Commercial Real Estate Marketing – The 11 Best Practices

For a good reason, commercial real estate marketing is a hot topic. According to eMarketer, digital marketing spending surpassed traditional marketing channels for the first time in 2019.

But, how can you make your real estate company stand out from the crowd and attract clients online? And how will you know if your business marketing dollars are producing a decent return on investment? 

In order to become known in the market, you must focus on your target clients, explain that you have what they are seeking, and create trust and reputation.

What is Commercial Real Estate Marketing? 

Online marketing for commercial real estate is vital for showcasing your work and talent among competing real estate professionals. 

It can be challenging for commercial real estate professionals to know how to develop a commercial real estate marketing plan. 

There are numerous digital marketing methods to explore, including:

1. Branding and targeting must be done correctly.
2. Improve Your Website
3. Content Marketing
4. Pay Per Click Advertising
5. Marketing on Social Media
6. Email Marketing
7. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
8. Listings & Directories for Businesses
9. Take Charge of Your Reputation
10. List Your Properties on Commercial Real Estate Portals

1. Proper Branding & Targeting

How your firm separates itself from competitors—or your firm’s branding—is a critical component of any commercial real estate marketing strategy. 

Finding strategies to differentiate your company from your target audience can also aid in attracting new and ideal clients.

How it Helps

There is no commercial real estate firm without staff, agents, and clients. Similarly, no real estate company brand exists in the absence of each employee’s brand. To put it another way, branding and promoting your practice are critical to your success.

Branding a business is achievable and enjoyable. Moreover, this branding can leave your firm stronger, nimbler, and more equipped for whatever else comes your way.

What to Do

The following are some actions you should take to build your firm’s brand:

• Develop a unique selling point: Determine what differentiates your firm and what appeals to your potential clients. Then highlight it in your firm’s marketing to develop a distinct brand.
• Determine your target audience: You should be as precise with your target audience. Few individuals will be interested if you target everyone with your outreach, and you may also offend potential clients with watered-down messaging. The most straightforward place to begin is to pause and consider what characteristics your best firm clients possess. Make a list of them and use it to create a profile of your firm’s ideal client.

2. Optimize Your Website

Your website will be the foundation of your commercial real estate marketing efforts. Almost every other channel will need to direct clients to your website before they become paying customers. So the website component of your approach must be practical.

How it Helps

SEO is essential for appearing in search results and directing organic traffic to your company. It is a robust and competitive industry within digital marketing, with entire businesses devoted just to SEO. 

Unlike directory listings or social media profiles, your website is a piece of property that you control, and it is critical for credibility. 

What to Do

Start with the basics, and you’ll be halfway there:

• Make sure your website is simple to use, easy to browse, and clear to read.
• Throughout your site, include target keywords that you want to be found for. For example, “commercial real estate firms near me”.
• Create informative content for clients, such as blog articles, to demonstrate your knowledge.

3. Content Marketing

The best SEO approach revolves totally around content in commercial real estate marketing. This is because customers are looking for more than just commercial real estate sites; they are also looking for answers to their inquiries in articles and videos.

How it Helps

Content marketing helps your company get more traffic from a larger audience searching queries about your services. Great content increases your exposure, trust, followers and, eventually, generates more leads for your real estate practice.

What to Do

Blog articles, PDFs, ebooks, videos, and even email campaigns are all examples of “content.” You may use a variety of platforms to create compelling content. Plus, educate your audience on what you do and how you can help them.

4. Pay Per Click Marketing

Pay Per Click in commercial real estate marketing includes running display ads to increase visibility and lead generation. You pay the price for each user that clicks on your adverts, as the name implies. 

PPC can be more expensive than other methods of marketing. But you will most likely get far faster results and gain a lot of valuable data in the process.

How it Helps

Investing in SEO is crucial if you want your business to expand sustainably. But the investment can take a few weeks to months (to years) to see the results of your efforts. That is why many commercial real estate firms invest in PPC and SEO simultaneously, so they can start producing leads immediately.

What to Do

To get more high-quality leads, create essential landing pages on your website and run paid ads. Because PPC can be finicky, it is vital to work with a dependable PPC professional. 

They will discover the best keywords to focus on, create your targeting criteria, and determine your advertising budget. So you can be confident that you’re spending every dollar wisely.

5. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is one area of commercial real estate marketing that most are familiar with. But people widely misunderstand social media marketing. 

Not all social media platforms are equal. The platforms you use will rely on your target customers and how they may compel your content on the internet.

How it Helps

Social media marketing is a kind of attraction-based advertising that can help your business get seen by potential clients even if they’re not searching. As a result, you may earn followers, create trust, and potentially attract additional customers whenever they need to hire an attorney.

Users may view and connect with your social media pages for weeks, if not years, before contacting you. Hence, you must acquire a high level of excellence so that you automatically become people’s first choice.

What to Do

Don’t publish irrelevant cat memes or pop culture stories in the mistaken belief that this will generate “interaction.” Instead, concentrate on posting content that your future clients will find interesting.

Take the time to determine what site works best for your specific audience. Next, fine-tune your method until you are consistently producing leads from social media. Then consider expanding to other platforms.

6. Double Down on SEO

Given the nature of commercial real estate marketing, SEO is the key source of organic traffic. Simply put, clients use Google — the world’s largest search engine – to identify commercial real estate firms. 

If your company isn’t on Google, it will likely be drowned out by the competition.

How it Helps

SEO  is critical because the goal is to attract new clients looking for services like yours. Therefore, ranking high in search results is one of the most effective strategies to attract new website visitors and convert them into returning customers.

What to Do

Keyword research is the core of any SEO plan. It is the process of determining what key terms your target audience uses to look for firms like yours. You can find these terms using SEO tools depending on how many searches they generate per month and how competitive they are.

Then, to boost your chances of ranking for these terms, you will carefully use these keywords across your site. Another good strategy is to utilize location-specific keywords to reduce competition and attract more traffic. 

7. Email Marketing

Many firms still doubt the strength of email marketing. However, according to the Data Marketing Association, the average return on investment from email marketing is $42 for every $1 spent. Consequently, email marketing has the highest ROI of any marketing effort.

How it Helps

Sending consistent marketing emails to your network can assist you in developing your brand and providing value to readers. Email marketing is also simple to track with commercial real estate marketing systems. 

These systems provide information such as how many people opened your email. In this manner, you’ll be able to gauge how successful your marketing efforts are.

What to Do

To get started with email marketing, you’ll need three essential things:

• Email List: Having a high-quality email list ensures that you have interested prospects who want to hear from you.
• Content: Creating high-quality content will allow you to effectively engage your target audience and compel them to perform the desired action.
• Software: The correct software helps you send your information to the relevant people automatically and on schedule. Additionally, this software will track your success rates and ROI.

8. Business Listings & Directories

A directory is a website that lists companies address, website, phone number, and more. With so many options for increasing your commercial real estate firm’s internet visibility, you may be wondering if it’s worthwhile to engage in these directories. 

In reality, these are some of the simplest and successful methods for firms to increase their web presence and obtain some valuable links.

How it Helps

Listings make it simple for potential clients to look for and hire a real estate firm. However, some directories are narrowly focused, such as those for real estate agents. 

However, the majority of the big ones are broad and all-encompassing. These platforms also provide firms with unique chances to boost their online visibility.

What to Do

Follow these best practices to be successful in commercial real estate marketing:

• Claim Your Free Listings
• Don’t Include Links to Directories
• Avoid Contracts
• Own Your Website

9. Manage Your Reputation

When it comes to the digital world, reputation is everything. 

According to one survey, 86% of people go online for local recommendations, and 78% of purchases have faith in online reviews on the same level as personal referrals.

No matter how strong or well-known you are, not everyone will have an ideal experience. Plus, a single negative review can cost you a lot of money.

How it Helps

Reputation management boosts your firms’ sales by determining what people like and dislike about the services you provide. When you understand what causes clients to ignore your services, you can make the critical changes and enhancements.

What to Do

To manage your reputation in commercial real estate marketing:

• Design a professional website 
• Claim online listings
• Encourage customer feedback
• Demonstrate testimonials
• Use tools to keep an eye on your reputation
• Make your blog and some primary social channels a priority.

10. Add All of Your Unique Listings on Commercial Real Estate Portals

While adding business directories, consider adding your listing on commercial real estate portals.

Commercial real estate portals are inexpensive to promote commercial real estate for lease or sales because they enable you to gain awareness and target an extremely relevant market.

How it Helps

As more people see your property profile, your chances of finding a buyer or tenant improve. In addition, there are loads of additional advantages to using real estate portals in commercial real estate marketing, such as the ability to inspect the property by examining its photographs.

Plus, you are given a vast number of possibilities to pick from, which is not possible with existing searches.

What to do

According to the 730 respondents to the 2020 DNA of #CRE Broker Survey, the following are the most popular listing sites.

• LoopNet
• CREXi
• Catylist
• Brevitas
• theBrokerList

Use any of these sites to add your listing on commercial real estate portals to grow your firm

Honorable Mention

Research Your Competitors

Being mindful of your competition is one of the most critical components of any marketing analysis. 

Competitive research allows you to grasp why clients choose to buy from you or your competitors and how your competitors promote their items. Research can help you develop your commercial real estate marketing plan over time.

What Are They Doing Right? What Are They Doing Wrong?

To surpass your competitor, you need to know what they are doing right and doing wrong. So you can get ideas to make your strategies accordingly. 

Here are the tips to know what are your competitors doing and not doing:

• Visit their professional conferences
• Examine industry reports
• Investigate your competitor’s website and SEO tactics
• Determine competitor’s social media marketing powers and flaws
• Examine competitor’s content marketing plan
• Do a study among your competitor’s clients, suppliers, and workers

Blend Offline and Online Marketing

According to several studies, 47 percent of businesses nowadays have an offline strategy to generate attention and boost internet traffic. Furthermore, 68 percent of companies utilize an internet marketing plan to develop brand loyalty, a typical offline marketing goal.

There are numerous ways online, and offline strategies can complement one another to increase overall advertising effectiveness. The days of placing every egg in one basket are long gone. Instead, don’t hesitate to be innovative!

Here are the most effective ways to unite online and offline marketing:

• Increase offline advertisement with an online call to action
• Help offline brand promotion with online data
• Inspire online followers to support offline

11. Local SEO

Real estate agents must incorporate local SEO into their commercial real estate marketing. According to HubSpot, almost half of Google searches seek local information, and the number should be higher in the real estate industry.

How it Helps

SEO is how your company gets found online, but you don’t need such a broad scope when you’re only appealing to a local target audience. Local SEO involves using specialized keywords and producing local content, such as neighborhood guides, to drive more virtual property walk-throughs.

What to Do

Here are some local SEO strategies to employ:

• SEO audit
• Website localization
• Keyword research for insertion into local content
• Claiming and updating your Google Business profile
• Local link building
• Getting on local directories

Successful Commercial Real Estate Marketing: A Case Study

Mediaboom proudly partnered with GFI Partners to rework its web design according to its commercial real estate marketing goals.

The Boston-based asset management and investment banking company wanted a more modern, upscale website look that better represented its commercial properties and spotlighted its 7+ years of industry expertise.

Our team spearheaded GFI’s website development and design. Mediaboom created a website displaying GFI’s multitude of projects and properties in a visually appealing style with custom elements and attention-grabbing visuals.

The new and improved GFI Partners website increased in traffic by more than 300 percent. Its target audience kept flocking back to the site, as GFI had an increase in return visitors by more than 46 percent.

Take your commercial real estate marketing to the stratosphere with Mediaboom. We’ll achieve similar results for your real estate business, so don’t wait to reach out.

Commercial Real Estate Marketing Tools

Now that you’ve reviewed our best practices, have you begun your search for a commercial real estate digital marketing tool? Here are five options for accomplishing more of your marketing goals.

1. SEMrush

Key Features

Combine more of your marketing goals into one tool using SEMrush, which offers social media marketing, PPC, competitor research, content marketing, and SEO.

• Local SEO: Build your commercial real estate presence with local SEO tools like position tracking, listing management, social media toolkit, and an on-page SEO checker.
• Content optimization: Improve the quality and clarity of your content with SEO content templates and a writing assistant.
• Link building: SEMrush will help you build backlinks with its bevy of tools, including audit tools, backlink gaps, and analyses.
• Competitor analysis: Get a leg up on the competition with SEMrush. You can study what your competitors are doing with this powerful analysis tool.

Why Use It

SEMrush’s suite of tools offers everything necessary to launch thorough, targeted, successful marketing campaigns. Your commercial real estate business could see increased virtual tours, lead generation, and conversions.

2. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign enmeshes customer relationship management (CRM) with marketing automation and email marketing. The software also has tools for salespeople.

Key Features

• Marketing automation: Build simple but effective automation workflows following if/then rules. These workflows can save time on everyday manual tasks.
• Personalization: Engage potential clients with personalized communications within ActiveCampaign. You can target audience groups and segment them by every criterion under the sun.
• Email marketing: Take your email marketing further by sending transactional emails, autoresponders, targeted emails, triggered emails, or broadcasts.

Why Use It

ActiveCampaign creates omnichannel marketing experiences that combine social, text, and email channels. You’ll understand your audience better and automate more of your campaigns to reach them effortlessly.

3. Zillow Premier Agent

Zillow Premier Agent can help you connect with more potential customers and achieve their goals. This service has solutions for agents, brokers, and real estate teams.

Key Features

• Client management tools: Buyer insights, performance tracking, and client management within Zillow Premier Agent ensure you can nurture your leads and customers at the right times in the buying journey.
• Lead management: Keep track of leads in the pipeline to streamline the home-buying or selling processes. Your swift, personable service could earn you a referral.

Why Use It

Zillow Premier Agent is a tool for commercial real estate agents and companies eager to grow and better manage their client bases.

4. Matterport

Matterport comes in handy for creating 3D virtual tours of properties to showcase to potential buyers. This tool is also collaborative.

Key Features

• 3D virtual tour maker: Introduce your properties at a glance with 3D virtual tours. You can create covetable tours of new properties on the market within Matterport.
• Floor plans: Your 3D tours can produce 2D floor plans using Matterport for promoting a property for sale.

Why Use It

Matterport’s suite of unique commercial real estate marketing tools helps agencies and brokers stand out from the competition.

5. Buildout

Buildout is an enablement platform for closing deals. It’s designed to assist brokers in everyday tasks for more efficiency and a healthier bottom line.

Key Features

• Predictive analytics: Where are the most valuable commercial property listings? Buildout will browse through more than 40 million properties, using predictive analytics to suggest the ones that should be on your radar.
• Proposal generation: Spend less time on proposals when Buildout can make them for you. You only have to tweak and send your proposals.
• Pipeline visibility: Understand where customers are in the pipeline, what your earnings look like, and what your active playbooks are at a glance on the Buildout dashboard.

Why Use It

Buildout understands that brokerage involves wearing many hats and that most responsibilities don’t involve selling. The software strives to reduce the busywork so brokers can get out into the world and close more property deals.

Hire a Commercial Real Estate Marketing Company Today

Achieving your commercial real estate marketing goals requires the right tools and best practices. You also need real estate marketing experts on your side like Mediaboom.

We’ve helped brokers and businesses of all sizes execute their commercial real estate marketing ideas and increase sales, conversions, leads, impressions, web traffic, and more. Create your marketing plan with our professionals.