Real estate management association rebuilds its brand from the ground up with Red Fan

The Story

The Austin chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) has a simple message and goal: to help all property managers in the Austin area—commercial or residential—advance their professional careers.

Their vision is this:

“At IREM Austin, we provide multiple pathways to help property managers in Greater Austin maximize their memberships—and to welcome anyone pursuing or exploring a career in real estate management. Regardless of the type of property you manage, your background, education or your level of experience, there’s a place for you here.”

This carefully crafted message is clear, concise, compelling, unique and inclusive. And it was developed with Red Fan’s help.

IREM Austin engaged Red Fan to help the chapter stand out amongst several other property management associations in the highly competitive Greater Austin area. The international organization has more than 20,000 members worldwide, but IREM Austin leaders believed they could deepen engagement with current members and amplify recruitment by transforming their perceived reputation as a formal, commercially focused organization.

They wanted a friendlier, more welcoming brand voice that mirrors their actual chapter identity, one that appeals to property managers of all types while increasing awareness among students and aspiring professionals and getting more involved in the broader Austin business and philanthropic communities.

The Challenge

IREM Austin faced multiple organizational challenges that required a comprehensive marketing and communications overhaul:

  • Strengthening member engagement and recruitment: Despite valuable programming, IREM Austin lacked systematic member communications, with 61% preferring email, yet the chapter lacked a formal email communications program, such as a newsletter, that could maintain touchpoints with and stay top-of-mind for members.
  • Differentiating in a competitive market: IREM Austin competes against six other property management associations in the Austin area, each with their own networking events, training resources and marketing efforts. The chapter needed to identify and communicate its unique value proposition to stand out.
  • Expanding appeal beyond commercial focus: The organization was perceived as formal and restrictive, primarily focused on commercial property management. This limited their ability to attract a more diverse mix of property managers, as well as early-career professionals, students exploring the industry and Austinites in other industries seeking career changes.
  • Building community visibility and partnerships: While members valued the organization internally, IREM Austin had limited visibility and engagement within the broader Austin business community, missing opportunities for partnerships and brand awareness.
  • Aligning messaging across all touchpoints: Chapter leadership and members struggled to articulate IREM Austin’s unique benefits and value proposition consistently across different audiences and channels.

 

All these insights were needed before taking the first step toward a new brand approach, starting with Red Fan’s brand positioning and integrated marketing workshop.

The Solution

Red Fan conducted a comprehensive competitive analysis of IREM Austin’s direct competitors and extensive stakeholder surveys revealing powerful insights: 72% of members cited internationally recognized certifications as the primary differentiator, members achieved a 9.2 net promoter score, and 78% joined specifically to access quality certifications like the CPM designation.

Using these insights, Red Fan developed a comprehensive brand positioning and marketing communications playbook with updated messaging, strategic vision and tactical recommendations across three core brand goals.

The Results

Using these insights, Red Fan developed a comprehensive brand positioning and marketing communications playbook featuring:

  • Updated brand story and strategic vision
  • Positioning statement and press release boilerplate
  • Comprehensive messaging for consistent communications and easy implementation across brand channels
  • Strategic marketing recommendations and programming across core brand goals, including content marketing, audience outreach and engagement

 

Following the conclusion of IREM Austin’s work with Red Fan, the chapter left with:

A complete website redesign with integrated messaging: In collaboration with design firm Huck Yeah, Red Fan delivered comprehensive website restructuring with consolidated navigation and updated copy built directly from the new messaging framework. The site now strategically highlights differentiated chapter value propositions, member benefits and engagement opportunities, community and partner programming and other elements identified throughout IREM Austin’s collaboration with Red Fan.

A systematic member communications program: The centerpiece deliverable was “The Austin Property Manager,” a fully designed monthly newsletter template with dedicated content sections

An amplified member storytelling strategy: Red Fan developed a comprehensive testimonial framework designed to ensure every prospective member could find relatable stories regardless of their background. The program strategically captured member perspectives across all property types, career stages and professional backgrounds—including career changers from other industries. Red Fan created structured interview guides focusing on what each member segment found most valuable—from certifications and networking to mentorship and career advancement—to amplify recruitment opportunities by enabling authentic advocacy that speaks directly to diverse audiences exploring property management careers or seeking professional associations.

Multichannel stakeholder engagement tools: The team developed modular presentation decks and materials tailored for different audiences—community partners, property management organizations, students and prospects. Each toolkit includes customized messaging, supporting materials and engagement strategies specific to that stakeholder group.

Optimized communications channel mix: Red Fan created channel-specific social media strategies moving away from underperforming platforms to focus resources on LinkedIn (member achievements, career opportunities, industry insights) and Instagram (event recaps, member spotlights), with detailed posting schedules and content themes.

A community partnership framework: Beyond strategy, Red Fan delivered practical evaluation tools categorizing partnership opportunities based on brand alignment and impact, plus tactical recommendations for philanthropic engagement with clear processes for member-driven sourcing.

Working with the Red Fan Communications team has been an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Their thoughtful approach to brand development and marketing strategy set the foundation for what quickly became one of the most seamless and creative collaborations we’ve ever been a part of. From our initial brand and content discussions last fall to the soon-to-rollout, amazingly designed, user-friendly website and a versatile promotional content library, every step of the process was handled with professionalism, creativity and attention to detail. What stood out most was the team’s ability to not only deliver high-quality materials but also anticipate our needs, making everything easy to manage long after their work was complete. The final ‘products’ truly reflect the spirit and professionalism of IREM Austin, and we’re excited to carry this work forward.
Jen George
Executive Director