Marketing mayhem (oh, how I love thee).

In the past two weeks, we have launched mobile sites for (almost) our entire portfolio, created QR codes for each property, executed an online reputation management plan, and developed a prospect portal for a new lease-up. I've also been working on overhauling our website templates, furnishing two leasing offices, wrapping up three properties' marketing collateral, and developing a presentation for our firm's ownership that talks about just how much my little department manages to churn out. And then I need to go get a partridge in a pear tree...oops, sorry, I got caught up in the list-making and lost track for a moment. Developing a resident retention program is next up, as soon as we launch our next ten properties with RentMineOnline and (finally!) set up our test properties on Facebook. But first, I need to execute nine advertising contracts and get a couple of SEM campaigns ready to roll.

You might laugh, but that is in fact a small sampling of my to-do list: I am flat out, and have been for ages. Marketing directors by nature wear a lot of hats, and perhaps more so in multifamily than in other fields. We are advertising managers, analysts, creative directors, copywriters, graphic artists, photographers, interior designers, leasing trainers, social media experts, PR pros, The Brand Police, and presentation coaches. And sometimes, we're all of those things in one day.

I love what I do...but boy, am I glad I have an intern this summer.