Early in the morning, have the staff giving out free coffee and donuts to each tenant leaving for work!
Turn your clubhouse into a temporary art gallery by reaching out to local art schools and putting on your own art show! This is both a resident event and a community outreach program, as you can advertise the event on Craigslist and with local businesses. Also, encourage the artists to have their friends and family come out to the property to support them, which then creates awareness opportunities for the community! As an added resident bonus, make the pricing two tiered – one price for the general public, and a lower price for residents. Even if a resident doesn’t buy a piece, they will appreciate that there was special pricing just for them! (This is really both a resident event and apartment marketing opportunity, but since most of our events are focused on residents, we decided to put this in...
Everybody knows about the idea of a “breakfast on the go” event where you give a muffin, kolache, or some other breakfast item to people as they drive to work. But one additional option is to give them one extra item that has ribbon/bow tied around it with a business card size flyer, and tell the resident that this extra one is for a friend! Granted, some people will just eat the extra one, but some might actually pass it along, and with it, a resident referral! (Instead of a typical business card, make it like a custom flyer that "speaks" directly to the referral.)
This year we had a carnival theme. We had games, which included me (manager) in the dunking booth, prizes for playing, food and a lot of FUN! We served corndogs, nacho's, sour pickles, lemonade, candy apples, candy, etc. At the endo of the night we gave away door prizes for attending.
"Alexis Park Gives A Hoot!" - we use the OWL as our current marketing logo.
We invite our residents for a gathering, door prize(s) and gumpbo.