Unlocking New Horizons: Why Multifamily Marketers Should Consider Google Performance Max

July 23, 2025

In the competitive landscape of multifamily apartment advertising, staying ahead means constantly evolving your strategies to reach prospective residents effectively. For years, digital marketing in this sector has relied on a mix of search ads, display, and video. While effective, these approaches often operate in silos, making it challenging to truly maximize reach and conversions.

Enter Google Performance Max – a powerful, automated campaign type that is rapidly proving to be a game-changer for advertisers.

What is Google Performance Max?

At its core, Performance Max is Google's all-in-one, goal-based campaign type that allows advertisers to access all of Google Ads inventory from a single campaign. This includes search, display, YouTube, Gmail, discover feeds, and google maps.

The magic of Performance Max lies in its machine learning capabilities. You provide your campaign goals, creative assets, and audience signals. Google's AI then takes over, optimizing bids and placements cross-channel to target the most valuable customers for your properties.

Who Should Use Performance Max?

While greatly effective, not every property should leverage Performance Max. The output from Google's AI is only as good as the input. Properties need to have sharp creative assets and strong website copy in order for the models to produce impactful ads. Smaller operations with less of a web presence may not find Performance Max to be a productive endeavor.

We find luxury apartments, properties that have been recently renovated, and lease-ups to be the strongest candidates for Google's offering. Their listings require the type of professional collateral that yields the best results.

Why is Performance Max So Effective for Multifamily Advertising?

For multifamily marketers, Performance Max addresses several key pain points and offers significant advantages:

Holistic Reach Across the Resident Journey: Prospective renters don't follow a linear path. They might start with a Google search, see an ad on YouTube, get a promotion via Gmail, and then search for directions on Maps. Performance Max allows you to be present at every touchpoint, guiding them seamlessly from initial interest to conversion.

Unlocking New Audiences and Demand: Traditional campaigns often focus on capturing existing demand. Performance Max, with its broad reach and sophisticated targeting, can help you generate new demand by reaching new users. This is particularly valuable for properties in competitive markets or those looking to expand their tenant base.

Optimized Performance for Key Conversions: Whether your primary goal is capturing leads, encouraging virtual tours, or driving phone calls to your leasing office, Performance Max is built to optimize for these specific conversion actions. By creating clear conversion goals, Google's AI will prioritize placements and bids that are compatible with your desired outcomes.

Adapting to the Mobile-First World: Today's renters are almost exclusively mobile. Performance Max is inherently designed to perform optimally across all devices, ensuring your ads look great and function flawlessly on smartphones and tablets, where many prospective residents conduct their apartment searches.

Getting Started with Performance Max for Your Properties:

To make the most of Performance Max, consider these key steps:

  • Define Clear Goals: What are you trying to achieve? More leads? Faster lease-ups? Higher occupancy rates?
  • Provide High-Quality Assets: Invest in quality photos, engaging video tours, compelling headlines, and descriptive copy.
  • Utilize Audience Signals: While Performance Max is automated, providing audience signals (e.g., custom segments of past website visitors or in-market audiences) can give the machine learning a head start.
  • Monitor and Iterate: It's crucial to monitor performance, analyze insights, and continuously refine your assets and strategies based on what's working.

The Future of Multifamily Advertising is Integrated

Google Performance Max represents a significant leap forward in digital advertising, offering multifamily apartment marketers an opportunity to reach, engage, and convert prospective residents more effectively than ever before. By embracing this integrated, AI-driven approach, you can unlock new horizons for your properties and secure a competitive edge.

Have you started using Performance Max for your multifamily properties? What have your experiences been? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

RentDigital
1603 Orrington Ave, Ste 600
Evanston, IL 60201
info@rentdigital.com