Finding a new apartment has changed quite a bit in the past few decades.
Thirty years ago, you’d probably flip through the newspaper or a catalog of listings. Fifteen years ago, you’d probably go online and explore a listings website. Either way, you’d probably get to see a few photos, but you wouldn’t be able to really get a feel for the building without scheduling a tour.
For today’s new apartments, things are different. You’re more likely to see an ad for the apartment on social media, and the project likely has its own website. When you go to check it out, it won’t just be a few photos — you might find an interactive experience with a full 3D-view of the interior. If you have a virtual reality headset, you might even have the option to “walk” through a fully immersive virtual tour.
That personalized, high-tech approach to residential marketing is one of the hallmarks of GTMA, a digital real estate marketing agency headquartered in Vancouver’s Columbia Tech Center. The virtual reality tours are one of the latest additions to its growing suite of services.
“We’re always looking for what’s cutting edge,” says Barrie Buckner, GTMA’s director of partnerships. “That’s why the VR came along.”
The tours feature a unique Android or iPhone virtual reality app for each project, and are produced in a partnership with a VR development firm called Futriciti. Buckner and GTMA CEO Joshua Swanson are among its co-founders.
The apps run on smartphones in order to increase accessibility, Buckner says. The phones can be plugged into cheaper headsets like Google Cardboard or Samsung VR, and users can navigate through the space by focusing their view on midair icons floating in each room, prompting the system to “walk” them in that direction without the need for any other control input.
The initial tours are created using computer renderings of future buildings based on the floor plans — complete with real-world views through the windows, shot using a drone at the future building site.
“We try to bring as much realism as possible,” GTMA creative director Jason Naumann says.
The rendered images also allow viewers to adjust interior design as they walk through the virtual space, viewing countertop and fireplace options, for example.
“That’s really big for our residential side,” Buckner says.
Once the building is finished, the tour software is updated with an option for a live-action walk-through, using interior photos shot with 360-degree cameras. In both cases, Buckner says a big part of the technology is the “gamification” of the tour, which creates a new approach for developers to connect with potential renters.
Suite of services
Swanson describes GTMA as a “full-stack digital marketing” agency, offering a single source for services a developer will need: web design, branding, photo and video production, reputation management and digital marketing campaigns.
The company’s approach is “hyper-local” digital marketing, meaning the emphasis is on individual places rather than large-scale brands or companies. And new projects are viewed as storytelling opportunities.
“Our interest is to convince you to go to (for example) this steakhouse rather than the one across the street,” Swanson says.
Clients usually find the company through referrals, Swanson says, or by finding online examples of the company’s previous project work.
“Usually they find us because they’re looking at what their competitors are doing and they’re jealous,” he says.
It’s been nearly a year since GTMA, formerly known as Go To My Apartment, opened its office in Vancouver. But it’s only recently that the transition was completed. The company’s original Los Angeles office closed at the end of December, leaving Vancouver as its headquarters.
There are still 10 employees in California — they’re among a portion of the company’s employees who work remotely throughout the country. But the majority of the 55-person workforce operates out of the company’s Columbia Tech Center office, according to Swanson.
“All of our future growth will be here,” he says.
The company’s Vancouver footprint has been growing quickly. Swanson estimates that about 15 of the company’s employees made the move to Vancouver, but the office workforce is already larger than it was in L.A. before the move. Swanson says he expects to have more than 75 employees by the end of the year.
The continued growth will necessitate moving to a new office later this year. The nearly 5,000-square-foot Vancouver office is about 3,000 square feet smaller than the L.A. office. But not every employee made the move to Washington, so the company has spent its first year refilling the ranks.
“A new office was always the plan,” Swanson says.
In the meantime, the venture has continued to expand its presence in the multifamily-development industry. In addition to working with a number of large developers, GTMA has also begun partnering with companies such as Yelp.
Origins, move to Vancouver
Swanson, 40, and Naumann, 44, founded Go To My Apartment in 2011, focusing on social media management and video production. Swanson says he was previously familiar with the apartment industry due to his parents’ career backgrounds and a pool-cleaning business that he started while in college. Naumann provided the photography experience.
Their first project was the Sunset Vine Tower in Hollywood, which underwent a large-scale renovation in 2011. That was followed by several other L.A.-area projects, during which Swanson and Naumann tested and refined their story-based approach to apartment marketing.
“We created a character out of the (Sunset Vine) building,” Swanson says.
California’s high cost of living and the state’s tax system limited the GTMA’s growth and prompted the company to move, Swanson says.
The company’s digital business model allows it to operate out of a headquarters in almost any location, although at the same time Swanson says they try to keep things local. The company offers an option for one of its team members to move into new buildings and offer on-site marketing services for the length of the lease.
“The services we do,” Swanson says, “we can do them anywhere.”
The Pacific Northwest wasn’t the only potential destination for the new office — Texas was also a leading candidate. But the Portland area emerged as the top choice among the company’s employees. And Vancouver offered a location within the Portland region that allows the company to take advantage of Washington’s lack of an income tax, among other tax perks. The company’s saved at least 9 percent in operating costs, Swanson says of the move.
“We’re an $8 million-a-year business,” he says, “so that’s hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Swanson, Naumann and Buckner also cite Vancouver’s high quality of living for their choice. Also, the growing tech sector in Vancouver and Portland ensures a large and reliable talent pool.
“That’s extremely helpful,” Buckner says.
Swanson says the Columbia River Economic Development Council played an important role in getting GTMA set up in Vancouver, and put them in touch with staff at Washington State University Vancouver.
“We are excited to see an innovative and community-minded company like GTMA thrive in Clark County,” says CREDC President Jennifer Baker. “They are a testament to how companies can leverage the great talent situated in the region to power new growth for their businesses.”
Innovative strategies
Swanson and Naumann attribute GTMA’s early success to their approach to apartment marketing, which emphasizes the uniqueness of each project and uses social media to connect directly with consumers in ways that wouldn’t have been possible 20 or 30 years ago.
“Back then (before the internet), it was all about choosing the right location,” Swanson says. Developers were limited to posting signs on the property or running ads in newspapers and hoping the right people happened to see them. The internet led to the rise of apartment posting sites, he says, but developers still had to market their projects to very large audiences.
GTMA’s approach was prompted by the rise of social media, Swanson says, as well as a change in the way the apartment industry approached development during the late 2000s and early 2010s, with a growing emphasis on unique experiences and creative spaces. The marketing industry was lagging behind, Naumann says, creating an opportunity for an agency with a more personalized approach.
Swanson chose the company’s original name — Go To My Apartment — in order to emphasize its personalized approach to apartment marketing. At the time, he says, he didn’t foresee it growing beyond the multifamily market.
But the company grew rapidly and began to expand into other categories of real estate like residential, senior homes and student housing, which eventually prompted him to shorten the name to GTMA. The next goal is to take on hotel projects, Swanson says.
The company will also be taking a greater interest in planned communities, Swanson says, such as the Columbia Tech Center itself. Planned communities fit well with GTMA’s hyper-local focus, he says, and they’re appearing more frequently as part of a shift in how the building industry caters to consumers.
“People want to live, work and play in the same place,” he says. “Nobody wants to sit in traffic anymore.”
The company’s approach to marketing allowed it to grow quickly during its early years, Swanson says. But it wasn’t long before the rest of the industry caught up. And GTMA is constantly seeking new strategies to stay ahead and continue to grow, Swanson says.
“We had a head start, but people are gunning for us now,” he says.
