Trends & Takeaways

Overall, the Charlotte market is continuing to grow with 6,603 construction starts in 2020 ranking Charlotte at number 13 in the nation. 

According to Transplant.to, 58% of people living in Charlotte are staying in Charlotte, 25% are leaving and 17% are moving to the city. This tells us that most potential renters are already living in Charlotte and plan to stay in the city. 

Charlotte is a booming city, there’s no doubt about that. There is a vast opportunity to expand your strategy outside of the norm and focus on platforms that are less saturated like Spotify or TikTok. Charlotte has a diverse population where you will be able to get renters’ attention outside paid search and all of the ILS links.

STRATEGY SUGGESTIONS

Neighborhoods are all the rage.

What we know for certain about Charlotte is that people don’t mess around with what neighborhood they want to live in. Be as specific as possible with your neighborhood keywords and location targeting, both are crucial for success in this market. Not only is it important to note the neighborhood but you gotta know the slang too. Don’t get caught saying, “North Davidson” instead of “NoDa”. Keep this in mind with both your paid and organic strategy. 

In addition to being neighborhood focused, floor plan availability is a big factor for renter interest as well. With lots of competition in the area, it’s important to make sure you are capturing the most qualified renters as possible. Focus on what floor plans have most availability and then tailor your keywords, ad copy, creative assets, etc around those specific floor plans. 

Paid social campaigns thrive on floor plan assets. Take advantage of the opportunity and create a handful of different floor plan specific ads that renters can easily scroll through before they click through to the website. You’ll pick the perfect floor plan for the renter before they even notice what is happening. 

Get creative with your campaign builds for paid search. As we know, this market has competition from not only other properties but also the ILS campaigns. This means you need to include everything into your strategy to stand out. Get those DPAs, Retargeting and Neighborhood campaigns ready. 

Don’t get too stuck on lead generation and make sure you’re building a brand presence as well. Think about discovery ads and gmail ads for more of a push. 

This can be done through TikTok, Audio, GEO, email and many many more avenues. But, display has proven to outperform campaigns in other markets here. When looking at display campaigns, we are seeing a 25% higher viewability than other campaigns and a .05% higher site visit rate. 

Hint Hint – make retargeting specific creative. Draw people back in with fun ad copy! 

CONCLUSION

Properties in Charlotte have to stand out from one another. More likely than not, there is a property with the same amenities and demographic appeal as your property. To get past this, focus on people who want to move to your properties’ specific neighborhood and show them what your floor plans have. 

Don’t let people leave your site without seeing another ad from you. Layer in retargeting across all platforms and make sure the ad copy is unique to people who know who your property is.