Ok, I need some help with this one.

I follow the trends in apartment marketing on a regular basis, so when Capture The Market started posted community videos on MySpace, I decided to subscribe to their future posts. That way I’d get to see all the great videos that they’re producing as soon as they’re posted on MySpaceTV.

So what did it really get me? Well… 20 to 30 emails in my inbox each week, and every one of them looks just like this:

There’s nothing in the email indicating what property video was posted — nothing that shares the property name, the management company or even where the property is located. That’s why I think the only companies that get any benefit out of these video subscriptions are Capture The Market and MySpace.

Now, this isn’t a knock on CTM. But I really haven’t see them doing much to market these videos on MySpace after they’re posted, either.

I don’t want to dwell on the downside of this too much, but there is definitely a key takeaway here. Whether you’re using a outside marketing service or doing it yourself, make sure that your marketing is coming from who you want it to come from. Creating a new account for each company or each property is the best way to ensure that your messaging is as relevant as possible for your potential prospects. If your marketing firm says this complicate things too much, fire them.

Yes, it’s tedious. Yes, it can be a pain.  But take another another at the email above. If you don’t take the extra time to do it right, your name doesn’t even show up. My guess is that the vast majority of these emails never result in a click-through.

And if the email isn’t revelant… DELETE.

Your thoughts?