The real estate market is an extremely competitive industry. In fact, it’s considered among the most competitive fields in the world. The global real estate market is forecasted to grow from $2687 billion in 2020 to $2774 billion in 2021. With so much potential in the industry, it’s only natural that brokers and real estate companies are fighting to make their way to the top, attract more clients, and increase their profits.
Unfortunately, this endeavour is not as easy as it sounds, especially when it comes to commercial real estate properties. The global commercial real estate industry is valued at $3.9 trillion in 2021. For agents and real estate agencies to be successful, substantial commercial real estate marketing is required.
Great marketing can truly set you apart from the rest and open new doors for you to meet potential clients and form new relationships. With the vast amount of marketing opportunities that we have in today’s digitally developed world, it’s certainly lost potential to not utilize them to their fullest capacity.
In this article, we’ll share with you six ways to market your commercial real estate property like a professional. We’ll show you how to define your marketing plan and explore some of the key methods and techniques you can use to find more clients and be on top of your game.
Defining Your Marketing Plan
There is a lot of noise in the commercial real estate industry. So what can you do to separate yourself? Are there any strategies you can use to increase your visibility?
For starters, you need to define your marketing plan and have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how to achieve it.
- Define Your Objectives
Before even talking about a commercial real estate marketing strategy, it’s essential to ask yourself what you want to achieve and where you want to go via your marketing efforts. Are you looking to target specific client groups? Are you hoping to create more potential clients by slowly and gradually building relationships or are you after a quick sale?
Set clear objectives before starting as they will help you stay on track and make improvements where necessary. Without any goals, it’s easy to get lost in the colourful pool of marketing opportunities and tools.
- Have an Understanding of Your Target Demographics
It’s merely impossible to adjust your marketing plan appropriately if you don’t have a detailed understanding of your target audience. Your target audience will define what types of marketing strategies you need to use and how to approach your potential customers. It’s worth investing some time into getting to know your perfect client and understanding what makes them react.
This will help you design the perfect marketing message that will motivate your target audience to take the action that you would like them to take. Some useful ways to do this is to analyze current clients, speak to friends, family, or colleagues, and look at what other competitors are doing and how they’re approaching their target audience.
- Develop Your Game Plan
Once you’re aware of your target demographics, it’s time to create the actual strategy. Set realistic expectations of what you want to achieve and think about the methods you’ll use to reach your audience. You can take advantage of both offline and online commercial real estate marketing tactics to reach your objectives.
Although looking at what other competitors are doing is useful, try to innovate and offer something new to clients.
- Create Your Assets
Next, you need to create your marketing assets. These could be anything from flyers to digital marketing campaigns that you’ve specifically designed for your target audience. If you have an in-house marketing team, rely on their expertise. Alternatively, you can also outsource your marketing and hire a proven and legitimate commercial real estate marketing agency to help craft the perfect marketing assets.
- Track Your Results
Let’s not forget about tracking. A lot of commercial real estate agencies put a lot of effort into marketing but miss out on the most important part – tracking. There are a number of tools you can use but it’s recommended that you at least have Google Analytics installed on your website to track activity. Analyze the results at least once per month and use the collected data to optimize your campaigns and marketing strategy.
Your website is a significant asset that should be generating activity. If this is not the case, it’s time for improvements.
Let’s dive into the different marketing tools and instruments you can use to make your commercial real estate agency more visible.
- Property Website
Most commercial real estate companies have a general website with separate landing pages of the properties they sell or lease. The agency will likely have a listing page with all the available properties. This is your chance to shine.
Creating an attractive, clear, and easy to get around listing page will guarantee a positive user experience for other brokers or potential clients browsing for a suitable commercial real estate property to rent or buy.
Your listing page must include all the property information and details such as:
- Professional property images
- Property details
- Location maps
- Contact information
- Call to action buttons
- Downloadable flyer with a link
- Links to agents’ emails
You can also add an inquiry form to make getting in touch with you easier, information on the current availability of listings, and more. Use your website cleverly and share any other relevant marketing materials with your users.
- Email Marketing
Believe it or not, email marketing is not dead and is in fact still a vital component of your marketing strategy. To remind the commercial real estate community of your listings, it’s worth investing some time and effort into a well-structured email marketing campaign.
Your email marketing should be consistent and regularly scheduled. You can use advanced settings to create customer groups and target them with different email messages based on where they are in the customer lifecycle.
Some key things to include in your emails are:
- Property images
- Property details
- A link to the property listing page
- A link to a downloadable flyer
- Contact information
Of course, you can be as creative as you want with your email marketing. However, keep in mind who your target audience is and what type of messaging will make them tick.
Make sure to have a premade list of addresses of brokers, partners, and potential clients that you will be sending the email. The bigger the address list, the higher chance of more open rates, more engagement, and more results.
- Property Marketing Flyers
Flyers may come in third in our list but they’re certainly not to be underestimated. In fact, creating a property marketing flyer is one of the first things that it’s recommended to do. Most real estate agencies will use a standard company flyer template for all sold or leased properties.
Don’t think of a flyer in terms of the old-school leaflets that were handed out in the past. Your property flyer can be downloadable and available online, it can be uploaded on property listing websites, it can be shared with potential clients on open-door events, and more.
Make sure that your property flyers include high-quality images representing the property, a location map with an address, a section with nearby amenities and highlights of the property, contact details, site plans, and other relevant information. Some agents will prefer to avoid listing the sales price on the flyer but this is entirely up to you.
Wherever possible, work with a professional photographer for the images. This may be an additional expense but it will be worth it in the long run.
- Listing on Commercial Real Estate Listing Websites
Another form of marketing that you can use as a commercial real estate broker is listing your property on commercial real estate listing sites. Make sure to include all relevant information about your listing and make regular updates or changes where necessary. Brokers will first check the listing website when working with a client in the search for a potentially suitable property.
Being active on such sites increases your chances of getting recognized. Some listing websites will require a small fee to add your listing, while others are completely free to use. You may also be able to add a link to your property flyer that will provide additional information for the properties you’re selling or leasing.
- Expand With Digital Marketing Campaigns
Digital marketing is like a whole new world with infinite possibilities and potential. The best strategy is to design a digital marketing strategy that grasps all relevant channels that can be useful in promoting your commercial real estate listings.
Some of the main channels include:
- Google ads
- Social media ads
- SEO
- Content marketing
- Video content
And more!
Social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are great ways to build a community and connect with potential buyers. The beauty of digital marketing is that you can sell without even trying to. All you have to do is create a beautifully crafted message and ensure it reaches the right audience.
Providing high-value content will also be efficient in helping you build trust and authority among your target audience, partners, and other brokers. By appearing as a legitimate and experienced commercial real estate professional, you’ll be able to connect to more people, offer advice, and ultimately make more sales.
Investing in digital marketing does not always guarantee immediate results. However, it’s an essential part of growing your business and increasing your popularity on the market.
- Invest in Commercial Real Estate Marketing Software
When seeking marketing solutions for your commercial real estate business, you can also rely on professional commercial real estate marketing software like CREOP. With such software, you can easily and quickly design company branded marketing packages, offer and keep track of memorandums, proposals, and flyers. CREOP is a cloud-based software that provides everything necessary for a full marketing strategy for commercial real estate professionals.
You can access a myriad of different styles to create your marketing content, use your company’s color scheme, add property information along with professional images, and more. The online software will give the reader the impression it took weeks to create an offering memorandum when in reality it takes no more than an hour because the graphs, charts, tables, and financial analysis automatically get created by simply entering the income and expenses. Take advantage of rent roll data, demographics, property websites, email campaigns, and more at the click of a button.
Investing in professional commercial real estate marketing software can save you a lot of money down the road and boost your performance unimaginably. The good news is that you’ll have access to a single platform that provides everything you need.
Conclusion
Designing a marketing plan for any commercial real estate company or individual agent is no easy task. Yet, it’s definitely worth the time and effort as it will guarantee better performance and access to more potential clients.
Utilizing advanced software like CREOP will help you dramatically boost your visibility and increase your close rates. Don’t wait another minute and make a difference in your professional growth today. Unlock your full potential as a commercial real estate broker and exploit all the opportunities provided by CREOP. We’re here to support you by answering any questions you may have or offering professional advice and guidance on making the right choice. You can also benefit from detailed tutorials on how to use this commercial real estate marketing software to its full capacity.