How to get into Multi-Family Residential marketing?
Hey ya'll,

This is somewhat of an odd question but I'm a young professional marketer looking to move from my current industry (Media &amp; Entertainment) into the marketing of Multi-Family Residential properties (specifically large complexes in cities).

I have no experience in that particular industry yet, but one of my long-term goals is to own a large Multi-Family building and I'd like to leapfrog off my current skillset to get there.

My question is if anyone has any tips or ideas on marketing projects I can work on to help build my resume and get real experience in the field? My first thought is to find a very small property management business (or individual) and help them market their properties for free, but I'm not sure where I would even find such people.

Any advice is appreciated!
[{"id": "ev27r0t", "text": "From my experience, most marketing for investment-grade apartment complexes involves a combination of online agregators (ie apartments.com and the like), and personal websites, which are pretty hands off. Even the rent is based on an algorithm.\n\nBrokerage firms might be a place to start: they create high quality marketing docs, sometimes in house. Plus, brokerage is a faster way to climb the ladder, it gets you first hand experience.", "replies": [{"id": "ev29ubi", "text": "That is great advice thank you! Are there any resources available to check out examples of these marketing docs or perhaps some examples of company's that do it well so I can have a jumping off point for my research? Thanks again!", "replies": [{"id": "ev2c6g8", "text": "Check out Loopnet.com. It's a commercial real estate listing service. Brokerage firms list their assets there, alongside marketing material.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ev2blgf", "text": "Are you interested working on the branding aspect for a single building (brand alignment, furnishing clubhouses/model units, tenant prospecting) or on the marketing campaigns done for sales (brokerage listings/offering memorandums)? Those are two very different positions within different segments of the broad \"multifamily\" umbrella.", "replies": [{"id": "ev2d3zt", "text": "That's a good question that I'm currently still exploring the answer to. Having knowledge of both areas would be beneficial I imagine, but right now I'm just looking for an entry point to begin learning.", "replies": [{"id": "ev2e987", "text": "Both will also give you unique insights into owning real estate, which seems to be your desired outcome. Working with a brokerage team you will see how deals are structured, what buyers &amp; sellers are paying attention, and you will at least touch different financial statements even if that only means applying formatting them into a booklet. \n\nIf you were working with a property management group you would be getting valuable operational experience, but would probably be in the dark as far as how the business is ran outside of marketing.\n\nDo you live in a major US city?", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ev2uyt2", "text": "Feel free to PM me. Started as an analyst/marketer/researcher before getting into multifamily brokerage", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ev63wjx", "text": "I think it is worth noting that most multifamily marketing will occur along two major veins: marketing by the property management to seek the highest rents paid by the most qualified long-term tenants , and marketing by the broker to yield the highest price the market will bear.\n\n\nThe former task is often the result of an integrated feature of a larger property management bookkeeping software system like Yardi (RentCafe) or Appfolio.\n\n\nIn many states you are required to be a broker or a licensed broker's assistant to perform the latter to the above described tasks. \n\n\nThere is a third arena of marketing that exists on the product development side where you're creating a brand identity for a real estate developer. \n\n\nWhat draws you to real estate in general? Why do you want to specialize in residential multifamily marketing?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]