CompassRock

The client

CompassRock is an asset and property management company overseeing a portfolio of build-to-rent residential buildings across the UK & Ireland. With experience in both the US and UK & Ireland, CompassRock brings together the best practices of real estate management to deliver exceptional performance and value for their clients.

Stafford Yard is one of their UK assets – a block of apartments in Bedminster, Bristol, let out to young professionals and students. 

Prior to working with Hallam, Stafford Yard was approaching the end of its 18-month lease-up period – the window in which a build-to-rent asset needs to reach 95% occupancy. CompassRock’s current Head of Marketing joined in the summer of 2025 to lead marketing, and by the time Hallam came on board in the winter, the asset already had around six months of marketing activity behind it. That activity had been predominantly performance-led, so together we ramped up investment in brand marketing. The year-on-year comparisons in efficiency thanks to a full-funnel approach and collaborative partnership show huge progress.

The approach

Hallam worked directly with CompassRock to define what success looked like: hit the occupancy target within the remaining lease-up window, build a full-funnel strategy that didn’t rely on any single channel, and establish a brand presence. The strategic direction sat with the CompassRock team, whilst Hallam’s role was to execute against that strategy, test what worked, and feed insight back so every decision stayed grounded in reliable data.

That last point mattered from day one. Early on, Hallam’s Data & Insights team ran a full tracking audit across GA4, Google Ads and HubSpot, closing gaps in attribution so CompassRock could trust the numbers being reported and make confident decisions on where to invest.

It’s worth remembering that the rental market brings its own ongoing pressure too, with regulatory changes affecting renters meaning churn is a constant factor. So even once a flat is filled, a steady pipeline of new leads is needed to keep occupancy high. Stafford Yard became a major area of focus, with the goal of establishing a consistent and efficient volume of leads.

What we did

Paid media

Hallam took over Compass Rock’s existing activity: Search (brand and non-brand), YouTube and Performance Max campaigns, and rebuilt them around the property’s key unit types (studios, one-beds, two-beds and duplexes), running keyword expansion and splitting activity into dedicated ad groups with tailored ad copy for each. A separate campaign was launched to target Bristol’s large student population specifically, both on Search and Meta, alongside prospecting campaigns for renters more broadly. Microsoft Ads was also tested to help protect brand visibility on Bing – one of several steps toward the brand presence the asset hadn’t had before.

Organic

Stafford Yard’s website previously had no dedicated apartments section, just a basic “floor plans” page with minimal information. We built a new apartment category page from scratch, along with individual pages for each unit type, all with new copy. This complimented the approach in the paid campaigns. The unit pages were designed so that visitors only see the relevant apartment type for a cleaner user experience, and the team added testimonials, amenity information and image galleries to enhance the listing. This was supported by internal linking work, CTA and metadata optimisation, plus competitor and keyword research, to maximise SEO efforts.

Full-funnel, not just performance

The strategy was deliberately built to not lean on paid ads alone. Between November 2025 and March 2026, organic overtook paid as Stafford Yard’s leading source of leads which indicates that the wider approach, including the organic and brand-building work, was driving incremental volume and easing pressure on paid CPLs, rather than the result sitting on one channel’s shoulders.

Unified approach

The two workstreams reinforced each other: paid media used the newly-built, apartment-specific organic landing pages, so every visitor, whether from a search ad or a search result, landed on a page tailored to the unit type they were interested in. We also produced the Meta ad creative in-house, keeping visuals on-brand and consistent across every touchpoint.

The results

Paid

Hallam’s work with CompassRock has accelerated leads from paid search, and generated leads from paid social too, now with reliable tracking set up in an optimal way. Spend has increased by around 55% period-on-period, but lead volume has grown far faster, driving a significant fall in cost per acquisition today (29X lower CPA). Impression share was also a key metric for the client, and it increased by 34% period-on-period, meaning the brand appeared more often in front of competitors’ audiences.

Organic

Organic leads grew from 24 to 103 in H1, a 329% increase, while organic traffic grew by 63%, the largest absolute gain of any property in CompassRock’s portfolio. The majority of bookings now come through the newly-built apartment category pages, with a further 15–20% from the individual one and two-bed pages.

Overall

Comparing June 2025 versus June 2026, Stafford Yard previously generated 102 leads at a £140.87 CPL last year, growing to 173 leads at a £102.73 CPL this year. An impressive 70% more leads, at a 28% lower cost per lead. Together, that’s a meaningfully more efficient and more resilient lead engine thanks to the direction of CompassRock and strategic delivery of the Hallam team.

The partnership continues

Off the back of Stafford Yard’s performance, CompassRock has since expanded Hallam’s remit to four further buildings, joining the portfolio from September 2026 – a vote of confidence in the approach built together.

Be chosen before the search begins

Stop playing it safe and start working with us to create marketing that earns attention, builds trust and puts your brand ahead of the competition before buyers even start looking. To escape the ordinary and become truly unforgettable, all you have to do is get in touch.