Is Your Marketing Agency Costing You Leases?
Most multifamily teams don’t realize they’ve outgrown their marketing agency—until occupancy starts to slip and the numbers stop making sense.
Maybe the leads look strong on paper, but tours aren’t converting. Maybe your website traffic is up, but leases are flat. Or maybe the communication just feels… off. You’re not getting answers. You’re not seeing strategy. And you’re starting to wonder if the agency you hired is helping you grow—or holding you back.
Here’s the hard truth: not every marketing agency is built for multifamily leasing. And the ones that aren’t often struggle to deliver the performance you need, especially when it comes to pre-leasing, lease-ups, and competitive markets.
If you’re starting to suspect your agency is costing you more than just money, this is the article you’ve been looking for.
1. They Don’t Understand the Leasing Funnel
Multifamily leasing isn’t eCommerce, and it’s not B2B either.
The renter journey is a unique funnel:
- It starts with interest (an ad click, a Google search)
- Moves to action (tour request, call, inquiry)
- And ends with a lease (often after multiple touchpoints)
Your marketing strategy must align with this specific lifecycle. That means:
- Tracking leads by source and stage
- Nurturing cold leads with email
- Retargeting warm leads with urgency
- And optimizing conversion at every step
If your agency is just focused on impressions and clicks, or if it treats a lead as the finish line, you’re losing leases before they ever start.
Red flag: They can’t explain your tour-to-lease rate or don’t know what it is.
2. They Deliver Leads—Not Leases
More leads aren’t always better.
Yes, lead volume matters. But unqualified, low-intent, or irrelevant leads will drain your team and waste your budget.
A generalist agency might flood your inbox with contact forms, but without qualification or nurture, those leads often go nowhere. You don’t just need names—you need prospects who are ready, willing, and a fit for your property.
A specialized multifamily agency:
- Uses targeting to attract the right renters
- Automates lead nurturing through email and SMS
- Scores and prioritizes leads based on behavior
- Connects marketing directly to leasing outcomes
They don’t just aim for inquiries—they build strategies that fill units.
Red flag: You’re seeing lots of leads but very few showings, tours, or signed leases.
3. They Use Generic Creative
Stock photos and boilerplate copy won’t lease your property.
Renters are savvy. They can tell when a brand feels real—and when it doesn’t. If your ads look like every other community, or if your landing page could belong to any property in the country, you’re not making an impression.
Generic creative erodes trust. It tells renters you’re not unique. And it fails to connect your brand with the experience your property offers.
A specialized agency brings:
- Community-specific branding
- Real photography or virtual tours
- Localized copy that reflects your neighborhood, amenities, and audience
- Design tailored to the leasing experience—not just aesthetics
Creative should sell a lifestyle, not just a layout.
Red flag: Your ads all use stock photos, and your website doesn’t reflect your actual community.
4. They Can’t Show ROI (Or Don’t Try)
If you don’t know what’s working, you can’t improve.
Marketing without data is guesswork. And guesswork gets expensive fast. You should have access to:
- Real-time dashboards
- Lead source attribution
- Cost per lead, cost per tour, cost per lease
- Insights into what campaigns are underperforming and why
Generalist firms often rely on monthly PDF reports, surface-level KPIs, or vague summaries. That’s not transparency—that’s delay.
You deserve full visibility into your performance so you can make strategic, confident decisions. And your agency should be the one making recommendations before you have to ask.
Red flag: You’re unsure what you’re paying for, or where your leads are coming from.
5. They Treat You Like Just Another Account
Multifamily leasing is time-sensitive. You can’t afford to be “just another client.”
You’re launching a new development. You’re pushing to hit occupancy goals. You’re in the middle of a lease-up.
This isn’t just marketing—it’s critical business operations.
If your agency doesn’t prioritize communication, customization, and responsiveness, you’re not getting what you need. Generalist firms often manage dozens of clients with templated campaigns and limited bandwidth.
What you need is:
- A partner who learns your market and property
- Custom strategies for your specific goals
- Regular meetings, proactive suggestions, and real collaboration
Multifamily moves fast. Your agency should move faster.
Red flag: You’re getting cookie-cutter campaigns and late responses, or you’re doing all the follow-up.
Outgrowing Your Agency Isn’t a Failure—It’s a Sign of Growth
Your property has evolved. Your goals have sharpened. Your expectations have increased.
That’s a good thing.
If your current agency isn’t evolving with you, it’s okay to make a change. The right partner will bring:
- Deep industry expertise
- Proven strategies for multifamily leasing
- Full-funnel visibility and reporting
- Creative and targeting that speaks to renters
- And a proactive team that feels like an extension of you
Ready to Move On? Here’s What Your Next Agency Should Bring
Before you switch, here’s what to look for in a specialized multifamily marketing partner:
- Experience with pre-leasing, lease-ups, and stabilized portfolios
- Google Ads and Meta campaigns built for lead-to-lease performance
- Custom landing pages and conversion rate optimization
- Automated email and SMS follow-up sequences
- On-demand dashboards with cost-per-lead and ROI tracking
- Real creative that reflects your actual community
- Weekly check-ins and fast response times
You don’t just need a marketing vendor. You need a leasing partner. Someone who understands that every campaign, every click, and every decision impacts occupancy and your bottom line.
The best relationships grow with your business. But if your current agency is showing signs of stagnation, misalignment, or missed results, it may be time to move on.
At Lease Ups, we specialize in marketing that drives occupancy, not just traffic. We build strategic campaigns tailored to the unique demands of multifamily leasing, and we measure everything that matters—from first click to signed lease.