Guest post by Elizabeth Knight, Apto.
Marketing a listing is all about prep work.
Even if you’re sitting on a great commercial property, you need to take care with your marketing if you want to find the best deal possible. Before snapping photos of the building or sending out an email, take a step back and make sure you have the knowledge and marketing resources to ensure you direct your energies effectively.
Think about how you’re really going to move someone through the sales funnel. That starts with crafting a story around the property that your potential buyers will connect with—and showing that off in your marketing.
Selling a retail space? You’ll think about things like visibility and accessibility, traffic flow, exterior surroundings, parking, other shops nearby, etc. There are plenty of stats and bits of information that are obvious and important, but most brokers have those on hand already.
What are the most pertinent details to your ideal client? What’s the angle that will resonate with them? Maybe you got wind of a new development that’s in the works nearby, providing further evidence of a gentrifying neighborhood. Or perhaps you found a building that will allow the company to expand. Or maybe you know of complementary businesses scouting out that area, as well.
You’re going to want to show off that story in your marketing—in flyers, brochures, emails, and of course, the one-on-one calls you make to the most likely buyers in your database.
Show off drive times to a new office location with an employee commute map. Use Prizm and other tools to inform your client about the community demographics. Get stats on crime rates, noise levels, average income, consumer spending habits, etc. and include them in any presentations or conversations.
Once you’ve put in the legwork to find and highlight an interesting angle, your job gets easier. If you have the right tools, technology can automate and unify your marketing and communications.
Marketing automation software like Buildout lets you create collateral, send emails, and publish your listing to multiple sites—all while keeping your brand consistent. Meanwhile, you can use a CRM to find and target likely buyers while keeping your contacts and property information organized.
Technology can help you be a more productive broker, but it’s up to you to use your expertise to bring valuable insight to your client.
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Elizabeth Knight is a marketing manager at Apto, the leading web-based CRE software platform for managing customer relationships, properties, listings, deals and back-office.
