financial Impact: Explore the financial benefits of centralization and specialization for property owners and investors.
Future Outlook: Get insights into the future of Multifamily with advancements in technology and AI.
Subscribe to our channel for more episodes like this, and join the conversation by sharing your thoughts on the future of property management and the impact of centralization and specialization in Multifamily.
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In this episode, Zach Sloan, Co-Founder of Rengrata, and Allison Nesbitt, VP of National Sales and Strategic Initiatives at Zumper, delve into the evolving world of apartment leasing powered by AI and social proof.
Explore the innovative integration of resident reviews and how leveraging AI enhances user engagement. Zach and Allison provide a comprehensive look at how technology is transforming the rental experience.
Join us as we uncover the strategies and technological advancements reshaping the real estate industry, creating urgency, and building trust among potential renters.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
The Power of Social Proof: Discover how social proof influences leasing decisions and creates a sense of urgency among prospective renters.
AI-Driven Engagement: Learn about Rentgrata’s new AI model, Ari, and how it surfaces relevant resident insights to prospects, making informed leasing decisions easier.
Privacy and Trust: Understand the importance of privacy in resident-prospect interactions and how Rentgrata ensures secure, anonymous communications.
Boosting Conversions with Social Proof: Gain insights into how integrating real-time resident feedback on Zumper listings enhances user experience and drives higher conversion rates.
Building Community: Explore strategies for fostering a sense of community among residents, improving retention, and creating a more connected living environment.
Subscribe to our channel for more episodes like this, and join the conversation by sharing your thoughts on the future of apartment leasing and the impact of AI and social proof in the real estate industry.
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In this episode, Steve Longobardi, Director of Marketing at Bozzuto, takes us through the transformative landscape of multifamily marketing and branding.
From Bozzuto’s innovative approach to performance marketing to their commitment to exceptional customer experiences, Steve offers a deep dive into the strategies that drive success in the competitive world of multifamily properties.
Join us as we explore the key elements that make Bozzuto a leader in multifamily marketing, blending cutting-edge technology with the timeless value of human connection.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
Subscribe to our channel for more insightful episodes, and join the conversation by sharing your thoughts on the evolving landscape of multifamily marketing and branding.
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In this episode, Eric Roseman, Chief Revenue Officer at Xeal, delves into the groundbreaking world of EV charging for multifamily properties.
From the inception of Xeal as a technology-first EV charging company to its innovative solutions that remove the friction of going green, Eric offers a deep dive into how integrating smart EV chargers streamlines operations from installation to daily use.
Join us as we explore the strategic shifts and technological advancements propelling the EV charging industry into the future, specifically within multifamily living.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
Revolutionizing EV Charging: Learn about Xeal’s journey from a startup to a leader in EV charging technology, providing seamless and reliable solutions for multifamily buildings.
Smart and Effortless Charging: Discover how Xeal’s unique technology eliminates the need for central internet connections, ensuring consistent and user-friendly charging experiences.
Challenges of EV Charging and Solutions: Eric discusses the main obstacles in EV charging infrastructure and how Xeal’s innovative approach addresses these issues, particularly in shared environments like apartment complexes.
Future of Multifamily EV Charging: Insights into the expanding landscape of EV adoption and the critical role of advanced, hassle-free charging solutions in multifamily properties.
Subscribe to our channel for more episodes like this, and join the conversation by sharing your thoughts on the future of EV charging in multifamily communities.
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(00:00) Introduction and Guest Introduction
(01:23) Xeal's Mission and Approach
(02:17) Challenges with Current EV Chargers
(06:10) How Xeal's Chargers Work
(08:06) Market Overview and Growth Potential
(14:49) Challenges and Objections in Adoption
(19:37) Community Building and Branding
(24:47) Switch Costs and Customer Retention
(25:51) Future of EV Charging and Infrastructure
(41:22) Building Community Among EV Drivers
(45:25) Sales Strategy and Market Penetration
(48:17) Student Housing and Early Adoption
(52:23) Hot Takes on the EV Market
(58:47) Final Thoughts
In this episode, Dave Freund, Co-Founder of LeaseLeads, takes us on a journey through the innovative landscape of AI-driven multifamily marketing.
From the early days of meeting his co-founder on Upwork to the creation of LeaseLeads, Dave shares how they revolutionized leasing with cutting-edge technology.
Dive deep into the development of their video-powered virtual leasing agent and explore how AI and video are transforming the leasing experience. Join us as we uncover the challenges, successes, and future prospects of integrating AI in property management.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
Subscribe to our channel for more episodes like this, and join the conversation by sharing your thoughts on AI and video in property management.
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(01:40) LeaseLeads Overview: Products and Services
(02:31) Adding Human Touch in Virtual Leasing
(04:14) Video Integration and Production Process
(06:46) Challenges in Virtual Tours and AI Implementation
(10:45) Competing with Chatbots and Other Leasing Technologies
(18:39) Impact of AI and Future Trends in Leasing Industry
(24:23) Hot Takes on 3D Tours and Industry Innovations
(36:47) Conclusion and How to Contact LeaseLeads
In this insightful episode, Rebecca Kravitz, Director of Partnerships at Elise AI, delves into the transformative world of AI-driven property management.
From the inception of Elise AI as a pioneer in leasing automation to its evolution into a full-scale CRM powerhouse, Rebecca offers a deep dive into how integrating AI streamlines operations from lead handling to resident management.
Join us as we explore the strategic shifts and technological advancements propelling the property management industry into the future.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
Curious about how AI can revolutionize your property management approach? Visit Elise AI's website to learn more and get in touch with Rebecca and her team to see AI in action!
Subscribe to the Digible Dudes Podcast for more episodes like this, and join the conversation by sharing your experiences with AI in property management.
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(00:55) Elise AI’s Branding Revamp
(02:12) Elise AI's Elevator Pitch and Decision to Create a CRM
(05:53) Value Proposition of Elise AI
(07:19) Focus on Centralization and the "Octopus Approach"
(11:01) The "Uberfication" of Real Estate and Multifamily
(17:03) Personality and Persona Considerations for Elise AI
(21:06) Areas of Highest Usage
(24:41) Differentiators, Future Roadmap, and Expansion Plans
Join us for episode #172 of the Digital Dudes Podcast, where we dive into the intersection of AI, machine learning, and the multifamily sector with Tom Chomiak, CTO of LCP Media and Co-Founder of TourBuilder.
In this insightful episode, our hosts David and Reid explore the transformative impact of AI on digital imagery and business operations. They engage in a deep dive with Tom about the evolution of virtual tours from Panoskin to Tour Builder, and how AI-driven enhancements are redefining photo quality and virtual interactions in the multifamily
industry.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
Don’t miss this engaging conversation filled with valuable insights into the practical and ethical dimensions of AI in the multifamily industry.
Subscribe to the Digible Dudes Podcast for more episodes like this, and join the conversation by sharing your thoughts on AI’s role in your industry experiences.
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(02:56) Recollection of Early LCP 360 Marketing
(07:00) Tom's background and how he joined LCP
(09:17)Transition from Panoskin to TourBuilder
(12:23) LCP's Elevator Pitch and Virtual Tour Platform
(14:39) Partnership with Google Street View
(19:55) Product Development
(25:26) Challenges in Building a Bootstrapped Company
(28:09) AI and its Applications
(34:14) Concerns about AI taking over Jobs
(40:46) LCP's Differentiation from Competitors
(44:54) Explaining the different TourBuilder products
(54:36) Unit tours vs Community tours
(58:17) Policies Around AI Image Enhancement
(01:02:52) Potential Integration of AI Leasing Bots
(01:08:25) VR Headset Virtual Tours and their Adoption
(1:11:34) Radical Implications of AI in the Next Decade
Welcome to episode #172 of the Digital Dudes Podcast, as we sit down with Matt Service, the COO of Apartment List, for an in-depth discussion on how AI and strategic market adaptations are redefining the landscape of the rental market.
We are excited about the timeliness of this episode as Apartment List just announced that Lea Pro is now free for all Apartment List customers. In this episode, Matt unveils the innovative strategies and technological advancements that Apartment List leverages to enhance renter experience and operational efficiency.
Join us as we explore the company's journey through the evolving real estate and multifamily marketplaces, focusing on their cutting-edge AI tool, Lea Pro, and other key developments.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
Don't miss this deep dive into the intersection of technology and multifamily with one of the industry's leading voices.
Subscribe to the Digital Dudes Podcast for more episodes like this, and engage with us by sharing your thoughts and experiences on AI and real estate innovations.
Click here, to read more about the exciting free Apartment List feature.
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(00:00) Introduction
(00:47) Matthew's Background
(02:30) Growth and Scaling at Apartment List
(04:55) The Role of AI in Apartment List
(06:31) Beyond Traditional ILS
(07:53) Balancing Marketplace Demands
(13:11) Analyzing Marketplace Dynamics
(15:16) Supply vs. Demand in Marketplaces
(20:15) Introduction to Lea Pro
(22:08) Impact of Lea on Renter Engagement
(24:07) Addressing Lead Quality and Management
(27:20) Basketball Analogies to Explain Business Strategies
(30:16) Future of AI in Apartment Leasing
(35:36) Overcoming AI Adoption Barriers
(39:06) Data Insights from Lea Pro
(41:57) Business Model Evolution at Apartment List
(44:02) Generative AI for Business Operations
(47:30) Conclusion
Join us on episode #171 of the Digital Dudes Podcast, where David and Reid share their comprehensive recap of Retcon 2024.
In this episode, our hosts dissect the highlights of Retcon 2024, examining the pivotal role AI plays in transforming the multifamily sector. They provide a candid look at the discussions, debates, and revelations that emerged from this year's conference, offering listeners a front-row seat to the future of real estate technology.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
Don't miss this comprehensive breakdown of Retcon 2024, filled with critical insights, forward-thinking analysis, and a glimpse into the future of multifamily real estate technology.
Subscribe to the Digible Dudes Podcast for more episodes like this, and join the conversation by sharing your own experiences and takeaways from industry events you’ve attended.
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(00:00) Preview
(01:00) Unpacking AI: The Heart of Retcon 2024
(05:25) Real-World AI Applications in Multifamily
(10:17) Innovations and Disruptions in Multifamily Real Estate
(15:37) Reflecting on AI's Current and Future Impact
(20:04) Conference Dynamics and Planning Insights
(24:26) Networking at Retcon: Creating Meaningful Industry
Connections
(28:59) The Vendor-Attendee Balance: Striking the Right Ratio
(32:16) Future Trends: Predictions for AI in Multifamily Real Estate
(35:00) Closing Thoughts and Key Takeaways from Retcon 2024
Join us on this episode of the Digible Dudes Podcast as David and Trevor dive deep into their recent journey to the Social Media Summit in Napa.
From the unique collaborative atmosphere to the blending of competitors and potential partners, they unpack the nuances of what makes this summit a standout event in the digital marketing landscape.
Listen in for an engaging discussion on the broader implications for digital marketing, conference planning, and the delicate dance between vendors and attendees.
Key Highlights & Takeaways:
Don't miss out on these invaluable insights from the world of digital marketing and conference networking.
Subscribe to the Digible Dudes Podcast for more episodes like this, and join the conversation by sharing your own experiences and takeaways from industry events you’ve attended.
Let's redefine the way we think about networking and collaboration in the digital age.
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(01:50) Social Media Summit Recap
(04:10) Conference Dynamics
(05:12) Conference Experiences
(14:21) The Value of Conferences: Learning vs Networking
(17:25) Most Engaging Session & Actionable Takeaways
(24:15) Conference Organization and Economics
(27:43) Sponsorship and Support
(34:51) Anticipating Future Conferences
Welcome to episode #169 of the Digible Dudes Podcast, where we dive deep into the world of multifamily housing through the lens of organizational innovation and technology.
In this episode, David and Reid sit down with Jessica Fern-Kirkland, a pioneer in the multifamily industry who has coined the term "organizational engineer." We navigate through Jessica's journey in the multifamily space, from her entry into property management to her rise as an industry influencer passionate about providing quality housing.
Jessica sheds light on her philosophy of organizational engineering, emphasizing the importance of adaptability, employee empowerment, and the integration of technology to revolutionize multifamily operations.
Jessica offers invaluable insights into the future of multifamily housing, discussing how embracing change, focusing on people-centric strategies, and leveraging technology can drive the industry forward.
Support our journey through the evolving world of multifamily housing and organizational innovation by rating us on Spotify and Apple Podcast.
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(00:00) Preview and Intro
(03:55) Importance of Housing and Socioeconomic Growth
(10:31) Multifamily vs. Other Industries: Finding Passion in Housing(12:03) Navigating Change and Fostering Authenticity
(17:51) Challenges with Technology and Training in Multifamily
(23:44 Multifamily Organizational Structure Change
(28:42) Challenges of Centralizing Property Management
(33:53) Technology and Data Integration in Property Management
(38:21) Strategic Technology Implementation in Management
(45:20) Final Thoughts
Welcome to episode #168 of the Digible Dudes Podcast, where we navigate the intersections of technology, strategy, and innovation in the multifamily industry.
In this episode, David and Reid host Dom Beveridge, a visionary leader and Principal at 20for20, who brings a wealth of knowledge from his extensive background in revenue management across multiple industries.
We delve into the significant trends shaping the multifamily sector, including the growing importance of AI and centralization, the challenges of measuring ROI on technology investments, and the ever-evolving battle against fraud.
Dom shares insights from his annual survey, highlighting how senior executives from top multifamily companies are planning and executing their technology strategies to enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
We also explore the potential of AI to transform customer service and administrative processes, discuss the nuances of technology adoption in the multifamily space, and uncover the critical role of centralization in driving business improvements.
Tune in for a compelling conversation on the future of technology in the multifamily industry and the strategic moves companies can make to stay ahead in a competitive landscape.
Support our exploration of cutting-edge proptech innovations by rating us on Spotify and Apple Podcast.
Referenced in the podcast: 20for20 White Paper
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Welcome to Episode #167 of the Digible Dudes Podcast, where we delve into the compelling dynamics of work culture, leadership, and the lessons learned from the founders of Big Tech.
In this episode, David and Reid embark on a thought-provoking discussion inspired by their readings of various biographies, including Elon Musk's, exploring the intricate balance between visionary leadership and the potential pitfalls of a high-pressure work environment.
We dissect the concept of "workism" as a modern-day religion, the relentless pursuit of innovation at the expense of personal sacrifice, and the critical importance of recruitment and talent retention in sustaining a culture of excellence.
Join us as we explore the role of personal sacrifice in achieving monumental success, and the operational strategies that distinguish transformative leaders in the tech industry.
Tune in for an enlightening conversation on the challenges of navigating leadership, culture, and innovation in the fast-paced world of technology.
Support our exploration of these profound topics by rating us on Spotify and Apple Podcast.
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(00:00) Introduction: The Dynamics of Work Culture and Burnout
(00:42) The Insightful World of Biographies: Musk, Jobs, and Beyond
(05:15) The Fine Line Between Vision and Workism
(09:42) Elon Musk's Visionary Leadership and Its Impact
(15:12) The Personal Sacrifices of Tech Titans
(20:24) Operational Lessons from Tesla: Efficiency and Innovation
(26:16) Balancing Execution with Strategic Thinking
(34:25) Leadership Flexibility: Adapting and Learning from Mistakes
(39:10) Cultivating Company Culture: Beyond Core Values
Welcome to Episode #165 of the Digible Dudes Podcast, where we dive deep into the transformative journey of a proptech startup, from its initial concept to becoming a pivotal player in property technology integration.
In this episode, David and Reid are joined by Remen Okoruwa, CEO at Propexo, a unified API solution for easy integration with leading property management systems, aiming to save time, accelerate development processes, and facilitate revenue growth for companies in the Proptech industry.
We explore the evolution of a platform designed to simplify complex property management processes through API integration, emphasizing the critical role of SOC2 compliance and customer-focused innovation.
Join us as we discuss the importance of adapting to market needs, the strategic value of clear communication, and the potential of data infrastructure technologies to revolutionise the proptech industry.
Tune in for an insightful discussion on the challenges and triumphs of building a startup in the dynamic proptech landscape.
Support our journey by rating us on Spotify and Apple Podcast.
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(04:41) Introducing Remen and Propexo
(07:14) Transitioning from HubSpot to Propexo
(11:11) Evolution of Propexo
(16:21) Rebranding from Propify to Propexo
(22:36) Importance of Property Technology Integration
(27:23) Expanding Services for Property Management Systems
(35:20) Exploring Market Fit in PropTech
(38:56) SOC2 Compliance and Its Importance
(44:31) Remen’s Inspiration Behind Starting Propexo
(47:30) Marketing Strategies for Technical Products in PropTech
(51:06) Effective Networking and Personal Branding on LinkedIn
(56:04) Addressing Integration Challenges
(01:00:28) Hot Takes on Data Infrastructure in PropTech
(01:03:36) The Impact of New Technologies on Big PropTech Companies
(01:07:01) The Future of Data Integration and Technology Adoption
(01:10:39) Future Perspectives on Multifamily
Welcome to episode #165 of the Digible Dudes podcast, where we dive deep into the technological innovations reshaping the multifamily industry.
This episode features Ben Steward, co-founder of Revyse, as he shares the journey of creating a platform designed to revolutionize how multifamily operators discover, evaluate, and manage software and services.
Ben reveals the challenges and insights gained from developing Revyse, aiming to streamline operations and enhance efficiency across the multifamily space.
We explore the impact of Revyse on the industry, discussing its potential to transform the way professionals approach software and service management.
Don't miss out on Ben's unique perspective and the exciting future of multifamily technology. Watch till the end for a comprehensive understanding of Revyse’s role in the industry.
Enjoyed the episode? Support us by rating on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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(00:00) Preview
(01:14) Overview of Revyse’s Vendor Management Approach
(05:48) Ben Stewart's Background and the Genesis of Revyse
(10:53) The Necessity of Bespoke Solutions in Multi-Family Industry
(15:33) Key Challenges and Solutions in Vendor Management
(20:09) Expansion and Evolution of Revyse’s Services
(25:33) Addressing Maverick Spend and Contract Management Efficiency
(30:04) Insights into Revyse’s Business Model and Value Proposition
(35:32) Comparative Analysis: Industry Standards vs. Revyse’s Innovations
(41:16) User Interface, Design Philosophy, and Product Management
(47:53) Discovering Implementation Challenges and Solutions
(54:05) Vendor Ecosystem, Market Trends, and Strategic Insights
(01:00:47) The Future of Vendor Management and Industry Predictions
(01:14:07) Key Takeaways and Closing Thoughts
Welcome to Episode #164 of the Digible Dudes Podcast, where we unravel the complexities of deploying AI tools in the multifamily industry and question its actual application in our day to day business.
In this episode, David and Reid delve into the surprising parallels between fish fraud in the U.S. and the misrepresentation in AI technology marketing. They dissect how such practices impact trust and innovation in the multifamily sector.
We break down the importance of genuine AI integration in enhancing operational efficiency and tenant satisfaction in multifamily communities. We also explore the critical role of authenticity in technology adoption and the potential of true AI to revolutionize multifamily living.
Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on navigating the waters of technology claims and the future of AI in the multifamily industry.
If you find value in our insights, show your support by rating us on Spotify and Apple Podcast.
Link to the “Fish Fraud” podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Wrep4CMjnFurwBmZx3WF2?si=eIyn1Lq0Qv6WavpzcmnA0A
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(02:27) What Is The Fish Fraud?
(06:00) Misrepresentation of AI Technology
(12:31) Consumer Expectations vs. AI Reality
(14:05) AI in Centralization Software
(17:32) The Risk of Adopting AI at Scale
(19:15) Recommendation Engines and AI
(24:18) Unintended Consequences of AI
(26:08) Defining AI and Marketing Strategies
(30:55) Tips to Avoid AI Failure
(33:09) Personal AI Applications
(37:16) The Future of AI Positions in Companies
(39:37) Value and Pricing of AI Solutions
(44:22) Building a Moat Around AI Technology
Welcome to Episode #163 of the Digible Dudes Podcast, where we explore the forefront of marketing innovation in the multifamily industry.
In this episode, David and Reid are joined by Janet Rosseth, founder and CMO of Cadence Marketing Solutions.
We delve into the creation and evolution of Cadence Marketing, highlighting its pivotal role in shaping community, connection, and education among marketing professionals.
Janet also introduces us to the "Working Genius" model, revolutionizing team dynamics and project success.
We also discuss the power of collaborative platforms like the Run Club and Cadence Connect sessions, designed to enhance skill sets, share challenges, and keep pace with industry trends.
This conversation was filled with practical strategies, innovative approaches, and Janet's outlook on marketing's future in the multifamily space. So make sure you watch till the end!
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(00:00) Introduction to the Podcast and Solo Consulting Insights
(03:00) The Evolution of Janet's Role and Her Impact in the Industry
(14:22) Janet’s Transition from Corporate Marketing to Consulting
(21:42) Building the Run Club Community: A Mastermind for Marketers
(30:25) Deep Dive into Run Club's Offerings and Impact
(43:22) Addressing Marketing Team Dynamics and Content Planning
(54:13) The Importance of Continuous Learning in Professional Development
(56:05) Strategies for Enhancing Learning Recall and Application
(59:21) Implementing the Six Types of Working Genius Framework
(01:08:39) Team Strengths, Weaknesses, and the Role of Galvanizing
(01:23:36) Personal Stories of Applying the Working Genius Framework
(01:27:21) The Inclusivity and Effectiveness of Working Genius in Teams
(01:30:56) Closing Thoughts
Join your hosts, David Staley and Reid Wicoff on #161 of the Digible Dudes podcast for a deep dive into the evolving corporate landscape in 2024.
We kick things off with a thought-provoking review of Adam Grant's "Hidden Potential," analyzing its impact and insights on modern hiring practices. The conversation then pivots to the forefront of talent acquisition, unveiling the latest strategies set to revolutionize recruiting in 2024.
We further delve into the art of evaluating employee potential, unveiling methods that challenge traditional metrics and methods of evaluation.
To wrap things up we reveal effective management techniques, drawing lessons from Finland's renowned education system, and offering key takeaways for today's dynamic business environment. So make sure you watch till the end!
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Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(02:01) Content Consumption and Adam Grant's Book Review
(10:26) The Concept of Deliberate Play in Work and Sports
(17:17 The Role of Belief and Doubt in Achieving Your Potential
(22:11) Breaking Down Finland's School System
(29:40)The Importance of 'Distance Traveled' in Hiring
(34:49) Impact of 'Distance Traveled' on Hiring Decisions
(39:49) Data vs. Logic in Business Decisions*
(43:11) Enabling Experimentation and Managing Risk in Business
(48:02) Optimizing Work Weeks: Beyond the Four-Day Model
(51:35) Business Strategies and Company Culture
Welcome to Episode #162 of the Digible Dudes Podcast, your deep dive into the future of multifamily! Today, we’re joined by Edmund Keith, Head of Content at OnlineMarketplaces.com
We dive into the evolving real estate landscape, starting with how companies like Aviv Group and CoStar are integrating diverse platforms, each with its unique model and technology. We also look at how Homes.com is changing the game with free listings and premium marketing strategies.
A key part of our discussion is the role of AI in the industry, enhancing everything from property discovery to operational efficiency. We also examine the potential of voice search technology in real estate, question its longevity, and explore how real estate portals are using consumer insights to improve service delivery.
We wrap things up with bold predictions for the future of real estate tech and address pressing challenges like agent oversupply and the need for more detailed listings. So make sure you watch till the end!
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Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(01:56) Overview of Online Marketplaces.com
(03:21) Current Trends in Real Estate Marketplaces
(08:08) Impact of Market Consolidation on Real Estate Agents
(11:52) Challenges for New Entrants in the Real Estate Market
(15:20) Business Model of Apartments.com and Co-Star
(19:30) Real Estate Portals and AI Integration
(25:36) The Future of Real Estate Portals and User Experience
(28:05) Edmund's Perspective on AI and Real Estate
(31:31) Future Trends in Real Estate
(40:42) Centralization in Real Estate
(46:43) Craigslist's Business Model and Market Dynamics
(48:49) Google's Influence on Real Estate Listings
(51:07) Challenges in Modern Real Estate Platforms and Data Usage
(54:31) The Future of Real Estate Portals and AI
(59:04) Future of Voice Search and Real Estate Portals
(01:01:11) Role of Data and Personalization in Real Estate Searches
Welcome to the Digible Dudes podcast where we dive deep into the digital world of Multifamily with your hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff.
In this special year-end episode, we sit down with Nicole Staley, Co-Founder and CXO of Digible Inc, as we reflect on the significant strides we’ve made as a company this year.
We explore Digible’s key milestones, team expansion, and cultural evolution. The hosts discuss the wins and challenges they faced, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a vibrant company culture amidst rapid growth.
As the episode wraps up, we leave our listeners with insights into the company's future directions and the team's expectations for the coming year, promising an exciting journey ahead. So make sure to watch till the end!
Enjoyed the podcast? Make sure you rate us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Introduction and AI Impact on Jobs
(01:00) Startup Growth and Business Challenges
(03:21) Employee Experiences and Role Adaptation
(06:51) Company Achievements and Department Expansion
(10:42) Organizational Culture and Team Dynamics
(15:03) Innovation and Adapting to Technological Changes
(20:28) Digible’s Future Outlook
(28:42) Reflection on Company Growth and Culture
(31:50) Employee Experience and Managing Growth
(34:53) Digible’s Core Values
(39:50) Reflections on Leadership and Decision Making
(45:39) Challenges of Rapid Expansion
(51:33) Personal Development and Leadership Growth
(57:08) Looking Ahead to 2024: Opportunities and Aspirations
Welcome to the Digible Dudes Podcast, Episode #158. Join us today with our hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff as they delve into the world of multifamily marketing with Dustin Lacey, the Vice President of Marketing and Technology at Mark Taylor Residential.
In this episode, Dustin shares his experiences and strategies in the multifamily marketing sector. He delves into the challenges and emerging trends in digital marketing, offering valuable insights into how these are shaping the future of Multifamily Real Estate. Dustin’s approach to integrating technology in marketing strategies highlights the evolving dynamics of the industry.
As the conversation progresses, Dustin provides a deeper understanding of the impact of digital transformation on the real estate industry. He emphasizes the importance of adapting to new marketing techniques and the potential of these strategies to redefine the landscape of property marketing.
Whether you're a real estate professional, a digital marketing enthusiast, or someone fascinated by the intersection of technology and property, this episode is not to be missed.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction Introduction and Guest Insights
(01:20) Dustin Lacey's Journey in Marketing
(07:45) Concepts Behind Centralised Marketing
(15:30) Breaking Down Case Studies and Real-World Applications
(26:28) Maximizing User Engagement on Websites
(33:09) Leveraging SEO for Property Visibility
(39:50) Innovative Approaches to Marketing in Real Estate
(45:42) Impact of Technology on Marketing Tactics
(51:53) The Future of Digital Marketing in Real Estate
Welcome to Episode #159 of the Digible Dudes podcast. Join hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff as they explore the innovative world of multifamily and real estate management with Adam Cowley, Founder & CEO of Rooof & Pivott.
This episode provides a comprehensive look at Adam’s extensive experience in the multifamily industry, focusing on his innovative approaches to vendor management and property operations. Adam shares valuable insights into the evolution of marketing strategies in multifamily properties, highlighting the significant role of platforms like Craigslist in driving leads and the unique challenges of marketing in this sector.
We also explore Adam's journey in developing Roof, his experiences with the intricacies of content syndication, and the importance of adapting marketing strategies to various customer needs.He delves into the need for better organizational tools for contracts and vendor relationships, emphasizing the importance of technology in streamlining these processes.
Tune in for an insightful and informative session that sheds light on the future of multifamily management, offering valuable takeaways for anyone interested in the ever-evolving realm of real estate and property management.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview
(00:32) Introduction
(05:08) Challenges and Strategies in Multifamily Advertising
(06:33) Adam Cowley's Journey in Multifamily Industry
(09:41) Innovative Solutions in Multifamily Real Estate
(13:23) Craigslist's Role in the Multifamily Sector
(18:02) Effective Craigslist Advertising and Improving Lead Quality
(22:05) What’s Next For Rooof?
(28:27) Exploring Vendor Management in Multifamily Real Estate
(36:15) Pivott: A New Venture in Multifamily
(41:58) Challenges in Compliance and Vendor Management
(44:56) Challenges in Integrating Tech in Multifamily Operations
(49:26) Understanding the Multifamily Market and Customer Needs
(53:20) Future Strategies and Market Opportunities in Multifamily
(57:51) Building A Business in The Multifamily Sector.
(1:07:43) Roof's Role in Funding New Ventures
(1:10:47) Reflecting on What’s Next in The Multifamily Industry
Welcome to episode #167 of the Digible Dudes Podcast with your hosts, David Staley and Reid Wicoff. In this episode, we're joined by Jill, a Senior Account Manager and President of Fiona Forward, and Sophie, an Account Manager and the Internal Communications Director at Digible.Fiona Forward is an employee-driven volunteer initiative at Digible aimed at addressing the barriers to housing stability in the Denver-Metro area through community service and in-kind donations. Our purpose with Fiona Forward is to be an advocate for the improved quality of life for those in our community through service and donations.If you found this episode insightful, please support us by leaving a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview
(00:27) Introducing Jill & Sophie
(01:50) What is Fiona Forward's Mission?
(04:15) 2023 Goals and Progress Review
(08:27) Creative Ways to Increase Employee Engagement
(14:10) Fiona Forward’s Impact on Remote Employees
(19:15) What is a Vision Traction Organization (VTO)
(22:41) Differentiating Between Nonprofit and Foundation Models
(28:17) Importance of Consistency in Community Contributions
(32:30) Benefits of Starting Small and Focusing Locally
(38:14) Enhancing Visibility and Impact of Fiona Forward
(41:01) Looking Ahead: Plans for 2024 and Beyond
Welcome to episode #156 of the Digible Dudes Podcast with your hosts, David Staley and Reid Wicoff. In this episode, we reflect on the key business lessons learned in 2023.
We discuss the importance of defining success metrics for a business and different budgeting approaches clients are taking in response to economic shifts - some are aggressively cutting costs while others argue for the need to increase marketing spend. We then touch on the value of in-person events versus virtual ones, the importance of gaining individual agreement in meetings, and reflections on hiring and HR. We also explore skepticism around AI applications, especially in the multifamily space.
To wrap things up we discuss balancing company growth and profitability, the misalignment of goals between marketing and operations, rising expectations on digital marketing competency, and being ruthless about time management.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(02:30) Determining success metrics
(06:45) How To Approach Budgeting The Right Way
(12:23) The Real Benefits of In-Person Events
(18:18) Validating Business Theories
(21:57) What Are The AI Applications in Real Life?
(29:00) Rising Expectations on Digital Marketing Services
(35:36) Laser Focusing on Core Competencies
(39:30) Questioning Institutional Thinking
Welcome to the Digible Dudes Podcast, Episode #154. This week, hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff sit down with a titan of the commercial real estate research world, Jay Lybik.
With almost three decades of unparalleled experience, Jay currently steers the ship as CoStar’s National Director of Multifamily Analytics. His storied career spans roles at Marcus & Millichap, Equity Residential, and Cushman & Wakefield.
Dive in as we discuss the ever-evolving multifamily market, the role of data analytics, and much more.
To kick things off, Jay breaks down the multifamily market, tracing its history from the '80s and '90s garden-style properties to the luxury apartments of today. Uncover the reasons behind the decline in year-over-year rent growth for luxury segments and learn about Jay's keen foresight that has often set him apart in the industry.
Reid and Jay deep dive into CoStar's multifamily analytics vision, discussing the intricacies of gathering accurate rent data and exploring the potential of overlooked markets like the Midwest.
Whether you're an industry expert, a multifamily entrepreneur, or simply curious about digital marketing's crossroads with the world of business, this episode is a must watch!
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview
(00:40) Introduction
(08:15) Luxury Property Market Dynamics
(13:12) Predicting The Future Of The Multifamily Market
(16:20) The Economics of Luxury Apartments
(21:17) CoStar's Rating System and Developer Strategies
(25:47) Behind the Scenes of CoStar's Multifamily Analytics
(35:23) The Role of Rent Data and Future of Luxury Properties
(44:13) Consumer Behavior and Yield Management
(49:02) Trust in Technology vs. Human Intuition
(54:00) Innovative Strategies and Market Adaptation Strategies
(58:16) CoStar's Approach in Uncertain Economic Times
(01:04:22) Is There Untapped Opportunity in The Midwest?
Welcome to the Digible Dudes Podcast, Episode #154! In this episode, hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff dive deep into the world of business innovation.
Drawing parallels from Jack Welch's approach to R&D and Digible’s decision to adopt a four-day workweek, we ponder on allocating resources and the risks associated with such business decisions. Our dialogue also touches on multifamily marketing, addressing the challenges of striking the right balance between innovation and stability.
Diving deeper, David and Reid further their discussion by referencing industry leaders. David brings in insights from Elon Musk's journey with Tesla, illustrating the practical challenges in complete automation and the importance of questioning every step. Reid, referencing Bob Iger's perspectives, emphasizes the continuous attention needed in innovating core competencies. As the conversation comes to a close, the hosts reflect on the unique position of the property management industry through technological disruptions.
Whether you're a multifamily property investor, a community manager, or someone curious about the future of housing and tenant innovation, this episode promises to deliver rich insights and engaging discussions tailored to the multifamily industry. Don't miss out!
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(00:33) Evolution of Working Environments
(03:42) Budgeting: Resource Distribution and R&D Allocation
(07:15) Future of Automation in Business
(11:27) Managing Business Growth Effectively
(14:56) Handling Client Experiences
(20:38) 2023 Multifamily Industry Trends
(25:57) Balancing Innovation, Risk, and Focus
(33:40) Evaluating Business Approaches & Setting Expectations
(38:16) Elon Musk's Influence & Property Management Insights
Welcome to Digible Dudes, Episode #153! In this episode your hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff, dive deep into the crucial world of business insurance and risk management.
We kick things off by dissecting the complexities of business insurance and understanding its importance from startup to growth stages.
We delve into the world of HR within larger companies, examining the dramatic impact of scale on labor costs and the scarcity of business resources dedicated to risk at different stages. We navigate the tricky waters of risk mitigation in property management, vendor relationships, and the delicate balance between risk reduction and mitigation costs.
To wrap things up we share our perspectives on de-risking strategies in the tech industry, the significance of employee retention, and the importance of nurturing vendor relationships. Plus, we'll uncover how using colleagues as early warning signals can help you strike the perfect balance between reducing risk and managing the cost of mitigation.
So, buckle up for an enlightening journey into the world of business risk, strategies for mitigating them, and the impact they have on the success of your venture.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview and Introduction
(06:33) Mitigating Risk for Property Management
(12:44) Risk Analysis and Insurance in Business
(22:08) De-Risking & Evaluating ROI in Business
(34:56) Employee Retention and Vendor Relationships
(39:10) De-Risking Strategies in the Tech Industry
(43:32) How to Test New Vendors
Welcome to Digible Dudes, Episode #152! Join your hosts, David Staley and Reid Wicoff, as we explore a journey of self-discovery and personal leadership with our special guest, Cyndie Spiegel.
In this episode, we delve into Cyndie's incredible journey from the world of New York fashion to a path less traveled, where she's become a sought-after speaker, coach, and mentor.
Cyndie's reveal the importance of personal integrity, the courage to take calculated risks, and the value of seizing opportunities when they arise.
As our conversation unfolds, Cyndie shares her unique perspective on leadership, emphasizing the art of navigating through gray areas, striking a balance between autonomy and accountability, and fostering meaningful two-way feedback.
Cyndie addresses the importance of achieving work-life balance and provides practical insights on creating an environment that nurtures individual agency.
This episode promises to equip you with valuable insights on personal leadership, work-life balance, self-reflection, and much more.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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00:00 Preview and Introduction
03:12 Personal Leadership and Finding Fulfillment
07:08 Navigating Career Changes and Self-Discovery
13:38 Finding Success Through Saying Yes
18:00 Achieving Work-Life Balance and Personal Agency
25:51 Misconceptions About Leadership
34:43 Leadership Challenges and Feedback
43:35 Exploring Self-Reflection and Mindfulness
52:33 Reimagining Leadership and Embracing Individuality
Join hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff on episode #150 of Digible Dudes. We sat down with Jindou Lee, the CEO and Co-Founder of HappyCo, a software company that builds mobile and cloud solutions to enable real-time property operations
We dive into Jindou's journey from being a graphic designer and video game enthusiast into a tech entrepreneur and real estate investor. Discover how his journey led to the creation of HappyCo, a game-changing company in the real estate tech space.
We explore HappyCo's tech solutions from acquisition operations to asset disposition, you'll learn how technology is revolutionizing the multifamily real estate landscape. Find out how HappyCo has shifted to a more solution-oriented sales approach and the unique training methods they employ to empower their salespeople. Learn the secrets behind managing customer expectations in a dynamic industry.
In the final segment we go through strategies for standing out from the competition, overcoming common customer objections, and the role of AI and centralization in property management. Gain insights into product development, managing success and failure, and the critical art of decision-making in product management.
(00:00) Preview
(03:34) From Graphic Design to Real Estate
(08:58) Pivoting From Single Family to Multi-Family
(14:21) Future of Technology in Multifamily Real Estate
(26:14) Selling Partnerships and Setting Expectations
(34:15) Common Challenges in Multifamily Real Estate
(42:33) AI in Property Management Efficiency
(52:02) Handling Product Development Challenges
(57:57) Selling to Multiple Audiences
(1:06:04) Better Pricing System for Multifamily Assets
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Join hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff on episode #150 of Digible Dudes as we take you on a journey to dissect the true impact of digital commodities like call tracking and geo-fencing.
In this episode we reveal how the perspective of an agency and an apartment marketer can shift the definition of what we consider a commodity, and guide you through the process of distinguishing between commodities that have been driven to low cost and those that are still useful and valued.
Have you ever wondered about the workings of digital advertising algorithms and pricing? We take you through an in-depth analysis of digital advertising algorithms, pricing strategies, and the significance of private marketplaces. We delve into the world of chatbots, their market roles, and their impact on the multi-family industry.
We wrap up by delving into the challenges digital advertising marketers face. A whole field filled with potentially misleading information and rampant commodities. We also provide valuable insights on how to discern fact from fiction, how to approach innovation and testing thoughtfully, and the implications of automotive and digital advertising buying trends on the multi-family industry.
(00:00) Preview
(03:32) Understanding Digital Commodities
(08:48) Digital Advertising Algorithms and Pricing
(15:06) Worthy Commodities in Digital Marketing
(27:31) Evaluating the Value of Marketing Investments
(36:36) Listing Management, Citations, and Digital Advertising
(45:08) Differentiating Chatbots in the Market
(50:28) Challenges of Digital Advertising Marketers
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Join hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff on episode #149 of Digible Dudes as we sit down for a solo podcast to breakdown the complexities of budgeting in today's fast-paced business world.
In this latest episode, we pull back the curtain on budgeting season, discussing fiscal versus calendar budgeting. We share personal experiences, emphasizing the need for flexibility and perspective when dealing with numbers.
We navigate the hurdles of budgeting within fast-growing companies and multi-owner properties. We also discuss how rewarding different departments can lead to an overall understanding of net income and top line revenue and the importance of equal pay amongst peers for a unified team.
We wrap up by looking into the potential of performance-based models for writers and the chance of unionization. As a bonus, we disucss the possibilities of a budgeting platform to solve the multifamily budgeting problem.
From exploring the role of AI in budgeting to the ethical implications of using ad content for revenue, our episode leaves no stone unturned.
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Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com/
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(00:00) Preview
(04:03) Budgeting Season
(08:28) Common Challenges in Budgeting
(16:07) Challenges and Complexities of Budgeting
(20:53) Budgeting and Transparency in Marketing
(32:12) Budgeting and Allocation in Property Marketing
(41:18) Marketing in Multifamily Sector Autonomy and Evaluation
(54:11) Challenges With Print and Digital Margins
(58:50) The Role of AI in Budgeting
(1:07:06) Progress in Digital Budgeting Takes Time
Join hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff on episode #148 of Digible Dudes as we sit down with Jacob Carter founder and CEO of Nurture Boss, a premier lease-conversion automation tool that provides marketing solutions for the multifamily industry.
Jacob shares his company's unique approach to managing multiple automated systems and the potential of leveraging broader databases of renters.
As we dive deeper, Jacob breaks down his journey of creating a product to address the struggle of the multifamily industry to provide a connected experience for renters. We also explore the potential risks and rewards of automation and AI in the multifamily industry.
In the final stretch of our conversation, Jacob shares insights on the cost model of Nurture Boss, and where customers can allocate their budget when considering using Nurture Boss. We also get a chance to discuss the blurred line between marketing and operations, and the importance of creating a connected experience for renters.
This episode promises a wealth of knowledge about the tech industry and the multifamily industry. You don't want to miss this!
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
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(00:00) Preview
(01:03) Introduction
(05:11) Automating Prospect Follow-Up and Resident Communication
(11:18) Solving Apartment Rental Issues With Product
(22:13) Lead Nurturing and Automation in Multifamily
(35:54) What does Nurture Boss do?
(39:37) Personalizing your marketing message
(45:55) Automated Communication and AI in Leasing
(59:18) Investor FOMO?
(1:05:14) Nurture Boss Cost Model and Expectations
(1:09:21) Property Marketing
(1:17:31) David's Dad Jokes and more on Nurture Boss
Join hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff on episode #147 of Digible Dudes as we sit down with Courtney Wright, our Director of Employee Experience. Courtney shares her journey from insurance agent to HR professional and explains how a balanced benefits package and employee engagement play a crucial role in an organization’s success.
In this episode, we dive into how the dot-com bust caused a proliferation of C-suite titles and speculate on the positions that might be created in the next five years, such as ‘Chief AI Officer.’
We underline the importance of psychological safety in the workplace and discuss how to create an inclusive environment. Courtney also imparts her wisdom on aligning employee benefits with core company values, the importance of transparency, and the role of managers in communicating the value of these benefits to their teams.
The conversation finishes with a deep dive into the elements of a great employee experience. We highlight the significance of autonomy, a sense of belonging, and how company subcultures can influence the interpretation of a company’s core values. Lastly, we touch on the fundamental aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion in creating an inclusive workplace.
Check out the episodes to learn more about how the evolution of employee experience is reshaping Human Resources.
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
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(00:00) Preview
(00:53) Introduction
(12:48) Exploring Future Job Titles
(17:19) HR Experiences and Incentivizing Employee Behavior
(22:26) Enhancing Employee Experience and Fringe Benefits
(28:54) Benefits Customization and Communication
(38:46) Prioritizing Benefits and Employee Experience
(49:00) Establishing Psychological Safety in the Workplace
(55:30) Elements of a Great Employee Experience
(1:09:50) Measuring Employee Experience and Goal Setting
(1:16:17) DEIB Discussion
Join hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff on episode #146 of Digible Dudes as we delve into the revolutionary impact of technology on the multifamily real estate industry.
In this episode we sit down with Zach Sloan, the co-founder of Rentgrata, a lead nurture platform that is revolutionising the residential rental landscape.
Through our conversation, Zach Sloan provides unique insights into the platform's journey, its growth, and its continuous impact on the residential rental market.
Discover firsthand how Rentgrata ingeniously connects prospective tenants with current residents, granting them authentic and invaluable insights into their potential new homes.
We wrap up with some hot takes on the evolution of the real estate industry and the role of technology in this transformation. This conversation is a fascinating exploration of the intersection of technology and real estate, and is guaranteed to leave you with a fresh perspective on the residential rental market.
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
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(0:00) Preview and Introduction
(14:18) Startup Journey and Reflections on Success
(20:30) Rentgrata's Evolution and Growth
(24:26) The Future of Rentgrata and their Competition
(30:13) Benefits of Resident Referrals
(36:25) Resident Vetting and Customer Journey
(46:36) Residential Rental Conversations and Opportunities
(52:03) Churn Management and Competitive Advantage
(1:08:54) Challenges in the Real Estate Market
(1:16:34) Bold Predictions and Hot Takes
Join hosts David Staley and Nicole Staley on episode #145 of Digible Dudes as we explore bridging the gap between financial planning and operational execution in multi-family property management.
Our guest, Briant Cárcamo, Co-Founder at Vizibly, shares his decade-long journey in the multifamily sector. He has expertise as the ‘Excel guy’, which has driven his passion for innovating financial forecasting.
Discover the idea behind Vizibly, Briant’s platform promising to revolutionize financial forecasting by seamlessly linking operational decision making with financial results.
He stresses the importance of user-friendly interfaces on software platforms. As well as upgrading from Excel to more efficient systems for budgeting and forecasting, to increase margins.
Explore Bryant’s vision for Visibly as a tool enabling data-driven decisions with a unified dashboard. We delve into the significance of a strong CAPEX strategy, multi-user data entry, and the advantages of a flexible budgeting system.
Looking ahead, Briant shares his foresights for the future of the multifamily industry. Focusing on understanding users at a deep level and the role of technology in enhancing the efficiency of regional and community managers. We also discuss the impact of market dynamics on property management and the prospects for portfolio consolidation.
If you’re ready to gain new insights into financial planning in the multifamily sector, don’t miss this must-listen episode of Digible Dudes!
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(00:00) Preview and introduction
(04:16) Multi-Family Financial Planning Made Easy with Software Platform
(06:53) Streamlining Financial Forecasting in Property Management
(11:30) Creating the Right Forecasting Model in Multifamily
(19:34) Software for Operational Coordination and Accountability in Multifamily
(25:09) Multifamily Budgeting Process and Challenges
(28:09) The Biggest Challenge in Tracking Multifamily Expenses
(34:44) How to Create an Accurate Financial Projection
(38:12) Flexible Budgeting System for Multifamily Properties
(45:23) Building a More Efficient PropTech Team
(54:28) The Future of Property Management in the Multifamily Industry
Welcome to Episode #144 of the Digible Dudes podcast, hosted by David Staley and Reid Wicoff. In this session, we dive deep into the world of insourcing versus outsourcing in business operations and how this dynamic develops as you scale.
Gone are the days of a simple debate. This discussion has taken on extra dimensions in the business world. From real estate to marketing, we explore the benefits and drawbacks of this approach for you.
We begin by reflecting on the year that was 2020, which has undoubtedly shaped the landscape of in-sourcing versus outsourcing decisions. The emergence of third-party management companies and their ability to add revenue sources has had a profound impact.
We shed light on the value of professional services and resource allocation in executive hiring. Specialized insights like tax strategies can yield substantial cost savings, making it crucial to consider the benefits of bringing in outside providers.
As we navigate these decisions, we also explore the influence of technology on the industry and its implications for third-party management companies.
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
(00:00) Preview
(01:16) Insourcing vs. outsourcing: what is better?
(03:27) Has your perspective changed on outsourcing?
(07:07) Jim Collins: The Hedgehog Concept
(09:25) When to outsource versus outsource?
(11:41) 4 principles on insource vs. outsourcing
(13:11) Is outsourcing a trend right now?
(18:50) The use cases of third party management
(24:00) Jim Collins: Fire bullets then cannonballs
(30:00) Making better decisions with data
(34:12) Putting your time into recruitment
(37:30) Maintenance & SEO services
(43:30) Hybrid between insource vs. outsource
(50:33) Investing into new technology
Welcome back to episode #143 of Digible Dudes with David Staley, Careena Daly and Nicole Staley!
Ever feel you’re shackled to a strategy that’s just not working? Tired of depending on ILS? In our latest episode, Careena and Nicole share their journey in breaking free from the limitations of ILS.
We’ll take a deep look into the complexities of budgeting that guided their bold transition from ILS to direct marketing. All while tackling the resistance from ILS loyalists and their methods of addressing their concerns.
The second part of our discussion explores the art and science of persuasion. How do you convince seasoned business owners and marketing teams to abandon their dependence on ILSs?
They highlight the role of seasonality in decision making, the steep learning curve for implementing new strategies, and the significance of flexibility in marketing budgets.
Prepare to step into the shoes of Careena and Nicole as they recount their experiences with contract negotiations. They provide a firsthand account of the struggle to negotiate ILS contracts and emphasize the benefits of flexibility in website contracts.
By checking out this podcast, you’ll be ready to face change head-on, armed with tips, tactics, and insights that you can apply to your own business ventures.
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
(00:00) Preview
(00:52) ILS Independence overview
(03:05) How to walk people through ILS Independence
(06:00) Alternative strategies to ILS
(10:00) Biggest challenges when overcoming ILS
(12:45) Biggest battle when educating business owners
(18:00) Flexibility in pricing and leasing
(22:40) Building relationships with clients and reps
(25:30) Advice to your younger self with ILS
(31:40) Advice to change your ILS budget
Welcome to episode #142 of The Digible Dudes podcast, hosted by David Staley and Reid Wicoff. In this episode, we have the pleasure of welcoming Chris Hood, the industry marketing team leader at Apartments.com. Prepare to gain insights into renter demand and behavior, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the multifamily market.
Chris Hood delves into the findings of a survey conducted with 37,000 renters. Through this survey, we uncover valuable insights into renter sentiment, behavior, and their plans for the next six months. Brace yourself for a thorough analysis into the implications of the 7% drop in renter demand and how this affects properties. Discover how this wealth of data can empower sales teams and inform strategic product development.
Together, we explore the exciting opportunities that digital strategies bring to the multifamily industry. With Chris as our guide, we speculate on potential shifts in product development and discuss the impact of AI chatbots on the market.
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
(00:00) Preview
(00:55) Chris Hood's survey and analysis
(02:48) Co-Star and economic data
(05:43) The importance of speed & control
(08:30) The user behaviour changes on portals
(10:09) The trend in multifamily product development
(12:43) Can we trust AI chatbots in multifamily?
(14:34) The combination of automation & personalisation
(17:50) Which segment did the survey focus on?
Welcome back to another episode of The Digible Dudes podcast! On episode #141, David Staley and Reid Wicoff are live from NAA.
Imagine unlocking the full potential of multi-family properties through technology and lean operations. That’s exactly what David Shaw, the COO of Livly, has set out to achieve with his prop tech SaaS company.
Join us for another conversation as we explore Livly’s unique value proposition, including their approach to access control, communication, IoT, and managed Wi-Fi. Discover how this lean and intentional company has mastered the art of maximizing value while providing a user-friendly layer over existing enterprise systems.
David shares Livly’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal of reaching one million units by the end of 2024 and the leadership strategies they’ve adopted to get there. Learn about the concept of the 20-mile march and how it can help your business maintain steady progress, while avoiding over-committing.
In addition, we delve into the power of setting an operating code and staying true to it for long-term success. Don’t miss this opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes tour of Livly’s onboarder module and how it supports the resident journey from lease signing to move-in.
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
(00:00) Preview
(01:03) David Shaw's background
(02:16) The core functions of Livly
(05:15) Livly's biggest competitors
(06:29) The Livly operating system
(10:31) Meaningful metrics for Livly
(11:25) Biggest challenges for the future
(13:45) Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG)
(15:21) The 20 Mile March - Jim Collins
Welcome to another episode of The Digible Dudes podcast! In this episode, hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff engage in a conversation with Tyler Christiansen, the CEO of Funnel. Get ready to explore the world of centralized property management and multifamily marketing.
Join us as we uncover the technology platform developed by Funnel, which is reshaping the industry by adopting a renter-centric approach and enabling seamless operations across portfolios. Learn how this unique platform is revolutionizing the multifamily experience and centralizing property management.
In this episode, we delve into the growing trend of unbundling software for tailored solutions. We explore the importance of being renter-centric and how companies across the board are embracing this approach. Discover the value of working together to build a better industry.
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
00:00 Preview
00:58 Tyler's background and career to date
02:23 What is Funnel?
04:38 Can Funnel integrate with other platforms?
08:36 How is Funnel more efficient?
10:11 The economics & efficiency of multifamily
14:04 Setting expectations with enterprise
21:00 Customer experience and helping renters
24:25 Going deep in one industry and specialisation
28:25 Asset handling in multifamily
Join hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff on The Digible Dudes Podcast as they discuss the future of work and the limitless opportunities brought by technology. In this episode, they delve into the impact of AI on jobs and innovation, uncovering the strategies to thrive in the new era of technology.
Explore the concept of leveraging AI and learn how it can reshape industries, build new technologies, and change the world. Gain insights into the importance of pivoting and the transition that companies need to make to stay ahead.
Delve into the effects of AI adoption on productivity, industry, and the long-term implications for the job landscape. Discover the challenges of consumer comfort with AI and how it shapes the future of work.
Don’t miss the discussion on multifamily technology and the future of ownership. Learn how infrastructure and changing demographics influence the speed of tech adoption, and discover the role of real estate syndicates in this dynamic market.
Join us on The Digible Dudes podcast and be part of the exciting journey into the future of work.
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
(00:00) Preview
(01:14) How the world has changed from technology 07:00 How to respond to AI trends
(09:35) The right balance between innovation & current tech15:45 Adapting to new tech and experimentation
(20:00) New roles being created by 2050
(22:30) Concerns when adapting new tech too early in the multifamily industry
(26:50) Has confidence improved in automation services?
(32:51) How to align your brand to the company mission
(37:40) How will multifamily respond to artificial intelligence?
(42:00) The reality of real estate syndicates
(47:20) Will people hire for promp engineers in 2050?
Welcome to another episode of the Digible Dudes podcast! Join hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff as they engage in weekly interviews with the most influential minds in the apartment marketing world.
In this episode, David and Reid explore the delicate balance between embracing life’s unpredictability and making strategic, essentialist decisions.
Join us as we dive deep into the philosophies of Andrew Huberman and Greg McEwen, discovering how to navigate the complexities of exploration, experimentation, and making meaningful contributions to the world.
David and Reid share their insights on how to innovate and grow while adhering to essentialist principles. Learn how to achieve a well-rounded, fulfilling existence by applying these valuable lessons to your own business and personal life.
Time management and finding your flow play a crucial role in striking this delicate balance. Discover the benefits of taking time to think through decisions, the power of journaling, and the art of distinguishing between companies and features.
If you find this episode helpful, please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
(00:00) Preview
(01:26) Andrew Huberman and Greg McEwan: Essentialism
(06:42) Over planning vs. following your interests & curiosity
(10:32) Jim Collins on the importance of focus
(12:17) Experimenting vs. direct focus in a niche
(14:25) Microsoft, Google’s dilemma in product development
(22:15) Peter Thiel: features versus a product
(24:42) Disproving the rule and creating sticky products
(28:27) Essentialism versus a random walk strategy
(31:55) Journaling your time on creativity & important tasks
(35:25) Daniel Pink: perform audits of your work
Welcome to another episode of the Digible Dudes podcast, where hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff engage in insightful conversations with industry leaders. In this episode, we dive deep into the art of “letting go of the vine” and exploring the power of elevating and delegating tasks.
Join us as we tackle the challenge of finding the right balance between letting go and managing expectations. Discover the mindset of embracing “good enough” and how it can lead to a more fulfilling life. In our conversation, we navigate the complexities of managing goals and expectations, particularly when evaluating the performance of direct reports and setting achievable goals.
We shed light on the importance of “managing up” to keep those in charge informed of the plan and introduce you to the EOS system, a powerful tool for measuring progress. Additionally, we share insights on recognizing team members’ wins and the significance of allowing them time to bask in their victories.
But that’s not all! We also dive into the complexities of delegation, promotion, and measuring efficiency in larger organizations. Gain valuable insights on determining the right time to give someone the chance to level up, and understand the impact of a negative flywheel on decision-making.
If you find this episode helpful, we kindly ask you to leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts to support our show.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
(00:00) Preview
(00:53) Letting go of the vine and elevating/delegating
(04:00) Dan Martell: Delegate and elevate
(06:20) Calculate your hourly rate to delegate
(07:53) How to help others to let go
(10:04) Remind yourself what success looks like
(14:04) Recognising someone else’s wins
(17:49) Setting realistic goals and expectations
(21:50) Not providing sufficient perks & rewards
(24:00) Efficiency for large corporations
(28:40) Creating success metrics for new positions
(32:30) The problems with large corporations for growth
(36:10) Stepping up to the next job requirements
(40:00) Trust in your employees and team
Welcome to another episode of the Digible Dudes podcast, where hosts David Staley and Reid Wicoff engage in conversations with industry leaders. In this episode, they have the pleasure of sitting down with Nicole Ryan and Brandon Hammond from NAA Gives.
NAA Gives is an integral part of the National Apartment Association’s mission to create a world where rental housing is a valued partner in every community. As the leading voice for the rental housing industry, NAA serves 141 state, local, and global affiliates, representing over 95,000 members and an astounding 11.6 million apartment homes worldwide.
During this discussion, Nicole and Brandon share valuable insights into the work of NAA Gives. They dive deep into various topics, covering everything from the organization’s overall mission to the specific charitable activities they undertake.
The conversation kicks off with an introduction to Nicole Ryan and Brandon Hammond, shedding light on their roles within NAA Gives. From there, the hosts and guests delve into an overview of NAA Gives, highlighting its purpose and impact within the multifamily apartment industry.
Throughout the episode, you’ll learn how communities can get involved with NAA Gives and contribute to their charitable initiatives. Additionally, the discussion explores how companies can provide more exposure to NAA Gives, amplifying its reach and impact.
If you find this episode helpful, we kindly ask you to leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple Podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
(00:00) Preview
(00:52) Introduction of the Digible Dudes podcast
(06:23) Introduction to Nicole Ryan & Brandon Hammond
(08:30) Overview of NAA Gives
(12:17) Charitable work and purpose in multifamily apartments
(15:03) NAA Gives and Apartmentalize events
(19:25) How communities can get involved in NAA Gives
(22:14) How companies can provide more exposure for NAA Gives
(29:11) How to measure success & goals for NAA Gives?
(35:45) Accreditation of charitable activities for NAA Gives
(39:45) The challenges and obstacles of NAA Gives
(46:25) Supporting unforeseen events & catastrophes
(53:20) How to take part in charitable activities
(57:42) Simplicity in giving back with NAA Gives
(1:00:05) Stories and use cases of NAA Gives
(1:05:35) Hot takes & changing perspectives
Join David Staley and Reid Wicoff in this episode of the Digible Dudes podcast as they sit down with Victor Dozal.
The trio dive deep into the world of AI, exploring the trend of generative AI and natural language processing, and discussing Digible’s background in natural language generation (NLG). Victor shares his insights into the different applications and use cases that should be considered when using Chat-GPT.
David, Reid, and Victor delve into the careful considerations businesses need to keep in mind when using Chat-GPT, and the accuracy and trustworthiness of AI platforms. They also touch upon whether the government should intervene in AI advancement, and whether Chat-GPT and Auto-GPT will change the world.
The trio explores the impact of AI on the workforce and productivity, with a focus on the real estate and multifamily industries. Finally, the episode concludes with a discussion on how businesses can use AI to increase workforce productivity.
If you enjoy this podcast, please leave a 5 star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple podcasts.
Digible: https://digible.com/
Fiona: https://www.myfiona.com//
Leave a Spotify Review: https://spoti.fi/3LfoEdU
Leave an Apple Review: https://apple.co/3AA2zRj
(00:00) Preview
(00:50) Learn about Victor Dozal’s Background
(04:25) The Trend of Generative AI and Natural Language Processing: What You Need to Know
(05:36) Discover Digible’s Background in Natural Language Generation (NLG)
(09:15) Applications and Use Cases: How to Leverage Chat-GPT’s Potential
(12:30) Careful Considerations When Using Chat-GPT: What You Should Know
(16:50) Accuracy and Trustworthiness of Chat-GPT and Other AI Platforms: Insights to Know
(18:55) Government Intervention with AI Advancement: Pros and Cons
(21:00) Chat-GPT and Auto-GPT: Can They Change the World as We Know It?
(24:17) The Impact of AI on the Workforce: Will it Reduce Jobs or Boost Productivity?
(29:00) The Role of AI in Real Estate and Multifamily: Benefits and Opportunities
(32:00) Enhancing Productivity with AI: How to Implement in Your Workforce
This week’s episode ofthe Digible Dudes Podcast features Edmund Keith. He is the head of content atOnlineMarketplaces.com. His team writes in depth about global real estatemarketplaces. He joined us today to talk about the North American real estatemarket, a performance-based model, estate portals and their algorithms,apartment locators, and more.
Every market isdifferent. Starting the conversation, Ed explains how every market is differentfrom the others. He further dives into how the North American real estatemarket is different from others. Real estate portals are places where you canfind anything related to real estate, like sales, rentals, etc. According toEd, there are about 900 active real estate marketplaces. He further sharesdetails about their past, present, and future. We then move to real estateportals and their algorithms. According to Ed’s study about them, 75% ofportals prioritize premium content in their algorithms.
Artificial intelligenceis making more moves toward the real estate industry at present, and accordingto Ed, AI is going to take away 50% of what agents do. We end today’sconversation by sharing some contrarian thoughts we have on the real estateindustry.
[09.37] Ed’s background – Starting the conversation,Ed shares a brief bio about himself and how they make money atonlinemarketplace.com.
[11.05] North Americanreal estate market – We go through some of the differences between the NorthAmerican real estate market and the rest of the world.
[19.39] Real estateportals – Ed dives into what real estate portals look like and their past,present, and future.
[29.54] Performance-basedmodel – Ed shares why the performance-based model is ideal for real estateportals and why it’s going to take a while to happen.
[37.42] Portals andalgorithms – Ed shares details he found in his research based on real estateportals and their algorithms.
[43.43] Credit Karma – AnAmerican multinational personal finance company.
[50.01] Apartmentlocators – Ed shares why real estate portals need to start working on apartmentlocators.
[57.35] Contrarianthoughts – Ed shares his contrarian thoughts on the real estate industry.
[01.06.42] Migrating onthe globe – Ed explains why it is difficult to build big housing units inWeston Europe.
Resources
Connect with Keith
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/edmund-keith/
Website - onlinemarketplaces.com/author/edmund_keith/
creditkarma.com/
scout24.com/en/
Welcome back to another interesting episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. This week’s episode is all about motivation. Throughout the conversation, David and Reid talk about phases of motivation, consistency, having a purpose, adapting to changes, and more.
The desire for change, either in oneself or in one's surroundings, is known as motivation. Starting the conversation, Reid explains the three phases of motivation according to the book ‘Drive’ by Daniel H. Pink: survival, extrinsic, and intrinsic.
Are you extrinsically or intrinsically motivated? According to Reid, he was not intrinsically motivated at first until he became good enough to provide for his family. For David, it’s intrinsic from the beginning and about doing interesting things. We further dive into why most companies are motivating extrinsically out there and how they avoid finding out about themselves.
Setting up your priorities as leaders is important because your employees will learn how to be smart and make their time worthwhile at the workplace. Sometimes setting priorities feels like being disrespectful, but once they understand what’s necessary, the transition is going to be successful.
Sometimes constant change ruins the momentum. There has to be a certain level of consistency in order to become successful as a company. But, sometimes, the new trends make it so difficult not to change. Wrapping up the conversation, Reid shares his idea of finding the balance between constant change and staying consistent.
[02.24] Phases of motivation – Starting the conversation, Reid defines the three phases of motivation.
[10.52] Salary increase – We talk about the salary increase of Digible’s employees by 10% at the end of the year as intrinsic motivation.
]17.32] Intrinsic or extrinsic – David and Reid explain why they are intrinsically motivated by Digible.
[23.30] Demotivator – We discuss why people get demotivated when they are told what to do and what role autonomy plays in motivating people.
[29.48] Consistency – We talk about the importance of setting up priorities in the workplace.
[34.49] Purpose – Having a purpose makes you motivated. We talk about building purpose among the employees.
[44.42] Introducing change – Reid explains why a company needs to have a certain amount of consistency to be successful.
Resources
Book by Jack Stack, BoBurlingham
The Great Game ofBusiness: Unlocking the Power and Profitability of Open-Book Management
goodreads.com/en/book/show/138298
Books by Daniel H. Pink
The Power of Regret: HowLooking Backward Moves Us Forward
goodreads.com/en/book/show/58446721
Drive: The SurprisingTruth About What Motivates Us
goodreads.com/en/book/show/6452796
It’s been six years! This April marks the six-year anniversary of Digible. This episode features David, Digible's President and Co-Founder, Nicole Staley, Chief Experience Officer, and Reid Wicoff, CEO. Throughout the conversation, we talk about coming up with a name for the podcast six years ago, challenges along the way, operational changes, protecting company culture, what there is to be excited about for the next six years, and more.
Startups aren’t easy. You don’t know what challenges you have to overcome when you're at the beginning of them. But the ups and downs you overcome will make your efforts worth it at the end of the day. Reid begins the conversation by reflecting on his startup experience at Digible and why he would go through the challenges knowing or unknowingly.
Company culture is the shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape a company’s employees and management to interact and perform business. Intrinsic motivation has a huge impact on culture. Reid discusses the importance of maintaining intrinsic motivation in the workplace to protect the culture, as well as what happens when motivation fades.
We all like to think about the future. We are curious and sometimes scared of what the future might bring. Wrapping up this week’s conversation, David, Reid, and Nicole share what they are most excited about for the next six years at Digible.
[01.26] Naming – Starting the conversation, wetalk about how we came up with the name ‘The Digible Dudes’ for the podcast sixyears ago.
[08.33] Challenges along the way – Reid shares his idea about facing new challenges through the years atDigible and how he feels about it looking back now.
[16.27] Operational change – David and Reid talk about how their focus shifted from technicalthings to things like building a great company culture and putting systems inplace.
[26.30] Protecting culture – David shares his concern for maintaining intrinsic motivation amongthe employees at Digible to protect the company culture for another four tofive years.
[37.41] Looking forward to – We talk about what we are looking forward to achieving in the next five yearsat Digible.
[44.14] Learning – We go over what we've learned the most in our six years at Digible.
[49.13] Next six years – We share what we are most excited about for the next six years at Digible.
[55.16] Pre-Digible self – Wrapping up today’s conversation, we talk about the values we wish to add toDigible in our pre-Digible self.
Resources
Connect with David, Reid,and Nicole
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/davidwstaley/
linkedin.com/in/rwicoff/
linkedin.com/in/nicole-brennan/
Today's episode of Digible Dudes Podcast features Kristi Fickert, VP of Enterprise Growth at Realync. Realync is the fabric of real-time real estate, connecting the world's real estate marketplaces and streamlining and improving the touring process. In other words, it is the top video leasing and engagement solution for multifamily buildings, offering live video tours, live virtual open houses, and DIY pre-made videos of properties.
Throughout today's podcast, Kristi discusses Realync's role in simplifying and enhancing the touring process for real estate markets through real-time solutions such as live video tours, virtual open houses, and pre-recorded videos. The conversation delves into matters such as the momentum of virtual leasing agent businesses during the pandemic and success metrics during client onboarding. Kristi also discusses the potential risk of a competitor copying the company's technology and the unique differentiators that would set Realync apart. The conversation also touches on setting expectations for owners and leasing agents, with Kristi outlining a timeline for becoming proficient with new platforms or technologies. Additionally, Kristi shares her contrarian ideas or "hot takes" on the industry.
[04:18] Introduction – Introducing herself to the conversation, Kristi speaks about Realync and its services.
[09:45] Impact of Pandemic -. Will people realize the importance of a virtual leasing agent tool, even though they are no longer in lockdown and can meet people in person?
[15:06] Distinctive Differentiators - We explore the distinctive differentiators of Realync and its optimal portfolio size and asset class.
[26:10] Client Onboarding Process - Success metrics during the client onboarding process.
[35:35] Kristi's Motivation – Kristi's inspirations as a leasing agent.
[40:17] Challenges - We examine the problems Realync faces as they consider scaling.
[51:44] Future Vision – Kristi speculates on what the next ten years may hold for Realync and the industry and any emerging demands.
Resources:
Connect with Kristi:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kristifickert/
Website: realync.com/
Mentioned in the episode:
EP129: 2023 Multifamily Industry Predictions: digible.com/ep129-2023-multifamily-industry-predictions/
Today's successful brands put extra effort into providing a seamless, enjoyable, consistent customer experience across all touchpoints. However, a company's web presence is the natural starting point. A company's website is a hub for details about its wares and services, as well as any relevant news or updates. There, they can make purchases, and potential clients can end up as paying customers. However, the website can also be a possible "pain point" for the consumer or the most unpleasant part of the process. Digible's Web product manager, Chelsea Schonhaut, is here to talk about her work, her findings regarding websites, the upcoming design and features of Digible websites, and what you can anticipate from the new Digible website product offerings.
Chelsea starts the discussion by mentioning how they identified the voids in the market. She goes on to say that customer satisfaction is one of these crucial factors. Furthermore, we explore the proportion of responsibility for the delay that can be placed on the vendor versus the customer. We also investigate both the good and adverse reactions of customers following the launch. Chelsea outlines the speculations regarding integrations and the consensus on the style of multifamily websites. There we deep dive into integrations and their impact.
Competition analysis and bundling are two different topics we cover in depth. We also describe the services and the features we hope to implement in the future. Following that, Chelsea explains what ADA compliance is and why it matters. Finally, we take a high-level look at everything the brand-new Digible website service has to offer.
[11:30] Client Experience – Chelsea explains how they identified the gaps in the sector that they intend to fill. She further mentions that client experience is one of these significant factors.
[13:34] Vendor-Driven vs. Client-Driven - Who should be held accountable for website development or rollout delays?
[20:09] Client Reactions - We discuss clients' positive and negative feedback after the launch.
[26:50] Integrations - How many individuals launch websites without requiring integrations? How crucial is tour schedule integration? Would you pay a premium for it?
[43:27] Competitive Intelligence – We explore the applicability of competitive intelligence and bundling in web development. Chelsea then points out what ADA compliance is and why it is substantial.
[59:38] Newest Website Offering – We look at the latest website offering from Digible, analyzing its numerous unique selling points, such as its enhanced usability and pricing model.
Resources:
Connect with Chelsea Schonhaut:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chelsea-schonhaut/
This week’s episode of The Digible Dudes Podcast is all about predictions. David and Reid discuss the predictions they had for multifamily in 2022 and their predictions for 2023.
AI marketing is the use of artificial intelligence to make automated decisions and communicate with customers without the intervention of team members. We start the conversation with David’s prediction that AI marketing is a marketing trick, not a real AI. He goes on to explain how it is programmed to respond in some way.
We talk about Costar, the leader in commercial real estate information, analytics, and news. They have $5 billion in cash on hand, which, according to David's prediction, will be used to move into single family.
An AI leasing assistant, which response to questions from prospective renters, is a powerful artificial intelligence created to aid properties in streamlining the lease process. According to David’s prediction, AI leasing agents are going to surpass human agents in 2023. Then we talk about the need for human agents in certain areas that AIs can’t fulfill.
Digible’s Fiona Forward is an AI-powered digital marketing expert. a powerful partner for your apartment marketing. At the end of today’s episode, David talks about his intention to focus on Fiona in 2023 and what changes he would like to address.
[02.14] Marketing trick AI – We begin by discussing David's prediction of AI continuing as a marketing ploy rather than true AI.
[09.48] Self-guided tours – We discuss possible reasons for single-family homes to get into self-guided tours rather than multifamily.
[17.02] IPO – David talks about his failed prediction about seeing an IPO in apartment prop tech.
[24.38] Costar acquisition prediction – We discuss David’s prediction on Costar moving for single family with 5 billion cash on hand.
[30.24] AI leasing agents – We talk about Reid’s prediction that AI leasing agents will surpass humans in 2023.
[35.35] Antitrust: We discuss the rise of antitrust laws and their impact on businesses.
[41.01] Startups for multifamily – David predicts 2023 is going to be the year of new startup findings for multifamily.
[49.04] Fiona Forward – We talk about David’s idea of focusing more on Fiona Forward in 2023.
Resources
ChatGPT - openai.com/
Digible - hello@digible.com
Fiona Forward - myfiona.com/
linkedin.com/showcase/fiona-knows/
James C. Collins books -
goodreads.com/author/show/2826.James_C_Collins
There's no doubt effective recruitment is essential for hiring in the multifamily industry. It guarantees that the workforce possesses the necessary knowledge, expertise, and skills to meet the organization's present and future demands. This week’s episode of The Digible Dudes Podcast features Kelly Taylor, Recruiter at Digible, to talk about talent acquisition for the multifamily industry. Throughout the conversation, we dive into the interview process, screening, KPIs, shortlisting, job fairs, attracting diverse talent, and more.
Kelly begins the conversation by telling us about her background. She has been working as a recruiter for several years and previous position at a start-up.
Screening is one of the most important parts of the recruitment process. It ultimately provides the best candidate for the position you are looking for. According to Kelly, the background of the applicant, necessary qualifications, the candidate’s reason for wanting to join your company, and questions from the candidate are some of the things they are looking for when screening.
The process of shortlisting involves finding the applicants from your applicant pool that best fit the required and desired criteria. Most of the time, when you are recruiting, you get a lot of unqualified applications for the required positions. Kelly shares the importance of having a strategy to shortlist candidates. Further, she talks about how social media helps recruit the best candidates other than LinkedIn.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, people are used to working from home, which comes with a lot of benefits for the employees. Four-day work weeks, remote work, and both physical and mental health are some things people are drawn to when they are looking for a job, says Kelly.
The phrase "diversity, equality, and inclusion" (DEI) refers to policies and initiatives that support the participation and representation of many groups of people, including racial and ethnic groups, genders, abilities and impairments, and sexual orientations. Wrapping up the conversation, Kelly talks about how people don’t understand what DEI means and what ways you can get diverse talent for your organization.
[08.14] Kelly’s background – Starting the conversation, Kelly gives us a brief introduction of herself and what she did before joining Digible.
[13.28] Interview process – Kelly explains what she was surprised about the most in the recruitment process at Digible.
[14.00] Greenhouse – An applicant tracking system.
[17.28] Screening – Kelly shares what she looks for in applicants during the screening process.
[21.13] Key performance indicator – Kelly shares ‘time to hire’ as her biggest and most important KPI.
[27.28] Shortlisting – Kelly discusses how she prefers to get the best applications for recruitment rather than a large number of unqualified applications.
[33.23] The competition – Kelly shares the things that candidates are drawn to when searching for a job.
[42.03] Train wreck – We share some funny stories about Zoom interviews and mishaps.
[48.20] Job fairs – Kelly shares the value of job fairs.
[56.37] Diverse talent – Kelly shares the ways to attract diverse talent to an organization.
Resources
Connect with Kelly
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/kelly-taylor-870a91106/
Email - kelly@digible.com
Greenhouse application tracking system - greenhouse.com/
New year. New goals. Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. We are here this week with David and Reid to talk about our seven goals for 2023. Throughout the conversation, we cover, the EOS model, marketing, partnerships, working with Greystar, onboarding, and more.
The entrepreneurial operating system is an extensive business system that helps businesses of any size grow and thrive. Starting the conversation, Reid dives into Digible’s first goal for 2023, which is a new EOS system. Further, David and Reid talk about how they have developed as a company over the years.
Next, David and Reid discuss their experience working with Greystar, an international real estate developer. Reid elaborates on how the culture can be affected if you are not careful due to the larger number of prop-tech companies that are working with Greystar.
Reid and David conclude the conversation by discussing how far their company has come in four years. According to Reid, going backward is part of moving to the next level, and it’s not easy to say how far back they are willing to go.
[02.04] EOS model –Starting the conversation, Reid talks about Digible’s EOS system and the company’s growth.
[05.24] Marketing – David shares how they figured out certain outcomes of marketing and how it helped to narrow things down.
[08.44] Partnerships – We talk about adding partnerships to Digible and the reasons behind it.
[14.11] Innovate on reporting – David and Reid talk about their fourth goal; innovate on reporting and add additional data points. Further, David shares why data reporting is important both inside and outside the industry.
[23.26] Onboarding – We talk about the change in strategy in the onboarding process at Digible.
[26.18] Fiona foward – We talk about Fiona Foward and what it means for the employees in the company and how it gives a sense of purpose other than fulfilling campaigns.
[32.00] Reaching the next level – David and Reid share positioning themselves to reach the next level as their biggest goal as a company.
Resources
Book by Simon Sinek –
The Infinite Game
goodreads.com/en/book/show/38390751
Everybody has brands they feel loyalty to. Brand loyalty is simply the dedication a customer feels about a specific product. Brands build loyalty and trust with their audience to purchase the product regardless of competitors or the price. This week's episode of The Digible Dudes podcast features Phil Matsuhashi, an entrepreneur, advisor, and consultant, to talk about brand loyalty. Throughout the conversation, we talk about brand loyalty in multifamily, consumer relationships, lifecycle stages, and personalization in consumer marketing.
We start the conversation with a quick look into Phil's career. Phil started his career in digital advertising and programmatic advertising. Then he walks us through how he started working at Amenify, a real estate technology company that offers cleaning, chores, housekeeping, dog walking, food delivery, and lifestyle services for multifamily residents.
Every brand needs a relationship with its consumers. Phil shares his idea on the lack of a holistic relationship between a resident and a property. According to him, in the context of multifamily, they haven't been able to develop a relationship between the consumer and property like other brands out there.
Lifecycle stages are essential for brands. They are designed to correspond to the phases of a customer's journey. Phil talks about the importance of lifecycle stages and why brands need to know about new movers.
Personalization and relevance are important factors when it comes to direct consumer marketing. Wrapping up the conversation, Phil talks about the importance of personalization in consumer marketing to brands out there. He further dives into what happens when a company delivers a message to a consumer at the wrong time.
[14.01] Staying multifamily – Phil starts the conversation by walking us through his career journey and how he began working in Amenify.
[19.22] Consumers –Phil shares how consumers are more sophisticated toward brand loyalty than before.
[24.36] Brand loyalty in multifamily – Phil explains the consumer characteristics in multifamily and how Amenify fits into that standards.
[32.14] The gap – Phil explains the lack of a holistic relationship between consumers and multifamily like other well-known brands.
[38.37] Life stage change – Phil shares what happens when a consumer's stage in life changes to another level.
[45.03] The dynamic – Phil talks about the differences between various multifamily customers and their needs.
[50.04] The value - Phil shares his idea about the importance of lifecycle stages and their opportunities to enhance the living experience.
[55.09] Personalization – We discuss the importance of personalization and relevance in consumer marketing.
Resources
Connect with Phil
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/philmatsuhashi/
Hamilton Wright Helmer –
7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy
goodreads.com/book/show/32816087-7-powers
The holiday season is almost here. We are back with our last episode before the holiday season this year. In this week's episode, we are joined by Allysa Whitebird, Senior Account Manager, and Eliot Meade; Senior Paid Media Strategist at Digible, to talk about the 2022 holiday season. Throughout the conversation, we dive into changes with paid media initiatives, follow-ups, channels, geo-fencing, google business profiles, organic social, and more.
Starting the conversation, we dive into how paid media changes in the last two months of the year. Eliot shares how they are changing their paid media strategies in the holiday season to maximize their spending during the competitive holiday season.
Creating a virtual geographic boundary using GPS or RFID technology triggers the software when a mobile device enters or exits a specific area, called geo-fencing. The most common use of geo-fencing is for location-based marketing and other location experiences. We dive into how Digible will try geo-fencing for the first time as a test in the coming holiday season.
Wrapping up the conversation, Eliot, Allysa, and David talk about their favorite toys when they were little.
[01.34] Changes with Paid Media – Starting the conversation, Eliot dives into the changes their paid media is going into for the holiday season.
[07.51] Follow-ups – Eliot dives into the importance of follow-ups like email campaigns to get in touch with customers.
[10.08] Channels – Allysa shares how their strategies change with social media and channels like TikTok and Spotify.
[13.24] Geo-fencing – We dive into geo-fencing and how Digible will try geofencing during the holidays.
[18.34] Fence types – Eliot shares her attitude on the importance of being creative when geo-fencing.
[22.38] Creativity – Eliot dives into how people can be creative in marketing.
[26.11] Google business profile – We dive into the importance of updating the google business profile and better user experience.
[29.45] Organic social – Eliot dives into the importance of shifting strategy to post more current updates about residents in organic social.
[32.34] Staying in the middle – It's essential to be aware of religious and festive events during the holiday season.
[35.49] Hot toy – Allysa, Eliot, and David share what kind of hot toys they had when they were little.Resources
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliot-meade-747799b3/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allysawhitebird/
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. We have another interesting episode this week, and our guest today is Michaela Derenne, Partner Success Manager at Engrain, a computer software in property touring and map visualization technology. We discuss how to support new tech partners to use their technology. Throughout the episode, we explore Michaela’s background, what Engrain is, supporting businesses, various business models, what’s outside of apartment living, ESG innovations, and more.
Starting the conversation, Michaela dives into her background where she started her career as a marketing manager for her dad, how she got into the real estate industry after school, how she joined Engrain as a partner success manager, and also what services Engrain provides its customers.
An ‘economic moat’ is the capability of a company to keep a competitive edge over its rivals to safeguard its long-term earnings. Michaela dives into what kind of defense mechanisms they hope to use against long-term business competitions for Engrain.
In the next phase of the conversation, Michaela shares what she likes about Engrain saying that it’s their mission to help businesses, to provide a better experience for their partners, and using client experiences to provide more value to them and be good at what they do. Wrapping up the conversation, Michaela dives into the industry’s heartaches from her point of view.
[08.02] Background – Michaela dives into her background, her position at Engrain, and the services Engrain provides its customers.
[12.59] Engrain – Michaela shares Engrains’ story, which was started as a marketing agency.
[18.17] Success – With 4.3 million units mapped with partnership programs and building out the ecosystem, Engrain is growing busy day by day. Michaela dives into what they are expecting for Engrain in the future and how they want to build a technology that is easy for customers to use.
[23.03] Scalability – Michaela shares how long it normally takes to deliver the unit map and sitemap to the partners.
[30.11] Moat for Engrain – Michaela talks about the defensive features they hope to use in terms of business competitors in the field.
[36.45] Helping businesses – According to Michaela, Engrain wants to add value to the multifamily industry at large and help their clients to have a better self-guided tour experience.
[43.37] Business model – Michaela dives into how they are operating their business model and revenue in Engrain.
[55.31] Descriptions - Michaela dives into providing data on their unit map platform.
[57.00] Outside of apartment living – Michaela shares what kind of map platforms they are going to start on other than apartment living.
[01.00.18] Heartache – Watching the industry shift away from floorplan search and changes with centralized leasing are the heartaches, according to Michaela.
[01.06.22] ESG Innovations – ESG investing focuses on investing that favors the best environmental, social, and governance outcomes or aspects.
Resources
www.linkedin.com/in/michaeladerenne
twitter.com/mderenne
mdream@engrained.com
www.linkedin.com/company/engrain
engrain.com
There's no doubt data is essential for developing a successful marketing strategy. However, most records are stored in several places, making it impossible to retrieve them all for a comprehensive audit of a portfolio or individual assets. In today's episode, we look at a one-of-a-kind product: a business intelligence platform designed specifically for apartment complexes and other rental property portfolios, which provides data analytics and insights to help those complexes and portfolios operate at optimal efficiency. Elizabeth Braman, CEO of Revolution RE, is here today for a fascinating chat about their unique platform.
We start the episode with a brief discussion of Elizabeth's professional background as an investor, executive, and advisor who works in the financial technology, property technology, and commercial real estate industries. She is a co-founder of JoyHub, a startup that streamlines the communication process between landlords and tenants. Also, Elizabeth has been on the leadership team from the company's inception for five distinct companies in the fields of technology and commercial real estate.
Elizabeth's company, Revolution RE, collects information from any available source and then assists property owners, managers, and other key stakeholders in effectively using that information by standardizing it across their multiple digital interfaces. During the conversation, we talk broadly about the entire procedure of data standardization, its potential impact on the real estate business, risks and challenges, opportunities, and Elizabeth's future plans with the remarkable work she is doing at the moment.
[00:00] Today's Guest - Elizabeth shares her background in various positions and industries.
[09:36] Background - Elizabeth discusses the evolution of her career and the nature of her work.
[17:33] Standardizing Data – The first step, the last step, and the procedure that comes in between when standardizing data.
[24:20] Open Source Data - Elizabeth explains when she believes that new open-source data will be available for investors and operators.
[31:35] No.1 Challenge – Use cases, Market Competition, and Potential Risks
[40:32] Why not yet - Why has not someone else tackled this problem?
[44:54] The Future - In what ways will the company's model evolve shortly and beyond?
[51:46] Set User Expectations– Elizabeth shares how she communicates with business owners and managers and addresses concerns about cost and timeline.
Resources:
Connect with Elizabeth Braman:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elizabethbraman/
Website: revolutionre.com/
In this week’s special episode of Digible Dudes podcast, we are here with Sina Shekou, CEO of Aptly; the first AI-powered communication platform for intelligent residence conversations in real estate. We discuss RealPage's recent acquisition of Knock. Throughout the episode, we dive into M&A deals, the competition, past, and present, the high rate of hiring, driving loyalty, the CRM journey, and more.
Starting the conversation, Sina dives into M&A deals, a combination of companies through different types of financial transactions, how hard it is to get into M&A dealings, and how to achieve the desired outcome.
When a company gets acquired, it’s difficult and challenging to convince the world to stay with them and keep the employees together. According to Sina, there are a lot of opportunities for competition but once you’ve taken off your game, you have to fight if you want to survive. One of the biggest problems a marketer has is the inability to get data. It doesn’t always allow companies to accomplish things with a standalone product.
Wrapping up the conversation, Sina dives into the differences between the three software companies; RealPage, Yardi, and Trada when it comes to M&A deals and how RealPage is more concerned about giving the customers that something works for them with their well-thought-out strategy.
[14.57] Mergers and Acquisitions – Sina dives into how hard it is to get an M&A deal as everyone else does.
[22.31] Then vs Now – Sina shares details about the acquisitions of RealPage now versus back then saying that they had a less formal approach back then.
[27.32] The team – Sina shares his idea about how press releases mostly talk about only the product in comparison to talking about the team.
[30.21] The competition – Sina dives into how challenging customer and employee retention can be when businesses get bought by RealPage.
[39.25] The Industry - Sina talks about the pros and cons of the industry when it comes to things like RealPage as a whole.
[43.00] Hiring – Sina drives us through the reason behind hiring increases in RealPage in the last six months.
[49.12] Driving loyalty – Switch cost is the driving fact for loyalty, says Reid.
[52.38] CRM journey with salesforce – The inability to get all the data makes a broken story of a standalone product, says Sina as one of the major problems that every marketer has at present.
[1.11.32] RealPage, Yardi, and Entrada – Sina dives into the difference between the three companies RealPage, Yardi, and Entrada when it comes to M&A deals.
Resources
https://www.getaptly.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinashekou/
https://www.realpage.com/
https://www.yardi.com/
https://www.trada.co.uk/
Blending with new technologies, the real estate industry is rapidly evolving and making people more engaged. In today’s episode of Digible Dudes podcast, we have another interesting conversation with Trevor Park; VP of Marketing at RentDynamics, a real estate agent who aims to develop the experience of the rental journey through technology. Throughout the episode we dive into Trevor's background, formats of the leasing guide, updating content, a common thread, integration, contribution to the content, and more.
Starting the conversation, Trevor dives into the background information of himself; what position he held in RentDynamics, their leasing enablement, the passion he had for working with all the partners in the industry, finding ways to connect with them, sharing insights with them, and the two volumes focused on leasing cycle.
The world out there is constantly changing. Doing updates on the information that you provide to your customers is important because they need to be aware of the changes that the industry is having. Trevor shares how they are planning to update their guide saying that it will be updated in the first half of the year and the second half of the year. Wrapping up the conversation, Trevor dives into how to get to the list if you want to download or get the leasing guide when it comes out.
[08.35] Background – Trevor dives into what position he held in RentDynamaics and what they do with leasing enablement.
[10.43] The format – Trevor dives into what kind of formats people can find in their leasing guide and the search engine type system they have that answers questions for customers without going for SEO or paid advertising.
[14.17] Update – Trevor talks about what plan they have for updating the guide, how they are planning to launch it before the leasing season and budget season, and the two different versions of it.
[20.09] The common thread – The rejection of speaking engagements of industry leaders in conferences because of not being willing to sponsor is the common thread in the industry according to Trevor.
[25.00] Integrate database – Trevor dives into his idea about how people can open up to talk about how the integration works.
[29.50] Promoting – Trevor shares how are they going to promote their work other than podcasts.
[33.16] Contributing contact – Trevor dives into the two ways that they are going to contribute to the contact of RentDynamics.
[36.58] Get on the list – Trevor shares how to get on to the list when the second version of the guide gets published.
Resources
RentDynamics
https://rentdynamics.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rent-dynamics/
Connect with Trevor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevorcpark/
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. In this week’s episode, we are going to dive into ‘A Guide to Multifamily Marketing in Minnesota’ with; Kayde Pierce, Senior Account Manager, and Amelia Anvary, Senior Paid Media Strategist at Digible. Throughout the episode, we discuss the background of multifamily in Minneapolis, neighborhood differences, lead to lease projects, living and budgeting in Minneapolis, impression share, studio apartments, concessions, and more.
Starting the conversation, Kayde talks about the background of the multifamily market in Minneapolis and what kind of relationships they have with the customers. The neighborhoods of Minneapolis have different qualities from one another says Kadye; Northeast Minneapolis and North Loop are the places where artsy people live for example.
Having an affordable place on their own is a dream of most young people who got just out of school. According to Kayde and Amelia, it increases the studio cost which is a lot more than floorplan types. In the next phase, Amelia dives into some of the learnings she collected in the Minneapolis market; quality in the details of floor plan cost, allocating budget, general apartment searches, using social media platforms for certain ads, assigning the right person to look at the apartment space and tell the customers what can they do with the space and more.
Everybody wants to feel safe when they are at home. That’s what a home is for; feeling safe is the simplest definition of the term ‘home’. Both Amelia and Kayde share what facilities they built in the neighborhoods to make people feel safe. Private parking, secure entry, language use in add copies, and monitoring social comments are some of the strategies that they use to make people safe and make them believe that Minneapolis is still a great neighborhood. Wrapping up the conversation, Kayde talks about inventions that come out from the state of Minneapolis and how they made them fall in love with the place in the first place.
[06.16] Background – Kayde dives into the background of the multifamily market in Minneapolis.
[08.35] Different neighborhoods – Kayde dives into unique characteristics which differ from neighborhood to neighborhood in Minneapolis.
[11.39] The project – Kayde dives into the project; lead to lease, that they have been working on in combination with the client service side with the data team, and what key points they looked into in the project.
[17.12] Takeaways - Moving to quarter two is peak season because everybody is moving and August, September, and October as the lowest months which have user interests as the key takeaways from the project; lead to lease.
[20.58] Living and budgeting in Minneapolis – Both Amelia and Kayde share the details of how the processes of leasing renewal and researching apartments are happening in Minneapolis.
[24.46] Impression share – Amelia dives into how impression share works and the necessity of maxing impression share.
[29.18] Studio cost – High demand among young people and the lack of studio apartments as the causes which drive studio apartments into a bigger cost.
[33.10] Learnings – Amelia dives into some of the learnings that she gathered from the multifamily market in Minneapolis.
[35.34] Safe experience – Both Kayde and Amelia dives into the details of what they did to make people feel safe in their neighborhoods.
[40.09] Concessions – Amelia dives into how concessions are happening in Minneapolis in times when it’s hard for people to move.
Resources
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaydepierce/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliaanvary/
Native advertising appears to be a strong tool that has great potential as a digital marketing solution at present. In today’s episode, we are having a fascinating conversation with Greta Wolking; Senior Paid Media Strategist, and Erica Hanger; Senior Content Strategist at Digible about native advertising for multifamily. Throughout the conversation, we dive into what is native advertising, when to use native advertising, measuring success, the process of native advertising, campaigns, past, present, and future of native advertising, personalization, generational differences, and more.
Native advertising refers to the use of paid advertisements, such as display adverts, that match the look of an already-existing website, social media platform, or search engine. Starting the conversation, Greta defines what is native advertising, what different ways it can formulate, and how it operates.
Presenting the ideas about the past, present, and future of native advertising, Greta dives into the past when they ran a different kind of category within multifamily and add download campaigns, the present as working with TiVo and retargeting, and OS widget integration as the future possibilities. When it comes to digital privacy, there are generational differences. While one generation is quite positive about targeted ads, another generation may bear a negative attitude towards them.
Wrapping up the conversation, Greta, Reid, and Erica talk about their hot takes from native advertising; not mentioning the brand more than three times, personalization, and automated content.
[08.08] Native Advertising – Greta starts the conversation by defining what native advertising is.
[11.47] When to use – Greta dives into types and situations where people might use native advertising.
[17.15] Measuring success – Click-through rate, content landing page, and website for the actual client as the three stages of native advertisement according to Erica.
[20.27] Video assets – Reid and Greta shares their opinion on the engagement of video in advertising campaigns.
[22.20] The process – Both Erica and Greta dives into the process of native advertising step by step.
[31.48] Campaigns – Erica and Greta discuss the types of campaigns that they can do to update the property.
[34.00] Standard metrics - Greta shares the metrics of the national average and Digibles’ average of clicks through the client’s website when people are reading an article.
[39.03] Past, present, and future – Greta dives into the past, present, and future of native advertising as a whole.
[43.18] Personalization – Greta, Erica, and David share their attitudes on personalized ads.
[44.16] Generational differences – Greta dives into the generational differences about targeted ads saying that when one generation likes the targeted ads, another generation may feel negative about their digital privacy.
[49.44] Hot takes – Greta, Erica, and Reid share what hot takes they have in native advertising.
Resources
Outbrain - https://www.outbrain.com/
Taboola - https://www.taboola.com/
TiVo - https://www.taboola.com/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-h-8950b8185/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gretawolking/
We are back with a special episode in this week’s Digible Dudes podcast. David Staley, President and Co-Founder, Nicole Staley; Co-Founder Chief Experience Officer, and Reid Wicoff; CEO and Co-Founder at Digible are here to talk about David’s recent event when he ran for Guinness Book of World Records for running the fastest 100 miles on a treadmill. Throughout the episode, we dive into the experience David had, the psychological impacts, David’s interest in doing something extraordinary, getting back on track, and more.
Starting the conversation, David dives into his recent experience on his 100-mile run attempt and talks about how people should do the things that they want to because it’s okay if you fail and can start over. Joining the conversation, Reid shares his attitude of how people should not let their pride or dignity hurt their health.
David shares what he learned from the experience, saying how he expected to feel that his pride was falling, but in the end, it didn’t, and it was just like before. David then dives into the time of his first try back in 2015, how he wanted to do something extraordinary and prove to himself that he could do something special.
David shares how he gets into recovering his body after the event. He shares how he was sleeping, how he managed his diet, how his body reacted in the meantime, and how he intends to get back the eight pounds he lost.
Wrapping up the conversation, Nicole and David both talk about being part of a supportive community and what it means to be a part of a community like that.
[00.56] Taking the shot – Taking shots in life is important. It’s okay if you are not successful, you can start over.
[05.55] The pride – Reid talks about how you should not let your pride or dignity destroy your good health.
[06.57] The experience – David dives deep into what he learned from the recent experience.
[09.37] Psychological elements – Reid talks about how psychology impacts the fact that you can do something again once you did some time ago.
[13.10] Doing something extraordinary – David talks about the difference between the first and the second time he got into the run attempt.
[17.08] Heart rate – David talks about how his heart works and what happens when it comes to passing a certain rate.
[25.43] Recovery – David shares what he does to recover after the event.
[28.22] Giving another shot – David shares when he thinks he will be able to back on the game.
Do you have a story to share where you took an extraordinary shot, but failed and started over? Send it to hello@digible.com
Podcasting has been in growing substantially over the last decade and Spotify seems to be taking on this opportunity to grow as an advertising platform, using advertising for podcasting. In this week’s episode of Digible Dudes podcast, we aim to explore Spotify advertising and what you need to know with Kara Lee; paid media strategist at Digible, and Grace Harrison; account manager at Digible. Throughout the episode, we dive into how Spotify advertising works, some of the special features available in Spotify advertising, and why advertisers in the multi-family space should be looking at Spotify advertising.
Starting the conversation, Kara and Grace give a little introduction to Spotify advertising and information like how it works, the duration of an advertisement, where they are appearing, and more. Spotify is a great experience for listeners because people can choose what they want to hear unlike radio, you can’t choose what you want to hear, you have to hear what the host chose to play. In that regard, radio is a passive platform for listeners and Spotify is an interesting one.
Podcast advertising on Spotify appears to be in trend at present because of the amazing opportunities to advertise like Q/A, polls, etc, and also retargeting brings out the best opportunity to engage with advertisements by Spotify itself.
Wrapping up the conversation, Reid dives into the differences between traditional and digital media buying, how difficult it is for the customers, and at last, what podcasts they most like to hear.
[06.58] What is Spotify Advertising- Kara and Grace dives into how advertisements on Spotify are operating, and how long and where they appear if you are on Spotify.
[12.07] Subscribers and Free Users- Kara shares the statistics of free and subscribed users on Spotify at present.
[15.13] Generational Difference- Kara and Grace dive into how their generation reacts to advertisements on social media.
[21.44] Property Type - How Spotify is great for brand awareness and how any type of advertising a property wants to do like new lease-up, property renovations, recruitment campaigns, etc will be captured by the correct audience.
[25.57] Spotify versus Radio- How radio is a passive experience when compared to Spotify.
[30.54] Production Cost - Reid and Grace dive into the difference between the production cost of radio and Spotify on advertising.
[34.07] Comparison - How brand awareness is more effective in Spotify than other social media and how it is unique from other social media platforms like Tick Tock.
[42.40] Programmatic Audio - The use of technology to automate the sale and insertion of advertisements in audio content, such as podcasts, digital radio, and music streaming services, is known as programmatic audio.
[48.14] Hot Takes - Cara and Grace share their idea about podcasts taking over the advertisement field on Spotify with different features and how retargeting offers more opportunities to Spotify listeners.
[57.36] Traditional and Digital Media Buying - Reid talks about how the cost per point in radio and gross rating points in TV work and how frustrating it is for the customers.
[01.02.00] Favorite Podcasts- They dive into what podcasts they like most to hear.
Conversational AI refers to the use of chatbots, messaging apps, and voice-based assistants in combination with machine learning to automate communication with customers with your brand. In today’s episode, we are going to dive into the AI communication world with Sina Shekou, the co-founder and CEO of Aptly, which is the first AI-powered communication platform for intelligent resident conversations in real estate.
[08.35] Background- Sina shares the background information of Aptly, how he got started with the software, intention of helping people in the real state of Northern California.
[10.25] Getting Started- Sina shares how he got into the industry of building software for people who struggle with the real state.
[16.30] Property Technology - Property technology, also known as proptech, is the application of information technology and platform economics to the real estate industry.
[21.21] Learning from entrepreneurs- Sina and Reid dive into the experience of working with entrepreneurs and learning from them.
[28.44] The Vision- Sina shares the vision they had before building the software, which seems to be finding a solution for a proper work management platform anchoring it around communication and the necessity of it because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
[33.33] CRM- Customer relationship management (CRM) is the process by which a company or other organization manages its interactions with customers, typically by analyzing large amounts of data.
[40.43] Competition- Sina talks about the competition they have with other companies out there in the same field, how they inspire their products to be better and how they are different and better than they are.
[45.46] Investments- Sina shares that being the master record of customers and being not replaceable directs them toward investments.
[52.35] Workflow Automation- Workflow automation software is a low-code solution that uses machine learning and low-code applications to interact with commonly used third-party cloud solutions.
[58.07] Decision Tree Process- A strong decision-making tool, decision tree analysis launches an organized, non-parametric approach to problem-solving. It makes it easier to assess and contrast the outcomes of the many options, as displayed in a decision tree. The most competitive alternative should be chosen.
[1.00.44] Jim Collins- James C. “Jim” Collins, an American researcher, writer, speaker, and consultant who specializes in business management, business sustainability, and growth, was born in 1958.
[1.08.08] Drawing Customers- Interacting with the customers by blending technology and human makes the process authentic which draws customers.
[1.12.15] 2050- Sina dives into his thoughts about the future in the field and according to him, in the next 20,30 years people are going to take ownership of their identity and share it with people to get a better product out of it.
[1.23.15] Challenges- Being replaceable is the biggest challenge in the field.
In this week of Digible Dudes, David and Reid chat about some major changes that have happened in the company, how they are adapting, some interesting books about building a company, along with an insight on what is on the horizon for Digible's growth and future.
Starting the conversation, David and Reid share how Digible focused on hitting profitability this year and interesting movements they had on the client’s side also.
David shares his attitude about Fiona Calls; saying that it plays a huge part in the company’s future. They dive into Digible's 30% growth in the past six months, the incremental hiring, and the challenges of navigating rapid growth.
David then talks about a couple of employee turnovers in Digible saying that the next phase of the career is important to people and it’s understandable in their perspective to seek new opportunities out there.
Reid and David then moved on to talk about the five stages of the decline of a business from the book, "How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give in" by Jim Collins reveals that by starting to think about how a company falls, you can identify what to do and what not to do and also what stage your business is at currently.
David mentions a book by Simon Sinek called "The Infinite Game" and shares that according to the book, doing a business is an infinite game; there are no winners or losers. He explains the importance of focusing on short-term wins instead of long-term wins by illustrating a great example between Apple versus Microsoft based on the book.
Entering the final phase of the conversation, David and Reid share what they are most concerned about at the company and also they share that they do not only consider profitability or growth but the balance between them.
[05.06] Profitability- David and Reid share how Digible focused on hitting profitability but stayed on track this year.
[08.01] Fiona Calls- The software logs and monitors your calls using artificial intelligence, giving you insights into your most beneficial client interactions.
[13.51] Growth- 30% growth just in six months and how Digible is adapting to the situation.
[16.21] Employee Turnover- The act of replacing an existing employee with a new employee.
[16.21] Blitzscaling: The Lightning‑Fast Path to Building Massively- A book by Chris Yeh and Reid Hoffman about the science of rapidly building out a company to serve a global market.
[23.35] How the Mighty Fall- A book by Jim Collins about the five stages of the decline of a business.
[27.37] The Infinite Game- A book by Simon Sinek revealing a bold framework for leadership in the present changing world.
[37.28] Hiring- David shares hiring and investment as his main concerns for the company.
[39.29] Fair Housing- Reid shares Fair housing as his major concern for the company because it is becoming more and more real with a large number of properties.
[42.10] The Balance- David and Reid talk about balancing both the profitability and growth in Digible.
Brothers Redevelopment is a non-profit organization based in Colorado where low-income, elderly and disabled residents get affordable, accessible housing solutions. In today’s episode, we are having a conversation with Chad Nibbelink, Director, Volunteer Department at Brothers Redevelopment, Inc, and Abby Glaessner, Senior Paid Media Strategist in Digible. Throughout the episode, we dive into how Brothers Redevelopment started back in 1971, what are the challenges they faced in COVID-19 pandemic, why Colorado has become a housing destination, the transportation, challenges in the field, and building relationships with residents, and more.
Starting the conversation, Chad shares his experience in Brothers for the last 15 years. According to him, they started their work to provide affordable houses back in the day, but now they are trying to build a community where the residents have access to food, healthcare, education, etc.
Abby enters the conversation by sharing her experience with Metro Paint-A-Thon, an organization that volunteers to paint and repairs houses in the seven metro county area for those who are not able to do the maintenance themselves and cannot afford to hire a contractor. Chad shares his experience with the foreclosure crisis back in 2007 and what kinds of solutions they bought up to prevent that from happening again.
In the next phase, Both Chad and Abby talk about the importance of having a proper transportation system where the residents can travel to get to work, food, healthcare, etc. Wrapping up the conversation, Chad talks about the biggest challenges that they have to overcome as a non-profit organization and how they consider their job as a very part of who they are; they want to help people to be happy, safe, comfortable in their own house because it’s people, it’s human beings that matter when you look at the bigger picture.
[01.2] Brothers Redevelopment- Chad starts to share the background information of Brothers Redevelopment back in 1971 which had only four members from the start.
[04.03] Affordable housing and COVID- How COVID affects affordable housing.
[07.02] Different initiatives- Chad dives deep into the two organizations in Brothers; property management and property development and how they have evolved in the last 15 years.
[17.35] Metro Paint-A-Thon - Abby shares her experience with Metro Paint-A-Thon and how they try, not just to make a home for their customers but to keep them happy.
[24.11] Foreclosure Crisis- The foreclosure crisis is a period between 2007 and 2010 when property seizures in the U.S. housing market were drastically elevated.
[32.37] Why Colorado- The reasons why Colorado became a housing destination and what they do to make more improvements in the existing houses.
[37.17] Transportation- How important transportation is when it comes to living in a housing complex?
[42.02] The Biggest Challenges- The biggest challenge for Brothers is being competitive as a non-profit because funding is a huge challenge when it comes to non-profit organizations.
[44.01] Single Family VS Multifamily - The actions and resources that they need to take to maintain both the single and multifamily residents living happily in their houses.
[52.48] Building Relationships- How Brothers consider affordable housing as a part of them, part of their lives, not just a place to live because it’s all about people in the end.
Resources:
Connect with Brothers Development
Website: brothersredevelopment.org
Phone:
Brothers Redevelopment Volunteer Department 720-339-5864
The Colorado Housing connects helpline- 1-844-926-6632
A few weeks ago, Digible attended National Apartment Association, we’re taking a look at some of the key takeaways from the event. Joining us are Nate Brandt, Client Services Manager at Digible, and Aly Koehler, Sr. Account Manager at Digible, along with David Staley and Reid Wicoff. Throughout the episode, we dive into first impressions about the event, what had changed from the previous year, key takeaways, and hot takes.
[01:35] First-time Impressions – Both Nate and Aly were at NAA for the first time. They share their thoughts about NAA.
[08:27] Takeaways – We talk about how Digible’s brand recognition has improved compared to prior years.
[11:40] ROI – Aly and Nate talk about the return on investment and opportunities Digible gained from attending NAA.
[16:08] Economic Challenges – How the current economic conditions make it harder for startups to raise money and some ways for overcoming these challenges.
[20:42] Growth – David & Reid share their takes on the future direction of Digible in terms of growth.
[26:00] Partnerships – The new partnership opportunities at NAA this year.
[32:11] Hot Takes – Nate and Aly share their hot takes from the event.
As technology gets more advanced, it's crucial to stay up to date with the industry, trends, challenges, and the new opportunities that pop up along with them. This week on the Digible Dudes, we have a conversation with another leader of innovation in the marketing technology space; Mike Whaling, the president and founder of 30 Lines.
30 Lines focuses on the premise that most internet search users don’t have much patience and they give up after roughly 30 headlines. 30 Lines helps their clients to optimize their marketing strategies, allowing them to show up within the first 30 headlines to increase their chances of being discovered by potential leads. Throughout the episode, we dive into the value proposition of 30 Lines, tactics for better marketing, things to watch out for, the future of marketing, and more.
[15:11] 30 Lines – Mark shares with us what his company, 30 Lines offers to the multi-family real estate sector.
[20:10] Human Resources – Mike shares with us some of the guidelines they follow at 30 lines to ensure they have the right people in the team to create the best value possible for their customers.
[23:22] Evolution – How 30 Lines got started 15 years ago and how it evolved into the successful venture it is today and what success would look like for Mike in the next decade.
[33:05] Brand – Mike shares his thoughts on brand loyalty in the real estate space and how to become less reliant on ILS platforms.
[39:53] New Trends – Some of the new trends and behaviors Mike has been observing from his clients could change the way businesses operate.
[45:06] Future of Marketing – Mike shares his take on the marketing channels that would continue to thrive in the next couple of decades.
[52:15] Getting Interconnected – We asked Mike why he’s very positive about centralization and building interconnected services over the next few decades.
[57:27] Risks – Mike talks about some of the things he sees as existential risks that could impact the real estate marketing space.
[1:02:45] Lead Generation – Tactics for better lead generation and better results in paid media marketing.
[1:08:24] Multi-touch Attribution – Mike talks about their multi-touch attribution.
Resources:
30 Lines
RentPress.io
This week on the Digible Dudes podcast, we bring you a special episode from the National Apartment Association. Our special guest for this episode is Trevor Park, Vice President of Marketing at Rent Dynamics. Rent Dynamics is a company that improves the rental journey through technology and services that create an intuitive and seamless customer experience. Throughout this episode, we dive into how Rent Dynamics evolved over the years, the value it provides to customers, building partnerships, growth, and more.
[08:44] Rent Dynamics – We start the conversation with the story of how Rent Dynamics started and the services they provide.
[14:06] Advanced Features – Some of the advanced features Rent Dynamics offers.
[16:49] Target Market – Trevor explains the market segments and target user groups Rent Dynamics is focusing on.
[18:46] The Vision – Trevor shares with us their ultimate vision for the platform and how it integrates with other systems.
[26:57] Growth – Trevor shares some of the cool things they’re planning and how they hope to grow the business in the near future.
[29:55] Unique Value – Trevor shares his take on the unique value proposition Rent Dynamics is providing and what they’re doing to stand out from the competition.
[34:11] Partnering – How Rent Dynamics approaches creating partnerships and plans for building an ecosystem.
Connect with Trevor
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/trevorcpark
Website: rentdynamics.com
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are some of the most important issues in modern society and the workplace. At Digible, we’re always dedicated to exploring and learning more about ways to contribute to improving DE&I. In today’s episode, we have a fascinating conversation with Jon Olafson, Partner at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, a national law firm with a strong focus on diversity. Throughout the episode, we dive into what diversity means, how businesses can improve their response to marginalization, and what professionals can do be more than just being allies.
[05:03] Diversity – Jon shares his thoughts on what diversity means and some of the issues related to diversity that we should take a deeper look at.
[09:03] Marginalization & Discrimination – How marginalization and discrimination differ and Jon’s approach to dealing with situations where marginalization plays a key role.
[15:39] Dominant Culture – Jon explains the idea of a dominant culture and how it influences marginalization.
[22:14] Cancel Culture – Jon’s perspective on cancel culture and its influence on business and legal matters.
[26:10] Sensitive Conversations – How to have sensitive and difficult conversations with people from different backgrounds.
[34:53] Advice for Small Businesses – How small businesses can build awareness within the organization about critical issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
[44:48] Beyond Allies – Jon talks about being an ally plus and how leaders can do more than just being an ally.
[51:29] Cultural Appropriation – Jon’s take on how businesses should approach dealing with cultural appropriation.
[56:27] Pronouns – Jon shares his thoughts on the usage of pronouns and how it empowers people.
businesses to make the best of social media is being updated with the ever-evolving world of social media and the new features and new platforms that emerge. This week on the Digible Dudes podcast, we’re diving into some of the metrics and trends in social media that could be useful in marketing for multi-family real estate. Joining us on the show are Eddie Fitzgerald, Social Media Analyst at Digible, and Erica Hanger, Senior Content Strategist at Digible.
[03:18] Organic Social – Eddie starts the conversation with a brief review of his work in organic social and the benefits of having a consistent social media presence.
[06:12] ROI – Means of measuring the impact of organic social and estimating return on investment.
[11:26] Engagement – Trend in ways residents engage with properties on social media and how that engagement can be used to improve marketing efforts.
[16:37] Engagement During COVID – How the engagement rates changes due to the pandemic and its ripple effects.
[22:23] New Developments – Some of the new developments in social media platforms and how emerging new platforms may change the definition of social media.
[35:18] Future of Social Media – The direction social media is headed and some emerging trends and features that could be further expanded in the future.
[46:26] Eddie’s Best Memories – Eddie is leaving Digible and will be moving back east to be with his family in a couple of weeks. Eddie shares some of his best memories with Digible and his future plans.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. This week on the show, we sit down with Adam Lowy, Founder & Executive Director of Move for Hunger, and Bridget Foley, Director of Multi-Family Partnerships for Move for Hunger. Move For Hunger is a national non-profit organization that has created a sustainable way to reduce food waste and fight hunger. Move for Hunger works across the nation and has provided over 22 million meals in their fight against hunger. In today’s episode, we dive into the work of Move for Hunger, how they connect and integrate with stakeholders in the real estate industry, the creative initiatives they utilize to encourage people to donate food, and their vision for the future.
[01:02] Getting to Know the Guests – We learn about our guest's backgrounds, the story of Move for Hunger, and how it supports the community.
[06:28] Connecting with Real Estate Partners – Adam & Bridget dive into how Move for Hunger connects with different stakeholders in the real estate sector to ensure that donations are distributed to the correct places.
[12:00] Creative Food Drives – Some of the creative events and other campaigns Move for Hunger organized in order to inspire more people to donate food.
[18:55] Process of Donation – Adam dives into the logistics aspect of how residents donate food for the program.
[24:00] The Vision – The overall strategic vision of Move for Hunger for the next couple of decades and some of the goals they’re planning to achieve.
[28:34] Other Market Segments – We dive into what Move for Hunger has planned for market segments other than multi-family, such as student housing, senior living, and military housing.
[32:04] Challenges – We dive into some of the challenges Move for Hunger faces in their work and how the industry could help with those challenges.
[39:02] Tools & Tech – Adam shares with us what tools and technologies they’re using to make things happen.
[47:25] Integrations – How the work and processes of Move for Hunger can be integrated with the processes of property management companies and residents.
[52:59] Hot Takes – Adam and Bridget share their two cents on some of the trends and prevalent opinions in the industry.
In today's world, when consumers seek a product or service, first and foremost, they visit the company's website. Hence, it is essential for any business to have a fantastic website. Although the primary needs may vary depending on the sort of business, the customer should be left with a positive impression after landing on the website. Also, In the end, having a well-designed website will help you stand out from the crowd.
This episode of the Digible Dudes podcast focuses on essential components of multifamily website design and development. Today we are joined by Chelsea Schonhaut, web product manager at Digible. Before joining Digible, she spent the previous nine years of her career in high-paced marketing agency settings.
Beginning with a recounting of her journey thus far, Chelsea discusses a number of features that would make a website exceptional. Then, she delves further into the characteristics that would produce an outstanding multi-housing website. Moreover, we cover Chelsea's experience, considerations, and thoughts about the renting process she had to go through. Finally, we conclude the episode by discussing the future of website design and development concerning the new features and pricing structure.
[04:53] Chelsea's Background - What Chelsea's career has consisted of thus far and what drew her here.
[12:22] Great Website – Chelsea discusses what makes an excellent website.
[18:21] Multifamily Website – Chelsea highlights the need for photographs and higher accessibility when developing a website for a multifamily business.
[26:25] The Gap – How to approach the gap between designing and actual technical development.
[28:14] Major Pain Points – What are the critical aspects of a website for a multifamily business?
[31:09] Virtual Tours - Chelsea discusses her previous encounters with virtual tours and offers her perspectives on virtual leasing bots.
[45:50] Notion of Content – Chelsea's take on bringing more information or aspirational thinking that people might intercept to provide value outside the website, relating to neighborhood studies and such.
[52:50] Increase Efficiency – What optimizations may be made to the website or client journey to improve efficiency?
[56:09] Single Family – Chelsea expresses her views on single-family housing.
[59:54] The Future - Where are websites headed in the future?
[01:03:09] Cost Structure - What is the predicted cost model for website development in the coming years?
Resources:
Connect with Chelsea:
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/chelsea-schonhaut/
As a digital marketing and technology company that's adapting to the ever-changing market conditions, Digible is always on the lookout for opportunities for growth. One of the avenues we’re considering is the market segment of single-family rentals. In today’s episode of the Digible Dudes, Reid Wicoff and David Staley share their takes on Digible’s approach to single-family rentals. Throughout the episode, we cover several aspects of this process, including the recent trends in the market, what it takes to diversify into a new market segment, business goals, maintaining the momentum, and more.
[06:50] Focus – David and Reid share their thoughts on how going into some of the subcategories, including single-family rentals, will shape the focus of the company.
[11:04] Commitment – Reid talks about the commitments Digible can make in terms of risk, capital, and effort.
[21:05] SMaC Recipe – How a specific, methodical, and consistent recipe for business can help a company grow sustainably.
[24:33] The Flywheel – Considerations when determining whether single-family rentals will help increase momentum for the business.
[29:10] Diversification and Goals – How the level of diversification a company may want to do related to the business goals.
[35:19] Marketing – How the marketing and advertising aspect for single-family is going to be different from multi-family, student housing, and other market segments.
[45:00] Fighting the Boredom – David and Reid talk about the concept of fighting boredom and how it helps individuals and businesses maintain consistency in their work.
[51:12] Surviving the Century – David and Reid share their takes on which of the tech giants we have today might survive until the year 2100.
Resources
Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All
goodreads.com/book/show/12675109-great-by-choice
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
goodreads.com/book/show/10127019-the-lean-startup
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits
Special events and ad campaigns can open up numerous opportunities for multifamily marketers and apartment communities. In this episode of the Digible Dudes podcast, Kayde Pierce, an Account Manager at Digible, joins us to share her wisdom about special event campaigns. Throughout the episode, Kayde shares her expertise on the different types of special event campaigns, the benefits of partnering with other businesses, planning for budgets, and the strategy involved.
[00:42] Background – Kayde kicks off the conversation with a review of the work she did around special event campaigns and their performance.
[04:32] Geofencing and Boosted Posts – How geofencing strategies and boosted posts on Facebook performed in special event campaigns.
[10:53] The Value of Events – The opportunities that emerge from events that marketers and property management companies could benefit from.
[16:32] Partnerships – Reid and Kayde reflect on a conversation they had earlier about partnering with other businesses for special events.
[23:10] Events That Worked – Kayde shares her thoughts on types of events that seem to work well and the types of events that don’t.
[28:31] Budgeting – How to create budgets for online promotions on various platforms.
[30:31] Organic Social – Kayde shares her thoughts on how to build organic social reach and engagement for events.
[37:22] Hot Takes – Kayde shares some of the uncommon and fascinating things she has seen in her work.
What to learn more about special event campaign strategies? Check out our blog.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. This week on the show, we’re having a conversation about one of the most important aspects of the future of Digible. As you know, we recently celebrated the 5thbirthday of the company. With that huge milestone, we’re at a transitional phase of the organization. In this episode, David Staley and Reid Wicoff share their thoughts on Digible’s approach to becoming a product company. For the past five years, Digible has been operating as a predominantly services-based company. We start the conversation with what product companies are, how they differ from service-based companies, and what it means for Digible to become a product company. We also dive into the changes that may become apparent while Digible is on its path to becoming a product company. A key piece of the strategy to becoming a product company is productizing services. David and Reid share their thoughts on how Digible might approach this in the future. Another area we touch on today is platforms and suits. We dive into how these two marketing tech structures work and the possibility of Digible transitioning into becoming one of these. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about how Digible keeps the commitment and passion toward its vision alive and how Digible may transition into a product company. [06:44] Defining Product– How Digible will define what it means for Digible to become a product company. [12:23] Changes – What changes we can expect while Digible is moving toward becoming a product company. [16:45] Productizing Services – David shares his thoughts on Digible’s approach to productizing its services. [24:00] Going to Market – How Digible might approach going to the market as a product platform. [32:32] Focus – What a company should consider when choosing their focus in a way they don’t end up choosing too big or too small of a niche. [40:18] Passion and Commitment – How to maintain the passion and commitment to long-term goals and vision as an organization. [44:41] Transition – David and Reid share their thoughts on how Digible will transition towards becoming a product company in the coming years.
Digible recently celebrated its fifth birthday, and throughout this five-year journey, we’ve learned quite a lot about running a startup, building a fantastic work environment, innovation, thought-leadership, and more. We dedicated this episode to diving into some of the lessons we learned over the years. Joining today with the podcast are David Staley, president and co-founder of Digible, and Reid Wicoff, founding partner of Digible.
In any business venture, hard work can contribute to its success and growth. However, luck can contribute to defining the path of an organization as well. We start the conversation by talking about how these two factors come into play in a business venture. Another area we touch on is the concept of "Fake it till you make it." Over the years, we’ve seen many startups in the tech space following this sort of philosophy in their early years of business. We have also seen a fair amount of businesses getting in trouble as a result of this sort of thinking and discuss the sustainable growth of a business venture.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen the downfall of quite a few startups that quickly grew into the ‘unicorn’ status. We talk about some of these startups, some traits they had in common in terms of leadership, and what contributed to their untimely fall. Towards the end of the episode, we dive into what a business should do when they reach a point where they’re running out of cash and how to scale.
[02:15] Luck & Hard Work – Kicking off the conversation, Reid shares his take on the roles played by hard work and luck in the path to success of an organization.
[05:58] Advice for Startups – David shares some of his learnings from the five-year journey of Digible.
[11:44] Fake It Till You Make It? – Reid’s take on the implications of working based on the ‘fake it till you make it’ concept and whether businesses should embrace that concept in some cases.
[19:18] Failed Unicorns – We talk about some examples of failed startups that used to be worth billions at some point, including WeWork and Theranos, and the role leadership played in their downfall.
[27:18] Ensuring Longevity – How the leadership roles of a startup should be arranged in a way that improves its longevity.
[30:24] Running Out of Cash – David shares his advice on what to do if a startup is in a situation where it looks like the company is burning through cash for too long without getting enough traction.
[37:00] The Great Game – David shares some of the strategies he learned from the book ‘The Great Game of Business.’
[46:10] Mediocrity – How mediocrity affects the growth of a startup and how organizations should deal with it.
Resources
Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All
goodreads.com/book/show/12675109-great-by-choice
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
goodreads.com/book/show/10127019-the-lean-startup
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
goodreads.com/book/show/16071764-lean-in
The Great Game of Business: Unlocking the Power and Profitability of Open-Book Management
goodreads.com/book/show/138298.The_Great_Game_of_Business
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. This week on the show, we’re celebrating Digible’s 5th anniversary. This marks a precious milestone in the story of Digible. In today’s episode, we’re diving into some amazing moments and lessons learned from the five years, and what to expect in the next five years. Joining us today are the three co-founders of Digible, David Staley, Reid Wicoff, and Nicole Staley.
Digible’s story is full of memorable events. We start the conversation with some of the most entertaining memories of the company. Moving on to strategic initiatives that helped Digible grow, Nicole dives into the outcomes of the program that was started to analyze errors that were made in Digible’s early years and learn from them.
Every successful company has its own set of unique values that makes them special and stand out from the crowd. In the next section, Reid, Nicole, and David share their take on the secret sauce that makes Digible special and successful. They also share some of the most memorable moments and experiences they had in their time with Digible.
One of the things about leadership that often goes unnoticed is that the higher the leadership position is the lonelier it gets. We dive into what Digible is doing to prevent that in terms of career development opportunities and cultural changes. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about what to expect in the next five years for Digible.
[01:00] Big Moments – We start the conversation with some important & entertaining moments from the first five years of the history of the firm.
[07:33] Analyzing Errors – Nicole shares her thoughts about the program that was started to analyze errors and mistakes and some of the learnings from this program.
[14:40] Secret Sauce – The unique values of Digible that have helped them become successful in the five years and some advice for startups to avoid failure.
[21:58] Most Memorable Things – Most precious and memorable moments from Digible’s history.
[26:29] Fighting Loneliness – Being in leadership roles in fast-growing companies can be lonely. We dive into the cultural measures Digible has in place to prevent this.
[31:08] Advice to Women – Nicole shares her advice to women who strive to be great leaders.
[34:38] Next Five Years – We talk about the plans we have for the next five years of Digible.
The concept of Fair Housing is what brings consumers the right to choose housing free from unlawful discrimination. And marketers in the multifamily housing space must be in accordance with Fair Housing laws when planning their marketing strategies and on-site. We don't have to tell you that when it comes to Fair Housing violations, ignorance is not bliss. We dedicated this episode of the Digible Dudes podcast to uncovering some answers to frequently asked questions about Fair Housing regulations. Joining us today is Doug Chasick, aka That Fair Housing Guy™, Digible’s resident Fair Housing consultant.
Doug started his career in the retail industry, and he gradually shifted his career path to Fair Housing. We start the conversation with his background and how Fair Housing regulations have evolved over the years. One of the first things we touch on is the current progress of Fair Housing practices. We dive deep into why Doug sees a lot more room for improvement in terms of implementing Fair Housing practices.
Commenting on how businesses work on maintaining compliance, Doug shares an observation about some companies that are implementing Fair Housing practices just for the sake of being compliant. We dive deep into how to ensure a better dedication to Fair Housing among businesses. Moving onto the marketing aspect of real estate, we discuss best practices for using ad copy, graphics, and models in a way that’s compliant with Fair Housing regulations. Wrapping up the episode, Doug shares some of the tips and tricks for maintaining compliance in the future.
[07:56] Doug’s Background – How Doug started his career and moved into the apartment industry and his Fair Housing work.
[14:00] Speed of Progress – Doug shares his take on the pace of the progress of the laws that were put in place to improve Fair Housing availability for everyone.
[19:40] Fair-housing Cases – We asked Doug how the number of cases related to fair housing has behaved over the years and what it means in terms of progress.
[31:10] Improving Compliance – Doug shares his thoughts on what could be done to make sure that companies are truly dedicated to working towards improving Fair Housing compliance.
[35:10] Active Adult Living – Doug shares his take on the usage of the term ‘active.’
[43:29] Creative Assets – We asked Doug about some best practices for writing ad copy and creating other creative assets.
[48:43] Graphics – How to use photographs, drawings, and models in advertising while complying with Fair Housing regulations.
[54:55] Disparate Impact – Doug shares his thoughts on what could be done to ensure that the regulations that are put in place will not create an adverse impact on the progress of Fair Housing practices.
[1:01:20] Student Housing – Fair Housing-related issues that students have to face when in the market and some of the things that could be done to address these issues.
[1:06:18] Tips & Tricks – Doug shares his wisdom on how to prepare for the future of Fair Housing.
Resources
Connect with Doug:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dougchasick/
Previous podcast with Doug:
digible.com/ep75-fair-housing-with-doug-chasick/
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes Podcast. In this episode, we chat with the one and only, Janet Rosseth. Janet is the Founder & CMO of Cadence Marketing Solutions, a firm based in Minneapolis that focuses on pacing strategies to help multifamily owners, operators, and developers achieve continued marketing growth. Throughout the interview, we dive into several areas of real estate marketing, including what it takes to build a marketing firm, new developments in prop-tech, staffing, and more.
Janet’s career packs decades worth of experience in real estate marketing. We start today’s conversation with Janet’s journey and the process of developing her firm, Cadence Marketing Solutions. We dive deep into some of the lessons Janet learned from building her firm and her future vision for her company.
Hiring the right people and making the right decisions on what to outsource versus what to keep in-house are some of the most crucial parts of a new company. We asked Janet about what her preferences would be for a new firm in terms of hiring and outsourcing. Moving on to prop-tech, Janet shares her thoughts on the longevity of prop-tech initiatives, integrations between different platforms, and her perspective on the most overvalued and undervalued prop-tech platforms.
Another key point we touch on is on-site staffing in the real estate space. Janet dives into some of the things the industry should change about staffing, utilization of AI lease agents, and what people typically expect from staff. Wrapping up the episode, Janet talks about how the utilization of data science could benefit the industry.
[04:26] Janet’s Story – We start the conversation with a brief look at Janet’s career in marketing and the path that led her to start Cadence Marketing Solutions.
[12:16] Growth – We dive into what it was like to start Cadence Marketing Solutions and grow it into the successful venture it is today and the future vision of the firm.
[20:29] Mentorship – Janet shares with us how her firm offers mentorship-based initiatives to folks who want to get up to speed on the industry & marketing.
[24:41] Building a Team – Janet talks about the process of building a firm from one person to a team of 18 people.
[29:01] Outsourcing & Hiring – Janet shares her thoughts on what would be the ideal first hires for a new management company and some of the things to outsource in the beginning.
[37:56] Longevity of Prop-tech - Janet shares her take on the typical lifespan of the newcomers that pop up in the pro-tech space.
[44:51] Integrations – We talk about the possibility of integrating different platforms together to determine the utilization and the effectiveness of the money spent on building features.
[49:55] Value of Prop-tech – Janet shares her thoughts on the most undervalued and overvalued players in the prop-tech space.
[52:06] On-site Teams – The importance of on-site teams and Janet’s perspective on how on-site teams should evolve.
[56:21] AI leasing Agents – Janet talks about the value AI leasing agents when it comes to dealing with one-off questions from customers.
[1:00:33] Staffing – Janet dives into what people usually look for in terms of support from staff in properties.
[0:07:02] Data Science – How the marketing space could use data science more in the future.
16 million children struggle with childhood hunger in the United States. In this episode of the Digible Dudes, we talk with Bob Bell, Co-Founder of Food for Thought, an organization dedicated to fighting childhood poverty with a unique approach. He joins us to talk about the impact they’ve been creating in the Denver community and helping countless children who struggle with childhood hunger.
In Denver, many children receive free or reduced lunches at school. However, according to Food for Thought, many teachers and principals have reported that for many of these children, the lunch they receive on Friday is their last meal until they’re back at school on Monday morning. Food for Thought is dedicated to solving this issue by providing children with food bags for students to take home to their families for the weekend.
We start today’s conversation by asking Bob about the beginning of Food for thought and how it grew over the years. Bob shares with us how their Friday program works, and what their process looks like for gathering food items, along with packaging and distribution. He also shares some statistics that show the impact and the value of the work they’ve been doing, and how they connect with brands and businesses to provide food for children.
Another point we touch on is the challenges that these children from low-income families face and how these issues affect their food habits. We also talk about how Food for Thought adapted quickly to the pandemic and never missed a Friday throughout all the lockdowns.
[08:49] Story of Food for Thought – We start the conversation with a brief look at what inspires the idea behind the Food for Thought initiative and the issues they’re addressing.
[14:02] Fridays with Food for Thought – Bob talks about the weekly Friday program that provides food for underprivileged children.
[18:33] Numbers – Bob shares some numbers that describe the scale of their operation and how many children they have been able to help.
[25:25] Brands and Businesses – Bob talks about their process of partnering with businesses and brands to provide food for children.
[29:26] Cultural Issues – Bob shares some stories about some of the cultural issues related to food that they face and what they have learned from these experiences.
[34:40] Life in Motels – We asked Bob about the hardships of the surprising number of people who live in motels and the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis.
[38:26] Ripple Effects of COVID – How the operations of Food for Thought drastically changed due to the closure of schools during the pandemic, and how it has impacted the initiative and the children.
[46:03] Fundraising – How the way Food for Thought has evolved over the last few years and how they’ve been able to gather the support of more entities than ever.
[52:47] Reaching Beyond Colorado – Bob dives into how the concept of Food for Thought could be implemented in other places as well.
Needless to say, the way we work has been drastically transformed in the last couple of years. The widespread adoption of remote work and trends such as the great resignation has initiated a new era of working that enables everyone to thrive in their work environment -- wherever that is. At Digible, we always look for ways to improve our work environment and culture. That’s why we recently announced the new work from anywhere initiative. In today’s episode of the Digible Dudes, David Staley and Reid Wicoff dive into what inspired this move and the steps ahead to implement WFA.
[01:30] The Idea – Why Digible decided to introduce work-from-anywhere and how it benefits the business as well as the team members.
[08:30] Transition – How the operating procedures are going to be updated to allow WFA.
[12:00] Challenges – Reid shares his thoughts on the challenges of working remotely and his levels of confidence about WFA.
[15:20] Productivity – David shares his take on how the WFA policy may shape the productivity of the organization.
[20:00] Expectations – David and Reid dive into what they expect from WFA in the next few years in terms of cultural transformation.
[25:44] Values and Vision – How introducing WFA is going to align with Digible’s vision and core values and how it’s going to improve the work environment for everyone involved.
Virtual reality and augmented reality technologies have been gaining traction in many industries in the last few years. And with all the hype around Metaverse and many tech giants jumping on the VR bandwagon, VR is becoming something people are more familiar with. We dedicated this episode of the Digible Dudes to discuss how VR will shape the future of our industry.
We start the conversation with personal experiences from David and Reid. They share their experience of using several VR products, cool features they like about VR, and some of the practical issues that became apparent while using, such as fatigue. We also dive deep into the limitations of existing VR technologies and how these limitations may be overcome in the future.
Cloud technologies are way more widespread than they were a decade ago and with the introduction of 5G, the internet bandwidth of the average user is rapidly expanding, allowing apps to utilize cloud processing rather than relying on the user’s hardware. David and Reid dive into how this phenomenon could enhance the user experience. They also talk about the difference between virtual reality and augmented reality and how the two technologies coexist in apps.
New technologies sometimes come with new implications as well. We talk about possible health implications of using VR products for extended periods, in terms of mental health as well as physical health. Wrapping up the episode, Reid and David dive into some of the ways that VR apps could use existing data to create amazing new user experiences.
[01:00] VR Experience - David and Reid start the conversation by sharing their own experiences with VR applications and the interactive features of different VR platforms.
[05:46] Limitations – Limitations of existing VR technologies and how these limitations affect the user experience.
[13:29] VR and Business – Financial feasibility of VR for consumer markets and how companies that are working on VR technologies prepare for the future.
[17:34] Impact of Cloud – How the new innovations in the cloud space and expansions of internet bandwidth could enhance VR user experience.
[22:47] AR vs VR – Similarities and differences between the two technologies; virtual reality and augmented reality.
[29:08] VR & Apartments – How VR technologies could enter the apartment industry and how it would enhance the user experience.
[34:34] Readiness of Users – Reid poses the question of whether the users are ready to be more comfortable with VR and how close people will prefer to be with VR.
[38:00] Health Implications – Possibility of mental and physical health implications from VR devices.
[42:10] New Technologies – David dives into how new apps could create awesome experiences by utilizing data from existing platforms such as Google Maps.
[47:14] Connecting the World – Reid, and David share their thoughts on Meta’s efforts to connect the world.
Facebook has been under a considerable amount of pressure from various parties to make changes to its platform to eliminate discriminatory practices. As a result, Facebook has been introducing new updates to its advertising policy. However, these new updates introduce some new complexities as well. In today’s episode of the Digible Dudes, we’re joined by Jenny Haacker, Paid Media Manager at Digible. Throughout the episode, we talk about how Facebook’s policy updates affect and influence several aspects of advertising and how they impact the real estate industry.
We start the conversation with a brief look at what’s new in these policy updates and the real-world implications for marketers in the multifamily industry. We also talk about why Facebook is introducing these policies and how they pass some responsibilities to advertisers rather than making changes in their systems. Some advertisers fall into special ad categories that come with their own restrictions when it comes to ad content. We talk about these restrictions, the new complexities they introduce, and what marketers can do to comply with the policies.
Another thing we touch on is loopholes that exist within these policies. We dive deep into how some advertisers are able to slide through loopholes in the platforms and what organizations such as Facebook can do to ensure that the possibility of using these loopholes is limited. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about the 31 buckets of prohibited content Facebook has introduced and how they affect the strategies of marketers.
[01:10] New Policy Updates – What forces Facebook to introduce these new policy updates, and what the new policy update means in real life in terms of liability.
[04:13] Concerns of Facebook – We talk about why this new policy update feels more like Facebook is trying to pass the responsibilities of compliance to advertisers rather than updating their back end to improve compliance.
[08:30] Special Ad Categories – How Facebook’s advertising platform works for special ad categories and the restrictions that come with it.
[10:45] Complexities – Some of the difficulties that advertisers have to face are because of the restrictions that come with the new policy updates.
[16:15] Habits – David & Reid share their thoughts on how they interact with certain features in search engines and social media and some of the concerns related to the features.
[19:00] Loopholes – Loopholes related to targeting that exists in advertising platforms and why it’s hard for platforms to monitor the content that slides through these loopholes.
[24:20] Reviewing – Facebook’s content review process and its efficacy of it when it comes to reviewing discriminatory content.
[30:00] Meta’s New Ventures – How the tendency of Facebook’s parent company to lean towards VR and AR technology may influence the advertising space in the next few years.
[37:20] Transformative Technologies – How the adoption of transformative technologies has evolved throughout history.
[44:24] Prohibited Content – We talk about the 31 types of content Facebook has prohibited and what marketers can do to comply with the new policy.
Creating an environment where employees can do their work comfortably and can thrive in their professional lives is one of the best things a business can do for their staff, as well as the long-term growth and reputation of the company itself. That’s why Digible is dedicated to creating the best possible work environment and culture for the team. In Today’s episode, we have a conversation with Ryan Dorhout, Controller at Digible, who has been working on the strategic aspect of human resources for Digible in recent months. Throughout the episode, Ryan shares his thoughts on the way Digible approaches improving several aspects of employee experience.
We start the conversation with the strategic work Ryan has been contributing to over the last few months and how Digible’s organizational structure was developed. He dives deep into what is involved in defining salary ranges for various positions in the organization and how Digible is keeping its offers competitive by including attractive benefits packages.
The ability to move up in the organizational structure and the available opportunities are some of the key factors that drive team members to dedicate their time and effort to an organization. Ryan shares his thoughts on some of the frameworks and procedures developed for Digible to assist with promotions and professional growth.
Transparency is an extremely important concept for Digible. We talk about some of the information Digible discloses to stakeholders that are not often disclosed by many businesses in the industry and how that transparency helps Digible build trust within the organization. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about how Digible plans to deal with inflation and the cost of growth.
[02:25] Digible’s Growth – How Digible has been growing in recent years in terms of recruiting the process of developing and fine-tuning the hiring procedures.
[06:42] Ryan’s Background – Ryan talks about his previous experiences in several companies and the impact he’s been making at Digible in developing salary ranges.
[11:02] Benefits – Digible’s approach to benefits and strategies Digible utilizes to keep offering competitive benefits.
[19:26] Promotions – Ryan dives deep into some of the procedures and controls that are put in place to define the way people move up in the organization.
[25:00] New Generations – How Digible handles communication regarding the upward mobility aspect of employment, especially for people from younger generations.
[31:00] Transparency – We discuss the measures that Digible takes to ensure transparency about salary ranges throughout the organization.
[37:53] Career Development – David and Reid share their thoughts on Digible’s plans to help employees with career development.
[48:00] Dealing with Inflation – Ryan dives into some ideas on how an organization may revise pay ranges to compensate for inflation.
[52:00] Cost of Growth – The financial impact of growth for a business and strategies for efficiently growing an organization.
Every generation has its own unique perspectives and behaviors that define how they interact with society. Since these unique traits also affect their purchase decisions, it’s crucial for businesses to keep in touch with new generations and consumer behavior. Generation Z has been entering the workforce in recent years and we’re already seeing trends in the market that reflect the unique traits of this generation. So we dedicated today’s episode of the Digible Dudes to diving deep into the preferences of Gen-Zers. Joining us today is Arden Murphy, an Account Coordinator at Digible, and Rose Finnigan, Paid Media Strategist at Digible. Throughout the episode, Rose and Arden share with us some fascinating research and data along with Gen-Zers interests and how marketers can improve their efforts to appeal to the new generation.
Starting the conversation, we talk about what defines Generation Z and some of the unique behaviors that set them apart from previous generations. One of the first key things we dive into is the Gen-Z approach to interpreting online reviews. We talk about their attitude towards the trustworthiness of reviews, how they find information about the reputation of a property, and the way they approach giving reviews to businesses.
Smart features are more important to Gen-Zers compared to previous generations. We discuss the reasons behind this tendency and how property owners and operators cab improve features to attract Gen-Z renters. Gen-Zers are also more responsive to social issues and tend to choose brands that align with their values. We dive into how brands can change their ways to align more with the values of their customers.
We discuss what amenities Gen-Zers are commonly looking for when choosing a place to live and some of the dealbreakers that could lead Gen-Zers away from properties. Wrapping up the discussion, we talk about how the culture and community affect the decision-making of Gen-Zers, what online resources they use to look for properties, and how marketers can give a better web experience for Gen-Z visitors.
[09:10] Getting to Know Rose and Arden – We start the conversation with how our two guests started their careers at Digible and the work they’re doing.
[11:40] Gen-Z – Who are Gen-Z, how they’re different from previous generations, and why that’s important to marketers.
[14:40] Online Reviews – The attitude of the Gen-Z towards the trustworthiness of online reviews and their approach to leaving reviews.
[19:00] Non-Agent Tours – Rose and Arden share their thoughts on why the majority of Gen-Zers prefer non-agent tours over in-person tours.
[23:30] Smart Features – Why the availability of smart features such as smart thermostats and appliances that are connected to mobile apps are more important to Gen-Zers than other generations.
[27:00] Social and Cultural Differences – The differences that Gen-Zers are introducing to the society in terms of being conscious about social issues, diversity, and inclusion, and some hot takes from Rose and Arden about modern advertising.
[34:20] Trust in Content – The attitude of Gen-Z towards the quality of news they see on media, the content they see on social media, and adverts they’re being exposed to.
[37:40] Amenities – The importance of amenities for Gen-Zers and how property managers could improve their properties in a way that appeals to Gen-Zers.
[40:06] Deal-breakers – We asked Rose and Arden what are the things in an apartment that make them instantly reject a property.
[57:15] Websites – What measures marketers can take to make websites more informative and appealing to Gen-Z visitors.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes. In today’s episode, we’re joined with Samantha Skrobot, Managing Partner - Real Estate Technology at GW Advisement. GW Advisement is a management consulting firm based in Chicago that focuses on offering services that solve for both employee happiness and company revenue. At GW Advisement, Samantha works directly with business owners and leaders to improve strategy and processes, related to growth strategy, product planning, and business development. Throughout the episode, Sam shares her wisdom on new developments in the real estate landscape, disruptive technologies, marketing & consumer experience strategies, and more.
Sam’s career in real estate spans over a decade. Her experience is based on different roles that cover numerous aspects of the real estate business. We talk about her career journey and her current role. Getting into today’s topic, Sam shares some observations from the property technology space. We also dive into some of the gaps that exist in the PropTech market and the possibility of new players that offer solutions to fill these gaps.
Like all other industries, automation has been showing steady growth in the real estate space as well. Sam shares her thoughts on what type of new technologies we might see in real estate in terms of automation. She also talks about the limitations of automation and how to make the best of automation technologies and trends she sees in the single-family rentals space and ILS platforms.
Tech giants such as Google and Amazon have a history of getting into new industries, offering new and disruptive technology solutions, raising concerns about anti-trust practices. We dive into the possibility of one of these tech giants getting into the real estate industry and some of the factors that may prove to be challenging for tech giants. Wrapping up the episode, Sam shares her hot takes on the limitations of automation and advice for data-driven approaches to real estate marketing.
[13:30] Sam’s Background – We start the conversation with a brief look at Sam’s real estate career of 12 years, learnings from different roles she was involved in, and her current area of focus.
[18:15] PropTech Trends – Sam shares with us some new developments in the industry that she’s excited about.
[25:40] New Players – Sam shares her take on the work some of the PropTech companies are doing and the possibility of seeing new players in the property management space.
[30:00] Automation for On-site Management – We asked Sam about what new innovations we can expect in the industry in terms of heavy automation technologies for property management.
[36:00] Developments in ILS Space – Sam’s take on what the recent RentPath acquisition means for the industry and consumers, and some other interesting developments related to ILS platforms.
[44:33] Single Family Rentals – The single-family rentals market has been growing over the last few years. We asked Sam about her predictions related to innovations in the SFR space.
[51:19] Real Estate Supply – Sam shares her take on whether the industry will be able to keep up with the demand for housing units in the near future.
[56:30] Waves of Disruption – We asked Sam whether she sees any massively disruptive technologies coming into the industry in the next five years.
[1:00:23] Tech Giants – We talk about the possibility of tech giants such as Google and Amazon getting into the real estate space and how they might enter the industry.
[1:05:13] Hot Takes – Sam shares her contrarian opinions about the usage of automation, how it affects consumer experience and its limitations in the real estate markets.
[1:16:07] Data-Driven Marketing – Sam shares several pieces of advice related to taking advantage of data for real estate marketing.
Fiona Forward is an employee community volunteer and engagement initiative led by Digible. From its inception in 2018 and throughout its tenure, the program has contributed to improving the greater Denver community in numerous ways. In today’s episode, we’re having a conversation with Abby Glaessner, Senior Paid Media Strategist at Digible, who spearheads the Fiona Forward initiative. Throughout the episode, we dive into the idea, inspiration, and impact of Fiona Forward, and the future vision of Fiona Forward.
Abby shares her thoughts on the vision of Fiona Forward, the impact in the Denver community, and why it’s a valuable part of the Digible culture. Reid weighs in with his memories of the inception of the program and the story behind the name. We give a little sneak peek of Fiona Forward throughout the year and what's in store for 2022.
2021 was a year of great success for Fiona Forward. Abby dives deep into some of the volunteer work that was carried out under the initiative. Last year, Fiona Forward had the opportunity to partner with Food for Thought Denver, an organization that focuses on eliminating weekend hunger for children in the Denver Metro Area. Abby gets into the details of how that partnership went and the impact it made on the local community.
Initiatives like this are mutually beneficial to the local communities as well as the businesses themselves. On the one hand, these programs contribute to improving the quality of life in the local communities. On the other hand, these programs help businesses build a better culture, improve their reputation and connect better with the greater community.
[03:08] Getting to Know Fiona Forward – What Fiona Forward is why it’s important to Digible, the impact on the local community, and the story behind the name of the program.
[06:30] Inspiration – Reid reflects on the inspiration for the idea behind Fiona Forward.
[10:36] 2022 Plans – Abby shares 2022 plans for Fiona Forward and what the priorities and goals will be in this year.
[15:41] Volunteering – Abby gets into the details of some of the volunteer work they’ve been doing under the Fiona Forward initiative.
[19:18] Food for Thought – We dive into the work the Digible team has been doing with the volunteer organization, Food for Thought Denver.
[24:00] Future Vision – Reid shares his thoughts on the future vision for Fiona Forward as well as some of the new areas Fiona Forward could expand into.
[30:00] Helping Crisis Situations – We dive into how the contributions of volunteers and donations could immensely help communities recovers from crises, such as natural disasters.
[34:45] Benefits for Companies – Reid shares his take on potential benefits that businesses could get from creating a volunteer initiative.
[40:58] New Generations – We dive into how new generations are becoming increasingly more interested in volunteer work and how businesses can develop a better culture that appeals to newer generations with volunteer initiatives.
The market for ultra-luxury real estate has been growing at an accelerated pace. This market has a relatively smaller niche audience that needs to be approached differently from the traditional Class A property. We dedicated this episode of the Digible Dudes to exploring a complete marketing strategy for the ultra-luxury real estate market with an expert from Digible who has done extensive research on the ultra-luxury real estate market in the last few months. RayAnn Ortiz, Senior Account Manager at Digible, joins us to share her wisdom.
The first step in creating a strategy for a new market is properly identifying and defining the market. We start the conversation with what defines an ultra-luxury property, how the ultra-luxury properties are different from Class A properties, and the attributes of ultra-luxury properties that stood out in RayAnn’s experience. Ultra-luxury properties are a unique market, and with that come unique challenges as well. RayAnn shares her wisdom on what measures marketers can take to overcome these challenges.
Budgeting is an extremely important part of any marketing strategy, and the ultra-luxury real estate market is no different. We dive deep into some of the considerations that help us create an effective budgeting strategy for ultra-luxury properties. We also dive into the role PR plays in marketing for ultra-luxury properties and native campaigns, a cost-effective PR strategy that could be utilized for this market.
Amongst other aspects, SEO strategy also needs some adjustments to match the conditions of the ultra-luxury real estate market. We explore some of the tactics marketers can use to maximize their visibility via search, the possibility of using influencer marketing and events for this type of property, and tactics for targeting the right audience on various marketing channels.
[06:49] Defining Ultra-luxury – We start the conversation with RayAnn highlighting the research she has been doing over the last few months and the attributes of properties that were identified in the research that defines an ultra-luxury property.
[10:50] Challenges – The unique challenges that come up with ultra-luxury properties in terms of competition and marketing.
[14:06] Budgeting – Things to consider when creating budgeting strategies for ultra-luxury properties and some uncommon ways to maximize the return on the marketing investment.
[20:48] Native Campaigns – Native campaigns are a cost-effective PR approach for properties. RayAnn dives into how this can be utilized for ultra-luxury properties.
[25:06] Search Engine Optimization – How the SEO approach for ultra-luxury properties should differ from traditional properties and some SEO best practices.
[33:49] Influencer Marketing – RayAnn shares her take on the feasibility of using influencer marketing to target the right audience for ultra-luxury properties.
[38:54] Events – The possibility of using events as a method of marketing for ultra-luxury properties and challenges associated with it.
[45:32] Retention – RayAnn shares with us some of the patterns she has seen in ultra-luxury properties in terms of customer retention.
[52:24] Targeting – Tips & tricks for targeting a niche audience for ultra-luxury properties on different channels and platforms.
New innovations in software technologies have been entering the real estate market at a rapid pace in the last few years. And these new technologies are constantly redefining the way consumers interact with the industry. In today’s episode, we explore another unique product that helps the real estate industry by using artificial intelligence. Mat Nieves, Head of Growth & Partnerships at MeetElise joins us today to dive into the amazing features the platform offers.
We start the conversation with a quick look at Mat’s career. He started his career with the real estate marketplace, Zillow and then went on to join MeetElise to work on its AI solutions. MeetElise has been showing amazing growth over a relatively short period. We dive into the strategies and traits of their technologies that contributed to this rapid growth. We also touch on the market segment MeetElise is trying to cater to and some of their competitors as well.
MeetElise is quite different from its competitors in terms of the technology and how it’s integrated. It introduces a whole new level of features for nurturing leads, automating lots of work that is typically carried out manually. Mat talks about how MeetElise better integrates into the client’s systems compared to its competitors.
Another area we touch on is the unique onboarding process of MeetElise that has contributed to its popularity. We dive deep into the process of implementing, testing, and making the process smooth. We also talked about some of the challenges the team had faced and what they did to overcome them. Wrapping up the episode, Mat shares his take on how the future of real estate may evolve with the increased usage of automation technologies.
[11:48] Mat’s Background – How Mat started in the real estate industry and his journey to his current role at MeetElise
[13:30] Rapid Growth – Mat shares his take on what contributed to the quick growth of MeetElise in the last few years.
[16:04] Product and Market – Mat talks about what the target market segment of MeetElise is and how MeetElise differs from traditional chat-bots.
[21:02] Nurturing Leads – Mat compares existing technologies used in the real estate market in terms of the effectiveness of nurturing leads against what they offer at MeetElise.
[30:22] Partnerships – Mat talks about the possibility of creating partnerships with other players in the industry over the next few years.
[33:24] Challenges – Some of the challenges the MeetElise team had to face in the market and the measures they took to resolve the challenges.
[37:05] Onboarding – We dive into the onboarding process of MeetElise, and some of the things they pay a lot of attention to when integrating with their clients’ systems.
[40:21] Transparency – Why transparency matters in real estate, new automation technologies have been implementing increasingly more transparent options for consumers and how this tendency may evolve soon.
[47:51] Hot Take & Predictions – Mat shares his hot take on how the traditional leasing staffing model is going to be changed in the next few years and some other predictions based on the data they’ve seen at MeetElise
MeetElise: www.meetelise.com
2021 was a year of tremendous growth and transformation for Digible. With the arrival of 2022, we dedicated this episode to talking about exciting things that happened in 2021, as well as what to expect from Digible in the year ahead. Joining the podcast today are the three founding members of Digible, David, Nicole, and Reid.
We start the conversation by reflecting on how we came back to the office in June 2021. Due to the pandemic, Digible transitioned to remote work in 2020 and since then has been implementing numerous processes to make the remote work as smooth as possible and to create a better remort work environment for the team. We talked about how it felt to be at the office again, the pros and cons of being in the office compared to remote work, and reminisced on the year-end celebrations.
Another part of returning to the normal routine was travel. Nicole shares her experience of traveling to different places to meet stakeholders and how the in-person meetings helped improve professional relationships. Nicole also touches on the measures Digible took to improve internal communications and some of the onboarding and training processes that enabled a fast-growing environment.
Diving into Digible's future plans, we talk about what customers can expect from Digible in terms of products and features. We also touch on potential partnerships of 2022 and Digible's goals for 2022.
[00:53] Coming Back to the Office – Nicole reflects on the process of coming back to the office after a long time of remote work.
[07:01] Year-end Celebrations – Reid and David share some fun memories related to the year-end celebration and some of the achievements of Digible in the year 2021.
[12:08] Travelling – Nicole shares how it felt to travel to meet clients and foster relationships.
[16:38] Products – The Digible team product development initiatives in 2021.
[21:00] Communication – Nicole shares her thoughts on how the team overcame challenges associated with maintaining internal communication in a fast-moving environment.
[24:00] Onboarding and Training – Reid reflects on the process Digible implemented in 2021 for onboarding new staff members and training them that enabled Digible to grow at a fast pace.
[28:34] Future Plans – Nicole dives into what new features of Fiona that customers can expect to be rolled out in the year 2022.
[32:18] New Products – Reid talks about some of the upcoming Digible products he's excited about.
[37:57] Partnerships – The potential Digible has for building new partnerships and strengthening existing partnerships in 2022.
[40:00] Goals – Nicole shares her thoughts on goals for 2022, emphasizing her expectations for implementing new procedures for recruiting talent and some predictions for the year ahead.
2021 has been a year of tremendous growth for Digible and we’re getting ready for more in the coming year. In this episode of the Digible Dudes podcast, David & Reid talk about their predictions for the next year. Throughout the episode, we explore how the industry evolved compared to predictions for 2020, predictions for new technologies, the possibility of companies in the real estate industry going public, and some of the industry trends expected to continue gaining popularity.
We start the discussion with a comparison of predictions. David & Reid share what they predicted for the year 2020 and the predictions that they did and didn’t get right. One of the interesting parts of that was the behavior of the commercial real estate market and the event that influenced the market, including the pandemic and its ripple effects.
Moving on to technology, we dive deep into the usage of paid search and SEO in the real estate market. David & Reid share their thoughts on why paid search and SEO will gain more traction in the next year. We also talk about co-op email campaigns, which enable brands with similar goals to team up in their marketing efforts.
One of the major buzzwords we’ve been hearing over the last couple of years is artificial intelligence. And like many other industries, AI is making its way into the real estate market, empowering new tools and technologies based on AIs. Reid and David share their thoughts on how AIs will power some of the emerging new technologies and what gives them the potential to be a big thing in the coming year. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about some of the companies that grew rapidly in the real estate space and the possibilities of them becoming publicly traded companies.
[02:00] Last Year Predictions – We start the discussion by comparing 2021 predictions and what actually happened.
[05:09] Commercial Real Estate – How the pricing of commercial real estate behaved pre and post pandemic compares to the predictions we had for 2021.
[07:15] Search & SEO – Reid shares his thoughts on how paid search and SEO has been a trending topic in the industry in the last year and why that trend is going to continue.
[10:00] Artificial Intelligence – How AI is going to be powering more parts of the industry in the next year and what businesses need to consider when utilizing AI-based tools.
[12:45] Co-op Email Campaigns – Why teaming up with brands with similar goals is going to be a smart idea for the next year.
[17:30] NLG & NLP – How Natural Language Generation and Natural Language Processing can be used to make marketing more efficient.
[21:21] Single Family Rentals – Reid shares his thoughts on how the single-family rentals market grew rapidly in 2021 and why it’s going to keep growing.
[25:00] Self-guided Tours – Reid explains the reasons behind his prediction that self-guided tours will grow in popularity in the next year.
[28:00] Future of ILS – David shares his take on how internet listing services may evolve in the next year.
[32:00] Going Public – Why the next year is a good time for some of the big companies in the real estate market to go public.
[38:06] Entrata – David shares his thoughts on the performance of Entrata this year and how they will grow during the next year.
Do you have any bold predictions for the multifamily housing industry for 2022? Drop us a line at hello@digible.com
Today on the podcast, we have the Digible Dudettes. Nicole Staley, Co-Founder & VP of Client Services at Digible, and Isobel Parish, Client Services Manager at Digible are here to share the key takeaways from a session on opportunities and risks in a single-family rental market they attended at OpTech. Throughout the episode, Nicole and Isobel cover the latest insights about single-family rentals, including new trends in the single-family space, challenging aspects of operating single-family rentals, and marketing strategies for adapting to new developments in the single-family rentals space.
[01:17] New Terms & Definitions – Nicole and Isobel share their thoughts on the new terms and definitions from the session that is unique to the single-family rentals market.
[03:47] Single-family vs. Apartments – Key aspects that set the single-family market apart from apartments.
[04:49] Smart Tech – How smart technologies are coming into the single-family market, and the pros and cons of having smart tech in single-family properties.
[06:44] Maintenance – How the maintenance aspect of single-family is different than apartments and some ways of making maintenance more efficient.
[09:25] Challenges – Challenges that single-family operators have to face and possible solutions for them.
[12:29] Strategies – Important concept for creating marketing strategies for the single-family space.
[16:24] New Generations – What Millenials and Gen-Z apartment seekers are looking for in their new home and what marketers need to keep in mind about reaching the new generations.
In this final episode of the AIM short series, David & Reid have an insightful conversation with Tom Lisak, SVP of Sales at LCP360, a company that specializes in virtual tours, 3D renderings, and many other innovative solutions that allow the real estate industry to modernize their digital strategies. Throughout the episode, we explore the solutions LCP360 offers to the industry, the integrations they have with multiple platforms, and Tom’s take on future industry trends.
[06:47] Industry Recognition – Starting with the level of reputation and recognition LCP360 has built in the last ten years.
[08:23] VR Technology - Tom shares his thoughts on how virtual reality solutions have evolved since their early days and their implications in the real estate industry.
[10:35] Virtual Tours – How virtual tours can be utilized for property marketing, the pros and cons of virtual tours, and strategies for measuring success and ROI.
[13:20] LCP360 Solutions – Tom shares with us some of the features they offer and some exclusive features they provide by partnering with Google.
[17:00] Asset Management – We explore the features LCP360 provides for managing multiple assets.
[18:20] Business Model – The business model of LCP360 and possibilities of recurring revenue from their solutions.
[21:47] Analytics – Tom dives into the analytics feature they have built and how these features can be used to improve the marketing efforts.
[24:00] Predictions - Tom shares his take on what’s going to change in the next few years in the industry.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. In this series of short podcasts, we bring you insights from industry experts that attended the AIM 2021 Conference. In this episode have Trevor Park, Head of Marketing, and Tiffany De Alva, Director of Content Marketing at BetterBot. Throughout the episode, we explore the possibilities of using bots for real estate marketing.
Artificial Intelligence and Bots have been showing up in our daily lives now more than ever. We discuss the experiences with bots we have in our lives and the growth of these types of technologies in the last few years. Answering the plethora of questions that customers have has always been a challenge for chatbots. We talk about Betterbot’s plans to expand the range of questions the bots can answer up to 80%.
As the technologies advance, we’ll be able to integrate bots for many elements in the sales funnel. We talk about the possibilities of integrating bots into the sales process for lead nurturing and engaging with customers over social media. Wrapping up the episode, Trevor and Tiffany share their take on the future of bots and related technologies.
[03:14] Getting to Know Betterbot – We start the conversation talking about what Betterbot is and the value proposition it provides to the industry.
[07:50] Answering More Questions – Trevor talks about their goals for bots to be able to answer 80% of the questions they receive and the innovative strategies they’re utilizing to achieve that goal.
[10:32] Property Specific Questions – How Betterbot plans to give bots the ability to answer very specific questions that are unique to an individual apartment community.
[12:41] Lead Nurturing – How bots can be involved in the process of lead nurturing and how it saves time for marketers.
[15:02] Bots for Engagement – Tiffany talks about the possibility of having bots involved in engaging with people on social media and the pros and cons of it.
[18:44] Integrations with CRM – Some of the practical issues related to CRMS that arise with complex consumer behaviors and address these issues.
[23:04] Future of Bots – We talk about what Tiffany and Trevor thinks about what developments we might see in the industry related to bots and Betterbot’s future plans.
Welcome to the Digible Dudes podcast. We’re back with another short interview packed with insights from AIM 2021 conference. In this episode, we chat with with Stephen McFadden, the President of Perfect Promotions, which offers a unique blend of innovative branding solutions to the multifamily industry through branded merchandise. In this interview, we talk about some of the recent industry trends and how they affect consumers.
[03:19] Pandemic & Supply Chains – Stephen shares his insights on how the supply chains and distributors were affected by the pandemic and the current status of getting things back to normal.
[06:00] Logistics – Logistics challenges the apparel industry is facing at the moment and how they might affect the industry and consumers.
[09:39] Domestic vs. Outsourcing – Stephen explains how and why some tasks and processes in the apparel industry are carried out domestically while some others require international business.
Geofencing is one of the newly emerged technologies that allow marketers to utilize location data to carry out marketing with increased precision. However, some businesses in the real estate industry seem to be reluctant to utilize geofencing due to concerns about complying with fair housing regulations. At AIM 2021, David and Reid conducted a short interview with an expert on this topic. Matthew Kilmurry, CEO of Apartment Geofencing joins us to talk about how apartment marketing can benefit from geofencing.
We start the conversation with a brief review of Matthew’s background in the agency world, the story behind his company, and what it offers to the market. Talking about the technology, Matthew shares with us how his company is able to provide geofencing while being compliant with fair housing and privacy regulations. We also talk about integrations with multiple platforms, how attribution works when it comes to integrations, and Matthew’s take on being in a niche market. Wrapping up the interview, Matthew shares some of the interesting sessions he attended at AIM 2021.
[03:06] Matthew’s Background and Apartment Geofencing – Matthew shares with us the story of starting ApartmentGeofencing.com, his experience before that, and what his company offers to the apartment marketing industry.
[05:50] Methodology – We dive into the strategies Matthew’s company uses to provide geofencing abilities to marketers while maintaining compliance with fair housing and privacy regulations.
[10:25] Niche Markets – Matthew shares his take on the experience of working in a niche market as a company and the challenges associated with it.
[12:44] Integrations and Attribution – We dive deep into some of the tactics and strategies for utilizing integrations between multiple technologies and platforms and ways to attribute and track the success of these integrations.
[16:50] Matthew’s AIM Experience – Matthew talks about some of the interesting things he experienced at the AIM conference.
The Apartment Innovation and Marketing Conference 2021 (AIM), was held in October 2021, and the Digible made their way to the conference in Huntington Beach, California. In this short podcast episode, David and Reid share their first impressions of the event and some of the interesting sessions they attended at the conference. Stay tuned with the Digible Dudes podcast, as we’ll be sharing more highlights and takeaways from other sessions from AIM 2021 in the next week.
We start the podcast today with a recording David & Reid did at the conference, just before the first day’s sessions started. They talked about the first impressions of the event, the agenda, and the sessions they looked forward to. In the next part of the podcast, David & Reid shared their thoughts on a couple of interesting sessions at the conference and what they learned from the sessions.
[01:31] Agenda – David & Reid go through the agenda and talk about the sessions they were looking forward to and the guest speakers who were attending.
[08:13] Hot Takes – Reid shares his hot takes and bold predictions for the event.
[12:20] Participation – For David, the crowd at the conference was more than he was expecting. He shares why that was the case, given that the country is still with COVID and what some of his favorite sessions included.
[17:21] Google My Business & Single-Family Rentals – David shares his experience on the sessions he attended on how Google My Business can be utilized for the apartment marketing industry and the trends in the single-family rentals sector.
[20:03] Final Thoughts – David and Reid share their thoughts on some other trends that were brought up in the sessions they attended.
Building a credible online reputation is an essential component of every industry, especially multifamily. Regularly generating positive reviews is one of the key ingredients of a successful plan to build a reputation. Our guest today is a Co-Founder of a company focusing on helping businesses generate reviews. Alex Bennett, the Chief Revenue Officer of Opiniion Inc, joins us today to discuss what apartments owners and operators should keep in mind about building reputation and generating reviews.
Opiinion was founded in 2017 with Alex and a few other co-founders who were in different industries, from property management to medical offices. Focusing on these key industries gives Opiniion the ability to implement specialized features to match the unique requirements of these industries that generic review systems do not offer. Throughout the episode, we cover how Opiniion is creating this unique value proposition and learn about how property owners can improve their reputations.
We hear about the inception of Opiniion and Alex’s career journey leading up to the start of Opiniion. One of the key concepts we touch on is the value of proactive measures and how it contributes to the growth of reputation more than reactive measures. Talking about the solutions Opiniion offers, we dive into some of the special features Opiniion offers specifically for the property management industry. We wrap up the session with Alex’s thoughts on what the future of reviews might look like.
Continuing with a tarnished reputation from previous ownership or management can be a frustration for new owners of a property. Alex shares his wisdom on strategies new owners can utilize to build a reputation over time. One of the ways Opiniion has made life easier for consumers is by making the review process easier. We dive into how this happens and the features Opiniion has implemented in order to achieve that. We also talk about how people behave in negative experiences, how keywords in the reviews affect the reputation and opinions of consumers who refer to the reviews.
[09:59] Opiniion – We start the discussion by taking a look at Alex’s background, how Opiniion was started, what it offers to the multifamily industry, and problems they strive to solve.
[16:32] Reactive vs. Proactive Measures – Alex shares his wisdom on why proactive measures contribute to getting positive reviews and a good reputation more than reactive measures.
[25:01] Features for Property Management – Alex shares with us some of the unique features Opiniion had to implement in order to serve the property management industry and how they solved those problems.
[29:00] Reputation & Ownership – When a property’s ownership changes, their online reputation remains from previous management. This is an issue that new property owners frequently face. Alex shares his thoughts on how new property owners can improve their reputation.
[37:47] Resident’s Journey – Alex shares his thoughts on how a consumer approaches researching apartments and what marketers can learn from consumer behaviors to improve their marketing efforts.
[43:44] Keyword Research – The role keywords play in reputation building for property management and some of the key findings of Opiniion’s work related to keywords.
[48:38] Internal Feedback – Alex shares his take on private feedback in an internal system and how it relates to the public feedback the potential residents see on websites.
Want to learn more about how we can support your online reputation? Reach out to us at hello@digible.com.
Welcome back to another episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. We always keep in touch with the new innovations that happen in the real estate industry and bring you info about the latest developments. In today’s episode, Jonas Bordo, co-founder, and CEO at Dwellsy joins us to talk about platforms that focus on creating a quality experience for renters as well as property owners and the innovative solutions they offer to the multifamily housing market.
Throughout his career, Jonas has gathered tons of experience in several roles related to the property management business and that experience came in handy for the beginning of Dwellsy. Founded in 2019, Dwellsy grew to become a very successful platform with their unique value propositions of providing quality and relevant results to their users. We start today’s conversation with a brief overview of Jonas’s background and how Dwellsy was started.
Dwellsy has a few unique aspects that clearly makes it stand out from platforms. We dive into how Dwellsy is different from traditional internet listing services, current issues, and available solutions that Dwellsy is tackling, along with Dwellsy’s unique value proposition. We also talk about how Dwellsy continues to be a free platform while making a profit through additional services they provide to property owners.
One of the areas Dwellsy is heavily improving is the quality of leads. We talk about why the quality of leads matters, what measures Dwellsy has implemented to improve the quality of leads and the results they’ve been seeing. We also talk about some of the strategies they are using to mitigate fraud on their platform. Wrapping up the episode, Jonas shares some memories and lessons learned from his journey of building Dwellsy.
[06:00] Jonas’s Background and Dwellsy – We start the conversation by diving into Jonas’s background in real estate, how Dwellsy started and what problems they solve for property owners and renters.
[11:00] Numbers for Multifamily Market – Jonas breaks down some numbers of multifamily properties listed in ILS platforms and the level of scaling Dwellsy has achieved.
[16:00] Dwellsy’s Business Model – We talk about the unique value proposition of Dwellsy and how they make money through the platform with the optional services they’re offering.
[21:05] Competitors – Why Dwellsy is different from its competitors and current industry issues Dwellsy is addressing.
[31:29] Syndication – Dwellsy is not syndicating their listings on any other platforms. Jonas shares his thoughts on the reasons behind this decision and how it relates to their business model.
[38:00] Quality of Leads – Why Dwellsy is focusing more on improving the quality of leads for property owners via Dwellsy.
[51:00] Demographics – Jonas shares his thoughts on the demographics of renters they’ve been seeing in the market and how that information is used in their marketing strategy.
[1:01:32] Combating Fraud – Jonas dives into what strategies they’re using at Dwellsy to mitigate fraud and make their platform a safe place for users.
[1:07:59] Startup Life – Jonas shares what it was like to start and build a business no one has done before and the valuable lessons he learned on his journey.
[1:13:54] Renter Experience – We look at how property listings could be updated to create a better experience for the renter by using tactics such as combining listings for rentals with other content that helps people make decisions about where to live.
Resources:
Check out Dwellsy: dwellsy.com
Housing legislation was first introduced in order to battle the issues related to discrimination in the real estate industry. Since then, complying with fair housing regulations has been one of the most important concerns for people in the multifamily marketing industry. In today’s episode, we're giving a recap from our Digible Summit, where we talked extensively about how to maintain fair housing compliance in the age of digital advertising. Joining us today are David Lerchbacher, Digible’s Chief Data Officer, Doug Chasick, fair housing consultant, and Professor Scott Burris from Temple University.
We start the conversation with a brief review of the history of fair housing legislation and the motive behind implementing these regulations. We also talk about Digible’s Fiona platform and how It helps with fair housing complaint-related activities. Then we moved on to a small FAQ session where Lerch answered some of the questions we received from the audience.
We discuss some of the confusing points related to maintaining fair housing compliance regarding digital ads. We also talk about some of the consequences of not maintaining compliance, and our thoughts on protected classes, and how we could improve their advertising initiatives.
We asked Scott about some of the research he was a part of a few years back and what they discovered in that research that reveals some of the voice trade issues related to fair housing across the country. We also talked about the efficacy of self-policing versus government regulations and Scott provides insight on a common set of rules across the country at the federal level. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about what are the most efficient ways of taking action against housing violations.
[01:45] History of Fair Housing – The purpose behind fair housing legislation and how it evolved over the years.
[04:28] Fiona – What Digible’s Fiona platform offers in terms of fair housing-related features and the results of the tests conducted by the Fiona team.
[09:50] FAQ – Lerch answers a few questions we have received regarding fair housing compliance, complaint handling, and lawsuits.
[15:02] Wording - Our second guest, Doug Chasick, explains one of the confusing aspects of using terms related to walkability in a way that is not discriminatory.
[21:56] Squeaky Clean - Doug emphasizes why it’s important to be squeaky clean in terms of marketing efforts. He also shares his take on how training comes into play for compliance.
[29:56] Third-party Agencies - We asked Doug who would be liable in a complaint about a scenario where a property owner hires a 3rd party agency and that 3rd party makes a compliance mishap.
[32:12] Consequences - Doug explains the consequences of complaints and federal lawsuits related to fair housing discrimination.
[35:00] Protected Classes - Doug shares his thoughts on what protected classes he’s like to see being added to the national protected classes that are currently protected only in a handful of areas.
[38:27] Future Changes - We asked Doug about what changes he sees coming in the next few years for the real estate marketing arena.
[54:45] Federal Fair Housing Laws - Doug asked Scott about his thoughts on implementing one set of rules across the whole country and the pros and cons of it.
[58:17] Tools and Issues - Scott shares his take on the use of technology to identify the scale of fair housing-related issues and the most efficient ways to implement the most effective auditing procedures for finding issues and taking action against fair housing violations.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. In March 2021, Nicole was approached to be on the advisory board for the Customer Experience Certificate Program at the University of Colorado - Boulder. The University connected with leading experts in the industry, and none other than Nicole, one of our founders, was selected. In today’s episode, we talk about what Nicole learned while following the course and some of the concepts it teaches marketers about maintaining customer success.
We start the discussion with a brief review of the course structure and Nicole’s initial impressions of the course material, and the ideal audience for the course. We also talk about how the universities are introducing more and more new programs that are related to new technologies, concepts, and emerging industry trends.
Two of the key concepts Nicole emphasizes are high touch and tech touch:
High touch is the concept of helping and supporting customers on a human level throughout the buying process and lifecycle.
Tech touch is an approach that more frequent touchpoints managed by software. Nicole shares her thoughts on the pros and cons of each concept and how to keep a healthy balance of the two concepts in a business.
The perception of customer success is something all businesses must take seriously. According to Nicole, some of the stats gathered from the industry show that 80 percent of companies think that they’re providing a superior experience, and 92 percent of customers disagree with that. Nicole dives into why it’s extremely important for companies to take a hard look at this behavior and how to improve their customer experience.
[01:00] Structure – Nicole starts the conversation with an overview of the structure of the course and her thoughts on the course content.
[03:57] Trends in the Academic Arena – Nicole shares her thoughts on how universities are evolving by offering new programs to match newly emerging sectors.
[07:18] Learnings – Nicole’s takeaways from the program related to the onboarding process for customers.
[10:15] High Touch & Tech Touch – The pros and cons of the two concepts and the influence they have on customer success, along with Nicole’s predictions about how the nature of touchpoints may change in the near future.
[14:16] Perception – Nicole identifies perception as a crucial aspect of customer experience. She talks about the huge gap between how service providers think of the success of their service and how customers think about it.
[17:40] Pain Points – The value of identifying customer pain points and how marketers can do it better.
[20:03] Progress – Nicole talks about key takeaways so far and the curriculum and the timeline of the course.
This year’s Digible Summit is just around the corner. In today’s episode, we share what multifamily marketers can expect at the virtual Digible Summit, session topics, and featured guest speakers. Joining us today are David Staley, Reid Wicoff, and Nicole Staley.
Fair housing has been one of the key topics in the real estate landscape throughout the year 2021. And it’ll be one of the key topics we focus on at the Digible summit as well. Starting today’s discussion, David dives into some of the sessions planned around fair housing and maintaining compliance with fair housing regulations. We talk about the guests that’ll be attending and what specific areas we plan to explore in these sessions.
The future of technology is one of the crucial aspects and challenges of the multifamily housing industry. We’ll have some interesting sessions about websites and other technologies. Today, Nicole and David talk about some of the areas they plan to cover at the summit in relation to technology. Reid will be moderating a few sessions, and one of them is on the impact consumerization will have on the multifamily markets. We dive deep into what his session will include and the different perspectives he plans to bring into the conversation. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about how properties with zero amenities may influence the future of the industry.
[00:31] Fair Housing – In past episodes on the Digible Dudes, we have discussed many topics related to fair housing. And it’s one of the flagship topics for the summit as well. David talks about the aspects of fair housing we’ll cover at the summit.
[05:35] Compliance – One of the specific areas we’ll dive into in relation to fair housing is maintaining compliance with fair housing regulations. We talk about what to expect at the summit in terms of compliance.
[07:40] Websites and Technology – David & Nicole share their thoughts on plans to explore new possibilities for websites and other emerging technologies that help us better serve the customers.
[12:05] Consumerization – Reid talks about what he’s planning for a session he’ll be moderating on the impact of consumerization on the multifamily market. Reid also talks about the guests who will be in the session and the different perspectives he plans to bring into light through the session.
[15:47] Amenities – Something that David has recently noticed is that properties with zero amenities seem to be popping up in some locations. David and Reid share their thoughts on what this trend may mean for consumers.
Resources:
Register for the Digible Summit:
digible.com/digible-summit-2021A
Apartmentalize, the annual conference from the National Apartment Association was held from August 30th - September 2nd. Although Digible wasn’t present at the conference as a vendor, David, Reid, and Nicole made sure to be there as attendees. Throughout this episode, we dive into the highlights of the conference, interesting solutions presented at the conference, and some of the key takeaways.
We start the conversation with how the general ambiance was at the event. David, Reid, and Nicole share their thoughts on their first impressions about the event and how the logistics were handled compared to past NAA conferences. We discuss the unique vendor-to-vendor interactions and how this allows vendors to build partnerships.
Nicole shares her thoughts on the possibility of having a Digible booth at the next iteration of the conference. Building on that, Reid and David share their thoughts on how NAA and other industry events open up opportunities to connect with potential customers and stay up to date with the newest innovations in the industry.
The way businesses get information about their markets has been drastically changed over the last decade, and the real estate industry is no exception. We talk about how marketers are relying more and more on statistical analysis and AI tools and how this trend may shape the future. Wrapping up the episode, we cover the interesting concepts that made the conference memorable.
[01:02] First Impressions – David starts the conversation with his first impressions about the event, the ambiance, and the attendance compared to the previous one.
[06:23] Vendor to Vendor – Reid & Nicole share their takes on how the event facilitated vendor-to-vendor interactions and opportunities for building partnerships and collaborations.
[06:23] Next Year – Nicole talks about the possibility of Digible having a booth at the next NAA.
[11:44] Digible & Events – Reid shares his take on how Digible might be attending industry events in the future and possible opportunities that might emerge.
[19:07] Consumerization – How consumerization is impacting events such as NAA and how new technologies are coming into play.
[24:33] Analytics – Reid shares his thoughts on what he’s seen at NAA 21 about surveying statistics and how AI tools featuring in-depth analytics features may lead the future of marketing strategies.
[29:07] Highlights – We talk about some of the interesting, innovative solutions and new technologies presented at NAA along with key takeaways from the event.
On July 20th, RealPage, Inc, a leader in providing software and data analytics tools to the real estate industry, announced that they have entered into an agreement to acquire G5 Search Marketing. G5 is a SaaS company that provides AI and other new technologies to marketers to help them amplify their impact. In today’s episode, Reid and David are here to talk about the potential outcomes of this acquisition and how it may affect the real estate industry.
Reid starts the conversation by sharing the thoughts he had when he first got the news about this acquisition. He shares that it came as a bit of a shock and a surprise because of some of RealPage’s previous acquisitions and the area of business they’ve been focusing on. RealPage has a long list of businesses they have acquired since they went public in 2010. David talks about the history of RealPage’s acquisitions, the nature of businesses they’ve acquired, and how these acquisitions may have contributed to their growth.
Another area we touch on is the commonalities among RealPage’s acquisitions. Reid shares his thoughts on the ‘common denominator’ of RealPage’s acquisitions and what RealPage may be hoping to do with these acquired businesses in terms of growth. David talks about what this recent acquisition may look like in a best-case scenario. Toward the end of the episode, we talk about how these acquisitions may affect the consumer, industry, and some opportunities for investors to make use of emerging technologies for growth. Wrapping up the episode, David and Reid share their thoughts on what they’d do in case they received an acquisitions offer for Digible.
[00:48] First Impressions – Reid starts the conversation with what his thoughts were when he first heard the announcement that G5 is being acquired.
[03:34] RealPage’s Acquisitions – RealPage, the company that is acquiring G5, is not a newbie to acquisitions. David talks about their previous acquisitions and how they contributed to RealPage’s growth.
[08:48] Value of Websites – Reid shares his thoughts on the value of websites and online platforms operated by the companies that are being acquired by RealPage.
[14:04] The Common Denominator – Reid shares his thoughts on what all the businesses acquired by RealPage have in common and where RealPage may be headed with all these acquisitions.
[16:06] The Bull Case – We talk about what it may look like if this acquisition ends up in a best-case scenario and some of the issues RealPage may have in terms of integrating with these newly acquired businesses.
[21:44] Effect of Acquisitions – How acquisitions affect the buyer business, consumers, and the industry.
[28:00] Opportunities for Investors – Reid shares his thoughts on some of the things that might get investors excited, such as opportunities to grow businesses through automation.
[33:57] Acquisition Offers – David & Reid shares their thought on how they’ll react if they received an offer of acquisition.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. This week, we’re back with some fascinating findings of another case study conducted at Digible. It’s a widely accepted concept that a multi-platform approach can significantly improve conversions and ROI. However, the Digible team wanted to get some solid numbers to measure this impact. So the team conducted a study using more than 500 properties. David Staley, Reid Wicoff, Adam Walters, and Nicole Staley are in the studio today to talk about how a multi-platform marketing approach can improve ROI in real estate marketing.
We start the conversation with what influenced the team to conduct this case study and what they hoped to find out from it. Adam shares some of the most important results of the study and performance metrics that demonstrated how big of an impact a multi-platform approach can generate. Here are some if the things found in the study:
· In properties that ran SEO along with Paid search, their paid search conversion rates increased by 32.09%, and website conversion rates in Google Analytics increased by 371.42%.
· By adding a Display campaign to paid search and social efforts, Total Media Cost Per Website Lead in Google Analytics decreased by 75.79%, and Website Conversion Rates in Google Analytics increased by 158.09%.
In the next part of the episode, we talk about how the industry typically behaves. Nicole shares some of the reasons why many marketers typically start with a search campaign, add more platforms but, at some point, and the role attribution plays in this. Another area we focus on today is programmatic advertising. We talk about how it works and the performance metrics that show its impact.
It’s important for a savvy marketer to know when to go for a multi-platform approach. Reid shares his thoughts on what to consider when deciding that. Towards the end of the episode, we explore How reputation, reviews, and ratings make an impact on the decision-making process of potential customers, ultimately impacting the conversions.
[01:42] Background – Nicole shares the motive behind this case study and the questions they were trying to answer with this case study.
[03:23] Findings – Adam shares the key findings of the study related to performance metrics and behaviors of website visitors.
[06:30] SEO – Reid shares his thoughts on how SEO optimizations on a website can dramatically affect the performance of conversions.
[10:16] Industry Behavior – Nicole talks about why many clients typically start their campaigns with search campaigns, later add more platforms, and eventually defaults to search.
[11:36] Programmatic Advertising – David and Nicole talk about programmatic advertising and how the numbers stack up in terms of performance and cost savings by utilizing programmatic advertising.
[16:31] When to Switch – Reid talks about some of the things marketers should consider when deciding whether taking a multi-platform approach is the right choice.
[20:19] Working with Clients – Nicole shares her thoughts on how they’re collaborating with clients to get started on multi-platform marketing approaches.
[24:48] What’s Next – David talks about some of the studies his team has been doing and what questions their research may answer in the future.
[27:29] Reputation – Reid and David talk about how reputation and ratings come into play when it comes to conversions and building trust about the brand.
Resources:
The Impacts of a Multi-Platform Marketing Approach:
digible.com/digible-blog/2021/6/30/the-impacts-of-a-multi-platform-marketing-approach
Entrata has a long history in the property management industry. And it’s also been an inspiring company. David and Reid dive into the conversation by talking about their history and why Entrata is one of the companies they look up to. Although they’ve been under the radar for almost two decades, Entrata has been performing extremely well. We talk about the performance metrics of Entrata and how their performance data may have contributed to securing this huge investment.
After receiving this huge investment, Entrata will have great potential to grow bigger and push its boundaries. This may include entering into a whole different arena with bigger competitors and new markets. David shares his thoughts on what it might look like when they have to compete against a new set of businesses and how the company may change its direction.
Another area we cover today is the possibility of Entrata going international. Making software solutions available to new markets is always a complex process that calls for more resources and careful planning and oversight. We talk about possible steps Entrata might have to take and possible acquisitions it may have to make in order to go international, and how they’ll have to manage investor expectations while going through a major transformation. Toward the end of the episode, Reid and David share their thoughts on what it’ll be like when Digible becomes two decades old and some shocking but fascinating statistics on what happens o most major acquisitions.
[01:08] Entrata’s Way – David & Reid talk about their experience with Entrata and why Entrata has been one of the self-funded companies that they look up to.
[04:38] What the Numbers Say – Entrata has been in business for almost two decades and growing significantly. David breaks down the numbers of how they’ve been performing and what probably helped them secure this huge investment.
[07:09] New Weight Class – Now that Entrata has secured a half-a-billion investment, they’ll be entering a different environment. David shares his take on who Entrata will be competing against and the direction the company may be heading in the near future.
[12:01] Going International – The possibility of Entrata entering new markets across the globe and possible steps they’ll have to take and acquisitions they might have to make.
[17:31] Human Resources – David shares his take on Entrata’s way of staffing and how it may change now that they have this huge investment.
[22:00] Investor Expectations – What Entrata may have to consider in the future in terms of maintaining expectations of investors if they’re going international, which may be a long business venture.
[26:46] Digible at 18 Years – Reid shares his take on what he thinks it’ll be like when Digible is as old as Entrata is right now.
[32:43] Success in Acquisitions – According to Harvard Business Review, typically 70-90% of acquisitions are abysmal failures. David & Reid talk about the shocking nature of this finding and how it would influence Entrata’s potential acquisitions in the future.
[36:37] Predictions – David shares his thoughts on how Entrata might be doing things differently in the near future.
Resources:
Entrata Raises $507 Million After 18 Years Bootstrapped, Making It Utah’s Newest Software Unicorn: forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2021/07/07/utah-unicorn-entrata-raises-507-million-after-18-years-bootstrapped
Welcome back to the Dible Dudes podcast. This week, we have David, Reid, and Nicole, the three co-founders of Digible to dive deep into a conversation that every company should focus on at some point in the lifetime of the business; the vision. In this episode, we talk about what inspired the start of Digible, how the vision evolved over the years, the framework used to develop Digible’s vision, and some of the out-of-the-box strategies Digible uses to build a better work culture and make the world a better place.
Whether in life, or a business venture, it’s a crucial step to figure out the purpose, core values, and what your goals are. We start today’s conversation with a brief review of how the Digible team made their purpose and core values clear and some of the things that inspired the whole business venture. In several of our previous episodes, we’ve talked about some of the books written by Jim Collins. The Vision Framework by Jom Collins is a great resource that helps entrepreneurs get their vision made clear. We dive deep into the technicalities of the framework and how it paved the path to creating and developing Digible’s vision.
If you search for #digibledogs on LinkedIn or Instagram, you’re going to some of the little friends we have at Digible. And that is just one of the many out-of-the-box things we do at Digible to create a work environment that makes the typical day of work more exciting than ever. We talk about why Digible is dedicated to creating a better work culture, some of the strategies Digible utilizes to make it happen, such as introducing a four-day workweek, and how these efforts have improved the culture of Digible.
Another area we explore in this episode is the BHAG, aka the big hairy audacious goal. We talk about Digible’s BHAG, the process of defining the BHAG and its key components, Digible’s long-term and short-term goals to expand the business, make its technology available for more users, and ultimately make the world a better place.
[01:37] Purpose, Vision, and Mission – We talk about the journey of finding purpose, core values, and the ultimate goal for the company, and what inspired the business venture.
[07:11] Vision Framework – Reid dives into the nuts and bolts of the framework used at Digible to develop the vision of the company.
[12:40] Focus & Niches – David & Nicole discuss how they took into account the long-term expectation of the company and the short-term niches when determining the mission statements.
[17:21] Employee Culture – Digible’s plans of doing things differently in order to create a better culture in which employees can thrive and how Digible is dedicated to adopting the four-day workweek.
[21:27] Progressive Change – Reid talks about some of the work DIgible is doing in order to be a catalyst for progressive change.
[24:46] Future Plans for Technology – How Digible will be updating its technology to expand the business and make Digible’s technology available for a wider range of users.
[26:49] The BHAG – We talk about where the term B-HAG came from and what’s behind the big hairy audacious goal of Digible.
[32:56] Road to the BHAG – We talk about the importance and the process of breaking down the big hairy audacious goals into a set of key components.
[37:40] Beyond Revenue – Why Digible is geared toward building a better, more collaborative work environment and making the world a better place rather than being a typical revenue-focused company.
Resources:
Vision Framework by Jim Collins:
jimcollins.com/tools/vision-framework.pdf
Welcome back to another episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. In the past episodes, we’ve been covering extensively about fair housing and equal treatment to everybody when it comes to housing. The LGBTQ community has been experiencing issues related to equal opportunities in housing. Joining us today is Michael Crews, the policy director for Once Colorado, a pioneer organization in advocacy for policies related to the LGBTQ community. Throughout the episode, we talk about One Colorado’s mission, where we stand with regards to policies, fair housing challenges, overcoming discrimination, and more.
Michael started his career in the government policy advocacy space as a summer intern at the office of the Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. Over the years, Michael has worked in many different roles related to government policy advocacy. We talk about his career journey and how he came to be a director at One Colorado. One Colorado is dedicated to promoting and advocating equality to the LGBTQ community. Michael shares with us the history of the organization and some of the areas of focus for One Colorado.
In their line of work, Once Colorado collects data via surveys and other methods to assess the issues that the LGBTQ community is facing. We dive deep into the strategies they use for data collection and processing and to ensure the data represents the community effectively. Furthermore, Michaels weighs in on the data they’ve gathered that indicates how wide the LGBTQ community is.
Moving into fair housing, we talk about some of the issues the LGBTQ community faces when it comes to housing. Michael dives deep into some of these issues, possible causes, and how more policies could be put in place to ensure more fair treatment to the LGBT community in the housing market. Wrapping up the episode, Michael shares his thoughts on how modern technology has influenced the LGBTQ community and how to overcome divisiveness in a community.
[09:10] Michael’s Journey – We start the conversation with Michael’s background and the path to working in LGBTQ advocacy.
[12:31] One Colorado – The story of how One Colorado was started, a brief review of its history, and the focus of the organization.
[17:36] Colorado and the Rest of the Country – Michael talks about where Colorado stands in comparison with other states in terms of policies related to the LGBTQ community.
[21:31] Data Collection – Once Colorado conducts a significant amount of surveys to assess the needs of the community. We talk about One Colorado’s data collection processes and how they’re optimized to reach the LGBTQ community effectively.
[27:40] Population – Michael breaks down the numbers of how broad the LGBTQ community is.
[30:00] Fair Housing – Michael shares his thoughts on where we are at in terms of fair housing and housing equality for the LGBTQ community and some of the legislations related to fair housing.
[37:03] Housing Challenges – Some of the housing-related challenging situations people in the LGBTQ community have to face.
[45:14] Impact of Technology – Michael shares his take on the positive and negative ways technology has influenced and impacted the LGBTQ community.
[51:00] National Level Support – Michael’s thoughts on the level of support the LGBTQ community gets in terms of policies and legislation.
[56:47] Overcoming Divisiveness – Some of the factors that contribute to divisiveness in a community and how One Colorado inspires the community to stick together and stay strong.
[1:04:29] Final Thoughts – Michael shares his thoughts on what business organizations can do to increase the support for their customers and employees in the LGBTQ community and how people can get involved with One Colorado and other similar organizations.
At Digible, we always try to innovate and create a work culture in which the team can thrive and develop their careers, and lately, we have been receiving recognition for our efforts. Last month, the Denver Post named Digible as the #1 Top Workplace of 2021 in Colorado for Small Businesses. Among many other innovative steps we’re taking to improve the work culture at Digible, starting from July, Digible will be moving into a 4-day workweek. In today’s episode, David, Reid, and Nicole, the three founders, are talking about why Digible is moving to a 4-day workweek and how it’s going to improve the performance and culture at Digible.
It was way back, even before Digible was started when Reid had the idea of a 4-day workweek in his mind. Reid starts the conversation, talking about how he heard about the concept and some of the early research done by prominent tech companies on how a 4-day workweek may improve the performance of an organization. Since we’re so much used to the traditional 5-day workweek, taking an extra day may feel somewhat strange. Nicole talks about how it felt when it was first introduced at Digible and how the process of moving into the new workweek will start in the next month.
Moving into the performance and productivity aspect, Reid dives deep into why a 4-day workweek will improve the productivity of a team and how the happiness and state of mind of employees affect the performance of the whole team. Moving into a 4-day workweek has a huge impact on the relationships and communications with clients. Nicole shares her thoughts on how the clients responded to the announcement and some of the measures Digible is going to take in order to ensure that operations continue to run smoothly, despite the change in the work schedule. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about some of the responses we’ve been receiving about the work culture at Digible and some tips and tricks on preparing for a 4- day workweek.
[01:08] The Origin Story – Reid starts the conversation with the story of how the idea was in his mind even before starting Digible and some of the research that’s been carried out by some of the tech giants on the concept of a 4-day workweek.
[04:45] Embracing the 4-day Work Week – We talk about the plans for the first 4-day workweek at Digible and how this new concept felt like when it was first introduced.
[07:00] Why 4-day Work Week? – Reid dives deep into the results of some of the studies that suggest that a 4-day work week can be more productive compared to a traditional workweek.
[11:40] Productivity – How the 4-day workweek will improve the efficiency and productivity of operations at Digible.
[17:13] Happiness and Work – Reid explains why the performance of a team increases when the team is happy and comfortable.
[22:52] The Announcement – Reid announced the news that Digible is going for a 4-day workweek with an April fools prank. He reflects back on the announcement and how the team responded.
[26:39] Working with Clients – Nicole shares her thoughts on how the clients were responding to this change.
[30:00] Recruitment – We talk about how the recruitment process is going to be adjusted to match the 4-day work week and some of the positive responses Digible has been receiving about its work culture and hiring practices.
[36:25] Preparations – How to prepare for a 4-day workweek in a way that keeps business operations smoothly.
Apple’s new iOS 14 update has been creating new all over the tech community, and its new privacy-related features created widespread debate as Facebook informed its users about the possible loss of features for advertisers. Adam Walters, Director of Paid Media at Digible, has a theory about the real reason why Apple’s rolling out these new updates that heavily affect the advertisers. In this episode, we dive deep into the untold story of iOS 14.
Adam dives into the conversation with a review of what Apple brings to customers in its iOS 14 update and how the new privacy-related features give consumers more choice to control what personal info they share with potential advertisers and 3rd party apps that monetize user data. He further talks about how Apple uses ads on their own platforms on a small scale and how they might expand their ad system in the future.
Companies that manufacture hardware devices have some authority over their users, and Apple is a good example of this. Adam talks about why there’s a powerplay associated with hardware. Diving into Apple’s intentions, Adam talks about some of Apple’s business practices and strategies outside the Unites States that don’t fit into the way they advocate privacy in the United States. David adds his perspective on what these strategies mean for the average consumer and advertisers.
Towards the end of the episode, we talk in-depth about awareness related to privacy. Reid shares his thoughts on the level of education the average consumer has on how their data is shared with advertisers and their options to control what data they share with apps that share user data with advertisers. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about how tech companies could improve the level of choice they can give consumers to have more control over their data and how the power struggles between tech giants may evolve in the near future.
[04:00] The New Update – What advertisers should know about the new features of the iOS 14 update and how it affects other paid media platforms.
[07:21] Apple Ads – How Apple currently uses advertisements, where they’re displayed, and the potential for Apple to expand their ads.
[08:42] Hardware and Powerplay – How the power dynamics of what tech companies can control depends on the hardware made by them.
[10:19] Contradictions – While Apple seems to advocate for privacy, their business strategies outside the United States, especially in China, seem to contradict their philosophy. David talks about the effect of this on consumers and advertisers.
[15:04] Competition – Adam shares his thoughts on the possibility of Apple launching new services to compete with existing tech giants.
[21:25] Privacy & Awareness – Reid shares his take on how educated the average citizen about their privacy and how apps use the information gathered from users.
[26:27] Improving Options – What Apple and other tech companies to give their consumers more choices with regard to what they share with apps.
[36:26] Shifting Power – Companies such as Apple and Google have a lot of power in their respective markets. When one of these companies try to a space that’s almost monopolized by another, it brings up anti-trust issues and other legal concerns. We talk about how these factors might come into play in the future.
The paid media world and search engines are constantly evolving. The trends and patterns that existed in 2019 are quite different from the year 2020. At Digible, we utilize data-driven tactics to analyze how the performance of marketing strategies is going to be affected by numerous conditions in the markets. In today’s snack episode, we talk about how the search trends in 2019 and 2020 compare against each other and what they can tell us about the next year.
Joining us today are Adam Walters, Director of Paid Media, and Megan Haase, Digital Strategy Lead at Digible, along with our host, David Staley, President & Co-Founder of Digible Inc. We start the discussion with Megan’s brief review of the methodology of data collection and analysis. She talks about the key observations they saw in the analysis. Furthermore, we talk about how the behaviors of key performance metrics differed between the two years, possible reasons for these changes, and how the pandemic-related factors affected the performance. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about some of the area-specific changes we may see and what the search trends can tell us about the near future.
[01:00] The Methodology – Megan starts the conversation with a brief review of how the data was gathered for the analysis.
[04:02] Findings – A comparison of major observations from the data with regard to the events of the two years.
[05:31] Performance – How the performance of key metrics compare in the two years and possible reasons for these behaviors.
[07:23] Impact of COVID – Adam shares his thoughts on how the pandemic has affected search trends and what we can expect in the near future.
[12:58] Market Specific Changes – Megan shares her thoughts on some of the changes we may see based on the conditions of specific areas within the United States.
Fair housing is one of the most important aspects of the housing industry with regard to compliance. The concept of fair housing brings consumers the right to choose housing free from unlawful discrimination. There are numerous fair housing legislations at federal and state levels that protect people from discrimination in housing transactions such as rentals, sales, lending, and insurance, and this is an area marketer in the real estate arena should pay constant attention to.
In today’s episode, we have a fair housing expert as our guest. Doug Chasick, aka That Fair Housing Guy™, is Digible’s resident fair housing consultant. Throughout today’s episode, we talk about how fair housing has evolved in the last few decades, the current status of fair-housing-related policies, how the policies may change in the future, optimizing marketing campaigns to comply with fair housing requirements, and more.
Doug started his career in the retail industry, and he gradually shifted his career path to fair housing. We start the conversation talking about his earlier business venture, The Apartment Doctor™, and how he became That Fair Housing Guy™. Doug entered into the industry in the 70s, which was the time the fair housing concepts were being introduced to the industry after The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin or sex. Doug shares his thoughts on how the industry was different back then and how it has evolved through the next few decades.
Moving on to policies, we talk about how the current policies related to fair housing are structures. Doug shares his take on how the current federal administration has been focusing on improving fair housing legislation and possible changes that may occur in the near future. Another area we cover today is how marketers can optimize their strategies to comply with fair housing policies. Doug talks in-depth about targeting the right audiences, how to strategically implement fair housing concepts in marketing, how to analyze the risk associated with marketing, and some tips for getting the job done while maintaining compliance.
Toward the end of the episode, we talk about the most common violations reported regarding fair housing policies, some of the trends Doug sees, and possible reasons for them. Furthermore, Doug shares his take on the accountability and possible penalties associated with policy violations. We wrap up the conversation with a few entertaining stories from Doug’s decades-long career.
[06:53] Doug’s Background – How Doug started his career in retail and moved into the apartment industry and his fair housing work.
[14:03] Evolution of Fair Housing – Doug dives into how the industry was like in the 70s when he first got into the industry and how it has evolved throughout the decades.
[18:44] Policies – Doug shares his take on how the current policies related to fair housing are set up and how the current federal government may intervene to improve these policies.
[24:29] Marketing and Fair Housing – How the concept of fair housing alters the traditional way of marketing and how marketers should prepare to implement fair housing compliant marketing strategies.
[33:42] Targeting the Right Audience – Doug shares his thoughts on how to optimize marketing efforts in a way that reaches the right audience while complying with fair housing concepts.
[46:26] Most Common Violations – Doug talks about the most common fair housing violation claims he has been observing and some of the patterns he sees around complaints and possible causes for these trends.
[53:55] Consequences – Penalties, fines, and other consequences an operator might have to face in case of a complaint or a federal lawsuit related to fair housing.
On Digible Snack episode, we’re always focused on informing you about new innovative ways to improve marketing efforts. In Today’s episode, we’re going to take a quick look at Google’s discovery ads. Discovery ads are a set of visually rich, mobile-first ads that appear in multiple Google feed environments on combine stunning visuals with sophisticated audience targeting features.
Adam dives into the conversation by talking about how discovery ads were introduced, the basic concept behind them, how they’re different from traditional ads. Megan joins the conversation sharing her take on how Gmail ads can be run alongside a discovery ads campaign and what they’ve observed about discovery ads in terms of CPC, conversions, CPL, and other parameters that define the performance of a campaign.
In the next section, we talk about how discovery ads can be used for the purpose of retargeting and how discovery ads allow marketers to create more visually appealing ads. Wrapping up the conversation, David talks about some of the patterns he sees when paid marketing platforms introduce new ad features.
[01:50] Getting to Know Discovery Ads – Adam covers what discovery ads are, where they’re placed and how they’re different from traditional ads.
[04:38] Breaking Down Data – Megan shares with us what they observed when comparing discovery ads against standard non-brand ad campaigns.
[06:00] Retargeting – Adam talks about how discovery ads can be used for retargeting.
[08:29] Ad Creatives – How discovery ads allow marketers to use better ad creatives.
We’re back with another fascinating episode of the DIgible Dudes Podcast. Our guest today is a pioneer in introducing new technologies to the multi-family industry. Jennifer Cyphers, Founder & CEO of Pynwheel, joins us today to talk about their new solution, Self Guided Tours. Throughout the episode, we dive into the story of Pynwheel, their innovative solutions, industry trends, and more.
We dive into the conversation with a retrospect of Jennifer’s career journey. Jennifer had plans to go to medical school at the beginning of her career. We talk about how her career shifted to a totally different path, in which she thrived later on. Jennifer shares with us what she learned from working in several different roles in the multi-family industry and how her experience inspired her to start Pynwheel.
Pynwheel is a company that focuses on providing innovative technology solutions to modernize the on-site tour. Jennifer dives into what Pynwheel offers to its customers and how its solutions help their clients improve their business. We also talk about the process of setting up Pynwheel’s self-guided tours and the philosophy she and her team follow at Pynwheel to take feedback from stakeholders and use it to continuously improve their products.
In the next section, Jennifer shares her thoughts on the way the industry has changed over the years, the impact of COVID, and how new technologies are pushing the industry toward significant changes in the workforce. We also talk about some of the partnerships Pynwheel has created to offer more innovative solutions to its customers. In recent months, both Pynwheel and DIgible have tried four-day workweeks. Wrapping up the conversation, David, Reid, and Jennifer share their thoughts on how it influenced the workflow of the business.
[12:00] Jennifer’s Story – We talk about how Jennifer got started in the multi-family industry and how it paved the way to starting her brainchild, Pynwheel.
[21:03] Pynwheel – Jennifer dives into why she wanted to start Pynwheel, the unique value proposition of Pynwheel, and how they have evolved over the years.
[33:45] Introducing New Products – When starting a new product or service, you can either create a new company for that or deliver it under your existing brand. Jennifer dives into the pros and cons of each of these tactics.
[37:35] Product Feedback – Jennifer shares with us how they approached taking feedback from consumers and using them to improve their work.
[41:00] Self-guided Tours – Jennifer talks about what they offer to their clients at Pyhwheel and the process of getting started and setting up the self-guided tours.
[51:45] Incorporating Technology – New trends Jennifer sees emerging in the multi-family industry in terms of implementing new technologies.
[59:00] Partnerships – Jennifer talks about some of the partnerships they’ve built with other smart technology providers to offer more innovative solutions to customers.
[1:06:25] Workforce in the Industry – Jennifer shares her take on how the implementation of new automated technologies may change the workforce dynamics in the coming years.
[1:14:48] Future Vision – We talk about how Pynwheel’s trajectory may look like in the next decade and Jennifer’s goals for the company.
[1:20:34] Work Week – Both Digible and Pynwheel have experimented with four-day workweeks. We talk about how it changed the workflow and the mindset of the staff.
Branded search campaigns are a paid advertising tactics where a business can target search keywords that include or are related to relevant brand names. These ads are significantly less expensive compared to their branded counterparts, and running this type of ad gives several benefits to businesses. The Digible team has been experimenting with this tactic for some time, and on today’s snack episode, we talk all about branded search campaigns. Joining us today are two paid media specialists from Digible; Adam Walters, Director of Paid Media, and Megan Haase, Digital Strategy Lead at Digible.
We start the discussion by talking about how these ads are different from others and the purpose they serve in a sophisticated marketing strategy. We talk about the experiment conducted by the Digible team, the tactics they used, and what they observed in terms of form-fills, user sessions, bounce rate, session duration, and several other metrics. One of the most outstanding observations of this experiment was how branded search ads affected the form-fills. Adam talks about what may have contributed to this observation.
In the next section, we talk about writing ad copies for branded search ads, how to set up budgets, and allocating a healthy amount of money for branded search campaigns according to your marketing strategy. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about how the way users respond to ads has evolved over the years and what marketers should keep in mind about user behaviors.
[0:31] Why Brand Search – Megan dives into the conversation with a brief review of what brand search campaigns are and their purpose.
[01:42] The Experiment – What the Digible team observed when trying branded search campaigns in terms of user sessions, bounce rate, and other metrics.
[03:24] Form Fills – Adam shares his take on how the branded search campaigns affected the number of form-fills they got from ad campaigns and some of the possible reasons for this outcome.
[07:25] Ad Copy – How to prepare effective ad copies for branded search campaigns.
[09:06] Cost and Budgeting – How the cost of brand ads compare against non-brand, and how to prepare budgets according to your marketing strategy.
[12:24] User Evolution – How more and more users are developing a habit of skipping ads to look for organic content and how it affects the performance of ad campaigns.
Last week, the Apartment Innovation and Marketing Conference, aka the AIM conference, held another virtual chapter, AIM RECONNECT. Representing DIgible, David and Reid conducted a round table session on fair housing. In today’s episode, David and Reid recap the highlights of the event, their favorite sessions, and what they learned throughout the virtual conference.
David & Reid dive into the discussion, talking about the background of the event, the way it was arranged, and some of the sessions. They dive into one of the key points they learned in the event, which is dealing with having to iterate the same set of things over and over again and how to keep your mind excited while iterating.
Conducting a virtual session is quite different from an in-person session and having a virtual session has its own unique perks. David talks about how the virtual event experience was for him and why he loved the chat option so much. Moving on to the guests, David and Reid talk about some of the guests who made the event interesting, including Robert Turnbull from BetterBot, our guest for episode 65 of the Digible Dudes.
In the last part of the episode, David and Reid dive into the technologies developed by businesses that attended the event. They talk about how the impact of these new technologies and what they think about the future and sustainability of the new technologies.
[01:10] The Event and the Keynotes – David & Reid start the conversation with a brief review of the background of the AIM Reconnect 2021 and its sessions.
[08:00] Dealing with Repetition – David gets into an aspect of business leadership where leaders have to keep repeating the same things over and over again. They talk about how it relates to the event and how to deal with it in business work.
[12:00] Virtual vs. In-Person – Due to the current situation, the event was conducted as a virtual event. David talks about how the experience felt different and some of the cool benefits of having a virtual event as opposed to an in-person event.
[16:00] Guests – David and Reid talk about some of the interesting guests who went the extra mile to make their sessions more interactive and energetic.
[21:07] Digible’s Session – David and Reid conducted a roundtable session on fair housing. They talk about the key points discussed in the session.
[28:30] New Technologies – Sessions about new technologies that came up in the event and what David and Reid think about the future of them.
[39:00] Issues with Technologies – Reid talks about some of the issues he sees with the advertising technologies used in today’s real estate markets.
Paid search platforms such as Google are introducing new and smarter features every year to help advertisers get more sophisticated control over their ad campaigns. In today’s Digible Snack episode, we talk about another metric that comes in handy for paid search campaigns; Search Impression Share. Joining us today are two paid media specialists from Digible; Adam Walters, Director of Paid Media, and Megan Haase, Digital Strategy Lead at Digible. Throughout the episode, we talk all about how search impression share works and what we can learn from it.
We dive into the conversation with a brief review of what search impression share is, how it works, and what it tells us about the performance of a paid search campaign. Megan dives into the way they’ve been monitoring the search impression share for paid search campaigns of clients as a part of the study. We also talk about the relationship between the search impression shares and performance of campaigns, and the occupancy rates. Wrapping up the episode, Adam shares some tips and tricks that help you implement some of the learnings from this study in your paid search campaigns.
[00:17] Experiment – Adam and Megan share how they monitor the search impression share for clients and the experiment they conducted by combining it with some automation.
[01:52] The Philosophy – Adam shares how he views the value of the impression share metric with regard to the goals of an ad campaign.
[03:48] Impressions and Occupancy – Megan shares what she saw in the findings of this case study about how impression share correlated with the occupancy rate.
[05:04] Impact on ROI – Adam shares his thoughts on the impact impression shared had on the return on investment of a campaign.
[06:47] Takeaways – Megan and David share some of the key takeaways they learned from the study.
[09:20] Applications – Adam dives into how marketers can implement the new learnings from the study in their campaigns.
We start the conversation by diving into Everett’s background prior to starting Amenify, the story of Amenify, and the unique value proposition Amenify offers to residents, communities, and service providers. Everett shares with us the nuts and bolts of their business model and what goes into choosing the services they provide and the services they don’t provide.
Starting a business venture at the wrong time can cause a lot of trouble for the business down the road. Everett shares with us some of the reasons and market trends that made him decide that 2016 is a good time to start this new venture. We also talk about their target market in terms of customers and partners.
Another crucial factor that affects the success of a business venture is the organizational structure. Everett shares with us how Amenify has designed its organizational structure, How they allocate their resources, and the priority they have gives for innovation, research, and development. Furthermore, we talk about the performance metrics utilized at Amenify to keep track of their success and some of the strategic plans they have for the next few months.
Towards the end of the episode, we talk about Amenify’s BHAG or the big hairy audacious goal for the next decade and the thought process behind deciding what that goal is. Wrapping up the episode, Everett shares some tips and tricks for those who plan to enter the property technology market and some of the books that have inspired Everett’s business journey.
[16:31] Getting to Know Amenify – Everett talks about his background in the tech industry, what Amenify offers and how the venture started and grew.
[20:57] The Value Proposition – Everett dives into what Ameify has included in their value proposition, their unique business model, and the way they’ve selected the services they provide.
[27:00] Right Timing for Business – Why timing is an important factor in starting a new business venture and why Everett thinks 2016 was the right time for them to start Amenify.
[30:07] Partnering, Customers, and the Target Market – Everett talks about the characteristics of their ideal customers and companies they want to partner with.
[38:07] Organizational Design – How Amenify has structured its resources, budget, and staff, and the way they prioritize their research and development.
[43:25] Evaluating Success – Everett dives into the way they set expectations for success and the performance metrics they use for evaluating their success.
[50:22] Future Direction – Everett shares his take on what their customer base looked like in the beginning and where Everett sees the industry heading, and how their trajectory may change according to new market conditions.
[57:18] Challenges & Competition – Some of the biggest challenges Amenify has to face in their business and the measures they take to stay competitive.
[1:07:17] The BHAG – Everett talks about the vision of Amenfy for the next ten years and what markets they hope to expand into.
[1:12:11] Innovation and Growth – How companies can make sure they’re pursuing the right innovations and keep their growth steady.
[1:17:03] Business Philosophy – Everett shares his take on the practices they do to maintain healthy relationships with their stakeholders and some tips & tricks for people who wish to get into the property technology industry.
[1:24:11] Books that Inspired Everett – Some of the books that heavily influenced Everett’s trajectory in different phases of his career.
Welcome back to another snack episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. Today we have two guests on the show; Megan Haase, Digital Strategy Lead at Digible Inc, and Adm Walters, Director of Paid Media at Digible Inc. Throughout the last few weeks, Megan and adam have been trying out a new ad strategy; remarketing lists for search ads, aka RLSA, which is a feature of Google ads that lets you customize your search ads campaign for previous visitors of your website, and customize your bids and ads to these visitors when they're searching on Google and their partner sites.
Megan starts the conversation with an explanation of what RLSA ads are, how they work, and how it differs from traditional retargeting ads. She dives into the results of their experiment on RLSA ads and what they learned from it. Another area we focus on today's episode is managing keywords. Keywords are a crucial aspect of any ad campaign. Adam and Megan share their thoughts about how keywords come into play for RLSA ads and strategies for determining keywords that target the most relevant people for the ads.
In the next part of the episode, we dive into the money management aspect, where Adam talks in-depth about strategies for budgeting for RLSA ad campaigns. Wrapping up the episode, David and Adam share their thoughts on combining RLSA with other channels and how it can be beneficial to campaigns with small budgets.
[00:51] Introduction - Megan explains what RLSA ads are and how they work.
[03:28] Tests Results – How the Digible team's test on RLSA ads went and how the ads performed throughout the experiment.
[05:08] Keywords – Megan dives into what sort of keywords work best to reach the most relevant users and what marketers should keep in mind about keywords for RLSA ads.
[07:03] Privacy Measures – Adam weighs in about the technical aspects of tracking used for RLSA ads and how Google's cookie ban may impact it.
[09:26] Budgeting – Adam shares his thoughts on the best ways to set realistic budgets for RLSA ad campaigns.
[11:19] Combining with Other Channels – David pivots the conversations to a tactic for businesses with small budgets where they can take advantage of combining RLSA ads with other inexpensive channels that gets traffic to websites.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. We are back again with another interesting episode of David and Reid dedicated to a most recent book they read, Beyond Entrepreneurship by James M. Collins. Stay tuned until the end of the episode, where David and Reid dive deep into how that book impacts them and how they are going to launch the parts of that book into the company.
Starting the conversation, David shares how he became aware of the author Jim Collins saying that he couldn’t keep down his book Beyond Entrepreneurship because he believed that this book would help him to have a better idea about long-term disciplines to grow the company.
Then, David and Reid share their attitude about the books you need to read if you are an entrepreneur or a founder or if you are just looking for answers, but according to David, it depends on your intentions.
In the next part, David and Reid both share their key takeaways from the book, saying that the book helped them to figure out what needs to be done next for the company because the company has got a big deal of reputation in a short period.
Further down to the episode, David and Reid share their motivation for the carrier, saying that it’s not the money but the influence showing Patagonia clothing company as an example of a business that influences society rather than earning money.
Continuing the conversation, David digs deep into the term Discipline in an organization, saying that building discipline is super hard as well as it’s super important.
Then, David talks about the risks you are about to get when launching a new product and saying you can’t fail too often because you have a reputation to maintain.
Wrapping up the conversation, David and Reid talk about the one last question they want to ask from James Collins, the author of Beyond Entrepreneurship, saying that they want to ask him what they should care about in Digible among those valuable lessons mentioned in the book.
[06.09] Jim Collins - Who is Jim Collins and his book Beyond Entrepreneurship.
[08.20] The Best Books – David & Reid talk about some of the best books for an entrepreneur or a founder; The Lost And Founder by Rand Fishkin , Jim Collin’s Beyond Entrepreneurship.
[16.42] Key Takeaways from the Book - Getting aligned with purpose, mission, and vision and building core values happen to be the key takeaways of David and Reid from the book.
[26.36] Motivation for Carrier – Best career motivation is not money but social influence like putting the right people in the right places.
[00.35] Discipline- What kind of discipline an organization needs to have, and how hard it to be achieved when a company is growing fast.
[09.02] Launching a New Product - How it is to launch new products for a company like Digible and James Collin’s attitude about a new product launching in his book Beyond Entrepreneurship.
[17.16] One Question for James Collins - What they should pay attention to and what they should ignore when it comes to Digible.
Resources:
Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup:
goodreads.com/book/show/35957156-lost-and-founder
Beyond Entrepreneurship: Turning Your Business Into an Enduring Great Company:
goodreads.com/book/show/869231.Beyond_Entrepreneurship
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. We are here with another interesting episode dedicated to diving deep into a fascinating marketing concept: white-labeling. Throughout the episode, we talk about what white labeling is, the pros and cons of white labeling, common concerns of marketers regarding white labeling, what questions you should ask if you are interested in white labeling. Stay tuned until the end of the episode, where David and Reid dig deep into this concept.
Reid shares the cause of getting into white labeling after his conversation with Melissa Robins, a marketer. Beginning the conversation, Reid explains what White Labeling and some of the traits white labeling has in common sub-contracting.
Then, David talks about the two types of white labeling, the services aspect of white labeling and the technical side of white labeling. Furthermore, they dig into those two types and discuss things like if there are negative effects of white labeling, the process of the technical aspect of white labeling, and the people who you work with within the service aspect of white labeling.
Then David and Reid share their take on outsourcing work to another company like Digible and the alterations they have for that within Digible. In the next part of the conversation, David shares his thoughts about how does and does not scale the white labeling saying that, if you are a businessman, then you are in a better position of doing that.
Then David and Reid pay their attention to the pricing in white labeling. According to David, it’s not dissimilar to the marketplace in the management fee, pointing out some of the statistics of management fees in white labeling. And Reid says it’s challenging to deal with staffing in the whole equation of account management and campaign management.
[00.23] Why White-label?- The reasons for a company to utilize white labeling as a marketing strategy.
[09.46] Understanding White Labeling - What is white labeling, and how it works.
[14.10] Types of White Labeling- The two aspects of white labeling and when to use each type.
[29.30] Comparison – David & Reid discusses several aspects of white labeling versus not white labeling.
[34.11] Outsourcing – How outsourcing fits into the white labeling and how marketers can improve their strategies by outsourcing certain tasks.
[37.09] Pricing of White Labeling- The management fee in the marketplace of white labeling and the challenges that come up when doing the staffing in account management and campaign management.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. We are here with another interesting episode dedicated to industry partnerships. Stay tuned until the end of the episode where David and Reid talk about how Digible is going to approach them.
Entering the conversation, Reid shares his thoughts on SEMRush as a data provider to Fiona saying the whole process surprises him and then they discuss some statistics about SEMRush in the past and the present.
Next, Reid shares the reason for having partnerships in Digible, saying that they were not focused on partnerships in the past as a company, but now it’s time to start partnerships with other awesome companies out there.
Then, David shares his attitude about having partnerships with other people and what motivates him to have official partnership conversations with people.
Further down to the conversation, David and Reid share their attitudes about the categories of partnerships saying specifically that they have to figure out what’s the connection between the real partnership versus being friendly with the partners.
In the next part of the conversation, Reid talks about the principles of partnerships saying that having partnerships is not just about business, but the core values in them because they have to be careful about the people with who they are dealing.
Then, David shares his attitude about selecting a company to have a partnership with core values, saying that it’s better to examine how that company maintains their core values not only the business because the well-being of the working people is important as much as the partnerships.
Wrapping up the conversation, David shares that what they mostly look in a company to understand the different concepts of them hoping that they would do the same for them.
[00.51] SEMRush Move - What are SEMRush and their growth in expanding their position internationally on paying customers since 2010.
[11.54] Partnerships for Digible - The reason why they didn’t focus on having partnerships in the past and the reason why they are hoping to have partnerships now.
[14.4] Relationship with other people - The relationship they had with people at the very beginning of Digible and the reasons why they like to have professional partnerships with people out there.
[21.35] Classification of Partnerships - The types of partnerships, and how they differ from each other.
[03.03] Principle’s of Partnerships- The core values of partnerships and how to deal with the people you are working.
[07.52] Core Values - The importance of having core values of the partnership company and how it connects with the working people.
Recently, Google announced that Chrome browser will no longer allow using 3rd party cookies, starting from 2022, in an attempt to take another step in improved user privacy. Although Google isn’t the first tech giant to follow this path because Firefox and Safari had started this process long before, Google’s decision will have a bigger impact on the digital marketing arena. Nicole Brennan, Director of Client Services, joins us today to talk about the impact of this change.
David and Nicole dive into the conversation by talking about what types of cookies are going away, different types of cookies, and how they are distinct from each other. They also talk about some of the other options available for retargeting once cookie-based retargeting becomes unavailable.
Another area David & Nicole focuses on is contextual targeting. Nicole talks about how contextual targeting may come in handy for marketers when Google implements this new approach. Wrapping up the episode, David & Nicole talk about how location-based marketing comes into play with regard to the cookie ban and some tips and tricks for communicating with stakeholders about Google’s cookie ban and its impact on advertising campaigns.
[01:38] Cookies – Not all cookies are going away. Nicole talks about what goes away, what stays, and the differences between the two types of cookies.
[02:54] Alternate Options – Some of the other options available for marketers for retargeting once this cookie ban is implemented.
[05:14] Contextual Targeting – How contextual targeting works and how it may be beneficial once the cookie ban is implemented.
[06:54] The Motive – David & Nicole talk about the reasons why Google may have decided to disallow 3rd party cookies.
[10:04] Location-Based Targeting – How the new change may affect location-based marketing and what marketers need to keep in mind about it.
[13:37] Stakeholders - How marketers can effectively communicate with their stakeholders about the impact of Google’s cookie ban.
The state of Maryland just passed legislation to place a tax on digital advertising in an attempt to raise around $250 million to resolve the budget gaps related to the COVID pandemic. However, this legislation caused some serious concerns in the digital advertising community as it created several complexities when it comes to the execution of the tax. In today’s episode, David & Reid dive into what this new legislation covers, how it affects the tech giants as well as small businesses, and what it means for marketers.
David and Reid dive into the conversation with a bit f background on the new law. They talk about the trends that influenced this legislation, the possibility of this law being adopted in other states, and what this means for small businesses in the advertising industry. Moving on, David & Reid review the key components of the legislation and how the tax brackets work in this new legislation. They also talk about the possibility of the impact of the tax being rolled down to small businesses and customers, despite the tax being imposed on tech giants.
The digital advertising industry is significantly complicated, with lots of middlemen involved in the process. And this tax adds more complexities to the already complex environment. David & Reid talk about how this may affect the industry, how it might specifically affect online listing platforms, the effect on businesses located in other states.
There are a few organizations that went to court with the intention of getting this legislation repealed as they view it as unfair legislation. Wrapping up the episode, David & Reid talk about what might happen in the courts and how marketers should be prepared for what’s coming.
[01:38] Big Tech & Tax – The motive behind this legislation, the possibility of widespread adoption, and what this means to relatively small businesses in advertising.
[05:52] The Legislation – Reid and David talk about the key aspects this legislation covers and how the tax brackets work in this new legislation.
[09:11] Affect on Small Businesses – How the impact of the tax on big tech may roll down to small businesses and their clientele.
[12:05] Middlemen – The digital advertising arena has a significant amount of middlemen in the chain. David talks about how this new tax process might get complicated when it comes to working with middlemen.
[15:13] Online Platforms – How the tax may affect platforms such as CoStar, apartments.com and how these companies may respond to the tax.
[20:00] Other States – How the Maryland tax legislation might affect advertising businesses in other states.
[25:54] Countermeasures – There are few organizations filing lawsuits to argue that this tax is unfair. David and Reid talk about what might happen in courts and how the advertising platforms may handle this until the legal disputes are resolved.
Today we’re back with another Digible Snack episode. Adam Walters, the Director of Paid Media at Digible, and Megan Haase, a Digital Strategy Lead at Digible, join us today to talk about the findings of a case study they conducted on the messaging of retargeting ads.
We kick off the conversation by briefly revisiting what retargeting is, how it works, and how a retargeting ad should be different from a regular ad. In this case study, Megan & Adam monitored numerous parameters related to retargeting performance. We dive into how the retargeting ads increased website visits, improved CTR and positively affected other performance metrics.
In the next section, we talk about the role of the ad copy in a retargeting campaign and why it’s crucial to choose the right words for an ad copy to adapt to the thought process of a potential customer. Wrapping up the episode, Megan and Adam explain the final learnings of the study and how they’ll be applying what they learnt into their marketing strategies at Digible.
[01:08] Retargeting – What retargeting is and the changes between the creative designs used for retargeting versus regular ads.
[03:34] Performing Metrics – Megan dives into the performance differences they saw throughout the experiment in terms of website visits, engagement, CTR, and more.
[05:39] Ad Copy – How the right words in the ad copy can make a huge improvement in your retargeting ads and the psychological background of it.
[08:06] New Strategies – Megan talks about what they learnt throughout this case study and how they’ll be updating their marketing strategies based on the case study.
Hello and welcome to the Digible Dudes podcast. In today’s episode, David and Reid have two guest speakers, Victor Dozal, who is a Director Of Engineering at Digible, and Ricardo Roman, a Senior Software Engineer at Digible, Inc. Throughout today’s episode, Victor and Ricardo share their valuable thoughts about the philosophy we follow at Digible to brainstorm ideas that drive our innovative solutions. Here, the two guest speakers will share their experience and knowledge on ‘The Walt Disney Method.’
[13.09] Introduction on ‘How Digible Engineers Brainstorm.’- There is no right or wrong in brainstorming. We kick off the discussion by talking about the purpose of brainstorming and how to familiarize yourself with the target user base?
[20.23] A quick introduction on The Walt Disney Method.’ – The Walt Disney Method is a philosophy we have been following at Digible for quite some time. They mainly talk about what it is and how to implement the concept.
[23.08] Why is The Walt Disney Method critical? - Software Engineers try Walt Disney’s method to create ideas for animated films.
[24.52] How does Digible use it? – How the Digible team has built their unique flavor of the Wale Disney Method.
[28.07] An Explanation on The Digible Brainstorming Steps - creative brainstorming to help turn dreams into applicable projects.
[33. 35] Step 0: Preparation- The Walt Disney Method is built on the interplay of three roles; the dreamer (visionary, idea supplier), the realist (maker), plus the critic (quality manager). We talk about the contribution from each role for the concept.
[40.37] Step 1: Introduction – We talk about concretizing goals and visions, and the way we elaborate concepts and ideas.
[44.20] Step 2: We are all dreamers – We talk about the visionary. The concept of out-of-the-box thinking and looking at the whole picture, and how a dreamer is not hindered by strait-jacketing but is creative and imaginative and sees limitless opportunities.
[27.01] Step 3: Organize the chaos – In this step, we classify the ideas into groups. Participants pool all the sticky notes to one corner of the board. Then, each participant takes turns pulling a sticky and place the idea in a “bucket” or group by asking a simple question:
Does this sticky note fit into an existing group, or do we create a new one?
[01.03.30] Step 4: We are all realists - The realist looks at the practical possibilities to find out whether an idea is really feasible. We talk about how this happens and the way a realist looks at aspects such as the available amount of means and time.
[01.06.59] Step 5 - We are all Critics – We talk about the concept of a logician who looks for contradictions and how it helps the brainstorming process.
[01.11.12] Post-brainstorming - After the session, when all are ready to begin our work, it is important to note what happens to all the work we did for the brainstorming session, including our discarded ideas. After each step of the brainstorm, we create a copy of the board and save it as another sheet in Google Jamboard. This helps them keep a history of each step in case they need to revisit past ideas.
[01.19.39] Final Thoughts - Software Engineering may seem like it has nothing in common with making animated films. But it does: it requires enormous amounts of creativity. This method of brainstorming helps keep those creative juices flowing and create ideas. These ideas started Digible, made it grow, and will continue to power it for a long time.
We’re back with another episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. This week on the podcast, we have Scott Hill, executive chairman and co-founder of PEQ, an engagement technology company that provides solutions that connect consumers to brands. Throughout the episode, we talk about how PERQ came into life, what they offer in their solutions for the multifamily industry, how AIs are integrated into the sales process, how the new technologies in the future may change where the industry is headed, and many more.
Scott started his career journey in an entirely different industry. Diving into the conversation, Scott shares stories about his early years in the newspaper industry, how he got into the automotive industry, and the way he got into creating solutions for multifamily marketing by realizing that the automotive and real estate industries have some common aspects. At PERQ, Scott and his team take a different approach to lead generation and conversions. He shares with us what they offer and how they approach integrating automated solutions for lead generation without overworking employees.
In this episode, we talk a lot about artificial intelligence based marketing solutions and how they can improve our marketing efforts. Diving into the AI arena, Scott shares how natural language processing is used to improve the capabilities of the solutions they offer at PERQ. Scott also talks about how these technologies may evolve in the future, the possibility of integrating AI-based tools to assist more roles related to real estate marketing, and ways to accelerate the learning & training process of AI-based tools.
In the next section, Scott shares his take on setting reasonable expectations around using automated tools, KPIs that can be used to measure the performance of the tools. Wrapping up the conversation, David & Scott discuss some of the basic things marketers have to think about when building effective websites apart from integrating fancy new tools and how to make websites that convert better with AI integrations.
[14:50] Scott’s Story – Scott talks about the early years of his career in the newspaper industry, his business journey, and how he got into his current line of work.
[19:50] Digital vs. Print – Scott shares his thoughts on the tracking capabilities and tactics of digital marketing compared to printed material.
[25:00] From Automotive to Real Estate – How Scott’s focus shifted from one industry to another, how the offerings have changed over the last three years and what Scott has learned from the experience.
[30:10] The Customer Journey – The process of getting started with PERQ’s automated leasing assistant and how it improves your marketing efforts.
[40:12] Lead Generation & Conversion – Scott talks about the philosophy they follow at PERQ for lead generation and conversions and how to integrate automated processes for lead generation without overwhelming your team.
[45:00] AI vs. Guided Conversations – Scott shares his take on how AIs can help with the sales process, how PERQ’s AIs use natural language processing to improve their features.
[50:05] Future Developments – What Scott foresees for the industry in the next decade and what marketers can do to be a step ahead of their competitors.
[57:04] AI in Other Roles – Scott talks about the possibility of AI being integrated into more roles related to real estate marketing.
[1:06:19] Data Attribution – How data analysis and attribution can improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and how the technologies in the future may affect the industry in this aspect.
[1:13:34] Accelerating NLP – Scott shares some tactics that can be used to accelerate the process of training AI assistants.
[1:20:25] Expectations & KPIs – How to set reasonable expectations around integrating automated assistants and the KPIs to measure the performance.
Hello and welcome to the Digible Dudes podcast. In today's episode, David and Reid have Robert Turnbull, Founder, President & COO of BetterBot, as the guest speaker. Robert is the founder of BetterBot. Throughout the episode, Robert shares many valuable thoughts about the Property Management Chatbot, Multifamily Chatbot of Choice, and Benefits of BetterBot's Multifamily Chatbot.
BetterBot’s omnichannel chatbot delivers 24/7 availability on all marketing channels, including website, email, SMS, social, and Advertising channels. Diving into the conversation, Robert explains how to turn prospects into renters with BetterBot’s Omnichannel Chatbot. Robert shares that this apartment chatbot software is able to hand off conversations to leasing agents in a way that make sense to them. He also weighs in on the user experience of the Real Estate Chatbot. He also shares that partnering with best-of-breed companies in multifamily adds remarkable value to our customers. He says that BetterBot is the core technology powering bots for some of the most innovative companies in the space.
In the next section, he shares his ideas about Multifamily Chatbot of Choice. He declares that 97% of all properties that utilize BetterBot keep using BetterBot. They currently work with over 100 property management companies, allowing their agents to handle higher-level tasks not suited for bots. Robert also says that with Conversational Leasing, everyone wins!
In the next part of this episode, Reid, Robert, and David share their thoughts about High-Value Conversations that are far more valuable than leads, which is the philosophy of BetterBot. Further down in the episode, Robert shares that all top 5 property management companies use BetterBot to turn conversations into signed leases. Next, Robert shares his thoughts about BetterBot being not another CRM company, a lead generation widget, or a marketing agency. He says that they are a team of dedicated builders, designers, and support enthusiasts focused 100% on building the best conversational leasing bot in the real estate rental market. Robert finally shares that better bots can only come from a better team who are passionate about the industry and love helping property managers turn more prospects into renters.
[13.09] BetterBot’s Omnichannel Chatbot – Robert shares the story of how the company started and what they’ve accomplished so far.
[20.23] Robert Turnbull's story – He shares his journey at BetterBot and what he has learned through his experience.
[23.08] Customer Success – Robert talks about how his team looks at customer success and what they do to understand the customers' problems and fix them.
[24.52] The Multifamily Chatbot of Choice – What BetterBot offers and how they stand apart from the rest of the market.
[28.07 Benefits of BetterBot's Multifamily Chatbot – Robert talks about how BetterBot started, its past, present, and what are the benefits of BetterBot's Multifamily Chatbot.
[33. 35] Best Features - Robert explains the best features of BetterBot along with its core technology.
[40.37] Finding Success – Robert shares his wisdom on creating strategies that stand out in the market and the way they differ from other existing companies.
[44.20] Lead Attribution – How to improve the quality of leads by utilizing the latest tools.
[27.01] User Experience – Robert talks about high-value conversations that are far more valuable than leads.
[01.03.30] Major Talking Points with Customers – He says that they are a team of dedicated builders, designers, and support enthusiasts focused 100% on building the best conversational leasing bot in the real estate rental market.
[01.06.59] Customer Loyalty – Tips & tricks Hannah uses at their firm to maintain customer loyalty.
[01.19.39] Matchmaking – Robert shares why better bots can only come from a better team.
Today we have a very special episode on the Digible Dudes. So far, we’ve always been talking about all things related to marketing and business, but today we’re doing something a little bit different. Today we’re talking about things we love. And as opposed to having one guest, we have five guests joining us on the podcast to talk about things they love. Our guests today are Grace Harrison, Greta Wolking, Steve, Kayde Pierce, and Noah Leach. They’re all members of the Digible team, and throughout the episode, they talk about stuff they love and some awesome stories around.
Our first guest is Grace Harrison, an account coordinator at Digible. One of the things Grace absolutely loves is the goats owned by Grace’s family. She talks about how they came to own them, stories about how they named them, stuff about what’s involved in taking care of them, perks of having them, and more.
Greta Wolking, a paid media strategist at Digible, is our next guest. Greta has a number of things she’s passionate about, one of them being circus arts. In today’s episode, Greta shares her story of learning circus arts. Trapeze is one of the things Greta has mastered. Greta shares several fascinating stories about the art of performing trapeze.
Next up is Steve Osbourne, an SEO strategist at Digible. One of the interesting things about Steve is that he owns an escape room. An escape room is a game where players have to team up, find clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish numerous tasks to escape from the room. Steve owns an escape room as a business, and today Steve talks about what it is like to run such a business and recent developments around the industry.
Kayde Pierce, an account manager at Digible, joins our conversation to talk about one of the things she’s a big fan of; Harry Potter. Kayde talks about falling in love with the world of witchcraft and wizardry, how she came to enjoy the books and movies alike, what makes Harry Potter unique among other creations in the fantasy genre. Our final guest is Noah Leach, a paid media strategist at Digible. Noah is an enthusiast of coffee. Noah talks about the process of roasting coffee, why he enjoys doing it and the benefits of roasting your own coffee.
[06:38] Grace’s Love for Goats – It turns out Grace’s family has goats. Grace shared how they came to own goats and what’s great about having them.
[11:58] Goat Names – Grace shares the awesome story of how they named their goats.
[18:23] ROI of Goats – Although we said we’re off-topic today, David somehow found a way to get Grace to talk about the ROI of having goats.
[26:28] Circus Arts with Greta - Greta shares how she fell in love with circus arts and how she learned the art.
[30:25] Trapeze – Greta shares what it takes to practice and perform trapeze and why she enjoys doing it.
[37:39] Profession of Trapeze Arts – How the professional trapeze artists do their work and the struggles the circus industry has been facing lately.
[44:57] Escape Rooms – Steve Osbourne talks about what escape rooms are and how the escape room industry popped out of nowhere a few years back and became popular in a very short time.
[50:08] New Innovations – Steve talks about what’s involved in designing and building an escape room and trends and innovations that happen around escape rooms.
[1:01:49] Witchcraft & Wizardry with Kayde – Kayde shares her love for the Harry Potter universe and what Kayde loves about them.
[1:15:44] Coffee with Noah – Noah shares how he fell in love with coffee.
[1:20:32] Roasting Coffee – The process of roasting coffee, different types of coffee, and how coffee from different countries have a wide range of flavors.
[1:33:23] ROI of Coffee – Noah talks about what he gets from investing time in getting shipped his own coffee beans and roasting at home.
Welcome to the Digible Dudes podcast. We’re back again with another Digible Snack episode with two special guests, Megan & Adam. Megan is the digital strategy lead for the paid media department, and Adam is the director of paid media at Digible. Over the last few months, our guests have been doing several case studies on numerous aspects of paid advertising, and in today’s episode, we talk about what dynamic ads are, how they work, what’s so unique about them, and more.
[01:38] Dynamic Ads – What dynamic ads are and how to utilize them in paid search campaigns.
[02:27] Standard Vs. Dynamic – Megan shares her observations about the performance improvement dynamic ads have over standard ad campaigns in terms.
[03:36] Cost Per Conversion – How the cost per conversion of dynamic ads behaves compared to regular ads.
[05:26] Keywords – Megan shares her thoughts on how keywords come into play for dynamic search ads.
[06:22] What’s Unique in Dynamic Ads? – Adam talks about the unique features and behaviors of dynamic ads that make dynamic ads stand out from the rest.
[08:17] SEO & Dynamic Ads – How the SEO setup of a website affects the performance of dynamic ads.
We’re back with another Digible Snack episode where we have David, Megan, and Adam talking about how effective would it be to use neighborhood-related keywords in your paid search campaigns. Megan is the digital strategy lead for the paid media department and Adam is the director of paid media at Digible. Throughout this short episode, our guests share their wisdom on numerous things marketers need to know about using neighborhood-related keywords in their paid search campaigns.
[01:08] Case Studies – Reid and Nicole talk about the case studies they conducted and why they chose these topics.
[02:09] Keywords and Neighborhoods – Nicole shares some statistics that reflect the behavior of keywords related to certain areas and what marketers should keep in mind about it.
[03:50] Client Data – How the data from clients about how they research neighborhoods for relocating relates to marketers.
[05:41] Micro Improvements – Why even small improvements in the performance of search campaigns significantly matter.
[07:01] Big Market – Why you should pay attention to sub-market keywords when you’re focusing on a big city and how it might improve the performance of your marketing efforts.
[07:36] Neighboring Neighborhoods – What you should consider when you’re thinking about targeting nearby areas to your main territory of interest.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. Today we have a short episode where we dive into what you should know about when to launch a new product. In today’s episode, David and Reid pay their attention to a book, New York Times bestseller, “Zero To One’’ written by an American entrepreneur and investor, Peter Theil. In this book, the author dives into several concepts around products that we use in this episode to talk about launching a new product.
Stating the conversation, David shares details about the book, its author, and the key concepts that the author mentioned in his book. Then, David and Reid share their thoughts on the concept of MVP, minimum viable product, how the author Peter mentioned that concept in his book, and some other couple of examples about this MVP being used to build successful companies.
Further down in the episode, Reid talks about another book, Lost and Founder, written by Rand Fishkin, and how the concepts in that book compare to the ones mentioned in Zero to One along with some examples of well-known entrepreneurs who have expressed different views about the MVP concept.
Talking about long-term strategic planning for a startup, Reid shares his thoughts on the vision a startup founder must have in order to kick off their business. Reid further elaborated on the MVP mindset, its pros and cons, and what you should keep in mind about following the MVP concept on a product.
Products are different from features, and it’s crucial for a business to get clear about products and features. In the next part of the episode, Reid shares his thoughts on differences and similarities between products and features, and how it relates to the concept of MVP. Wrapping up the conversation, David and Reid pay their attention to how startups built on the MVP mindset grow into bigger and better companies and what it takes for a startup to make it to that level of success.
[02.40] The book “Zero to One” - The book, author, and the key concepts the author discusses in the book.
[03.43] Minimum Viable Product- What is MVP, how it can be used to develop and deploy a new product, and a deep conversation about great entrepreneurs who had different views about the concept of MVP.
[08.27] MVP Mindset – Reid elaborates on the MVP mindset, its pros and cons, and how it applies to startups.
[12.49] Strategic Long-term Planning – David shares his thoughts on the kind of long term vision you need to kick off a successful startup.
[17.08] Product Vs. Features – Reid talks about how a product differentiates itself from a feature and how the MVP concept comes into play.
[20.15] Growing and Expansion – What it takes for products that start with the MVP concept to successfully grow into bigger scale products with time.
We’re back with another exciting episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. In today’s episode, David and Reid are talking about their thoughts on the recent news around RentPath and what it would look like if Digible built an Internet Listing Service.
Starting the conversation, Reid shares his thoughts on how newly started administration may work on anti-trust policies and how they might be looking at the business practices of large tech companies. Moving on to the next topic, David and Reid share their thoughts on the deal for the acquisition of CoStar Group by RentPath and how the deal was canceled after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the sale. Diving deep into the situation with RentPath, David reviews some of the statistics of the stock prices and performance of the two companies and their platforms.
The next area we focus on in this episode is Internet Listing services. Getting into that conversation, David and Reid share their attitudes on how each of them would work on building an ILS for the way that they want it to be in terms of strategies, features, and means of marketing.
In the next section, Reid talks about the idea of joining forces of locators with ILS platforms and how it may be able to provide better features and use experience for the users. Moving on to the newest of the technologies, Reid and David share their thoughts on cross-platform integrations of ILS systems with artificial intelligence-based recommendation systems such as the Alexa. Reid further talks about the benefits of using AI-based recommendation systems and the role these AI tools may play in the future business world.
Wrapping up the conversation, Reid & David share their thoughts on several aspects of strategizing, designing, and developing an ISL platform, including appearance, features, user experience, user interfaces, and many more.
[06.14] The Momentum of the new Administration – David & Reid discuss the attitude of the newly appointed administration towards big-tech, anti-trust laws and how tech companies are taking heavy measures on services and organizations for policy violations.
[12.29] RentPath – Rentpath, the owner of quite a few major property listing websites, recently canceled a major acquisition after the FTC sued to block the sale. We discuss how this affects RentPath and how the future of large tech companies is going to be affected by anti-trust policies.
[19.36] Costar Stock – How the stock price of the CoStar Group behaved through the whole ordeal of acquisition by RentPath and what the future might look like.
[22.58] RentPath & CoStar - How RentPath and CoStar performed over the recent months
[29:49] Reid’s Approach to ILS – Reid shares his thoughts on how he might approach building an ILS and what he wants it to be like.
[35.14] David’s Approach to ILS – David shares his take on the key aspects of a good ILS.
[39.17] Locators & ILS Platforms – Reid shares an interesting idea about merging Locators and ILS platforms to enhance the user experience.
[48.08] AI & Interconnected Technologies – Ideas about cross-platform integrations with platforms such as Alexa.
[52.36] User experience in ILS – Reid, and David share their thoughts on several aspects of ILS systems that could be improved to enhance the user experience.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. Today we have a bonus episode, where we review the key events of the former year 2020 and what we can learn from the experience of going through one of the most challenging years in the last few decades.
Starting the conversation, Reid reviews the key events that happened in the past year along with what the past year was like for Digible in terms of growth, performance, and expansion. Then David & Reid talks about the experience of going through 2020 and some of the memorable events of the year and how those events affected the country in general as well as the industry.
Wrapping up the conversation, Reid talks about how Digible was able to survive the misfortunes, including COVID 19, and how they stood up strong as always.
[01.58] Recap of 2020 - The key events that happened in the last year, including social, economic, and political events.
[03:12] 2020 for Digible – How Digible grew in the year 2020, what they did to expand the brand, and how they adapted to the new conditions in the markets.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. In today’s episode, David and Reid have Hannah Kimyon as the guest speaker. Hannah is the director of customer success at Rentable. Throughout the episode, Hannah shares lots of valuable thoughts about talking about ILS platforms, how Rentable is working on new innovations, and how you can improve your marketing strategies to match new trends in the industry.
Rentable was formerly known as Abodo, and they recently rebranded the company. Diving into the conversation, Hannah shares the reason behind the name change from Abodo to Rentable and how it aligns with the direction they’re headed. Then Hannah shares her career journey from where she learned marketing and grew up with Abodo, starting from 2013, up to now as they have rebranded to Rentable.
In the next section, she shares her ideas about customer service and the value of listening to their clients to understand their problems so that you’ll be more effective in fixing them. Continuing the conversation about Rentable, Hannah describes Rentable’s mission and how they are working on new ways to make renting as seamless as possible for renters. Hannah also talks about the past, present, and future of Rentable and the strategies that brought the company to the place that they are today. Hannah shares how they’re partnering with social platforms and the unique features they offer to consumers. Hannah also shares her thoughts on finding their success in ILS and the portfolio they are working on, and what direction they are heading as a company at present.
In the next part of the episode, David, Hannah, and Reid share their thoughts on having several search engines versus having a streamlined process for searching for listings. Further down in the episode, Hannah shares her thoughts on three frequently asked questions related to ILS platforms. Next, Hannah shares her thoughts on how they maintain their customer’s loyalty by explaining the process with the renters, which makes sure that the customers don’t want to leave to another search engine or property website.
[13.09] From Abodo to Rentable - The story of the big rebranding of Hannah’s company.
[20.23] Hannah’s story - Hannah shares her journey at Rentable and what she has learned through her experience.
[23.08] Customer Success – Hannah talks about how she looks at customer success and what she does to understand the customers’ problems and fix them.
[24.52] The Primary Mission of Rentable – What Rentable offers and how they stand apart from the rest of the market.
[28.07] More on Rentable – Hannah talks about how Rentable started, its past, present, and what the future is going to look like for Rentable.
[33. 35] Facebook Marketplace - The role Facebook marketplace plays in real estate and how Rentable and how Rentable has partnered with the Facebook marketplace to provide a unique blend of features.
[40.37] Finding Success – Hannah shares her wisdom on what they do to create strategies that stand out in the market.
[44.20] Lead Attribution – How to improve the quality of leads by utilizing the latest tools.
[27.01] User Experience – Hannah talks about making the renters’ experience more user friendly on ILS platforms and how the new updates of search engines and social media platforms may affect the way renters tend to search for housing.
[01.03.30] Major Talking Points with Customers – Hannah shares the three most asked questions she has to answer frequently.
[01.06.59] Customer Loyalty – Tips & tricks Hannah uses at their firm to maintain their customer loyalty.
[01.11.12] Content – How to focus on creating content for listings in a way that appeals to people based on their needs.
[01.19.39] Matchmaking – Trend in the way consumers find listings and how marketers can improve their strategies to match consumer behavior.
We’re back with another interesting episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. This week our focus is on antitrust lawsuits against tech giants and how they may influence the way we interact with our favorite tech platforms. 2020 was a big year for antitrust investigation where several tech companies, including Facebook, Google, and Apple, were brought into the spotlight due to their questionable practices on acquisitions and partnerships. In today’s episode, David and Reid take a deep dive into these antitrust cases against Facebook, Google, and Amazon and what they mean for advertisers and consumers.
Starting the conversation, Reid shares his thoughts on why antitrust cases have become a big concern in recent years and why it takes time to prepare and process these suits. Talking about what amplified the interest in antitrust cases, Reid talks about the 2020 Netflix documentary, “The Social Dilemma,” which addresses another aspect of the “big tech” conversation. David and Reid share their take on how this shapes the way consumers perceive tech giants and what it may mean for advertisers.
Then Reid shares his thoughts about the consumer’s experience on having Facebook, Instagram being separate entities as opposed to being connected. In the next part of the episode, David and Reid share an interesting set of thoughts on what they are going to do about the current situation related to antitrust practices if they are in charge of Facebook at present.
In the next section, David talks about the way big tech companies were hiring people in 2020 in comparison to the last year and how it was influenced by what happened as a result of COVID. Further down in the episode, Reid shares his thoughts on the role of the consumer and why we must be mindful about the way we’re using technology so that we can take advantage of the new technologies without being victims of them.
[35.34] Concerns About Facebook’s APIs – Facebook shut down their social graph API due to privacy concerns five years ago. David dives into what this type of change may mean for smaller companies that depend on APIs like Facebook’s social graph.
[15.51] Antitrust Trends – Why we hear lots about antitrust suits in recent months, why it takes time to process, and how the political situation might have influenced this trend.
[19.24] What Accelerated Anti-trust Suits – How events in recent years such as the Cambridge Analytica incident triggered a new wave of attention towards how corporate behemoths deal with acquisitions.
[25.39] Consumer Experience – David & Reid share their thoughts on how the consumer experience may change if Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram become completely separate entities, versus being connected the way they are right now.
[30:00] Concerns About Data – Social media and lots of other tech giants use their user data to generate income. David & Reid talk about the concerns among users about how tech companies handle information of their users.
[44.26] Human Resources – How the giant companies have behaved in the last two years in terms of hiring employees.
[49.57] Consumer’s Role – David & Reid share their thoughts on how consumers must prepare for new trends in the tech landscape.
[54.09] The Google Empire – Just like other tech giants, Google is also getting attention to their practices related to antri-trust concerns. David and Reid talk about what it might look like if different divisions of Google are broken apart and what it may mean for advertisers and consumers.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. In today’s episode, David and Reid have a conversation with Jason Dalka, founder of Square One Real Estate. Throughout the episode, Jason shares his wisdom on apartment locators.
Opening the conversation, David and Reid talk about the biggest takeaways from their guest Jason as a founder of a real estate firm and a locator. Jason gets into the conversation sharing his thoughts about the past, present, and the future of locators. He talks about how there was a competitive situation among locators and how the business model has evolved due to the new technologies introduced in recent years.
Then Jason shares his thoughts on the problems solved by the locators and how the major solutions of the locators are saving time for the clients. In the next part, Jason shares his thoughts on the broker arrangements on properties in Chicago and how the open listing market works.
Jason shares his thoughts about the relationship with the clients, how they nurture the customer to show the value proposition. Talking about the relationship with the properties, which are like clients to them, Jason reviews how the properties and brokerage or the agent interact with each other like cogs in a machine.
In the next section, Jason talks about the transitions of clients. He shares his thoughts on how the transitions happen and the structure of making a transition without damaging the income. Moving on, Jason shares his thoughts about the reasons for having and not having locators in a market and how the density of locators affect the market.
Further down in the episode, Jason talks about the biggest challenge as a locator: lead generation. He talks about how the recent developments in the industry have influenced the lead generation process and how to adapt to new situations. Then Jason shares his take on the transparency of marketing and lead generation and how the lead generation process could be improved to be more transparent. Wrapping up the conversation, Jason shares his predictions for the future of the apartment industry for the next five to ten years.
[03:26]- The transparency of marketing and leading generation- The reasons for not having transparency in marketing and lead generations.
[05:24] Biggest takeaways – David and Reid talk about the takeaways and valuable ideas you may hear throughout the episode.
[19:08] Past, Present, and the Future of Locators - How the business model of locators looked like before Jason comes to the industry, the present background of the locators, and how the future will be.
[22:27] Solving Problems - The major problems customers have and how the locators are solving those problems.
[27:16]- Broker Arrangements for Properties - How Jason arranges the brokers for his properties.
[30:50] Value Proposition - What the value proposition is and the importance of building a proper relationship with clients.
[33:23] Acquiring Customers - Trying to acquire customers by getting people higher in the funnel, how to nurture them for a longer value proposition.
[43:13] Relationship with the Properties - What the relationship locators have with the properties and how to keep the relationships healthy.
[45:52] Crossovers - How the transitions happen and what you can do to make transitions smooth.
[52:02] Market & Locators- The reasons for having and not having locators in a market.
[55:46] The Biggest Challenge as a Locator - The biggest challenge for locators and how to overcome those challenges.
[01:22:06] Predictions for the Future – What Jason predicts for the next five to ten years in the apartment industry.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. In today’s episode, David and Reid are here to talk about another interesting topic. Today’s episode is about what David and Reid learned from a book they read together: Seven Powers - The Foundations of Business Strategy by Hamilton Helmer. In the book, the author reviews seven things that drive company value, and in today’s episode, Reid & David dives into one of the most important of the seven: branding.
Getting into the conversation, David and Reid talk about the seven powers of a company mentioned in the book and how to implement it in your company. Then David shares what branding is along with some examples of successful branding, including an interesting story of how Coca-Cola impressed the world with its excellent branding strategies.
In the next part of the episode, Reid shares his thoughts on the brands that have the branding power in the multifamily industry and why the industry has a lot of room for improvement in terms of branding power. Then, Reid shares his thoughts on popular tech companies such as Facebook, Google, TikTok, and Spotify and how the branding power of these companies penetrate the vertices in the multifamily industry.
Further down to the episode, both David and Reid share their thoughts on the rule thumb in branding: having a specific strategy for launching brands. Reid & David talk about how companies like Apple and Tesla use that kind of specific strategies for launching their brands.
In the next section, Reid shares his thoughts on the innovation of brands and the risk that comes with innovation. Further down in the episode, Reid shares his thoughts on how branding strategies relate to clients what you have to do to build a brand along with a community around it. In the last part of the episode, Reid and David share their thoughts on the trust you must build between the brand and the buyer and how the value of transparency becomes a big advantage for a brand.
[06.13] Seven Powers - Seven powers and how those powers connect with the multifamily apartment industry.
[17.09] Branding - What is branding, and why every company should have a properly planned branding strategy.
[20.18] Quality of Branding in the Apartment Industry – How current players in the apartment industry are performing in terms of branding and how they could improve their branding efforts.
[25.51] Tech Behemoths - How big companies such as Google, Facebook, TikTok, and Spotify use branding for better outcomes.
[31.04] Rule of Thumb – The value of having a specific branding strategy.
[49.59] The Innovation of Brands – How innovation comes into play for branding and the risks involved in it.
[56.30] Diversifying - Things to consider when you start to diversify your product or brand.
[01:01.43] Mega Brands – How Companies like Apple and Tesla have strategized their branding.
[01:07.01] Brands and Clients – How branding relates to your clients.
[01:17.35] Building Trust - The importance of having transparency between the brand and the buyer and how to build a trustworthy brand.
We’re back with another episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. In today’s episode, we’ve got the three founders of Digible, David Staley, Reid Wicoff, and Nicole Staley, here to talk about the capturing moments of the year 2020 and how they influenced the business and the industry.
Starting the conversation, the three of them share their thoughts on the most significant memory in the 2020s: EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, which had the greatest impact on the company, according to Reid. In the next part of the episode, they talk about the impacts of COVID on their business. They talk about how there was not a great deal of impact on their field, but there were challenging situations with hiring and relocating people.
Further down in the episode, they share their thoughts about the year’s key memories, which happens to be the new headquarters and another financial milestone. Moving on, they talk about the biggest surprises they had in 2020. Nicole shares her thoughts on the biggest surprises she had, including the team’s growth of revenue this year.
Continuing the conversation, they share their thoughts about the predictions for the coming. Reid predicts that they will be a preferred vendor by the end of 2021. According to Nicole, she’s expecting the growth of different service opportunities. David shares his thoughts on how the compliance aspect of the business is going to get bigger in the upcoming year.
At the end of the episode, they talk about some exciting memories they had throughout the year. Wrapping up the conversation, they share their thoughts on how the coming year will be.
[10.59] EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System - What is EOS and how entrepreneurs can optimize their business by implementing the concepts of EOS.
[21.33] COVID Pandemic - How the COVID outbreak affected the culture of business and other aspects of the company.
[26.54] Key Memories - The key memories and most exciting events of the year.
[33.54] The Biggest Surprise of the Year – Our founders reflect on the biggest surprises they had through the year 2020.
[44.34] Predictions for the Coming Year - Prophecies for the coming new year about the company and the industry.
[50.46] Funniest Memories in 2020 – David, Nicole, and Reid share the funniest memories they had in 2020.
[57.46] Final Thoughts – Our founders share their plans for the year 2020 to make the growth of Digible sustainable and to create a better environment for everyone involved in the business.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. In today’s episode, we have Isobel Parish as our guest. Isobel is a client services manager at Digible. Throughout today’s episode, we will be discussing some valuable things surrounding transitions that could be beneficial at the year-end in several aspects of apartment marketing, including budgeting, optimization, setting up tests, and many more.
Getting into the conversation, Isobel talks about her planning at the end of the year and how she intends to take some time off for Christmas. She shares her take on ways to manage planning for the start of the next year effectively during the holidays. In the next part of the conversation, Isobel talks about vendors and clients and the things you need to do for the coming year. Building on Isobel’s thoughts, Reid shares his thoughts from the perspective of an operator about the coming new year season, which is different from other new year seasons because of the COVID outbreak. He also talks about being defensive with money spending in the coming year.
Reid then shares his thoughts about the general public and their movements with the COVID pandemic and how that affects the apartment industry. Further down in the episode, both Isobel and Reid share their thoughts about budget planning and situational planning for the coming season, which is going to be different from other new years, and how the clients should manage their transitions with vendors.
In the next part of the episode, Reid talks about the new opportunities coming with the new year and how he will cooperate with his vendors. Wrapping up the conversation, Isobel and Reid talk about their top pro tips for the coming year.
[13.08] Year-end Planning – How to start planning the next year effectively during the holidays.
[16.57] Vendors and Clients - What clients should consider doing in order to optimize their connection with their vendors.
[23.38] Handling Vendors - Incorporating data, annual budget plans, and situational planning in the decision-making process for vendors.
[26.39] Situational Planning - The importance of situational planning to prepare for the coming year.
[32.06] Other Opportunities - The opportunities you can make use of and how to cooperate with vendors in transitions.
[40.09] Tips & Tricks – Isobel, David, and Reid share their top hacks to optimize your marketing efforts in the next year.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. In today’s episode, we have Jenny Haacker as our guest. Jenny is a paid media manager at Digible. Today they are talking about metrics that matter.
Starting the conversation, Jenny talks about the main takeaways about metrics from what Jenny and her team talked about in the Digible Summit. Then Jenny talks about some of the key metrics and how they apply to properties. She talks about how different people on the team weighed in about their respective aspects of marketing.
In the next part of the episode, Jenny shares her thoughts about important things to consider in the onboarding process. She shares how clarifying information regarding properties and communication with the vendor plays a vital role in the process. Further down in the conversation, Jenny talks about effectively managing marketing expenditures and the challenges they are facing with it.
In the next part of the episode, Jenny talks about several types of Digital metrics and the deeper levels of metrics they can use for digital marketing. At the end of the episode, Jenny talks about metrics that provide a clear idea about the performance of a marketing campaign, such as the clock through rate.
[03.28] Takeaways of Metrics - How metrics apply to different roles in a marketing campaign, such as marketing managers or regionals, leasing consultants.
[04.20] Key metrics for Properties – The most useful metrics for properties.
[07.01] The Process of Onboarding - Importance of having more information on properties, the vital role of the communication with the vendor.
[11.31] Budgeting – Challenges involved in budgeting and justifying your marketing spend.
[13.02] Types of Digital Metrics – Jenny and David talk about several types of metrics and how they help you improve the performance of your marketing efforts.
[16.39] Benchmark Metrics – Metrics that give you a better understanding of the performance of your marketing efforts.
EpiWelcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. We are back with another episode of David and Reid’s talking about some of the current events, including the US presidential election, Google anti-trust cause, and the Apple search engine release.
Starting the conversation, Reid talks about the impact of politics on the real estate industry, separately analyzing what is going to happen if President Trump gets re-elected or Joe Biden gets elected. Reid further talks about how the election might affect the apartment industry and potential benefits for affordable housing.
In the next part, David and Reid share their thoughts about the technological influence of current politics. They discuss in detail how Facebook and Twitter interacted with the campaigns of the two presidential candidates and how these platforms enforced their community guidelines on the two campaigns.
Further down in the episode, David talks about Google anti-trust lawsuit and how data privacy and anti-trust laws will be updated under a new president. Then, Reid and David share their thoughts about Apple’s search engine, the pros and cons of the new release, and how it may affect users, existing search engines, and the digital marketing arena.
Talking about data privacy, both David and Reid share their take on what you get in return for the personal data that the social media platforms can access from their users. As their fourth topic, David and Reid talk about Microsoft’s bid budget management system and its usage. Wrapping up the conversation, David talks about how the recent trend of anti-trust lawsuits may affect big players in the tech industry, such as Google, Apple, and Facebook.
[05.13] Impact of the Election – How data privacy regulations and fair housing might look like under a newly elected president.
[12.02] Apartment Industry and the Presidential Election - The pros and cons of the presidential election for the apartment industry.
[15.54] Politics and Technology - How the tech companies like Facebook and Twitter interact with the two presidential candidates and how it may have affected the outcome of the election.
[19.17] Google Anti-trust - What is anti-trust, how Google ended up facing lawsuits, and how anti-trust laws and regulations may be shaped under a new president.
[23.11] Apple’s Search Engine - What is the Apple search engine, the features of it, and the competitive nature with other search engines like Google.
[28.48] Privacy Search Engine - What is a privacy search engine, and how effective it could be.
[36.08] Microsoft’s Bid Budget Management System - What is Microsoft’s bid budget management system, and how it works.
[39.24] Data Privacy and Governance – Why you should be mindful of the data you give to tech platforms.
[44.40] Final Thoughts – How the current trend of privacy and anti-trust lawsuits may shape the future of digital marketing.sode 53
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. We are back with another episode related to a mastermind session from the Digible Summit. Our guest today is RayAnn Ortiz. RayAnn is an account manager at Digible. Throughout the episode, we talk about RayAnn’s work on marketing and some valuable tips and tricks you can use in your marketing strategy.
Starting the conversation, RayAnn talks about her previous profession as a marketing influencer, and she shared her most significant success when she worked in Yoga International as a marketing influencer. RayAnn shared her thoughts on key takeaways of marketing tips and tricks around organic and paid social. She talks about the growth characteristics of paid and organic social during the period of COVID.
RayAnn then talks about the process of creating videos that maximize the impact of your marketing efforts. She shares video production tips on how to create videos for different social media platforms in a way that performs better for each platform. In the next part of the episode, RayAnn and David talk about semi-professional influencers in the world. David shares influencers’ statistics in semi-professionals while RayAnn expresses her thoughts on the human touch behind the properties or brands.
Talking about the tips and tricks for budgeting, RayAnn talks about some things you can do to optimize your budgets for paid search. Wrapping up the conversation, RayAnn talks about the interaction of paid social with different property classes.
[02.42] Influencer Marketing – RayAnn shares her experience and the things she learned from her work in the influencer marketing arena.
[09.30] Paid & Organic Social Media – How paid and organic social media performed over the last few months and the current states of paid and organic social.
[10.47] Creating Videos – Tips and tricks for creating videos that grab attention from your target audience.
[12.21] Semi-professional Influencers - The statistics on semi-professional influencers worldwide and why they are successful in what they do.
[15.22] Budgeting & Targeting – How to manage your budgets for paid search and how to optimize your targeting.
[20.24] Interaction of Paid Social and Property Classes – How paid social media interacts with different property classes and how to adjust your marketing strategy to match different property classes.
Welcome back to the Digital Dudes podcast. Today we’re sharing with you the value-packed discussion we had at the Digible Summit panel with three distinguished guests. Our guests share their wisdom and perspective on numerous aspects of marketing for the real estate industry. Today we’re joined with Joya Pavesi, SVP of Marketing and Strategy for RKW Residential, Darren Williams, President at Portico Property Management, and Chasten Fulbright, Principal at Blanton Turner. The three companies are third-party property management companies.
Getting into the conversation, our guests share their background stories and what their current ventures are at their companies, and how the markets are behaving in their local areas. Cheston talks about the current climate in the property management arena in Seattle. Joya joins the conversation talking about the current state of the two major markets, Charlotte and Miami, followed by Darren’s remarks about how things are going on in Texas.
In the next section, our three guests share their take on companies that brought bis disruptions to the industry and the contributing factors to the success of these innovative businesses. They also talk about the innovative approaches to virtual tours and how virtual tours have evolves over the last few years. Moving on to company culture, our guests talk about how to keep the marketing department and the operation department aligned with the expectations and goals of the business. They also share some approaches they use at their property management firms.
Towards the end of the discussion, we talk about budgeting for marketing. Our guests share their wisdom on creating smarter and flexible budgets that maximize the results. Wrapping up the session, our guests discuss differentiating brands at the property level and how to develop brands, and some things every marketer should know about building a successful brand.
[05.39] The Current State of Property Management – Out guests share what sort of a climate they see in the industry in their areas; Seattle, Texas, Charlotte, and Miami.
[12:33] Disruptors – Chasten talks about companies that brought big disruptions and innovative approaches to the industry.
[15.01] Competition – Darren shares his thought on how to deal with competition in the industry.
[21.00] Software Products – Our guests share their thoughts on the usage and popularity of newly emerging software solutions for the real estate industry.
[24.31] Impact of COVID – How the pandemic affected the industry and how it leads to new innovative marketing approaches for property management.
[31.23] Operations and Marketing – How to keep the marketing team and the operational team aligned towards the company’s goals and expectations.
[41.36] Marketing Budgets – Our guests share how they approach marketing and what you should know about managing your marketing budgets.
[47.49] Establishing Your Brand – How to differentiate your brand at the property level and successfully grow as a brand.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. In today’s episode, we have Kyla Mittal once again as our special guest. Kyla is a housing specialist for a non-profit organization that focuses on affordable housing. Throughout the episode, we talk about Kyla’s work in secret shopping for fair housing.
Kyla gets into the conversation, describing what exactly she does when she’s secret shopping and the process of inquiring about apartments. She also talks about how the pandemic affected her work and the process of prospecting through phone calls. She talks about how she sometimes has to pretend to be someone else in order to find if there are any discriminations going on.
Kyla continues her conversation, explaining her role as a data collector and how she manages to ask and find information about the complaints and record what they say in a legal way. Further down in the conversation, Kyla answers Reid’s question about discrimination and comparison when doing fair housing.
In the next section, she talks about the property visiting timeline and how certain parts of the process occur in the first 48 hours of secret shopping. Diving into the verification of discrimination, Kyla shared how she involves in the incident as the data collector and what happens after she has done her part and filed the report.
Kyla then shares her experience of doing property visiting and involving clients, which made her nervous initially in fear of forgetting to ask questions and the details about the specific person or incident.
In the next section of the episode, Kyla shares some of the challenges she has to face while being a data collector in the fair housing industry and what measures she takes to do her job as unbiased as possible. Wrapping up the conversation, Kyla shares what motivates her to keep working in fair housing as her career.
[06.31] Secret Shopping as a Side Gig – Kyla talks about her process of contacting and inquiring about apartments.
[09.23] Questions – Most common things apartment managers want to know about potential tenants when inquiring about an apartment.
[12.53] The Role of a Data Collector – How Kyla observe subtle discriminations when shopping for apartments.
[17.07] Discrimination – Kyla gets into the details of what kind of discrimination happens in the industry and measures she takes to evaluate the situation and get proof of discrimination.
[19.23] Reporting – The process of reporting discrimination and measures that are taken to make sure that the testers remain as unbiased as possible.
[26.02] Challenges in Fair housing – Kyla’s unique side hustle can get a bit tricky, sometimes due to numerous reasons. She explains what challenges she faces and what measures she takes to overcome them.
[29.36] Motivation – Why motivates Kyla to continue her work and why she enjoys her work in fair housing.
Welcome to the Digible Dudes Podcast. We’re back this week with another POV episode to look at the apartment marketing industry through another stakeholder’s perspective. Our guest today is Aaron Maas. Aaron is the vice president of multifamily operations at Origin Investments. In today’s episode, we talk about numerous aspects of multifamily real estate marketing, including market trends, partnering, technology, ad campaigns, and many more.
Aaron starts the conversation by sharing his ten-year career journey with several firms in the real estate industry. He dives into some of the work they do at his current position at Origin Investments as well. One of the main things Aaron shares with us is how the market changed and adapted throughout the year due to various contributing factors and how their strategies were fine-tuned to respond to the changing market conditions throughout the year.
In the next section, we dive into how partnering works in the real estate space. Aaron shares some of the unique tactics they use at Origin Investments for working with other firms and building strong relationships with them. Aaron gets into some of the challenges involved in working with other organizations and how to overcome these challenges. He also shares how they approach starting a new partnership with a firm, the process of going from pitching to starting a successful deal, and how to align the goals of the two parties involved.
Moving on to marketing, Aaron talks about trends he sees related to marketing strategies, technology, budgeting, and utilizing data-driven approaches for marketing. He talks about ways to improve retention and effectively respond to ever-changing situations and new competing technologies that emerge in the industry. He also talks about several things marketers should keep in mind with regard to budgeting. Towards the end of the episode, we share some valuable tips & tricks to improve your conversion rates by optimizing your website.
[09:34] Aaron’s Story – Aaron talks about how he got into the real estate industry and his work at Origin Investments.
[16:27] Market Behaviour – How the pandemic and other factors affected the multifamily real estate arena and how it affected Aaron’s strategies and decision-making process this year.
[21:10] The Secret Sauce – Aaron gives a sneak-peek of some of the unique tactics they use at Origin to ensure they’re building strong relationships with investors.
[25:27] Partnering with Other Companies – Advantages and challenges involved in working with multiple firms in several aspects of real estate operations, including technology, human resources, leadership, and autonomy.
[32:10] Partnering Process – Aaron shares his thoughts about how they start new partnerships and the process of pitching services, sharing ideas, and getting started with partnerships.
[38:31] Aligning Goals – How to collaborate with third-party management companies and get the goals of both parties aligned.
[43:06] Assessing Technology and Data – Aaron shares his take on where the multifamily real estate resides in terms of utilizing technology and data-driven strategies.
[48:25] Marketing & Advertising Technology – Aaron talks about the trends he sees in the real estate marketing arena with regard to ad campaigns, strategies, technology, and expenses.
[56:02] Marketing & Competition – Responding to changes that continuously happen in advertising platforms and managing expenditures while retaining the effectiveness of your ad campaigns.
[01:00:00] Retention – Aaron shares his thought on some opportunities to improve your retention numbers under varying market conditions.
[01:04:03] Budgeting – Aaron shares some valuable strategies related to numerous aspects of marketing.
Welcome back with another episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. Today David and Reid have a new guest, Kyla Mittal, a housing specialist for a non-profit organization that focuses on affordable housing. In today’s episode, Kyla shares her wisdom about numerous aspects of the affordable housing concept. Kyla dives into the conversation by sharing what she is doing in the field of affordable housing for homeless individuals in the Denver area. She shares her thoughts on several factors that contribute to homelessness in Denver. Kyla dives deep into the issue, explaining some of the demographic factors that contribute to homelessness and the challenges homeless folks have to face. She shares how issues such as the lack of common life skills, mental and health issues, history of surviving without a proper house make matters worse for homeless individuals. In the next section of the conversation, Kyla talks about how her organization arranges guaranteed payments for people who need assistance with their rent. She also talks about several logistical aspects her organization works on, such as extra pools of funding to cover, security deposit assistance, application fee assistance and, damage fee assistance. Diving into performance metrics, Kyla shared how they measure the success of the work by reduced recidivism and how her organization guides its clients to stay in houses rather than jumping from one apartment to another and how they build partnerships with other organizations to create stable housing for the clients. In the next part, Kyla talks about the process of working with landlords. She explains the benefits landlords can have by working with them, different voucher programs they offer, and some of the challenging experiences she has seen when working with landlords. Talking about the landlord barriers, Kyla mentioned how some landlords are unwilling to drop their rent prices to what the voucher can cover and some of the measures her organization has to take to counteract it. Towards the end of the episode, Kyla talks about the challenges they face when trying to keep the communication with her clients when most of her clients don’t possess a cellphone. [05.12] Introduction – What affordable housing means for the real estate industry. [10.19] What Causes Homelessness? - Kyla shares her thoughts on some of the factors that contribute to homelessness in the Denver area. [13.06] Hardships of Homelessness - How some socioeconomic factors make matters worse for homeless individuals. [17.31] Assistance to Homeless individuals - How Kyla’s organization helps people with their housing. [20.24] Guidance for Customers – Kyla dives into how her organization guides customers in a way they can maintain stable housing and how her organization measures the success of their work. [28.15] Benefits for Landlords – Kyla shares the benefits landlords can get from working with her organization. [32.12] Working with Landlords – Some of the challenging situations that emerge when working with landlords and the workarounds. [35.29] Communication with Clients – Kyla faces a unique challenge when communicating with their clients when most of the clients do not possess a cellphone. Kyla shares the measures they take to overcome this challenge. [42:34] Get Involved – How you can get involved to improve affordable housing.
We’re back with another episode of the Digible Dudes podcast. Today we have David and Reid talking about the past, present, and future when it comes to digital creative, including programmatic, social, and search ads. David and Reid get into the conversation talking about a few concepts around spending money as a brand and how Google and New York Stock Exchange use these concepts in their marketing strategies. Reid begins to talk about the past of digital creative, how far it has evolved in now, and the details of a few modern tools that offer scalability and frequent optimizations. Reid talks about the time he and Reid worked at Verizon and their experience in digital advertising, which was around 24 years ago. Further down to the episode, Reid talks about the pros and cons of digital creative. He talks about the negative aspects of digital creative, such as the lack of people with sufficient institutional knowledge or backgrounds in tv and print. Next, Reid gets into the details of writing your website copy. He explains how your website copy will eventually represent a personalization of yours, and David shares a couple of examples of how your website copy affects the behavior of your visitors and the time they spend on your website. In the next section, David brings up an interesting question about on-demand testing from a data feed where Reid explains some valuable concepts around targeting your ads and an example of how McDonald’s integrates these concepts in their digital advertising strategy. They also talk about the effect of fair housing on the conversation about creative. Wrapping up the episode, David and Reid talk about the future developments of digital creative. Reid shares his thoughts on how they are looking forward to developing new technologies and scaling them up. [08.33] The Past of Digital Creative - How the early tools of digital creative compare to the modern ones in terms of scalability and optimizations. [19.44] Pros and Cons of Digital Creative – What marketers should know about the advantages of digital creative and challenges associated with digital creative. [25.24] The ROI of Creative – How to get the most out of your digital creative efforts. [28.15] Website Copy – How your website copy affects the experience of the visitors and how it shapes the quality of your marketing strategy [36.53] Targeting – Tips for better targeting in online advertising campaigns. [40.41] Fair Housing & Data Privacy – The impact of fair housing and data privacy regulations and what it means for the apartment marketing arena [44.27]- Future Developments – David & Reid share their take on what to expect in the near future in terms of new technologies, data, and scalability. [50.10]- Utilizing Digital Creative – Tips and tricks for testing your strategies for different classes of properties and measuring the impact of your strategies.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes Podcast. Today we have a special guest, Ryan Cohn. Ryan is an associate director for the multi-family capital markets team at Newmark Knight Frank. In 2019, his team of 12 brokers was able to sell over $2.16 billion worth of inventory.
Ryan starts the conversation explaining his background, why he chose his career, and what life is like as a broker. He gets into how he set himself apart from a real estate agent and why he prefers commercial real estate over residential work.
In the next part of the episode, we shift our focus into marketing. Ryan talks about how operators and owners are afraid of sharing their plans with property managers and other stakeholders. Ryan explains why building trust and confidence is the way to achieve better outcomes.
In the next section, Ryan talks about the usage of data technology in the brokerage arena. Ryan talks about the way data and technology were utilized before and after the age of the internet, and what the future may hold for the real estate industry in terms of data analysis and technology.
Toward the episode, Ryan talks about the COVID hit this year and how it impacted the real estate arena. He talks about how the buyer pool and the seller pool has gotten much smaller due to the impact of the pandemic and the new conditions people had to adapt to. Ryan shares the measures they used to respond to these new changes in Denver and what you can do to minimize the impact of COVID. Wrapping up the session, Ryan shares some interesting observations they’ve seen throughout the year related to the volume of deals.
[06:40] Ryan’s Background - Ryan talks about what life is like as a broker and the achievements of his team.
[19.30] Investor and Property Type – Ryan shares his experience about how the relationship between investor and the property type works.
[25.38] Growing as a Multi-family Owner – What it takes to build a strong portfolio as a multi-family owner and how to gain new acquisitions without disposing of previous ones.
[30.18] Risks and Opportunities – Being prepared for risks, working through the uncertainty, and connecting with specialists to take advantage of expert opinions and strategies.
[43.20] Building Trust - Ryan shares his wisdom on how why it’s important for owners and operators to share their plans with relevant stakeholders and how sharing information helps you build trust and confidence.
[48.20] Utilizing Data & Technology – How the utilization of data and technology contributes to the brokering arena and what the future will hold in terms of technology. Ryan also dives into how automation may affect the role of a broker in the future.
[1:04:48] Impact of COVID – How the COVID-19 pandemic affected the industry and how operators and owners can prepare for the near future.
[1:13:38] Recent Trends – Ryan shares his take on new industry trends related to different market segments.
[1:26:52] Volume of Deals – Ryan shares how the volume of deals varied during the year compared to the last year.
In today’s episode of the Digible Dudes, we focus on client experience. David and Nicole are here to discuss how you can effectively interact with vendors to build a relationship and make the most out of the connection. We start the discussion by sharing their experiences about brands that have excellent customer experience practices. David mentions how he was impressed by Microsoft with his own experience of a warranty claim for his Microsoft Surface computer. According to David, Microsoft company did help him beyond their policies. Then Nicole talks about Peloton and their impressive way of interacting with them and the great updates they’ve made for their customers. David talks about his trip to Seattle, where the way property managers and the leasing agents interacted with David made his experience special. Nicole also about her trip to Seattle and how the customer service was outstanding. David shares his thoughts on how some companies don’t really think about the entire customer journey and the importance of giving out of the box solutions for customers. In the next part of the episode, we shift our focus to product quality. There are a few things every brand should be mindful of when it comes to product quality, such as positioning, packaging, brand, media, and prices. We talk about how all these factors come into play and how you can improve your marketing strategies with these points. Then David shares his thoughts about how to respond to the customers effectively. Next, Nicole dives into the core values of a company that are important for the customer experience: authenticity and curiosity. She shares how a company has to understand what’s important to their clients and what their goals are. Further down to the episode, we talk about three main things about the client experience; Retention rate, client health, and overall growth. Nicole shares her thoughts on how the way you maintain healthy relationships with your current clients may lead to new opportunities. Toward the end of the episode, they talk about what the future holds for the marketing arena. We talk about how technology and data may affect the future of customer experience and how you can utilize new technology to provide a better experience for your customers. [01:55] Introduction – What customer experience is and what we’ll be discussing throughout this episode. [08:00] Companies with Good Customer Experience Practices – David and Nicole share some examples of companies they have seen with excellent customer experience practices. [19.19] Product Quality- How positioning, packaging, brand, media, and prices affect your customer experience. [20.09] Responding to Customers - How to respond to your customers effectively and how to optimize your SLAs to improve customer experience. [35.29] Core Values- Nicole shares her thoughts about the core values that help her team deliver an improved experience to their customers and the importance of having a healthy relationship with your current clients. [45.58] 3 Things to Pay Attention to – Nicole talks about three essential things that you should be paying attention in order to create a better customer experience: Retention rate, client health, and overall growth. [54.28] Working With a Team – What Nicole and her team had done to grow as a team. [1:00:58] What Does the Future Hold – How data and technology will affect the future of marketing and customer experience.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes Podcast. Today, we are talking on how to scale content for apartments. We start the episode by discussing why most individuals don’t do content marketing for apartments where Reid suggests the three main reasons as to why they do not.
Next, we talk about the quality vs. quantity of online and offline ad campaigns for apartments. We discuss what’s the better method in order to make renters more aware of apartments available for rent, whether social media pages or websites should be used. We go on to talk on the Content generation and development plans such as blogs and articles that individuals can use to promote their apartments for sale.
We then chat on what’s the best method to use online in order to capture an interested client’s attention, whether it’s an email follow up or using a personalized webpage. Afterward, we discuss how apartment renters and sellers can use their current residents for their marketing campaigns. We talk in-depth about running review campaigns, getting residents to give testimonials, and providing residents with an incentive to promote vacant housing. We chat on how to use the given reviews and testimonials on social media to promote apartments available for rent.
Toad the end of the episode, we discuss the budget surrounding content marketing. We discuss the amount that should be invested in the short term vs. long term in content marketing and whether sellers should run the campaigns themselves or whether they should hire a third party for the task.
[1:54] Apartment Marketing Strategies - Reasons as to why sellers don’t use content marketing
[4:44] Content Marketing - Quality Vs. Quantity
[6:05] Content Marketing - Online Vs. Offline
[8:21] Online Marketing - Methods that can be used to capture the attention of interested clients.
[13:36] What We Did at Digible - Marketing strategies we used at Digible: Our podcast, comic strip, and much more!
[19:53] Advertising campaigns - Getting the help your current residents to promote vacant apartment spaces
[22:44] Advertising Strategies - Providing incentives to current residents to promote apartment spaces
[26:06] Advertising through current residents - Organic Vs. Inorganic referrals
[33:30] Advertising Strategies – Making use of neighborhood podcasts.
[35:53] Content Marketing Budgets – How to prepare budgets for the long term and short term.
[40:50] Marketing Campaigns – Pros and cons of using a third party and doing it on your own.
Google’s US ad sales revenue is expected to decline in 2020 for the first time since Google went public in 2004. In today’s episode of The Digible Dudes, we’re diving into what it means for you how it’ll affect apartment marketing.
We start the episode by discussing the percentage of the drop and how a decline in ad sale revenue for Google will impact digital marketing strategies in the multi-family industry. We go on to discuss its impact on digital apartment marketing in both the short and long term.
We then discuss the impact on COVID-19 on digital advertising. We chat about how it’s affecting the ad campaigns on social media platforms and the revenue of companies such as Google, Instagram, and Facebook. We also talk about the campaigns by many large brands to boycott Facebook in order to fight against racist advertising.
Afterward, we dive into why Google’s ad revenue is expected to drop, whether it’s due to COVID-19 or whether it’s because other companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and Tik Tok are now becoming more popular amongst SMBs to run ad campaigns.
At the end of the episode, we discuss how ad revenue is earned by major social media companies such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok and we talk about how small businesses can monitor their ad campaigns on various digital platforms such as Facebook, Tik Tok, and Google such as using Google Analytics.
[0:40] Short Term vs. Long Term - A drop in Google’s ad sales revenue and What this means for apartment marketing.
[6:49] Google vs. Facebook vs. Amazon - Percentage changes in ad sales revenue in 2020 against previous years.
[9:47] COVID-19 Impact – How the pandemic affected digital advertising and revenue for Google and Amazon.
[13:09] The Fight Against Racism – Recently, several big brands decided to boycott major social media platforms. We discuss the reasons for this trend and the effects of it.
[15:04] Ad Revenue – A comparison of the ad revenues of Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Facebook
[20:23] SMB Trends - Why SMBs are switching from Google to other platforms for ad campaigns.
[24:48] Analytics – Tips & tricks for tracking ROI of your ad campaigns using analytics.
[28:18] Running Ad Campaigns on Google - Paid listings, ad-words, and inorganic search results.
[31:34] A new Digital Platform, TikTok – How TikTok ad revenue for the companies varies across the globe.
[38:08] Advertisements & Search Behavior – How the characteristics & behaviors of search features vary between Google & Amazon.
[40:10] Reasons Behind Success – We dive into what contributed to the long term success of 3 giants, Google, Amazon, and Facebook.
This week on the Digible Dudes Podcast, we are joined by Manny Puentes, who is the founder and CEO of Rebel Al and has been working in the advertising industry for over 20 years. In today’s episode, we focus on marketing, advertising, and ad fraud. We start with Manny talking about his company, Rebel Al, and what inspired him to start it. He also talks about what the company does and who its target clientele is.
Next, we discuss how marketing and advertising strategies evolved over the past few years. We chat about, back when digital just came in and how businesses started to use this as a platform for marketing. We then go on to talk about how now, digital is integrated into almost everything we do in life. Afterward, we discuss ad fraud, how it came to be in the digital world of marketing. We also talk about what happened when businesses realized fraud was occurring and the development of anti-fraud companies.
We then discuss the roles and relationships between anti-fraud companies, publishers, advertisers, and businesses. Further, we chat on how and when advertising companies should invest money for a good ROI. Finally, we talk about what to expect as a business or a client when working with anti-fraud companies for marketing and advertising. We also discuss who to team up with as a business when trying to avoid marketing fraud. We end this episode by chatting about taxes that have become a heavy burden to bear for businesses when marketing and the financial implications of ad fraud to companies.
[3:47] Manny’s Story – Manny’s career path and what inspired him to start Rebel Al.
[8:08] Advertising and Security – How the advertising industry evolved over the years and how security eventually became a concern.
[13:13] Fraud - What can be considered as Ad fraud?
[18:05] Evolution of Ad Fraud - The beginning of Ad fraud and its current status.
[23:54] Roles & Relationships - Finances of Publishing, roles of advertisers, and publishers.
[29:06] Quantity Vs. Quality – How the digital advertising industry reacted to ad fraud over the years, to improve the quality of ad results.
[37:06] Working With Agencies - What to expect when you’re working with an anti-fraud agency.
[41:39] Detecting Fraud - Using Google analytics and referring URL’s to track marketing campaigns.
[48:37] Financial Implications – How ad fraud can affect the financial aspect of businesses and publishers.
[54:06] Keeping the Balance – Manny shares some valuable points that will help you make the best of your digital marketing strategy.
Dennis Cogbill, from Joshua Tree Conference Group, gets on the mic to school the DIgible Dudes on how COVID has impacted Multifamily events, and the lasting impact. Dennis Cogbill is the managing director at Joshua Tree conference group. The Joshua Tree conference group produces some of the largest conferences in the US in the multi-family industry.
We start by discussing the impact of COVID-19 on conferences hosted across the US. Dennis talks about how conferences such as AME and Mtech have been canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
We then go to chat on what people hope to gain by coming to conferences, whether they come for just the content or more to socialize with others within their industries.
Next, we talk about the potential future of conferences post-COVID-19. We chat on whether conferences will be in person, online, or a mix of the two and technology adjustments when moving forward after COVID. Further, we chat on pre-planning and monetization when hosting a conference. Dennis also talks to us about techniques that he uses for monetization.
Afterward, we discuss webinars, the benefits, and it’s disadvantages compared to in-person conferences. We chat about some of the great content you can listen to through webinars nowadays when compared with before COVID.
At the end of this episode, we talk about what it might be like attending a conference post-COVID. We chat on the potential of contacting COVID, Whether there would be heavy health precautionary measures or whether things will continue as usual.
[3:15] The impact of COVID-19 - Cancellation and postponing of events and conferences across the US
[11:44] Virtual Platforms Vs. In-person conferences - What’s better and why. David and Reid’s Webinar
[13:03] Virtual Events - Planning a large, successful conference
[17:00] Event Planning - Pre-planning and selecting speakers for a conference
[20:48] Monetization - Monetizing virtual events and webinars
[25:23] Conferences post COVID-19 - Adjustments and alterations to schedules.
[32:54] Monetization - Monetizing conferences through sponsors and charged content
[37:48] Recent Events - The impact of COVID-19, riots, and recessions on the lives of US citizens.
[42:03] Event Planning - Planning a conference during COVID-19
[50:18] Final thoughts - Questions and Hot takes with Dennis
2020 Apartment Events Were Cancelled, What's the Impact?
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes Podcast. In today's episode, David and Reid come together to talk about the Impact of COVID-19 in the industry. They start by talking about COVID-19's impact on events such as the cancellation of apartment events across the US.
They go on to chat about AI, data management, and the lawsuits that have recently come up with regard to data mismanagement and data privacy, and how it will affect the housing industry and their digital marketing strategies. They also discuss the fair housing lawsuits that have been filed after the HUD compliant on Facebook.
Afterward, they chat on analytics companies over the years and how data management has changed with the development of tools such as Google Cloud, which eventually resulted in many well-known data analytics firms going under.
Finally, they chat about additional revenue streams for apartment complexes. They discuss how to maximize the cost per square foot of an apartment from both long term and short term residents. Reid and David, in the end, dive into some ideas, such as retail referral programs as a method for raising additional revenue.
[2:47] Impact of COVID-19 - Cancellation of events in the US and across the world.
[7:14] Data Management - Data mismanagement, data privacy, and lawsuits.
[8:39] Regulations and restrictions - Impact of data privacy lawsuits on digital marketing in the housing industry.
[20:04] Data analytics over the years - The development of technology, Mergers, and acquisitions.
[16:34] Lawsuits and legislation - laws in fair housing and potential laws and regulations for data privacy within individual states.
[27:05] Apartment marketing - Additional revenue streams for apartment complexes.
[32:34] Final thoughts - A brief chat on upcoming episodes and guests on the show.
Apartment Marketers play a pivotal role in helping to acquire new properties from ownership groups and investors. As with most industries, the competition is fierce and the stakes are high. The Digible Dudes would like to pull the curtain back on what these presentations entail from start to finish, best practices, worst practices, and most memorable moments along the acquisition trail.
Today's episode is all about the past, present, and future in marketing with different ownership groups. To discuss this topic, we have a special guest, Joya Pavesi. Joya is the Vice President of marketing & strategy at Rivergate KW Residential, a startup company in the property marketing industry. She is also one of our clients here at Digible Inc.
We start the episode, chatting about the changes in business and marketing. We ask Joya how residential companies such as Rivergate get in contact with their potential client base and how long they work on projects with a client. We also talk about at what point during a project, it's best to reach out to a residential marketing company for consultation and help.
Joya shares with us what made clients stick with their company. She also talks on Budgeting and how they discuss with their clients to come up with an agreed-upon budget. Afterward, we chat about how the company, Rivergate RW Residential has changed its marketing strategy over the years and how they adapted their services due to COVID-19
We then go on to discuss how the development and influence of technology have changed the field of marketing in most areas from the construction to the finished product. We also chat about whether, compared to five years ago, clients are more informed and involved in project marketing and management.
At the end of this episode, we discuss how, at present, we dive into more and more digital marketing tools than local marketing to reach potential customers and its cost-effectiveness. Further, we also touch on fair housing and the change in the expectations of our clients.
[0:36] Joya's Background - A brief history of Rivergate KW Residential
[8:09] Finding Leads - How residential companies get in touch with potential clients.
[15:59] Residential Marketing - How we help our clients make their targeted advertising more effective.
[27:32] Industry Trends – The way that the development of technology improved the digital marketing industry.
[32:02] Adapting to the New Reality - How you can fine-tune your marketing strategies to perform better with the effects of COVID-19
[42:57] Budgeting – How to align your marketing strategies with the client's budget.
[48:09] Interacting with Clients – How to get your clients involved in the marketing process effectively.
[56:33] Fair Housing - Complaints, Lawsuits, and their responsibility as a property management company.
In today’s episode of The Digible Dudes, David is joined by Adam Walters and Magan Haase. Adam is the director of paid media at Digible, and Megan is a paid media strategist at Digible. In this episode, we talk about calling adverts and the different options available.
They start by discussing the quality and efficiency of using call extension ads vs. on-site ads. Megan talks about her blog and two case studies conducted where they saw that a lot more quality traffic was coming from those on-site calls versus Google ad extensions.
In the next section, they explain the types of online advertisements available for companies such as google ad extensions, call-only ads, and on-site adverts. Megan and Adam agree that calls on ads are better than ad extensions as call-only ads on web search look more similar to organic results than ad extensions, which cause more clients to click on these. Further, they discuss the cost efficiency of call-only ads.
At the end of the episode, they talk about the improvement in quality leads over time and the effect of COVID on lead quality. They state that COVID has led to the improvement of lead quality as more businesses work from home with their clients. They end the discussion by talking about whether a company should run call only or full adverts for their brand and testing adverts on a new set of audiences.
[2.38] Introduction - Are call ads worth it and which adverts should you run.
[3.28] Case Study - Google call extensions and case study discussions based on data found in Megan’s blog.
[6.22] Call-only Ads VS. Extension Call Ads - Discussion on whether call-only ads are better than extension call ads
[8.22] Lead Quality – How to improve the quality of leads and how COVID affected lead generation.
[9.26] Which is Better for You? - Discussion on whether a business should do call extension ads, call only, or full ads.
[12.38] Testing Adverts – What you should keep in mind when you test adverts on new audiences.
In today's episode of Digible Dudes Podcast, David and Reid are joined by special guest Michelle Smith, who is the director of digital strategies at Lincoln Property Company. She joined Lincoln Property Company about four months ago after working with Greystar Real Estate. Michelle has been working in the real estate/property industry for over ten years. In this episode, we discuss what it's like to be a property marketer in an ever-changing industry and how Michelle got into the industry.
In the first section of the episode, we talk about how we met Michelle and how she got into the property industry 11 years ago when she was in college. She was studying for a graphic design degree while working in Bath and Bodyworks when her brother, who was a student property manager, suggested that she give an apartment leasing a shot. So, she got started here. In her final year, she was lucky enough to be recruited by a real estate company for marketing. She went on to be recruited by Greystar and then Lincoln Property Company.
In the next section, We chat about what it's like to be a property marketer at the past, present, and future, especially with the heavy development of digital advertising in the field over the last few years. She talks about advertising in the industry 11 years ago, where we did not have CRMs or have a lead management system with tracking phone numbers or emails to populate. There were also no syndication tools or paid advertising plans. We talk about how it's very rare when you find a property or a client that doesn't have a syndication tool or a CRM to track their leads as a result of new advertising platforms that emerged in recent years.
We go to talk about how Michelle's clients are well informed in the field at present compared to a few years ago due to blogs and information you can now find on the web. We talk about how some major companies in the industry have begun to merge and whether this will cause a monopoly or be beneficial overall. Further, we discuss the transformation of the industry with geo-fencing and fair housing coming into play.
We finished off by discussing and sharing our thoughts on hot takes in the industry. The costs, benefits, and influence of Social media, paid and organic search, and marketing packages having to Google my business and SEOs and how it affects her clients and what they choose. We also discussed any other guests we should have on the show!
[7.17] Michelle's story - how she got into the industry while in college studying for a graphic design degree.
[9.15] Gaps in Knowledge - Whether there are gaps in knowledge in the industry and addressing them.
[16.13] Evolution of The Industry - The past, present, and future of the industry with the development of digital marketing.
[ 20.47] The Modern marketer - The role of a marketer in the industry and how it's changed over the years.
[30.08] Mergers, Acquisitions & Monopolies - The merging of marketing companies in the property industry and a discussion on the creation of monopolies.
[44.37] Opportunities - New opportunities in Michelle's new job and mistakes she's made in her career.
[1.03.47] Working with Vendors - Michelle's Pet Peeves as a marketing manager and working with different vendors.
[1.06.35] New Concepts - What you should keep in mind about new data concepts such as geo-fencing and fair housing.
[1.24.08] Digital Marketing Influences- Social media influence, paid and organic search, and marketing packages with SEO and GMB.
[1.36.01] Budgeting - Budget constraints when advertising properties.
[1.43.00] Final Thoughts - Michelle's role models in the industry and any new guests on the show?
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. Today we have a special guest, Abby Glaessner, a paid media specialist at Digible. She joined Digible about eight months ago after working in the vacation rental industry for quite a while. There’s a lot of similarities between the vacation rental space and apartment marketing, along with some tiny little details that set them apart. So we decided to have Abby on the podcast talk about her transition from vacation rentals to apartment marketing and what she learned along the way.
Abby gets into the conversation by sharing the story of how her career path was shaped and how she reached where she is today. She first joined a vacation rental company as their only marketing person. That was an excellent opportunity for her to get experience in a wide range of marketing channels related to the vacation rental industry. Then she joined Digible to work on paid media strategies.
Getting into the details, Abby explains how the marketing operations were functioning in the vacation rental space. She talks about how they managed marketing campaigns for thousands of vacation rental properties, occupancy rates, marketing mix, budgeting, and many more. She gets into details about some of the obstacles and restrictions related to targeting they had to deal with and what they did to work around those restrictions. She also shares some tactics that can be used for apartment marketing as well.
Further down the episode, Abby talks about the major differences she sees between the vacation rental space and the apartment marketing space. She explains the small details that set the two industries apart. In the next section, Abby shares her experience with the methods of marketing optimization used in the vacation rental space. She gives an in-depth explanation of the usage of CRMs, CMSs, SEO, and custom tools in vacation rentals. She also shares how the impact of social media worked differently in these two industries.
[05:45] Abby’s Story – How Abby started at a vacation rental company and her transition into digital marketing.
[09:47] Nuts & Bolts of Vacation Rental Marketing – How the marketing operations were carried out in the vacation rental industry.
[14:53] Media Mix – Abby talks about the mix of marketing channels that were used for marketing vacation rentals, some of the restrictions they had to face, and workarounds for them.
[20:36] Budgeting - How the budgets varied in the vacation rental space from one quarter to the next.
[26:04] Differences – Abby talks about the major differences of markering between vacation rentals and apartment marketing and some of the things we can absorb into the apartment marketing space.
[31:24] Marketing Optimization – What sort of a priority did CRMs, CMSs, and SEO were given in the vacation rental industry.
[35:06] Impact of Social – Similarities and differences in the way social media impacted vacation rental space and the apartment marketing space.
[39:30] Technologies Specific to Vacation Rentals – Abby talks about the usage of custom tools in the vacation rental industry.
[45:12] Final Thoughts – Tips for building trust for your website for vacation rental as well as apartment marketing.
Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. Today's episode is all about Spotify. We have a special guest today. Jenny Haacker, a paid media strategist at Digible, joins us to talk about using Spotify's paid advertising platform for apartment marketing. Over the last few months, Jenny has been running more than a dozen successful Spotify campaigns, and she's here today to share her knowledge and experience about using programmatic audio for apartment marketing.
Programmatic audio is the art of using modern technology to automate the insertion of audio advertisements in digital audio content such as music streaming services, podcasts, audiobooks, etc. As of now, several big players in the audio content business have implemented programmatic audio ad features. Spotify launched its programmatic audio ads platform and has been continuously growing since then. In today's episode, Jenny shares what she has learned through her experiments with Spotify ads.
We start the episode with a fun story from Reid about a sourdough recipe from his wife, Miranda. Then Reid dives into the conversation explaining what programmatic audio adds are and the way it works. Jenny starts sharing her wisdom with a detailed explanation of features and targeting options available on Spotify audio ads.
In the next section, Reid reviews the differences and similarities between programmatic audio ads and conventional radio ads. David & Jenny continues the discussion, explaining what portion of Spotify users you can reach with programmatic audio ads, their effectiveness, and reporting features. They also talk about several metrics you can use to asses the performance of programmatic audio ads such as CTR, CPC, and CPM.
Toward the end of the episode, Jenny talks about the user experience, how the ads are shown in the Spotify app, and a couple features the platform is missing because it's a relatively new platform. To sum up the session, Reid and Jenny share some best practices on creating ad spots, call-to-actions, and scheduling ads on Spotify.
[07:29] What is Programmatic Audio – A brief introduction to audio ads.
[11:10] Features – Different targeting options available for Spotify ads.
[12:31] Spotify vs. Radio – Differences & similarities between programmatic audio ads and conventional radio ads.
[15:17] The Reach – What portion of Spotify users can you reach with audio ads.
[16:58] KPIs – Ways of measuring the performance of Spotify audio ad campaigns.
[18:23] User Experience – How the ads are shown to users and what it's missing.
[22:51] Creating Ad Spots – Things to keep in mind when you create an ad spot for Spotify.
[24:50] Call-to-actions – Best practices for adding call-to-actions in ad spots.
[26:17] Scheduling – How to schedule ads for better performance.
Today’s episode of the Digible Dudes podcast is based on the Digible webinar conducted by David, Reid, and Nicole this week. In the webinar, they cover several essential areas that could help you strengthen and fine-tune your apartment marketing strategy in this time of crisis.
The first section of today’s episode focuses on the impact the COVID-19 epidemic had on the industry over the last couple of months. David, Reid & Nicole review a blend of data from current campaigns to compare & contrast several metrics related to market trends before and after the coronavirus came into play. They discuss the behavior of numbers related to the available units, the absorption rate in different states & cities, and the behavior of a couple of outliers.
The next section of the webinar is focused on search trends. David, Reid & Nicole talk about some of the keywords that have been trending lately, such as unemployment as well as some real estate related keywords. They discuss how these keywords appeared in the searches throughout the last three months and what sort of behavior they had a year ago. They also discuss in detail how different traffic sources contributed to overall website traffic over the past few months. Continuing the discussion about web traffic, they review the behavior of the visitors with session duration statistics. Session duration statistics creates a vivid picture of how the time people spend on websites has changed since January. They also discuss how the low funnel page views changed since last December.
Another area of focus for this webinar is campaign performance. David, Reid & Nicole discuss trends in campaign performance with statistical data on cost per lead, click-to-lead ration, click through rates of different platforms and marketing call durations. Towards the end of the episode, they share their take on what to expect in the coming months and some valuable tips to optimize your marketing strategy.
[03:00] Impact on the Industry – An analysis of leasing trends before and after the coronavirus affected the industry.
[04:37] Absorption Rate –Behavior of absorption rate per week in different states.
[09:00] Search Volume – A comparison of related keywords.
[12:12] Campaign Performance – A year-over-year comparison of how the cost per click changed.
[14:50] Website Traffic by Source – How different traffic sources contributed to the overall website traffic.
[16:00] Duration & Engagement – An analysis of the time people spend on websites.
[18:00] Pageview Activity - Behavior of the page views for lower-funnel pages before and after COVID-19.
[21:14] Campaign Performance – Trends in CPC, cost per lead, and click to lead ratio.
[24:40] Call Analytics – How the marketing call durations varied during the last three months.
[30:30] Marketing Strategy - CTR Analysis of different platforms.
[40:00] What’s next – What you can do to optimize your marketing strategy.
A few days ago, Digible celebrated its 3rd anniversary we dedicated today’s episode to share the story of Digible with you. David, Reid, and Nicole are here today to share what the journey was like and how the company grew over the years. Digible was started as a small startup idea where Reid & David used to meet at a coffee shop before getting a dedicated office space. So stay tuned to hear the incredible story of how Digible grew into a successful business.
Diving into the stories from the early days, David shares how they were trying out different video conferencing apps in the early days. Nicole recalls how she had never thought about starting a business when David & Reid approached Nicole with the idea and why she was excited about this new experience. Reid shares what his focus was on the business idea.
In the next section, Reid shared what motivated him to start the company, the stress involved in it, and how his focus transitioned from being all about the survival of the company to focus on how great the company can be. David & Nicole also shared their take on how their focus has continuously been evolving as the company was becoming more and more stable and successful.
In the next part of the episode, the trio shares how the work with the company affected their lives. Nicole shares a funny story about how her mother describes Nicole’s job role. David & Reid talk about how their family members see the work they do and the way some life events related to the work they do. They also talk about the experience of going through a lawsuit in the early days of the company.
Toward the end of the episode, David, Reid & Nicole talk about what advice they can give to entrepreneurs from their journey with Digible. They share several valuable lessons from their experience about business planning, leadership, committing to business goals, and many more. Wrapping up the conversation, they talk about what they would have done differently and their plans and predictions for the coming years.
[07:15] Early Days – David, Reid & Nicole share their memories from the early days of Digible.
[09:20] How it all started - How the idea was born and conceptualized.
[18:44] Planning – How they were brainstorming the idea.
[20:27] Motivation - What motivated them to start a company, the experience of growing a business, how the stress came into play.
[30:31] Payroll – Story of the first hire and how the payroll evolved,
[36:32] Family Background - David, Reid & Nicole share how their families viewed and supported the business.
[50:10] Advice to Entrepreneurs – What advice can they give to upcoming entrepreneurs.
[1:05:00] What would they do differently – Knowing what they know now, would they do anything differently?
[1:19:00] Plans & Predictions – Their plans, goals, and prediction for Digible in the coming years.
Today we have a special guest, Brenda Studt, from Excelsior Creative. Excelsior Creative is a branding and marketing agency real estate and related businesses. Brenda has been at Excelsior for eight years. In today’s episode, Brenda shares her wisdom on the importance of branding for apartment marketing.
Brenda starts the discussion with her eight-year journey with Excelsior Group and Excelsior Creative. Excelsior Group has been in the industry for around 15 years, and in its early days, Excelsior focused on its investment real estate group. Since then, Excelsior has come a long way, and Brenda’s group, Excelsior Creative, has been functioning as an in-house agency for the last three years. Brenda shares the story of this transition and the unique way they operate.
In the next section, Brenda shared the journey of building her team and how their billing pattern evolved from project basis to time tracking. Being affiliated with the Excelsior Group, Brenda’s group, Excelsior Creative, has a strong base of built-in clients. Brenda explains how they make use of different opportunities available via this network. She also shares what the company culture is like and what its core values are.
Moving into today’s main area of focus, Brenda talks about her approach to branding. She shared the story of Rafter and how its name was chosen to match the neighborhood. Brenda describes in detail how you can use different types of tools, such as videos and printed sales tools, to create a better consumer experience.
In the next section, Brenda talks about rebranding. She shares her take on what kind of situations can benefit more from rebranding. Toward the end of the episode, Brenda shares more valuable ideas from her experience on the easiest ways to make a significant impact, helpful tips for decision making around rebranding, growing demand for your properties, and many more.
[02:21] Brenda’s Story – Brenda’s background and her role at Excelsior Creative.
[07:06] Building a Team – How Brenda developed her marketing team and how they collaborate with different sections of Excelsior Group.
[14:42] Brenda’s Approach to Branding – Brenda talks about how she approaches branding for long term projects.
[21:18] Owner Goals & Budgeting – How Brenda aligns her branding process with owner goals to maintain a better ROI.
[26:00] rebranding – What kind of situations can benefit more from rebranding and what to do when you’re inheriting a brand.
[31:49] Quick Wins – The easiest thing you can do to make the biggest impact.
[37:34] Rebranding Decision Making - What you should consider when making decisions about rebranding properties.
[41:31] Growing Demand - How to grow demand for properties and build a better consumer experience.
Resources:
excelsiorcreativellc.com
In the last few weeks, almost every aspect of business started to change drastically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. So this might be the best time to consider running dynamic ads. And we dedicated today’s episode to talk about everything dynamic ads.
So, what exactly are dynamic ads? It means updating your ad copy or update images or other media on demand. This can be done on a schedule, on some other triggers, or even in real-time. Dynamic ads are available on paid search as well as paid social media, and most major advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google Ads support this feature.
David starts the discussion by explaining what benefits you can get from dynamic ads, the value of keeping your ads updated, and some use cases of dynamic ads that are useful for apartment marketing. David shares his take on dynamic ads for retargeting and some challenges involved in it.
In the next section, David & Reid talk about using dynamic ads to show different ads to visitors who view different sections of your website. We mentioned this in our last webinar when we spoke about visitors who view the floor plan page. Toward the end of the episode, David some more valuable tips on working with an agency to run your dynamic ad campaigns.
[01:28] What are Dynamic Ads? – A brief explanation of what dynamic ads are, how they work, and some use cases.
[04:13] Setting Up Dynamic Ads – How to set up dynamic ads and how dynamic ads allow you to update your ad while retaining your quality score for the ad.
[07:32] Value of Staying Updated – Why you should update your ads for COVID-19.
[09:00] Working with Vendors – Effective methods of updating data when working with vendors.
[10:01] Dynamic Retargeting – How you can take advantage of dynamic ads for retargeting.
[11:33] Floor Plan Views Vs. Home Page Views – Showing different ads to visitors who view different sections of your website.
[13:13] More on Vendors – More tips & tricks about working with vendors.
Today’s episode is all about insourcing versus outsourcing. This is a question that many folks have at some point in their marketing process. While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, David and Reid discuss in-depth how to choose the most appropriate strategy for different scenarios and some tips and tricks for getting a better return on investment by using a blend of insourcing and outsourcing.
The first area we focus on today is branding. Reid starts the discussion by sharing his take on three critical things you should ask yourself before deciding on outsourcing or insourcing. David shares some valuable points on why you should run the numbers and find out your ROI before you make the decision. They also discuss the cultural benefits of insourcing and how the ownership of data and intellectual property, and having more control over the people could be appealing to a startup.
While digital marketing gets most of the attention, offline marketing still plays a significant role in the apartment marketing arena. At some point, you might decide to make use of signage, buy a bus stop advertisement, or perhaps host an event. David & Reid dedicate the next section to talking about how outsourcing can be beneficial in some of these scenarios and how to make the best of offline marketing with a blend of insourcing and outsourcing.
Moving back to digital marketing, David and Reid review several vital things you should consider when using digital advertising platforms such as Google AdWords and Facebook ads, and general management fees for digital marketing agencies. They also talk about how it could be more logical to outsource digital ad campaigns to an expert because finding the right talent for in-house operations can be similarly costly, and the employee burden that comes with it.
Getting into further depths of digital marketing, David & Reid talk about choosing the best approach for different products, platforms, and channels, including social media, email marketing, geofencing. They discuss in-depth about what you should consider when you’re looking for an SEO vendor, how to quantify the results of their SEO efforts, and what you should keep in mind if you decide to insource your SEO. Wrapping up the episode, David & Reid share some tips and tricks for making the best of your marketing efforts.
[02:16] Branding – Pros & cons of insourcing vs. outsourcing for branding, working with creative agencies, and the importance of running your numbers.
[11:19] Cultural Benefit of Insourcing – How insourcing can be appealing to startups because of greater control and ownership of data.
[12:55] Offline Marketing – Things to consider in offline marketing, what to outsource, and what to insource.
[17:22] Outsourcing Events – What you should consider before outsourcing your event planning.
[20:47] Digital Marketing – Management cost of digital marketing campaigns and why it’s more logical to outsource digital advertisement campaigns.
[29:23] Transitions Between Insourcing & Outsourcing – Reid’s observations on how transitioning between insourcing and outsourcing can be beneficial in different stages of the business based on the number of properties.
[32:48] Data Warehousing – What you should consider when choosing methods of data warehousing and reporting.
[35:44] Products & Platforms – How to decide the best approach for different digital marketing products and platforms.
[40:34]| SEO - Working with SEO vendors, how to quantifying SEO results, and what to consider when insourcing SEO.
[50:08] Craigslist – How to make the best of Craigslist.
[1:01:00] Risks Associated With Digital Talent – Dealing with employees’ mindsets, employee retention, and considerations for maximizing ROI on an employee.
On March 23rd, the Digible team held a webinar covering how COVID-19 has impacted the apartment marketing. The team committed to updating their slides each week until the crisis has subsided. This is the audio of the update recorded on 3/31/20. The data does show some bright spots - so tune in to get the gist of things.
Remote from the airport - David and Nicole give their final thoughts on the UpLift Conference hosted by BetterUp. The conference focuses on EX (Employee Experience) and how to build a team that thrives in a "White Water World of Work".
BetterUp is a technology platform that Digible utilizes to provide Professional / Career coaching to the leadership team. Their tech evaluates the "whole person" for strengths and weaknesses. Then BetterUp's algorithm match-makes the individual to their ideal professional coach. This service has been a terrific tool for the team at Digible, and the UpLift conference ties together the research, methodology, and reasoning that BetterUp has developed for their platform.
Listen in if you have an interest in hearing the team's key takeaways from UpLift 2020!
For Digible's first remote podcast, David and Nicole head out to Berkeley, CA for the UpLift Conference hosted by BetterUp. The conference focuses on EX (Employee Experience) and how to build a team that thrives in a "White Water World of Work".
BetterUp is a technology platform that Digible utilizes to provide Professional / Career coaching to the leadership team. Their tech evaluates the "whole person" for strengths and weaknesses. Then BetterUp's algorithm match-makes the individual to their ideal professional coach. This service has been a terrific tool for the team at Digible, and the UpLift conference ties together the research, methodology, and reasoning that BetterUp has developed for their platform.
Listen in if you have an interest in hearing the team's key takeaways from UpLift 2020!
It's Friday, March 13th, and things are escalating quickly regarding the Corona Virus. The Property Management industry is working to make sure the appropriate steps are taken. David and Reid jump on the mic to discuss what steps apartment marketers should be taking - creative updates, targeting changes, and what should be done with marketing budgets. Join us while we work through the implications.
By far the most requested episode (only requested episode?) to date! David and Reid get together to provide their commentary on the possible CoStar acquisition of RentPath. They cover what this might mean for the industry. Is this actually a good thing? Also, they take a stab at who all might benefit from this acqusition. Fun fact, the Digible Dudes actually took 5 minutes to prep before the episode. Hey-o!
Eddie Fitzgerald joins the podcast to talk through his most recent case study on if the juice is worth the squeeze to post .GIF files vs Still images on a property's organic social media. Tune in if you are interested in this case study OR if you have an interest in hearing David talk about how he was click-baited into an article about Diet Coke....
We at Digible are VERY excited to have Jennifer Labac join us as our new Director of Organic Media and Marketing. Jennifer has a storied background - from building websites for Microsoft in the early 2000's to most recently, acting as the Director of Digital Communications Strategy for Children's Hospital Colorado. In this episode, we grill Jennifer about her career to-date, her thoughts on micro-sites, her philosophy on content, and even the similarities between marketing health care and apartments.
The Paid Media team at Digible has recently had a huge breakthrough: The ability to run Dynamic Ad Creative on Facebook. But what the heck does that mean?
Now, the team is able to to update pricing and availability across facebook ads and campaigns in real time. Yep, the ad creative itself can be changed. BUT Wait! There's More! Dynamic Ad Creative can also automatically throttle campaigns on or off based on unit availability. The Digible team is still running tests, but we were too excited to keep this to ourselves.
Apartments.com announced that they are planning to spend $250M in advertising between digital in TV in 2020. That includes an outstanding $100M on Paid Search advertising. David and Reid hit the mics to talk through their thoughts and what this means for apartment marketers.
The three Digible Founders get together to hear Reid's Poetic Tribute to 2019. The episode begins with Reid's performance of the poem, and then Reid surprises David & Nicole with best of questions for 2019.
Wanna get geeky? On this episode, the Digible Dudes pull Victor Dozal, Digible's Director of Engineering, into the studio to give his take on the world of software engineering. The conversation breaks into 20 minutes chunks with the first 20 minutes being about the world of Javascript. The next 20 minutes focus on different Engineering roles. Finally, the last 20 minutes of the episode focus on BOLD predictions = AI, AR, Self Driving Cars, Blockchain, and Text Messaging?
Posts on Google? What the heck is that? Join us in this episode to hear Bailey (Digible's very own SEO Specialist) explain what posting to Google My Business can do for your apartment marketing. She comes armed with a few stats and of plenty of opinions!
For years, Digible founders Reid and David have been talking about the year 2020 as if it was the new Y2k (the Jetsons are coming to town). With no research, but lots of opinions, Reid and David dive into an unstructured 2020 predictions episode. Smooth.
One of Reid's dreams to is to produce an annual "Fun Facts" video for the apartment industry. Since Digible is in the business of granting wishes, we are jumping in feet first! In this episode we review the facts that the team has pulled together for the video. Press "Play" if you want to hear our working session on grading these facts before they go to the animation team. If your attention span is too short, the final video will be out in Feb 2020!
Digible has tested more than a half dozen call tracking vendors. We're down to our final vendor test, Dialogtech. On this episode, we share why we've been testing new vendors, what our hopes/dreams are, and why we are close to making a move. As you can imagine... this involves data and AI - why not?
While Email Marketing (AKA Email Blasts) is a staple of other industries - like automotive, e-commerce, and single family real estate - it's a channel that is heavily underutilized in the apartment industry. No, Email Blasts are not the auto followups that you have set for your sales team, this is paid email outreach to people who you don't know. Tune in to hear if this might be a strategy for you!
The time between Thanksgiving and the New Year can wreak havoc on apartment marketing campaigns. In this episode, David and Nicole riff on what you should be aware of heading into, and then out of, the holidays. Topics include: campaign pacing, the altered customer journey, search trends, and working with your vendor if you are stuck in a gray area of not having final budgets approved. Happy Holidays, fam!
GMail advertising has been around for some time, but it isn't a channel that has been super heavily leveraged in apartment marketing. That said, apartment marketers are starting to rediscover GMail as an option, and give it a fair test. Today, Jenny and Megan decided to come heavy with FOUR metrics, all centered on GMail ads. 1) Email Open Rate, 2) Clicks to Site, 3) GMail Saves, 4) GMail Forwards. Get learned up on GMail metrics, and the benchmarks you should be aiming for.
Megan and Adam swing back into the studio to review their perfected Multi-family Canvas Ad "recipe". The team reveals what type of content makes up the best Hero Image for a Facebook Carousel ad. Enjoy!
CPM, or cost-per-thousand ad impressions, is a metric you'll see on just about all of your ad channel reporting. When it comes to large retail brands, CPM is one of the most important metrics, but should CPM get the same love in apartment marketing? Jenny dives into the what CPM is, why the "M" stands for thousand, and how she uses CPM when running multi-family campaigns.
We, at Digible, are huge fans of the Facebook Canvas ad. Nearly all of our Multi-family Facebook campaigns are running the canvas ad type and so the Paid Media team conducted several tests to determine the best type of apartment content to include in the ad. On this episode, the team has pitted amenities carousels against floor plan carousels. Cheers!
Email marketing is one of the most underrated channels for apartment marketing. For the few marketers that do run paid email blasts, one of the most "important" metrics is open rate. What's it all about? Listen in and find out.
Digible made the trip out to Dallas, TX for the 2019 OpTech conference. In this episode Reid and David break down their thoughts on the sessions, what was cool and what sucked, and of course, they go off topic. Buckle up!
Apartment operators have long attempted to measure advertising effectiveness by dividing the number of leads against the total ad spend. In the digital age, this has gotten both 'easier' but also more confusing. In this Monday Metric, we cover some quick Cost Per Lead (CPL) benchmarks for apartments while also providing some caution against always optimizing to CPL. Finally, we also go a smidge off-course on the Vacation Rental industry and how it relates to us here in Property Management.
Geofencing? Isn't that what my vendor does on all platforms? It's just targeting by a geography, right? Nope, this advanced technology allows you to draw virtual fences around locations of interest (think: your competitors) and serve ads to people that enter that fence. These fences aren't yo-momma's old ad technology where she targeted with a 1-mile radius. This tech allows you to target down to 3 meters. We're talking inside the Leasing Office vs just walking your dog on the sidewalk. Wow, creepy.
Friggin' Google. They took away one of our favorite metrics: "Avg Position." It's now been replaced with "Top Impression Share" and "Absolute Top Impression Share." Why the heck Google? Should we be paying attention to these two metrics? Or are they simply a fun party trick to freak out your vendor of choice with? Find out in this version of the Monday Metric.
Digible was invited to the first Inaugural Google Acceleration Summit this October. Our founders crack a few beers, and get real about the experience. Rumor is, they didn't want to release this podcast - but hey, Google's not listening, right?
On today's Monday Metric, we cover one of the holy-grail metrics for digital marketing: walk-ins. This metric reports how many people saw a digital ad, and then walked into the property as a result. There are a couple of things that can quickly cause poor reporting with this one, so tune in to learn where things can go wrong when it comes to measuring your walk-ins.
In this episode, we explore the depths of budgeting for social media. Hear about how social plays a role in the mid & upper realms of the advertising funnel, how lease-ups can benefit from strong social practices, as well as pro-tips on typical budgets and benchmarking! We also touch on attribution tactics and how to best utilize those social advertising dollars.
Do I really need a vendor for social? How to choose? My grandma is pretty good at Facebook, how hard could it be? Here, the 'Dudes answer these questions & more. Let's dive into the importance of vetting your social vendors and how to optimize your social marketing with the right 3rd party.
What the heck is "Site Visit Rate" (SVR) and why should an apartment marketer care? In this third installment of the Monday Metric, we figure all that out with Digible's own paid social and display specialist, Jenny Haacker. Plus, we tackle SVR apartment industry benchmarks, words of caution, and whether or not site visit rate is worth your time, or just plain over-rated. Tune in for the "fun!"
Workflow, KPI's, reporting, and things to expect in your SEO package - Here, we discuss the ins and outs on vetting your SEO vendor. You'll learn all you need to know to be in the driver's seat when working with your SEO partner.
In this sophomore episode of the the Monday Metric, we cover Cost-Per-Click (CPC). CPC is a metric that every apartment marketer is familiar with, but it's never a bad time to cover the basics. In other words, this one is a must for our 2nd Monday Metric episode. We talk with Adam Walters, Digible's own Digital Marketing Manager, on why CPC is getting long in the tooth, yet remains relevant for your marketing campaigns. We also provide some words of caution, and of course Apartment Industry KPI benchmarks!
Welcome one, welcome all! To The Monday Metric - a new episode format where you'll learn the true definitions of highlighted metrics, friction points surrounding them, as well as benchmarks to look for in your campaigns.
On this week's bout, we're tackling click-through rate (CTR).
In this Byte Sized segment, David gets into the mix with Digible's Marketing Manager and SEO Specialist, Gitel Celnik. They discuss renter expectations when searching for apartments, CMS platforms for SEO, and how all of this should impact your budgeting.
In this next installment of budgeting breakdowns, the Digible Dudes discuss SEO in the apartment industry. They dive into budgeting across different life cycles of a property, benchmarking and performance indicators for SEO, and recent Google updates that you should be asking your SEO provider about.
In this byte sized segment, the Dudes talk about the importance of vetting your ILS providers and share the key questions you should be asking when choosing which package is right for your property.
Here, you will learn just how old Digible Founders Reid Wicoff and David Staley really are as they discuss the old school landscape of ILS. Then, they get into the significance of ILS in apartment marketing today and how to leverage that insight for your overall marketing budgets.
With a seemingly endless list of potential paid search vendors, how do you choose the one that's best for your team? In this episode, David and Reid cover everything you need to know before committing to a search vendor.
Once of the trickiest marketing services for which to budget is Paid Search. Here, Daivd and Reid discuss common myths associated with Search budgeting, as well as best practices when shelling out your cash for SEM.
In this episode of the Digible Dudes, Reid and David explore the budgeting workflow for apartment marketing. They discuss what works and what doesn't and offer suggestions for how to adjust your spend throughout the year.
Join Digible founders David Staley and Reid Wicoff in their first Byte Sized segment: a short form episode that gets down to the nitty gritty on topics introduced in the long-form content. Here, the Dudes dive into the Dos and Don'ts of ILS budgeting, offering plenty of pro tips along the way.
Welcome to the Digible Dudes Podcast! In this inaugural episode, David and Reid dive right into one of the most tumultuous topics in apartment marketing: budgeting. Here, they reflect on the old ways used to craft budget recommendations, provide their thoughts on the components necessary for successful budgeting in today’s climate, and make predictions about how new and emerging technology will change the industry in the future.