My wife has heard me saying 'everything is a funnel' more times than I'd like to admit. But if you've worked in sales or marketing for more than a few years, it changes your perspective on the world. Her and I were talking about megachurches the other week and she had a negative perception of them. Fair enough, but what if those churches are actually funnels to smaller churches where people don't blend in and they can actively participate in the community? I know, I feel bad for her too but after more than a dozen years in business that's the lens at which I see the world. The world of multifamily marketing is no different. Let's briefly dive in to what a multifamily marketing funnel looks like.

Top of Funnel - Multifamily Marketing

At the very top of our funnel is awareness or impressions. These are passive eyeballs that come into contact with your apartment community, whether it be through an ILS, a Google Ad or a Google Business Listing. It's hard to put a number on the value of an impression, but when you're considering the cost you will pay for an impression I ask myself three questions.

1. What's the CPM? This is the cost per thousand eyeballs (well, sets of eyeballs technically).

2. Who is the audience and what is their intent?

3. What's the engagement of that audience?

The second question helps determine how much you should pay to reach that audience.

Let's consider a traffic campaign on Google vs. Meta. When you run a search campaign on Google, you're targeting specific keywords that imply intent. Meaning, most people don't search for apartments in their area unless they're in the need for an apartment. Whereas advertising on Meta limits your ability to target people specifically searching because it's not a search engine. Instead, it targets based on your goals and the interests of the user you've added to the campaign. Meta will get better at targeting the right people over time, but the interests you can add in Meta aren't as specific to whether that user is in the market for an apartment or not. Therefor, you'd value Google Ads advertisement more highly than Meta because of their ability to target the user at the right time.

The third question is important to consider because different channels have different engagement. For example, it might be more expensive to advertise with a local media player, but that's also because they've built trust with their audience so it's likely they'll hang around your content a little bit longer than they would if they saw it scrolling through their social media feed.

For context, a Meta traffic ad we're running has a $6 CPM whereas our Google Ads have a $42 CPM. That means it's 7x more expensive to advertise your apartment community on Google than Facebook/Instagram. But, remember that the intent of the audience is far greater on Google Search. You can also calculate CPM for your ILSs to help you gauge the value and price you're paying for awareness. With Rent out of the picture after their effective merger with Zillow, this will be a more applicable calculation in 2026 once they go head-to-head with Costar.

That being said, Meta can be a powerful tool in the next stage of the funnel...

Middle of Funnel - Multifamily Marketing

Once a user has displayed interest (went on the website, looked at a floor plan, photos etc.,) they're clearly interested to some degree. This is where a retargeting campaign can be a powerful way to amplify the best features of the community. We talk about this more in the Multifamily Marketing Mastery Course, where we touch on the best way to use Meta and move your prospect to the next stage of the funnel.

Bottom of Funnel - Multifamily Marketing

Once you've reached the prospect AND met on a different platform, your job as a marketer is basically done.

One idea I'm consider is an ad geared towards someone who has scheduled a tour. This would be an ad promoting the perks of renting with our company, reiterating why renting with us is a better experience than any other management company in the city. I'm thinking out loud but loving the idea the more I write!

Why You Should Know Your Funnel

If marketers understand nothing else, it should be a funnel. It's not a perfect way to understand the prospects journey, but it's the best format we have for making sense of it. We know, especially in multifamily, that a prospects journey can span months, and more than other products, is deeply impacted by things like physical signage, referrals, and word of mouth. But the value in understanding the economics of how much you're spending at each stage of the marketing funnel can help you optimize your marketing and cut costs where necessary.

If you're looking to level up your multifamily marketing skills, you'll want to check out my Multifamily Marketing Course which goes into even greater detail on how you can be the best apartment marketer in your city. Check it out here.