Commercial Real Estate Agents – Beef Up Your Marketing Approach This Way
The advertising and promotional process that you use in marketing exclusive commercial real estate listings today should be direct and comprehensive. Vendor paid marketing funds should support you in doing just that. The listings that you take on should also be attractive and of interest to the buyers and tenants today; on that basis it pays to overlook stale listings and properties that are overpriced.
So let’s think about your listing presentation to clients today. Ensure that your listing pitch incorporates some real strategies and points of difference relating to marketing on an exclusive basis. Show the client exactly how their marketing funds with your guidance will create real momentum when it comes to inbound enquiry. Show the client why they should appoint you as the agent to market their property exclusively and comprehensively. Give them some solid examples of recent advertising and marketing in the local area.
Make your marketing stand out
Take every exclusive listing and boost your marketing efforts in each listing case using a mixture of direct and indirect advertising strategies; understand exactly what the buyers and tenants are looking for and design the promotional material accordingly. Make every advertising campaign unique and special so that you are selling the strengths of the property, the improvements, the tenancy mix, the cash flow, and the opportunity.
Track the inbound property enquiries for every exclusive listing so that you know what the buyers and tenants are looking for in each category of property and in each location. You can then merge those factors into your marketing campaigns so you can attract more enquiry and potentially convert more inspection opportunities. In other words, you really need to think about the promotion process for all of your exclusive listing appointments. Devote the time and the energy to give each campaign the momentum it deserves.
Marketing focus points
Just about every agent knows how to erect a signboard, place an advertisement, and take a telephone enquiry. That is why the generic marketing approach really has no place in today’s property industry if you want to convert listings exclusively. Your property presentation and listing pitch really does need to be of the highest standard and uniquely special.
Here are some ideas and points of focus to make your property marketing approach stand out as unique and special:
- Open rates and Internet hits – With many of the Internet portals today you can track and measure the number of hits occurring with your online property advertisements. The same analysis can occur when it comes to the e-mail marketing approach initiated from your database and directed towards your website listings. When you analyse the number of hits per listing, you will understand types of property and the price ranges that attract better levels of enquiry and interest from a sales and leasing perspective. You will also know the areas and the locations of priority to the buyers and the tenants that are out in the property market today looking to purchase or rent.
- Frequency of marketing – At the start of any marketing campaign there should be a flurry of activity and enquiry given that the listing is new to the market and reasonably fresh for the local buyers and tenants. If you have chosen the best method of sale or lease, the enquiry should come in to your office on a regular basis over those first few weeks. Track and measure the level of inbound enquiry so that you can adjust the frequency of marketing to optimise the enquiry.
- Days of promotion – Some days of the week will be better than others when it comes to property promotion and campaign commencement. Generally speaking you will find that the levels of inbound enquiry are higher over the days between Wednesday and Friday. The days between Saturday and Tuesday are generally slower from an enquiry perspective.
- Selecting target markets – You will get better results from your marketing efforts when you focus on targeted segments. Before you design and start your promotional campaign define the target market of tenants or buyers to your client. From that definition, you can design the campaign for better results and enquiry momentum.
- Enquiry rates for listings and properties – Every agent and real estate office should track the levels of enquiry coming from each exclusive property promotion. That information will help your conversions when it comes to pitching campaigns to clients, and selling the concept of vendor paid marketing. Put your enquiry results on to a graph and use the graphing displays in all of your client presentations. The graphs should differentiate between the days of the week, property types, methods of sale or lease, and location.
So there are some very specific things that you can do here from a promotional perspective when marketing commercial real estate. Help the client to see exactly how you and your unique advertising strategy can optimise the level of buyer or tenant interest. When you provide real and relevant facts to the client as part of your property listing presentation, the listing conversion ratios get a lot easier.