July 2023

The data shows that omnichannel marketing strategies have power. When implemented successfully, they increase ad-driven store visits by 80%. With consumers relying more on their mobile devices and expecting tailored, seamless experiences from brands, failing to embrace omnichannel marketing seems like a wrong turn. Omnichannel strategies can boost sales, personalize the customer experience and increase retention rates.

Another positive is that using multiple channels to deliver individualized messages lets you reach audience members wherever they are. Whether they’re using their smartphone in your store, opening their inbox or browsing social media, your messages get seen. And ultimately, they bring your audience closer to making a purchase. But omnichannel marketing involves more than simply blasting your content onto every available platform. Here’s how to do it with thought and effectively increase your reach.

Amplify Your Content

Amplifying your content doesn’t mean simply making more of it. That strategy could backfire if you’re not talking about what’s relevant to your audience. Sometimes less is more when you can use what you already have in different ways.

Repurposing your content is something Casted, an amplified marketing platform, recommends for reaching customers more effectively. Think about the channels your ideal buyer uses and modify your content to fit each channel’s mold. Amplifying your content library can also include returning to topics you’ve talked about before. If something resonates strongly with your audience, they’re probably hungry for more. You just have to dig deeper, expand and adapt.

Say you have a high-performing blog post. It brings people to your website and pads your lead-gen results. But search engines aren’t the only place your audience hangs out. You can take the same post and turn it into a video on TikTok, a social snippet on Instagram or an infographic on LinkedIn. If there’s potential, you might turn the topic into a series by involving more than one subject matter expert.

The key is to extend your efforts beyond a single format or channel. That said, you’ll need to be strategic about it. Look at where your audience is, what formats they respond to best and what topics draw them in.

Walk In Your Target Consumer’s Shoes

Before someone buys something, they’ve likely seen multiple ads and pieces of content about it. They’ve also probably interacted with your brand in person and online through different channels. Marketing touchpoints are no longer limited to one or two. Today’s consumers are bombarded with online posts, emails and mobile app notifications on top of traditional ads.

The mobile channel alone drove 41.8% of retail e-commerce sales in 2022. While this figure is impressive, you’ve got to determine how channels like mobile apply to your audience members. Pretend you’re one of them, searching for information on the problem your product or service solves. What channels does your audience interact with, what touchpoints do they see and how effective are they?

Walking through your ideal shopper’s journey is one way to identify what touchpoints are missing from your strategy. Say you’re an online bank, such as SoFi, that offers loans, savings accounts and investment products. Perhaps your website analytics show visitors are spending more time exploring content about high-yield savings and investments. It may be the time to target these consumers with personalized touchpoints like emails.

Collecting visitors’ data through short surveys and email signup forms allows you to customize your messages, better matching their interests and behaviors. For instance, you could offer a higher interest rate if they open a savings account through your app. You could also extend a bonus for opening investment accounts with a minimum balance. Either way, you’re leveraging data to appeal to your audience’s preferences through their favorite channels.

Analyze Feedback to Optimize Performance

You won’t know what parts of your omnichannel marketing strategy are working if you don’t analyze the data. More importantly, you won’t know what you should tweak so they can work. Stats you’ll want to look at include conversion and retention rates. But customer satisfaction, general brand sentiment and customer lifetime value are additional data points to consider.

For example, a video with low conversion rates may present several opportunities. Maybe the format or length isn’t appropriate for your goal. Perhaps you want to educate your audience to convince them your brand offers the best solution. You might test the same content as a webinar and a how-to series. You can optimize your strategy to increase conversion rates by seeing which format performs better.

Likewise, you can look at your overall approach’s impact on customer lifetime value. What role do different touchpoints play in incremental sales if you’re a mass-market retailer like Target? Maybe app notifications about sales and gift card incentives are more effective than direct mail. They’re immediate, using past browsing and purchase history to deliver individualized savings. However, customer sentiments from surveys reveal that too many notifications turn shoppers off.

Combining your data sources, you might find two app notifications a week is the sweet spot. With this frequency, you can positively impact customer lifetime value and brand sentiment. You’ll be reaching your audience how—and how often—they prefer.

Achieving Omnichannel Marketing Reach

Omnichannel marketing strategies often have the same effect that multiple product displays in a store do. No matter where consumers turn, you’re constantly reminding them of your brand’s existence and the value it can offer. With well-thought-out and refined approaches, omnichannel marketing can help extend your reach to those ready, willing and able to buy.

As a real estate investor, you should understand the NAICS code that relates to your industry.

This article discusses the finer details of this code system and its impact on your business. 

What Is a NAICS Code?

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is developed by the United States, Canada, and Mexico to classify businesses into industry-specific categories for economic data collection, analysis, and reporting.

In some states, providing your NAICS code is optional, but in other states, providing your code will be required.

Why Do I Need a NAICS Code?

While a NAICS code won’t make or break your real estate investing business, it can be useful in certain situations.

Economic tracking and analysis

Governments and researchers use NAICS codes to track economic activity, analyze growth trends, and predict future performance. If you’re in the real estate business, using the appropriate NAICS code helps ensure that data about your sector of the economy is accurate.

Loan application

When applying for business loans or lines of credit, financial institutions often request a NAICS code to better understand your industry and its potential risks. The code helps them make informed decisions about your eligibility and the loan terms.

Business licensing and zoning

Some local governments require a NAICS code when applying for business licenses or determining appropriate property zoning. The code helps the authorities understand the nature of your business.

Tax purposes

Some tax deductions and credits are industry-specific. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other tax authorities may use NAICS codes to determine eligibility for these tax benefits.

Insurance

Insurance companies often use NAICS codes to understand the risk associated with a particular business. This helps them calculate appropriate insurance premiums.

Business relationships

If you work with other businesses, such as contractors or suppliers, they may request your NAICS code to better understand your business and its needs.

Where Can I Find My NAICS Code?

Visit the NAICS website to identify the NAICS code for your LLC. You can find your code using either the keyword or industry search options.

If you’re using the keyword method, type the initial term of your business’s sector into the “NAICS Keyword Search” field. Hit “Submit” and search the results until you find the code most closely related to your field.

You can also use the industry search method. This involves selecting your business sector (in this case, real estate) from the industry list located beneath the search bar. Your industry’s corresponding NAICS code will be displayed. 

For further assistance in identifying your LLC’s NAICS code, consider contacting the U.S. Census Bureau at 1-888-756-2427.

Common NAICS Codes for Real Estate Investment

Here are some of the most common NAICS codes for real estate-related businesses. 

• 531110: Lessors of residential buildings and dwellings. This applies to investors renting out residential properties like apartments, homes, and condos.
• 531120: Lessors of nonresidential buildings (except Miniwarehouses). This code is used for investors leasing commercial properties such as office buildings or shopping centers.
• 531130: Lessors of miniwarehouses and self-storage units. This code applies to investors in the self-storage or mini-warehouse business.
• 531190: Lessors of other real estate property. If an investor leases out other types of real estate properties not mentioned above, they would use this code.
• 531210: Offices of real estate agents and brokers. If an investor also acts as a broker or real estate agent, they would use this code.
• 531311: Residential real estate property managers. Investors who manage residential properties for themselves or others would use this code.
• 531312: Nonresidential property managers. This code applies to investors who manage nonresidential properties.
• 531320: Offices of real estate appraisers. If an investor also does property appraisals, they would use this code.
• 531390: Other activities related to real estate. This catch-all code covers other real estate activities that do not fit under the other codes.

As you can see, there’s a code for every type of real estate business. Your NAICS code should reflect your primary business activities. 

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling real estate, renting real estate, or partaking in some other type of related investing activity, understanding and utilizing the appropriate NAICS code for your real estate business is essential for economic tracking, loan applications, tax purposes, and more.

As a real estate investor, you can use this classification system to enhance your business’s visibility and streamline various processes related to licensing, zoning, and financing.

Join the Community

Our massive community of over 2+ million members makes BiggerPockets the largest online community of real estate investors, ever. Learn about investment strategies, analyze properties, and connect with a community that will help you achieve your goals. Join FREE. What are you waiting for?

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.

Some U.S. mayors are loosening up rules that determine how developers convert office buildings into apartment complexes. The conversion trend sped up in the 2020s, as the Covid pandemic remote work boom reshaped cities. Declines in office leasing activity is constraining funding for services like education and transit, leading some local leaders to prioritize conversion of dated buildings. These rule changes may create some additional housing supply in regions like the U.S. East Coast.

What’s standing between your company and more sales?

It could be paper cuts caused by your marketing content.

Yes, I’m talking about those small yet surprisingly painful slices that seem attracted to the most delicate parts of your fingers.

In the 20-plus years I’ve been writing and editing marketing content, I’ve seen many brilliant entrepreneurs, small business owners, and freelancers pour significant resources into content marketing only to run into a sales wall because of common content problems that cause paper cuts.

What causes content paper cuts? The following list will give you an idea, but it’s by no means exhaustive:

• Poor first impression
• Irrelevant graphics
• Unexplained terms
• Lack of social proof
• Strange color scheme
• Unequal value exchange
• No way to contact you
• Broken forms
• Content looks dense
• Unclear differentiation
• No way to close the gap
• Poor text flow
• Heavy negative language
• Unanswered reader questions
• Broken shopping cart
• Content lacks structure
• Lack of thought transitions
• Heavy jargon
• No clear selling proposition
• Lack of evidence
• Preaching
• Aggressive sales language
• Unaddressed reader objections
• Grammar errors and typos

True, none of us is perfect. We all make mistakes.

But it’s that very thinking—we all make mistakes—that leads too many content writers and content teams to leave prospects vulnerable to the peril of paper cuts.

The true peril of paper cuts is that they add up.

Death by 1,000 paper cuts

Have you heard the phrase “death by 1,000 paper cuts?”

The original phrase is “death by 1,000 cuts.” It’s an old Chinese method of torture and execution by… I’m sorry to put this visual in your mind… slow slicing.

Today, death by 1,000 paper cuts refers to dying of 1,000 small ailments or being crushed by 1,000 minor problems instead of a single large one.

And that’s exactly what happens to buyers when they read poor marketing materials.

Here are examples of how paper cuts play out in a few different forms of content.

Paper cuts from your website

Imagine a prospect lands on your website, which has needed an upgrade for many years. “It looks like it was built in 2008,” they think. Paper cut, paper cut.

Because they need what you offer, they don’t hit the back button to return to the search results. They read on. “Wait, is that a typo?” they think. Paper cut.

“What’s this supposed to mean?” they think, reading and re-reading but not understanding the text. “Sigh.” Paper cut, paper cut, paper cut.

They click on your services page and notice that the images are misaligned. Paper cut.

After experiencing seven paper cuts, your prospect is hurting. They leave your site, searching for a different consultant.

Paper cuts from an ebook

Another prospect responds to a LinkedIn ad and downloads an ebook from your SaaS company. It looks nice, so that’s a plus.

They open the ebook expecting to scan the headings to see what’s most important and worth reading… but there aren’t any headings. Paper cut.

Still interested, they begin to read.

Then, 97 words in, the writer begins pushing, selling, and assuming. “You need this process because it makes things easier for everyone in your company,” they say.

The prospect bristles. They had been expecting an exploration of the ebook topic, not an immediate sales pitch. Paper cut, paper cut.

Can you sense how the prospect might be losing trust in your company already? And they’re still on the first page.

Paper cuts from a newsletter sign-up page

Your prospect just spotted a post on Twitter offering an email newsletter on a topic of interest. They click the link, arrive on the newsletter sign-up page, enter their name and email address, and click the subscribe button.

Nothing happens.

“Am I subscribed or not?” they wonder, clicking the button again.

Still nothing. Paper cut.

The prospect wants to hear from you, though—a rare case, indeed—so they open their email to see if they received an opt-in or welcome email from you.

Nope. Nothing.

Paper cuts galore.

Although there’s a small chance that the prospect might contact you to let you know your form isn’t working, there’s a much larger chance that they’ll drift away, maybe forever.

Can you feel how painful these issues are for prospects? Do you see why you might be missing out on droves of new customers simply because your content lacks precision and polish?

Empathy and editing: Your protection against paper cuts

There are two ways to be sure you won’t wind up with paper cuts in your content: Developing empathy for readers and working with a content editor.

Content editors already have empathy for readers. That’s why they’re editors.

Content editors don’t turn away when they experience paper cuts. Instead, they dig deep to understand the message your content is trying to bring into the world. And once they understand that message, they fix your content so its message shines brightly, resonates with readers on a deeper level, and does not leave paper cuts.

But you don’t have to hire an editor. You, your writers, and your content team can develop empathy for readers, too. Here are several ways to go about it.

1. Know your buyers. If this advice sounds trite, it’s because you’ve heard it many times before. But it’s not trite. Knowing your buyers is actually the first step to eliminating many of the more serious issues that cause paper cuts. Use analytics tools, surveys, social media monitoring, and customer feedback to gather insights about buyer demographics and psychographics. Understand their preferences, interests, use cases, and pain points. Do the work, and you’ll enjoy the rewards.
2. Engage with buyers. Again, not trite. Don’t publish content in a vacuum. Respond to your audience on social media, in forums, in comment sections, and through email. Heed their questions, objections, and concerns so you can address them in your content. As you engage, actively listen, as it can give you valuable insights into buyer experiences and expectations.
3. Know what’s happening in your buyer’s world. Stay informed about the latest news, trends, and changes affecting your prospects. Doing so enables you to address current topics and relevant challenges so your content can demonstrate to readers that you understand their world.

Developing an empathetic mindset means putting yourself in readers’ shoes and considering their emotions, experiences, and goals as part of the content-creation process. It involves understanding buyer challenges and aspirations and communicating in resonating ways.

Developing empathy also requires effort. It’s an ongoing process. But by keeping your prospects at the forefront of your mind and consistently working towards understanding, you’ll create better content—without paper cuts—and win more sales.

Real estate investing, if done right, can create endless opportunities. Real estate is an awesome income producer with the right investment and jumpstarts your way to complete financial freedom.

Many real estate investors become successful through the process of learning. For a beginner investor, the learning experience is often hands-on, like shadowing someone in the field or learning through courses or books.

Even seasoned investors will continue to educate themselves throughout their careers to prosper even more. And in some states, there is a continuing education requirement to renew things like a real estate license, so for some, learning is required.

This article discusses the best resources to help any real estate professional learn and understand investing from a financial, legal, and market perspective.

How to Learn About Real Estate Investing

It’s time to dive into a few resources available to help you become a successful property entrepreneur or continue your education in real estate.

1. Books

Let’s be real, anything can change the way we think. Have you ever read a book that helps you piece together your life? We’re going off subject, but, long story short, well-written books offer a unique and often thought-provoking perspective. As a thought leader, BiggerPockets provides many books from leaders that will help you understand:

• How a transaction works with rental properties
• Legal consequences of rental management
• How to invest in REITs
• Tips for earning more than just a regular income
• How to flip a land purchase
• How to collect unpaid rent
• Types of properties to purchase with cash
• How to successfully run a real estate business

There are several books available on the market today. Believe me, if you are serious about investing in land or securities, you name it, so many books are available.

2. Courses

Have you heard of Udemy? It’s an online learning and teaching marketplace that offers a variety of short and long-term courses on any subject, including real estate. For those just beginning an investing journey, it will help you gain adequate knowledge.

Often taught by investors, an online or in-person course will give you the confidence to deal with things like investment proposals, how to do due diligence, and more.

Additionally, BiggerPockets offers a handful of virtual bootcamps on various real estate investing strategies. You can even select between interactive or self-guided options based on your learning preference.

3. Networking events

There are too many networking events or conferences to count! Attending a conference (like BPCON!) lets you network with industry experts and learn about current market trends like the best places to invest and make the most money.

Any networking meetings will enable you to listen to various successful investors in one place. Similarly, conferences let you explore investment property projects, the latest real estate technology, learn about rent trends, and much more.

There are also seminars and events to help you explore new investment avenues in real estate, gain experience, and make a profit.

4. Podcasts

Oh, the joy of just listening to things, am I right? Podcasts are available wherever and whenever you want them. Often in a series, podcasts are typically published on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The top podcasts in the industry cover topics like the best real estate investments in today’s world, how to properly maintain a rental property, how to set rent, or how successful real estate people got their start.

Some podcasts allow you to listen to experts tell their stories of how they got their start, their biggest lessons, and more. BiggerPockets has a number of awesome podcasts that feature experts every few days, including folks like Brandon Turner, Dean Rogers, and more.

5. Webinars

Like Facebook Live, a webinar is an online event where a company hosts a select group of members. These members are often involved in the space, be it a landlord, a property manager, and so many more. It’s perfect for interacting with mentors, learning about their journeys, and getting answers to your biggest questions.

A live webinar may update you about the latest trends in the real estate sector, inform you how to raise rent on a tenant, or even how to set rent. No matter the subject, it’s common for influencers in the space to host webinars to attract those looking to venture into the world of investing. You can benefit in so many aspects of real estate investments through webinars.

6. Blogs

Real estate blogs like BiggerPockets and other online resources are amazing resources to learn from. From renting a primary residence, buying your first fix and flip property, or collecting rent from tenants, blogs offer endless information.

If you are saving money to purchase a property and don’t have the extra capital to spend on paid resources, a blog is the perfect place to get free information.

Some of the best blogs include:

• BiggerPockets
• Landlordology
• REtipster

7. Forums

Not to toot the BiggerPockets horn again, but the company hosts one of the most popular real estate forums. These forums help people connect with the real estate community.

You can develop connections with fellow investors to build your investment network through a forum. Networking with the right people is one of the biggest secrets to success. Whether you want to sell a property to make a profit, have a cash opportunity at play, are interested in becoming a landlord, or are curious if you are paying too much for a property, a forum is a great place to ask questions.

8. YouTube

With over 2 billion users worldwide, YouTube is one of the go-to resources for free real estate content. YouTube experts have niched down these past few years from how-to videos to explainer videos.

Today, you’ll find everything from Airbnb experts, flippers, house hackers, and more. Whatever you want to invest in, consider YouTube the golden learning resource for investors, whether just getting into the space or continuing your real estate education.

Some of the top YouTube channels include:

9. Mentors

I’m grateful for the number of mentors I have in the space. From a former property manager and flipper, to a real estate agent, to the owner of a tenant background screening company, I can tell you firsthand that mentorship is crucial to success.

One place that people find mentorship is through a real estate syndicate. The syndicators form a group of real estate gurus pooling financial resources to own an investment property. A syndicator educates you on the benefits of investing in real estate and updates you on important decisions.

If you find a mentor, ask if you can shadow them. Continuing education, real estate speaking, is a never-ending process for truly dedicated real estate professionals.

Types of Real Estate Investments

Here are a few investments that are common amongst those in the space.

Real estate investment trusts

REITs allow you to get a little piece of the pie without indulging in the whole thing. REITs own commercial real estate like retail stores, hotels, and apartments. REITs often pay higher dividends, so a lot of the time, it’s more common for buyers to be retirees.

Rentals

So, you find a rental for sale. Currently, it’s rented out to college seniors in the Bay area. For a first-time landlord, it doesn’t sound too shabby of a deal if it’s in an in-demand location, even if the price is higher than they anticipated.

Flips

This is my favorite topic. What’s better than finding a diamond in the rough and fixing it up to let it shine? There are so many homes out there in need of a little TLC. Handy investors love house flipping. It’s fun, it’s a challenge, and it’s hopefully profitable.

For something like a foreclosure, cash is key. When dealing with a bank, their main concern is repaying the existing mortgage, and nothing is more attractive than a cash offer. Foreclosures, if done right, can result in a major profit if the purchaser decides to flip or rent.

Why Invest in Real Estate?

I mean, why not invest? Real estate allows you to diversify your investment portfolio and offers various returns depending on your investment. Here are the top three reasons to invest in real estate.

1. Diversification of portfolio

Diversification is investing in various types of assets, so a portfolio doesn’t solely concentrate on a single source of income or capital appreciation. As a whole, a diversified portfolio helps reduce risk and may lead to a higher return. Diversification includes more than just real estate investments. For example, it can also include stocks or bonds.

Have you ever heard of the real estate platform CrowdStreet? Instead of buying an entire property, you can buy something alongside other investors. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, platforms like CrowdStreet are only open to accredited investors.

These types of investments are classified as securities, which must be registered with the Securities Exchange Commission.

2. Inflation hedging

One approach people take to hedge against inflation is making a real estate investment because the asset class usually has little correlation with stocks and bonds. As home values rise because of inflation and an investor’s fixed-rate mortgage stays the same, an investor’s equity in the home increases.

For example, a rental property with a short-term lease during high inflation times can be beneficial. If a property owner raises rental rates regularly while mortgage payments stay the same, increasing income is possible to help balance the rising inflation rate. Locking in low mortgage rates, be it a refinance or additional purchase, is a key part of an investor’s strategy.

3. Leverage

Except for REITs, also known as real estate investment trusts, investing in real estate gives the purchaser one tool unavailable to stock market investors: leverage. Sounds powerful, doesn’t it? Leverage allows investors to use debt to finance a larger purchase than what they have available in cash. An example of this debt used is a mortgage.

Most conventional mortgages require a 20% down payment. However, depending on the location, you might find a mortgage that requires as little as 3.5%. At a 3.5% down payment, you control the whole property and its equity by only paying a fraction of the total value. Of course, the size of your mortgage affects your property ownership, but you control it the second the papers are signed.

A flipper or landlord can take out a second mortgage on their home and put down payments on two or three other rental properties like commercial office buildings. The ultimate goal is to have the tenants pay the mortgage or wait for an opportunity to sell for a profit. The purchaser controls the assets, despite only paying for a small part of the total value.

FAQs on Learning About Real Estate Investing

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions regarding learning how to make an investment in real estate.

What age should you start investing?

Legally, you must be at least 18 to sign property paperwork. The truth is, anytime you can start to invest, you should invest. Most will start in their 20s or 30s, depending on their comfortability in taking on real estate deals.

What is the first step in real estate investing?

The first step is to take the first step! Most will start following social media influencers to help educate themselves, make an investment in a coaching program, read informational blog posts, and more. The reality is wherever you feel the most comfortable starting, that’s where you should start.

If you already have a primary residence, you could benefit by renting out a room to earn money and to see how you like it. You’ve already invested, but now you’re just testing the waters with renting.

What is the continuing education requirement for some states?

There are specific continuing education requirements for states if you want to be more than just an investor. In this case, a real estate agent. Find out what the requirements are for your state if you want to explore being an agent.

How do I educate myself on real estate investments?

There are so many different places, as I mentioned above. If you’re looking for specifics, a place like BiggerPockets is a great starting point. We’ve got everything from bootcamps to posts to a podcast, you name it, we’ve got it. If you’re a reader, the book How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started by Joshua Dorkin, is also a nice starting point.

What is the best investment strategy for me?

The answer, as cheesy as this sounds, lies within. As you know, there are so many investment opportunities. If your money situation allows it, your best strategy could be in apartment investing to even rent out a room. Whatever it is, at the end of the day, the two factors to consider when creating an investment strategy for your business are time and money.

Who should I network with?

As many as you want! Let me put it this way, knowledge is everywhere. Be a sponge and get as many mentors as possible to see the different aspects of the space.

Where Will You Start?

The best real estate investments are the ones that best serve you. It could be a block full of office buildings you’ll rent out or apartments you plan to flip. Time is so valuable, making the most of it is important. It takes time to define how much capital you have available to invest or how much time you must dedicate to learning more about investing money.

Unlike a stock or bond transaction, a real estate transaction typically doesn’t happen overnight. Yes, something like a mutual fund or REIT offers better liquidity pricing. However, it’s often at the price of higher volatility and lower diversification benefits because they correlate with the overall stock market.

Aside from your 9 to 5 job, consider investing in real estate if you’re looking for a regular income. Learn the ropes, set your expectations, and make it happen when the time is right for you.

Join the Community

Our massive community of over 2+ million members makes BiggerPockets the largest online community of real estate investors, ever. Learn about investment strategies, analyze properties, and connect with a community that will help you achieve your goals. Join FREE. What are you waiting for?

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.

The PR world is rapidly changing, and it’s hard to have the right tools to stay on top these days. In the past, you could set a retainer and calculate it as a budget item that both sides agree is necessary. However, in today’s world media outreach, that’s not enough. Content distribution and other areas have an aspect of technology and analytics that is vital to a company’s success. Ignoring that reality will result in falling behind competitors who are using the most current and effective resources available. Below is an updated list from the one that I wrote in 2018 that should help you identify some of the best tools to help you navigate and thrive in this new PR world.

1. Muck Rack

I knew Greg Galant from the days when he started the Shorty Awards, and he’s always been dedicated to building a solid tool with Muck Rack. With their recent raise at 180 million, and resources behind the company, they are on a path to be a comprehensive PR tool. Muck Rack’s robust capabilities can provide a comprehensive database of journalists, allowing you to search for relevant contacts and access their contact information, social media profiles, and recent articles. With this database, you can identify the right journalists for your media outreach, build media lists, and manage your relationships with the press well.

2. Prowly

Prowly is a firm I worked with in the past, and I was instantly impressed. Through their efforts, they built out a PR and content marketing platform that simplifies PR workflows and improves media relations. Later, they were acquired by SEMRush, which is a well-known SEO tool. The combination of the two should yield solid results with combining search and PR resources together. It offers features for managing media contacts, creating visually appealing press releases, and distributing content.

3. OnePitch

Onepitch is a PR platform that simplifies the media pitching process for public relations professionals. Because while pitching to journalists is a relatively simple process, it can be a time-consuming process. OnePitch assists users in creating and sending concise and targeted pitches to journalists. Not only does that reduce the time and effort spent on traditional outreach methods, but it can help achieve a greater success rate due to its database of journalists. The database analyzes and displays journalists’ preferences, making it easier to identify the right contacts for specific stories. As an additional perk, its streamlined interface is user friendly and easy to master.

4. Onclusive

Some PR tools allow you to be more efficient and successful in executing your strategy. Others give you vital, data-driven feedback on whether your strategy is working or not and how to improve. Onclusive specializes in the latter. I have not worked with Onclusive, but I did use them when they were formerly AirPR. It provides advanced analytics and insights to help you understand the reach and impact of your PR campaigns. Onclusive tracks and analyzes media coverage, social media engagement, website traffic, and other key metrics. These hard numbers can better enable you to make data-driven decisions and assess the value of PR to your organization.

5. PrPropel

PrPropel is a media outreach and relationship management tool designed to streamline your PR efforts. It allows you to find relevant journalists and influencers, pitch stories, and manage your media relationships in one place. Propel provides features for personalized email outreach, campaign tracking, and media response management, helping you build strong connections with journalists and maximize your media coverage.

6. Grammarly

While not specifically a PR tool, Grammarly is an essential tool for any PR professional or communicator. Good writing is at the core of effective PR, and Grammarly helps you enhance your writing by checking things like grammar and spelling. It doesn’t just flag blatant errors, either. Grammarly has more refined features such as flagging passive voice and identifying ways to make your written voice more active. Since it’s often not cost or time efficient to run every single email and written word through a human editor, Grammarly is a quick way to double check before hitting “send.” The extra click or two is worth it. Keeping your press releases, pitches, and other written communications polished and error-free improves your credibility and professionalism.

7. Cision

Cision offers a comprehensive platform for media relations, media monitoring, and content distribution. With Cision, you can identify and connect with relevant media contacts, track news coverage across multiple channels, and distribute press releases. It also includes analytics features to measure the effectiveness of your PR efforts. Cision’s software has a good track record and is trusted by PR agencies, corporations, and government organizations worldwide.

I’m not going to lie and say that the PR world isn’t more challenging than ever. It’s an unfortunate reality, as the nature of journalism and media have changed with evolving technology. There are less journalists at a greater quantity of publications, and there’s a lot of noise out there. However, the bright side is that there are tools designed specifically to help you craft better pitches, reach journalists, and track results. With these tools evolving, there are ways for you and your staff to incorporate them into your processes with fantastic results. By being selective and getting the best PR tools for your specific purposes, you can see greater success and stand out in the industry.

Remote work, rapidly rising rents in some cities, and a desire for more amenities are all factors driving Americans to relocate—but the areas drawing the most new renters are shifting, according to the new Rent.com migration report for the first quarter of 2023. 

Back in January, we reported that renters were showing interest in the South and Midwest regions due to relatively affordable housing available in many cities in these regions when compared to the West and Northeast. But as more people flocked to these regions to escape higher-priced areas, rents went up. 

For example, while Miami is still cheaper than New York, rising housing costs in Florida from an influx of new residents are causing the Sunshine State to experience the highest inflation rate in the nation. As a result, some residents may be pushed out of the state, even as more people from New York and California move in. 

A similar trend may be happening in Georgia and Texas, according to migration data for those areas. It now appears that more residents are leaving, rather than entering, the South. 

The Rent.com Q1 2023 migration report is based on data from January, February, and March. Researchers measured inbound and outbound leads based on user interest in properties and combined the numbers to get a lead delta for each geographical area. A negative lead delta shows more people are interested in leaving the area than moving to the area. 

The lead delta for the South declined to -2.07% in the first quarter, the only negative regional lead delta observed. But while the Southern region is losing popularity as a whole, many people are still seeking to relocate to cities like Knoxville, Tennessee, and Augusta, Georgia. Notably, none of the metro areas with the highest inbound lead deltas were in the West, although interest in the region has increased when compared to previous quarters. 

It’s important to note that people move for a myriad of reasons, and these trends shift from one quarter to the next. But some cities, like Madison, Wisconsin, have reappeared on the list for inbound migration, while others, like Chicago, keep ranking highly for outbound migration. 

While you shouldn’t make real estate investment decisions based on this data alone, it can be helpful to see where rental demand is the highest as you’re researching new markets. Let’s dive into the state and metro area lead delta data. 

What Areas are People Leaving?

Outbound migration by state

People leaving Maine were interested in states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, and Ohio, and renters getting out of Vermont had similar interests, with the addition of New York. West Virginia renters wanted to stay close by in adjacent states, while residents of Illinois planned to stay in the Midwest. 

Montana, a new state to the outbound migration list, has seen rents rise rapidly over the last three years. Residents of the state were most interested in moving to Arizona, followed by elsewhere in Montana, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. 

Outbound migration by metro

People who considered leaving St. Louis were interested in moving to other parts of Missouri or leaving the state for Minneapolis-St. Paul, Indianapolis, and Dallas-Ft. Worth. Atlanta’s renters preferred to stay in Georgia or other Southern states. 

Chicago’s renters sought apartments in other Midwestern cities like Milwaukee and Minneapolis-St. Paul or Southern cities such as Nashville, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; and Memphis, Tennessee. Denver’s renters wanted to go to other Western metros, like Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs-Pueblo, or Midwestern cities, like Detroit and Kansas City. And Charlotte residents hoped to stay in the Carolinas. 

Where are People Headed?

Inbound migration by state

New Jersey is a hot spot for movers, drawing residents from New York and Pennsylvania, as well as Southern states, like increasingly expensive Florida and Georgia. Interest in Delaware originated from nearby and Midwestern states, including Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And North Dakota leads came from far-away places like Illinois, Texas, New York, and California. Louisiana and Rhode Island each drew interest from other states in their respective regions. 

Inbound migration by metro

Most of the desire to move to Augusta came from Atlanta. Compared to Atlanta, Augusta is 27.6% cheaper and less dense, with more space to spread out and still plenty of amenities to enjoy. The Harrison-Lancaster-Lebanon-York community drew the most interest from renters in busy urban areas, like Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; and New York. 

Madison, Wisconsin, which took the 11th spot in the U.S. News and World Report ranking of Best Places to Live, drew residents from Chicago, Charlotte, Denver, and Atlanta. Waco-Temple-Bryan mainly brought renters from within its own region, while Knoxville saw leads from other Southern communities and Chicago. 

What the Data Means

Because the Rent.com migration report shows interest in relocation among renters before they move, it’s way ahead of Census population data in capturing migration trends. However, it has its limitations—for example, a lead on an apartment in Augusta from a current Atlanta renter isn’t the same as a move from Atlanta to Augusta. Still, when outbound leads exceed inbound leads for a city, it may be an early indicator of waning housing demand in the area. 

Rents tend to go up in cities that are desirable yet inexpensive as more people relocate there, and home values also increase when new residents come to an area. Investors can try to get ahead of the shift by purchasing in low-price areas that might see overflow from neighboring metros as populations increase. Migration trends tend to show people moving into nearby desirable areas that still pack amenities, although cross-country moves are not uncommon to some popular cities. 

Augusta, Georgia, and Madison, Wisconsin, are excellent examples. They’re both listed in the top 100 Best Places to Live by U.S. News and World Report for their high quality of life and low cost of living. They’re logical relocation spots for people in bigger cities like Atlanta and Chicago, and Madison is even drawing residents from far-away places. Plus, both cities have median home values below the national median. 

Bear in mind that lead delta is just one data point to consider when evaluating a market. You’ll also need to evaluate the rent-to-price ratio and the rent-to-income ratio—finding areas that can generate positive cash flow, where rents still have room to increase based on area median income, is key. Additionally, you’ll want to find an area with a robust job market where unemployment is low, property values have historically trended upward, and property expenses and taxes are manageable, given your expected rental income. 

The Bottom Line

Compared to previous migration reports, interest in the Northeast and the West is growing, while interest in the South and Midwest is declining slightly. But several Southern and Midwestern metros are still drawing interest from renters. And the trend of people leaving expensive areas continues. 

The data is just a snapshot of early demand based on leads for apartments, but analyzing migration trends can help investors estimate the next hot city for renters. Just make sure to consider other available data before investing in a new market.

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.

Scott Rechler, RXR chairman and CEO, joins ‘Closing Bell Overtime’ to talk commercial real estate, the impact of the credit crunch, and more.