Spring Cadence Connect Event - Budget Allocations & Collaboration

Tools and partners working together are going to win the day.

The Spring event was centered around the topic of budget allocation, and enlisting tools and resources to help marketers and leasing teams optimize ad performance and lead conversion.

We were honored to share the afternoon with marketing thought leaders from 15+ PMCs, and solutions leaders from PERQ, AGNT Media, Brynson, Remarkably, and Digible.

Thank you to Andy Medley from PERQ for delivering a fascinating opening presentation on what’s been missing in the marketing funnel in multifamily! He left us all questioning why our industry has been so focused on handing all leads over to leasing when there’s a clear difference between marketing leads and sales-ready leads. Every other industry understands this concept, but we’ve been slow to adopt it. Mic drop moment was his reminder that CRMs are built for sales and operations, NOT marketers. Is it finally time to provide tools to marketers to better optimize spend and nurturing?! Some key takeaways from the PERQ team:

• Marketers need their own technology platform

• Your website should be your #1 lead and lease source

• You must optimize your entire web presence

• Benchmarks should be set at property level

• Data and technology reduces lead and lease costs

• Clean attribution and funnel conversion optimization improve overall marketing efficiency and overall ad spend

Jay Louricas from AGNT led an engaged conversation about the importance of investing in digital media assets as evergreen tools to support marketing and leasing. As Jay puts it “Media is your marketing bait!” For marketers who can never seem to have enough content, solid media investments can deliver digital assets that can be sliced into short-form video, reels, and virtual tours. The investment just keeps giving.

Erina Malarkey from Remarkably led a table conversation centered on empowering marketers with business intelligence dashboards that move beyond historic trends and into predictive analysis. She noted seven data hazards marketers face when trying to make good decisions, and attendees shared the complexity and time cost of creating and managing their own spreadsheets to capture data. Some perspective from Erina:

The two table sessions at the Cadence Connect Event presented fascinating discussions. We honed in on the biggest challenges facing Marketer’s today and how those can be solved for using technology. Some of the most acute pain points included:

• “Manually aggregating data across my PMS, CRM, and Google Analytics is time consuming and often raises data discrepancy issues between the systems. I need a single source of truth that not only brings data together, but makes it actionable.”

• “My portfolio is growing by the month. It’s impossible to be trying to manage everything in spreadsheets and provide the caliber and cadence of reporting and analytics my stakeholders want. I need to be leveraging AI to produce descriptive and prescriptive insights into performance. I want leading indicators to get me out of reactive problem solving. And I’d love an “Easy Button” for all my reporting needs.”

• “I'm tired of seeing that ‘Property Website’ is my #1 source of leads and leases. Prospects don’t just magically arrive there, and PMS and CRM reporting that suggests so makes for difficult conversations with Asset Management about why Pay per Click budget is required (and working). I want to see where my traffic is actually coming from and easily be able to then analyze different advertising sources by conversion performance, cost pers, ROI and more.”

 To learn more about how Remarkably has solved these challenges, and many more please visit www.remarkably.io

Anthony Paganucci from Brynson engaged his table group in a lively conversation about organizing all the elements marketers need to be tapped into, and leveraging AI across platforms to quickly review information and make decisions.

Kenzie Shepperd from Digible shared digital search and prospect behavior details that are shaping decisions on ad spend. Table attendees discussed the challenges of optimizing budgets across diverse tactics to attract leads in the awareness, consideration, and conversion stages of their search. A summary from Kenzie:

Digible led a round table discussion on Maximizing Marketing Performance in Competitive MN Markets—diving into local market trends, data-driven insights, and multi-channel strategies to help operators get the most out of their marketing budgets. We explored effective budget allocation across the funnel and ways to refine campaign strategies to stay competitive in key Minnesota markets.

Digible is a full-service digital marketing and technology agency focused on the multifamily industry. We combine data-driven strategies with innovative technology to deliver flexible, high-impact solutions for our clients. Learn more about our services and technology.

Finally, Laurel Zacher wrapped up the afternoon in a keynote conversation with Janet Rosseth covering the state of the industry as it relates to marketers, and the importance of shifting our focus to blend hospitality-level service and technology into the customer experience.

We wrapped with a networking happy hour hosted by 30 Lines. A note from Director of Growth & Industry Partnerships, Brent Cristelli:

30 Lines was proud to support Cadence Connect as the Happy Hour Sponsor. A few key takeaways stood out:

• Operator & Vendor Integration: The event’s size and format created space for meaningful conversations between operators and vendors, giving marketers the chance to connect, explore new ideas, and bring fresh perspectives to the table.

• The Case for a Marketing Platform: From Andy Medley’s session to the Remarkably roundtable, it is clear that fragmented marketing data remains a challenge. Marketers must continue to be savvy about centralizing marketing data at scale, while we make the case for a marketing platform as part of the core tech stack. 

• Don't Get Sidetracked by Trends: AI, attribution models, centralization - we know all the buzzwords, but Digible’s full-funnel digital advertising case study was a strong reminder that strategy still reigns. A thoughtful, well-executed plan is still the core component in driving search traffic, lead volume, and lower marketing costs when done right. 

If you're interested in chatting about the event with Brent or want to learn more about 30 Lines' digital marketing strategy, you can schedule a time to chat with him!

The pictures captured it all - the existing relationships and supportive community, and the new conversations. Be sure to check out our full event photo gallery here! Marketing in our industry isn’t an “us versus them” mentality, and we’re going to continue to grow the Cadence community to ensure that the voices of operators, vendors, and solutions providers are heard in the same conversations. This is where we grow!

Don’t miss the fall Cadence Connect event, already scheduled for November 11, 2025 - register here! Interested in a sponsorship opportunity? Reach out to shelly@cadencems.com.