Tag: property promotion

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The essential components of a professional commercial real estate marketing plan

Every quality listing in commercial real estate brokerage should be the subject of a comprehensive and specific marketing plan.  When the elements of the property are matched to the levels of enquiry, the prevailing property market conditions, and the client, the marketing plan is likely to produce the better results from the selected target market.

Most high quality listings today are the subject of a competitive tender involving a number of brokerages and agents.  You may only have a short period of time or one brief opportunity where you can present your promotional ideas and marketing strategies to your client.

Your presentation, the listing pitch and the marketing plan will need to be of exceptional quality and relevance to attract the interest of the client and convert the listing.  It is very likely that the best agent will win the listing based on recommendations, commitment, and confidence.

The Best Way to Set Out Your Marketing Ideas

Here are the elements of a property marketing plan in commercial real estate brokerage.  These ideas will help you prepare your professional marketing plan:

  1. The title page – give the property and identity through the use of a title. That title should be specific to the property and where possible incorporate the history of the property.  It is quite likely that the local property owners and business proprietors recognise the property in a particular way.  That image or recognition can be incorporated into your marketing plan.
  2. Use professional property photographs – the front of your proposal or marketing plan should feature a professional photograph. That strategy should continue through the document.  Most clients will be drawn to the proposal that features the asset in a creative and professional way.  Through your marketing submission, you can add a number of professional photographs taken at different times of day, of different parts of the property, and use photographs that enhance the strengths of the asset to the target market.
  3. An executive summary – at the front of the document, make sure that you are using an executive summary to pull in all the features of the asset and the intended marketing campaign. The executive summary should be no more than one page in length and feature a number of dot points as part of the layout.  You want the executive summary to attract the interest of the client and refer them further into the document for greater detail.
  4. A table of contents – simplify your marketing proposal with a table of contents so that the client can refer to the correct parts of the document as part of the review.
  5. A preference for simplicity – keep your marketing document simple and informative. Avoid bulky submissions that complicate the marketing process.  Help your clients see the promotional strategy to be used with the target market.  The best way to do that is through the use of a Gantt chart displaying the different marketing strategies and the timing process to be applied.
  6. Property analysis and recommendations – show the client that you really understand the property and its position in the prevailing market conditions. Summarise the property as you see it today and provide details of comparable property market activity in the location.  From that information you can make specific recommendations towards a target market, the enquiries, and the inspections.
  7. The marketing plan – from the target market, you can specifically apply strategy to the marketing plan when it comes to the choice of the right media, the timing, and the expenditure. Help the client see exactly how you will be spending the money and why that is so.  Show the client that you are in control of the property marketing process and the feedback to be encouraged.
  8. Implementation and control – make it easy for the client to formulate a decision and move ahead with their marketing challenge. If there are any problems within the property that need resolving prior to promotion, provide specific solutions and ideas to help that occur.  Make it easy for the client to see the best way forward with their property challenge based on the attributes of the asset and the local property market.

 

Taking all of these things into account, you can make your marketing proposal stand out as specific and special with any good quality commercial real estate listing.  Make it easy for the client to select your services as the agent of choice in resolving their property challenge.

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Tips to Focus Your Commercial Real Estate Marketing Efforts

When it comes to the marketing of commercial property today, the focus that you create through the campaign will help you build the enquiry rate and the inspection profile.  It directly follows that a well-constructed campaign will give you a lot of leads and opportunities, regardless of the current and existing property market.

The fact of the matter is that far too many commercial properties are generically promoted and advertised.  The features of each and every property should be identified and optimized in each marketing campaign.  Those features should consistently flow through all elements of the marketing campaign.

Here are some tips to help the strategy behind your next marketing effort and property listing.

  1. What are the best days of the week to advertise commercial property locally?  To some degree, the answer will depend on the attributes of the property and the target market.  Commonly it is found that property marketing is more effective between the days of Wednesday to Saturday on a weekly basis.  The fact of the matter is that you should know what days are better for your property promotion activity.
  2. Defining the target market will help you with the layout of the advertising campaign, the features to be promoted, and the channels of media that you want to use.  In most cases, the Internet will be high on the list of marketing alternatives.  It is both convenient and economical to use the Internet as part of the campaign; to gain maximum penetration on Internet based adverts use keywords associated with the property type and location.  You can get these keywords from search engine research on a weekly or monthly basis.  In that way you will stay ahead of the enquiry trends to the search engines and utilise the correct words as part of your advertising format.  Most people enquiring regards properties for sale or for lease will go to the Internet first before they lift the telephone and talk to local property agent.  Keyword optimization will help you with your enquiry rates from each property listed on the Internet.
  3. Professional photographs are critical when it comes to property promotion.  If you want your advertisement to stand out efficiently and effectively, devote part of the vendor paid advertising campaign to professional photographs.  Professional photographers know when to take the photographs, and how to make the property features stand out.
  4. Inspection feedback to the property owner should occur after every property inspection.  This is both a conditioning process and also a communication advantage when it comes to helping the client see the trends of the local property market today, and how they will need to adjust their thoughts on price or rent as the case may be.  This naturally assumes that you are getting inspections from your advertising.  If this is not the case, have a serious look at your property promotional strategy and revisit the plan for any modifications that can occur.  There are reasons why enquiries do not come to you.  Resolve those reasons quickly and effectively at the earliest possible time in any property promotion.
  5. Test and measure every marketing campaign on a twice weekly basis.  This will normally be on a Wednesday and a Friday.  Observe the results that you get from every media channel and property advertisement.  Test and measure the layouts together with the placement of media.  In your location, some promotional processes will be more effective than others when it comes to commercial and retail property.  Make the right choices, and the enquiry will come to you regularly and directly.

When the property market is slow and tough, the marketing process becomes even more critical.  Every property listing that is exclusively promoted should be subjected to scrutiny and strategy throughout the entire campaign.  In this way you will be a top agent producing the best results from every listing on your books.

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Commercial Real Estate Agents – Marketing Campaigns for Commercial Property Today

When it comes to marketing a commercial property today for sale or for lease, it is important that the marketing campaign captures the target audience in the right way.  Far too many properties are advertised generically.  The end result is little enquiry and fewer inspections.  When you work as a commercial property agent on commission, every listing that you take to market has to be optimized.

The property market is tough enough without the wrong decisions being made regards advertising and marketing.  Here is a checklist to help you through the process as an agent promoting the property.

  1. Inspect the property so you know what the attributes are that can impact the campaign.  List the features and the problems in the property; both of these will impact the way in which you take people into and around the property as part of the inspection process.
  2. Create an inspection strategy that allows you to show the property in the right respect.  As part of that inspection preparation you can have available a ‘property handout’ with fuller details of the features of the improvements and location.
  3. You may identify a list of presentational things that should be done by the property owner in and around the property before the campaign starts.  Cost of remedial and presentational repairs will be a factor of consideration prior to the marketing campaign starting.  In some cases you will have limited enquiry coming to you from any marketing effort, and for that reason all ‘hurdles’ and ‘obstacles’ should be removed from the inspection process.  In this way you can optimize the potential negotiations that will occur.
  4. Review the other properties that are for sale or lease in the area.  They will have impact on the strategy of promotion and pricing that you adopt.   Identify why those properties are still on the market today and consider just how they can impact your property price or rent.  Will your listed property offer more or less advantages and improvements than these other properties?
  5. Define the target audience that all of your marketing should be directed towards for the particular property.  In this way you will know how to draft the advertisements and time the campaign.
  6. From the definition of the target audience you will know just what improvements will be attractive as you arrange inspections of the property.  This will also help in the qualification process that applies in all enquiries that come to you.

To correctly market a property for sale or lease today it takes real effort and skill.  Professional and experienced agents know how to do this well.  The effort that is required to correctly market a property will be influenced by the type of listing taken and the availability of vendor paid marketing funds.

Open property listings are a real waste of time and should not take a lot of your marketing effort; certainly if you can see a deal to be made with an ‘open listing’ then move towards it, however most property owners that give you an ‘open listing’ cannot to be trusted to fully disclose and cooperate as you proceed through any negotiations with qualified parties.  More often than not they are working with a number of agents and taking comments from all; this can derail or frustrate your specific property promotion and negotiation.

With all of these things being said, many properties can be promoted directly to the qualified tenants and buyers in your database.  All property campaigns should include an element of direct marketing.  Each listing will help you expand your market intelligence and database.  Every property listing will give you an excuse to talk to local business owners and property investors.

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