17 Marketing Strategy & Outreach Practice Questions & Answers
Every Marketing Strategy & Outreach practice question from the NAA CALP Practice Test, with the correct answer and a short explanation.
Start practice test →1. A leasing team is executing the community's marketing plan. Which of these activities is outreach marketing rather than inbound marketing?
- A.Answering a prospect's call about a listing and booking a tour for that afternoon
- B.Replying to a website contact form in the same minute the inquiry arrives
- C.Returning a text message from a prospect who asked about the parking fee
- D.Visiting the human resources office of a nearby hospital to set up a flyer exchange✓ Answer
Outreach marketing reaches prospective residents directly or indirectly away from the community, while inbound marketing handles requests that arrive at the community. The employer visit opens a channel to people who have not contacted the office yet; the other three are responses to inquiries already received.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (executing a marketing strategy: outreach vs. inbound marketing)Report a problem with this question
2. A community's marketing plan lists several statements. Which one is an objective rather than a strategy?
- A.Sponsor a clean-up day at the neighborhood park with a staffed table
- B.Add a floor plan banner to the top of the community website
- C.Raise qualified traffic by 25 percent over the next 90 days✓ Answer
- D.Extend leasing office hours to include Saturday afternoons
An objective answers the question What? It names the result together with the metric and time frame that will show whether it was achieved. The other three answer How? They are strategies, the steps chosen to reach an objective, and none of them carries a measurement.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (objectives and strategies in the marketing plan)Report a problem with this question
3. A team is turning a marketing goal into an action plan for the coming quarter. Which sequence is correct?
- A.Set a review date, assign an owner to each task, set the measurable objective, choose the channels
- B.Set the measurable objective, choose the channels, assign an owner to each task, set a review date✓ Answer
- C.Assign an owner to each task, choose the channels, set a review date, set the measurable objective
- D.Choose the channels, set a review date, set the measurable objective, assign an owner to each of the tasks
The objective comes first because it states what the plan must achieve and how achievement will be measured. Channels are then selected to serve that objective, named owners make the work executable, and the review date is what allows the plan to be revised on evidence instead of impression.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (creating and revising an action plan to achieve marketing goals)Report a problem with this question
4. For three straight weeks, qualified traffic from the listing site named in the plan has fallen while its monthly cost has not changed. The plan still has two months to run. What should the leasing professional do?
- A.Bring the weekly source counts and the cost to the supervisor with a recommendation to shift the spend✓ Answer
- B.Stop entering that source on the guest cards until the traffic recovers so the weekly numbers look normal
- C.Wait until the plan's end date, since a marketing plan is revised only after its full period has run
- D.Reduce the rent advertised on that listing site in order to bring the traffic count back up quickly
A falling qualified-traffic count is one of the standard warning signs that a plan needs revision before its scheduled end, so waiting is wrong. The leasing professional executes the plan rather than authoring it, which makes documenting the source data and escalating it with a recommendation the correct move; suppressing source entries destroys the very data the decision needs, and rents are not repriced by the leasing professional.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (revising the action plan; role of the leasing professional in plan execution)Report a problem with this question
5. A leasing professional transfers to a community that has no written marketing plan. How should the marketing work be handled?
- A.Follow the direction of the supervisor and the marketing team on which activities to run✓ Answer
- B.Suspend outreach activity and handle the inquiries that come in until a plan is issued
- C.Write a full plan for the community and begin executing it before the next month starts
- D.Repeat whatever the nearest competing community advertises until a written plan finally arrives
The marketing plan is normally written by the supervisor or the marketing team, and the leasing professional's role is to execute it on site. Where no written plan exists, the activities to run come from that supervisor's direction, not from the consultant's own draft, a competitor's advertising, or a pause in outreach.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (role of the leasing professional in executing the marketing plan)Report a problem with this question
6. A plan under review addresses price, product, place and promotion. Which P is missing, and what does it cover?
- A.Process: the steps a prospect moves through from first inquiry to lease signing
- B.Position: where the community ranks against its competitors on rent and amenities
- C.Publicity: the unpaid coverage the community earns in local news and neighborhood pages
- D.People: the staff who deliver the service and the customers the plan is aimed at✓ Answer
The five P's a marketing strategy must address are people, price, product, place and promotion; leaving any one of them out weakens the plan. People covers both the staff who deliver the leasing and service experience and the customers the plan is written for. Position, publicity and process come from other marketing frameworks.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (strategies incorporating the five P's)Report a problem with this question
7. Three two-bedroom apartments come available at once and the objective is to lease them within 30 days. Which action fits that objective best?
- A.Hang a banner at the entrance announcing that two-bedroom homes are ready for move-in
- B.Mail a postcard about the community to every household in the surrounding ZIP codes
- C.Book a month of radio advertising naming the community and its address across the metro
- D.Refresh that floor plan's photos, rent and availability on the sites where renters search✓ Answer
Listing content reaches people who are searching for an apartment right now, can be aimed at one floor plan, and can be corrected the same day, which is what a 30-day objective for three specific units requires. Radio, banners and mass mailings build broad awareness over a longer horizon and cannot speak to a single floor plan's availability.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (matching promotional channels to marketing objectives)Report a problem with this question
8. Why does a community's channel mix usually include a resident referral program?
- A.Residents refer people who already know the community, so those leases close at a higher rate and lower cost✓ Answer
- B.Referrals count as internal marketing, so the reward is not charged against the marketing budget
- C.Referral prospects arrive with no source attached, so they stay out of the closing ratio and lift it
- D.The reward can be offered to the residents whose friends best match the profile the community wants
A referred prospect arrives already informed by someone who lives there, which raises the closing ratio and keeps cost per lease low compared with paid advertising. A referral is still a lead source that must be recorded, its reward is a marketing cost like any other, and the offer must be available to residents on the same published terms.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (channel mix, lead sources and cost per lease)Report a problem with this question
9. A community is choosing target markets for the coming year. Which grouping may lawfully be used to aim the message?
- A.Renters whose national origin matches that of the current resident base
- B.Members of the congregation that meets across the street from the property
- C.Commuters who ride the rail line from the station two blocks from the office✓ Answer
- D.Households with children under six who are looking for a ground-floor home
Market segmentation may divide the market by geography, lifestyle, demographics or psychographics as long as the characteristic used is not protected by fair housing law. Familial status, religion and national origin are among the seven classes protected by the federal Fair Housing Act, so aiming a message at or away from them is unlawful; a commuting pattern is a lifestyle need and is not a protected characteristic. Some jurisdictions add further protected classes, so local rules must also be checked.
Source: 42 U.S.C. 3604(c); 24 CFR 100.75 (discriminatory advertisements, statements and notices)Report a problem with this question
10. A leasing team wants to run housing ads on a social platform using an audience mirrored from the current resident list. What does federal fair housing guidance direct them to do?
- A.Rely on the platform's approval of the campaign, since how the algorithm delivers the ads is its responsibility
- B.Narrow the audience to the age band the community markets to, provided anyone who applies is still considered
- C.Flag the ads as housing ads, examine how the mirrored audience was built, and monitor who the ads reach✓ Answer
- D.Run the audience as built, because the residents are real customers and no protected class is named in the targeting
HUD guidance on advertising housing through digital platforms tells advertisers to identify housing ads so the platform applies its housing-specific treatment, to scrutinize how custom or mirrored audiences were assembled because they can reproduce the protected-class composition of the source list, and to monitor actual delivery. Discriminatory delivery can occur without the advertiser intending it, and responsibility does not transfer to the platform.
Source: HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity guidance on advertising through digital platforms (2024); 42 U.S.C. 3604(c)Report a problem with this question
11. A leasing professional is planning a flyer drop in the area around the community. Which routing plan is correct?
- A.Cover the neighborhoods whose household incomes suggest the rent would be affordable there
- B.Cover the whole residential area inside the radius the plan defines, on a documented route✓ Answer
- C.Cover the neighborhoods the current residents moved from, since that mix already works here
- D.Cover the neighborhoods whose residents the staff believe would feel at home at the community
Selecting the media or the locations for advertising in a way that denies particular segments of the market information about housing opportunities is itself prohibited by the fair housing advertising rule. Mirroring where current residents came from, filtering by household income, and relying on staff impressions of who would fit all narrow the audience along lines that track protected characteristics; a defined geographic area worked in full does not.
Source: 24 CFR 100.75(c)(3) (selecting media or locations for advertising that deny market segments information about housing opportunities); 42 U.S.C. 3604(c)Report a problem with this question
12. A leasing professional proposes preferred-employer agreements with a hospital and a school district, each offering a published discount to that employer's staff. How should the proposal be evaluated?
- A.It is acceptable outreach, because employment is not a protected class and the terms reach every employee of the partner✓ Answer
- B.It is acceptable outreach, provided the partner's workforce reflects the demographics of the surrounding neighborhood
- C.It is unacceptable outreach, because offering different move-in terms to different applicants is discrimination in itself
- D.It is unacceptable outreach, because a published discount changes the market rent that was quoted to the general public
Relationship outreach to nearby employers is a standard way to extend a community's reach, and employment is not one of the seven classes protected by the federal Fair Housing Act. What matters is that the offer is published and applied on the same terms to everyone who qualifies through the partnership, and that the partnership is not used as a way to reach or avoid a protected group. Some jurisdictions add protected classes beyond the federal seven, so local rules must be checked.
Source: 42 U.S.C. 3604 (seven federally protected classes); 24 CFR 100.75 (advertising and outreach)Report a problem with this question
13. Draft advertising copy reads: an exclusive address, perfect for young professionals. What should be done before it runs?
- A.Keep the line and add the words families welcome so the copy speaks to both groups
- B.Add an equal housing opportunity statement to the copy, which cures wording of this kind
- C.Publish the copy as drafted, since it describes a lifestyle and names no protected class
- D.Rewrite the copy to describe the apartments and features, not the intended resident✓ Answer
It is unlawful to publish an advertisement for the rental of a dwelling that indicates a preference or limitation based on a protected class, and liability turns on what an ordinary reader would perceive rather than on the advertiser's intent. Exclusive and perfect for young professionals read as a preference against households with children, which is familial status; adding a statement or a counterbalancing phrase does not cure copy that expresses a preference.
Source: 42 U.S.C. 3604(c); 24 CFR 100.75(b) and (c)(1) (ordinary reader standard; words and phrases indicating a preference)Report a problem with this question
14. Why must a leasing professional record where each inbound inquiry came from?
- A.The source determines the order in which inquiries are answered over the course of the day
- B.The source determines which offer applies to that prospect and lets cost per source be measured✓ Answer
- C.The source determines which screening criteria will be applied to that prospect's application
- D.The source determines which leasing agent is credited with the lease when commissions are figured
The source is the most important attribute of an inbound lead because it tells the leasing professional which terms that channel promised the prospect, and because cost per traffic and cost per lease can only be computed by source. Those figures are what drive revisions to the channel mix. Screening criteria, answering order and internal credit are not set by where a lead came from.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (lead tracking, lead sources and cost per source)Report a problem with this question
15. Last month an online listing source cost $2,400 and produced 160 visits and 8 leases; a neighborhood print source cost $1,500 and produced 75 visits and 6 leases. What is each source's cost per traffic?
- A.$0.07 for the online source and $0.05 for the print source
- B.$300.00 for the online source and $250.00 for the print source
- C.$15.00 for the online source and $20.00 for the print source✓ Answer
- D.$16.60 for both sources, with budget and visits pooled together
Cost per traffic by source is the cost of that source divided by the traffic it produced: $2,400 divided by 160 is $15.00, and $1,500 divided by 75 is $20.00, so the online source buys visits more cheaply even though it costs more in total. Dividing by leases instead gives cost per lease, $300.00 and $250.00, which is a different measure, and pooling the two budgets hides the comparison the plan needs.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (marketing formulas: cost per traffic by source)Report a problem with this question
16. In one week the three leasing consultants recorded 50 visits and 10 leases, 30 visits and 12 leases, and 20 visits and 2 leases. What is the team's closing ratio?
- A.24 percent, the total leases divided by the total visits✓ Answer
- B.19.4 percent, the leases divided by visits plus leases
- C.40 percent, the ratio posted by the strongest consultant
- D.23.3 percent, the average of the three consultants' ratios
The team closing ratio is total leases divided by total traffic: 24 leases divided by 100 visits is 24 percent. Averaging the three individual ratios of 20, 40 and 10 percent gives 23.3 percent and is wrong because it weights a consultant who saw 20 visitors the same as one who saw 50.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (marketing formulas: closing ratio by agent and team-wide)Report a problem with this question
17. The plan sets an objective of 36 new leases in a 90-day quarter. At day 45 the community has signed 14. Where does the plan stand at the halfway review?
- A.On pace, because 14 leases in 45 days meets the plan's monthly target
- B.Behind pace by 4 leases, tracking to 28 for the quarter at this rate✓ Answer
- C.Ahead of pace by 2 leases, tracking to 42 for the quarter at this rate
- D.Behind pace by 22 leases, the shortfall against the full-quarter objective
Straight-line pace at the halfway point is half of the objective, or 18 leases, so 14 is 4 short, and 14 in 45 days projects to 28 in 90 days. Comparing the 45-day count with the full-quarter objective, 36 minus 14, confuses a mid-period reading with an end-of-period result, which is exactly why the plan sets an interim review against a prorated target.
Source: NAAEI Certified Apartment Leasing Professional Exam Blueprint, Marketing domain (measuring property performance against the marketing plan)Report a problem with this question
Practice questions only — not real exam items, and not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Apartment Association or NAAEI. Questions are written to the domains and tasks of the published CALP Exam Blueprint. This bank covers the leasing consultant's own work; the property-manager credential and the maintenance technician credential are separate banks on this site. Landlord-tenant law — notice periods, deposit limits and return deadlines, entry rules, fees and eviction procedure — is set by each state and often by each city, and is deliberately out of scope here; fair housing is covered at the federal level, and your state or city may protect additional classes. Exam format, eligibility, and scoring are set by NAAEI and change from time to time; confirm the current requirements before you register. Official CALP exam blueprint →