Achieve Instant Credibility Locally with Property Listing Signage
In commercial real estate brokerage today, the signboard coverage that you create for yourself on locally listed properties will always assist in growth of market share. It is perhaps a ‘traditional’ approach to marketing property, but it really works and cannot be ignored. The signboard is still a powerful marketing tool in brokerage.
The agents and brokers with the comprehensive branding coverage through local property signage will always get more inquiry; that’s how things work. It has been that way for years with only one variation to the rule, and that is how the internet overlays the signage and branding issue. Now today we have to think about online and offline promotional strategies, and they are both a bit different.
Exclusivity please
Let’s make one proviso here regards property signage. The signs that really matter are those that are on ‘exclusive listings’. Forget about putting signs on ‘open listings’; they are a waste of time and money (they cheapen a property image). When you see a property with lots of brokers signs across the frontage you know a few things including:
- There is something wrong with the marketing of the property
- It has been on the market for a long time
- The listing is likely to be overpriced in comparison to others
- The asset is likely to be substandard to industry expectations
- The property owner is desperate to get a result
So let’s get back to the best signage and that is on ‘exclusively’ listed assets. When people see your brand locally and exclusively, both on signboards and on the internet, then you stand a reasonable chance of attracting the interest from the market.
Market coverage
The clients that we serve know the value and relevance of market coverage, and they require that coverage to ‘get the job done’. You can and should build your pitch and presentation efforts locally around that fact. Show the people that you pitch your services to, just how you can give their special property all the promotional coverage that they need in the current market conditions.
So how can you achieve local promotional momentum with your advertising and listing efforts? Try some of these ideas:
- Brand coverage – concentrate your signage into a property precinct in all ways possible. Keep the zone small and limited, but make sure there are plenty of listings in the zone for you to work on over time.
- Broker name – you want your name remembered as the best for the property type. Get your name on all your signs. Make it easy for people to call you 24/7 with your mobile or cell phone. Whilst it is nice to switch the telephone off at night when the working day is finished, most of your inbound inquiries can and should be via your cell phone. In that way you can track what is happening with campaigns and listings.
- Contact processes – you will be contacted via the internet, telephone, office, email, cell phone, and advertising. Somewhere in that list will be the people that see your property signboard and call you from it. Ask the people that contact you, about how they found you and or the property. That feedback is valuable over time as you optimize your property campaigns.
- Specialize in a property type – get to know everything that you can about a property type and a zone of property activity. Track the rents, prices, time on market, enquiry types, and property owners. The ‘deeper’ your property knowledge, the easier it is to find upcoming opportunities with ownership changes, business pressures, and listing activity.
Through all of these issues, specialization is your advantage to be nurtured and shaped. Choose the property type that offers you as the ‘go to’ broker for the location, the best future and commission chances. That’s the golden rule about our business. Know your market, and know what is going to happen before it starts; adjust your promotions accordingly.
