Niche Marketing Strategies in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage
Niche marketing in commercial real estate brokerage works very well providing you choose the active market segments to work based on your particular skills and location. Will those two factors offer plenty of churn and activity over time?
Know your targets
Your targets in taking this approach to your business in commercial property should be to grow your business and to be known as the specialist that the industry requires. You require a niche to work in and work on. There is no point in being generic in our industry. Does that sound like you now? Market yourself specifically and locally into the groups of people that need you.
Can you position yourself in this way?
It always pays to have a real plan in commercial real estate brokerage. That should be a plan at a personal level that can help take you to the next level of your business. Know your market for what it is and then move into it with your skills and actions. Here are some segments to tap into:
- Business owners – Many company owners and business owners need regular help with local property activities and requirements. Their business success depends on the positioning of their company into local property. How can you help the businesses in these segments? What you know about commerce locally that will put you closer to these people and their property challenges?
- Local tenants – Tenants always move around. They will move for reasons of expansion, contraction, and rental reduction or opportunity. In many respects the choice of property will be important to them as well as the location. Get to know all your local tenants and what they are doing and thinking about with property changes and lease terminations.
- Property investors – A successful property investor will want to find more local property or sell up and move into a new property asset. There will be factors of rent, return, yields, and capital value to contend with.
- Franchise groups – The franchise business model sometimes requires property in certain locations and or building types. Get to know the franchises locally and what they are thinking and doing about property change and growth of the franchise network.
- Property developers – When you build good levels of trust and communication with a developer locally, they can provide you with the opportunity to work on a property project. Many projects have multiple sources of commission over time. In saying that, the developers in our industry are a ‘special breed’ and they are motivated by the end result or return. They need good agents and brokers to help them pull in sales and leasing, but the upfront assistance they require and that you can provide to them can be taxing and time consuming. It takes months if not years to see a return from a relationship with a property developer. Choose your developers carefully.
- Overseas investors – Understand the investment rules that apply to commercial real estate in your location. There will generally be certain ways an investor can put money into property in your location. When you know the rules you can market yourself and your services into this segment. You can then look for the right properties that match the requirements of the overseas investor.
Out of all of these segments, which one will offer you the most excitement and opportunity? Understand the commercial real estate niches for what they are and where they are heading.
Market yourself comprehensively into the niche segments that you know and understand. Stand out as the commercial real estate agent of choice. Help the people in the local property market see that they need you.
(N.B. these ideas are also sent out to regularly to our friends in Commercial Real Estate Online Snapshot to help amplify brokerage results…. Get your access here)