Target Marketing Tips for Commercial Real Estate Agents
In commercial real estate agency, the properties that you convert to exclusive listings should be directly marketed to a target audience within the business community and or property investors. The exclusive listing process is far more successful in this way, when it comes to achieving a successful sale or a lease for our clients.
When you control the listings, you control the market. Far too many agents focus on buyers and tenants as part of a professional property service. That being said, most buyers and tenants have no commitment or allegiance with the various agents they connect with. You can spend a lot of time chasing around the market for properties for those buyers and tenants, only to find that they have satisfied their requirements with another agent. Selectively work with the right buyers and tenants rather than devoting too much time with little guaranteed reward.
So every quality listing needs to be targeted to the right property buyers or tenants. This requires a targeted audience assessment. The marketing campaign that you create for the client should be distinctively focused on the right message, the readership, and the desired outcome.
Here are some tips and questions to help you address the structure and focus of the property marketing campaign:
- What are the features of the property that will be relevant to the targeted segment of buyers or tenants? Are those features of high quality and will they help you attract property inspections? If so, make a story around them.
- Where can you find plenty of buyers or tenants for the property based on the current market conditions? Adopt a specific marketing process that taps into the media channels and online activities for the target segment. Don’t overlook the traditional advertising and marketing processes such as direct mail, cold calling, and brochure distribution.
- Put yourself into the marketing process for the client. Talk to lots of people and prospects about the property. Ask questions about property needs and changes with all the people that you talk to. What do the buyers and tenants look for when it comes to property selection and inspection?
- Get some professionally taken photographs to assist the marketing process. The photographs should feature the right improvements and the locational advantages that the property offers. The cost of this photography should be a vendor paid item.
- Newspaper advertising remains a useful process when it comes to property promotion. That being said, it is expensive and does have a short ‘shelf life’. You will get far more value from online website and Internet based promotional activities. Balance your marketing campaign accordingly.
- Given the targeted industry or investors that are at the center of your marketing campaign, determine the time constraints and decision requirements that will be required to get a contract or a lease commitment on paper. Any properties that are subject to approvals and development changes could involve a slower negotiation and settlement.
- Review the particular property to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses that may be of some value or concern in the upcoming property inspections, and those that view the property. Deal with the weaknesses before going to market
- Given the situation of a sale or a lease, what will be the best method of sale or the best method of lease that will apply to the promotional process? Given the focus points of the client, match the property to the best solutions in method of sale and or method of lease.
When you match the property listing to the target audience, the results that you achieve from your marketing efforts are far more significant and real. This then makes it a lot easier to get property inspections underway.
