Even before COVID-19 became part of today’s culture, the use of new digital platforms by owners and brokers to market their properties had already seen a significant increase over the past several years. The national shelter in place order during this spring saw a proliferation of digital marketing by landlords and brokers. Even as the country begins to reopen, digital platforms are still gaining traction as the most efficient and practical approach to marketing properties of all types.
Whether you are trying to lease or sell a property, several digital marketing tips exist to help property owners and listing brokers more effectively market their commercial real estate properties online. Digital platforms and CRETech for reaching tenants, investors, and broker representatives can help brokers fully expose a property to every potential prospect. Here, we break down our top ten tips for digital marketing to help brokers connect with clients more efficiently.
1. Ask for a review
Always ask for a review once a deal is closed. Provide a specific link directly to the review entry to make it easy for your client to praise your services. A reservoir of thoughtful, positive reviews, featured either on your site or on Yelp/Trustpilot, boosts your business’ credibility and reputation. Too, the added content on your site is an excellent boost to your website’s pages’ SEO ranking.
2. Have a website
Create and maintain a website to serve as the home-base of your digital marketing channels, or at least a centralized resource like CREXi to house your information. Whether you’re a lone-wolf commercial broker or part of a large institution, if you don’t exist on the internet, you don’t exist to your customers. Have your accessible website that beautifully and succinctly displays recent sales, contact information, your bio, a mission statement, testimonials, market research, and easy-to-find contact information. Don’t forget to make it mobile-friendly!
3. Start blogging
Have a point of view on the commercial real estate industry and share it. Stay positive, professional, and consistent. Answer common questions your clients ask, analyze recent industry trends, and use SEO keywords to boost your site’s traffic. The more expertise you share on your blog, the more likely CRE clients will view you as an expert in your field and trust you with their business. You can also share blog posts through email marketing and your social media channels.
4. Make social sharing simple
Add social sharing buttons to your website, emails, and content. Make your information and content easy to share with potential new clients and for them to share on their channels. By adding social media buttons to your market materials, too, you allow other team members and agents to share the information throughout their networks quickly. Leverage other agents’ connections in your office to boost your listings’ exposure throughout the marketing process.
5. Regularly update your social profiles
Make sure your profiles — Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram — are up to date with accurate contact information. If you invest the time and effort to market your properties through the various social media platforms, your online presence and contact information on these sites must be correct. Don’t let inaccurate information prevent the property from being leased or sold because you changed organizations and didn’t update your email address across the various social media platforms.
6. Maximize social media use
Use social media as a networking tool to connect with new people and engage in conversations. Joining social media groups — such as those on LinkedIn — provides the opportunity to expose a property to specific groups further, casting a wider net of impressions.
By selecting specific social media groups, especially those of potential buyers who might appreciate your property’s amenities and benefits, you increase property interest with leads more likely to move down-funnel. Promoting the property through a social media group also opens the door for direct, detailed conversations about your listing.
7. Invest in captivating photos
In the age of digital marketing and advertising, you have seconds to make an impression. Use high-quality images to immediately catch the eye of prospective buyers or tenants while they scroll through their social media feed. Once they’ve noticed your content, they are much more likely to click on your website if they appreciate the beauty of the property. While you’re at it, update your headshot and add it to your social media channels.
8. Virtual tours are essential
In this time, creating compelling virtual tours is critical to market your commercial property in the 21st century effectively. Too, virtual tours have proven themselves more efficient in recent years and are likely to stick around post-lockdown. Get comfortable with the technology and create personality-fueled tours just like you would in person.
Depending on the quality of your asset, there are multiple tools available to create your virtual tour. Pricing can range from $500 to $3,500 for a professional quality tour. You also can employ a variety of platforms, such as Matterport, or purchase a 360-degree camera to film the tour yourself.
9. Create email drip campaigns
Create tailored, funnel-driving emails customized for leads met on social, in person, etc., that follow up when a lead indicates increased interest in a particular property. The content should be something that helps them in their next step. Always stay top of mind – CREXi assists with this by allowing brokers to easily send branded emails to leads who have viewed their properties.
Too, creating a drip market campaign in conjunction with a virtual tour will significantly increase the exposure of your commercial asset. Eye-catching subject lines and compelling email content in your drip marketing campaign will make all the difference in the click and open rate of your campaign.
10. Establish yourself as a thought leader
Consider writing for or participating in an event with local publications. This could include a monthly column or sponsoring an event. Getting your name in print with a reputable publication can go a long way.
Taking the time to contribute to local and national trade association news feeds, CRE publications, and new technologies within the CRE industry will help establish a reputation as a thought leader. Sharing your expertise through blogs and articles will allow you to share your published work with potential clients and build your reputation within the industry. Not to mention directing more SEO-boosted traffic to your website.
As the commercial real estate industry moves into a new normal, the most successful brokers and brokerage firms will embrace the latest platforms and CRETech that have become available to the industry. The agents and organizations that embrace technology will stay ahead of the curve and continue to drive their success as digital marketing moves into the future.
Written by Daniel Levison of CommissionTrac as a featured post for CREXi
Daniel Levison, CCIM, SIOR, NAR, NAIOP, GWA
CMO, CommissionTrac
Daniel Levison has a commercial real estate career spanning more than four decades. Levison has hands-on experience running a twenty-agent, full-service brokerage operation. He’s also founded multiple technology startups focused on commercial real estate, and acted as a principal in purchasing and repositioning over $40M of commercial real estate assets.
Through his positions on national committees for the National Association Realtors (NAR) and National Association of Industrial & Office & Industrial Park Owners (NAIOP), Mr. Levison has become a thought leader in the commercial real estate industry. His articles on operating a CRE operation in the 21st century are routinely published in national magazines for the Society of Industrial & Office Realtors (SIOR) and Certified Commercial Investment Manager (CCIM).
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