It’s that time of year again. Many businesses are in marketing planning mode. As real estate markets continue to surge, you need a concrete commercial property marketing plan to get ahead of the pack. But where should you start?
Using this simple checklist of commercial property marketing ideas as a start, you can begin planning your 2016 commercial (or indeed residential) property marketing plan.
1. Branding in Commercial Property Marketing
Stand out from the crowd by putting ‘brand’ at the heart of your marketing in 2016. The booming commercial property market is good for business, but it inevitably brings a lot of marketing ‘noise’ with it. When we work with clients such as Savills, it’s important to talk about branding. Branding helps keep your marketing focussed. It creates production and implementation economies over the long term. It speeds up your marketing campaign delivery.
2. Create Pre-Marketing ‘Info Packs’
With a clear plan of your upcoming developments, get ready early by creating an information document. Info packs can help you roll out marketing assets faster. Capturing important information about your development in one easy-to-find place and include details about:
- the local area
- transport links
- nearby cultural and social hotspots
- footfall statistics
- data on the local economy
- and any other useful facts and figures.
With your research done, you can quickly pull it out when needed, and use to create retail presenter documents, websites, listings, press releases and brochures.
3. CGI Images and Renders
For projects where you have architectural plans and drawings ready, ensure you have the visual assets needed. CGI means you can quickly create variations of site plans, architectural CGIs and interior shots before development begins. With a range of CGIs on hand, you can start marketing your commercial property earlier.
4. Brochures and Booklets
Using your marketing info packs and CGIs, you will have the assets needed to roll out a full range of printed collateral. Depending on your project, any number of printed assets can be created. From luxury brochures to leather-bound booklets. These printed assets can be created well in advance of events, or used in Direct Mail campaigns over time. Think too about creating variations of your brochures for different buyer personas and stakeholders.
5. Outdoor signage, hoarding and building wraps
Nothing sets the scene like big impact outdoor property signage. Large outdoor banners, building wraps and posters let the local population get a feel for what’s coming down the line. Where below-the-line tactics work well closer to completion, at the early stages of your development, it’s definitely a case of go big, or go home.
6. Events and networking
In this age of digital marketing, you still can’t beat a good old fashioned networking event. People do business with people, so events are a non-negotiable part of your marketing plan. Whether it’s a business breakfast, site tour, or a day out at a sporting event – make sure you have a good events calendar in place.
7. Video and Animation
The rise of video is well documented. However, creating video can be hard to execute well in advance of completion. Enter CGI. 3D animation means you can create custom animations, walk-throughs, flyovers and interactive tours of commercial property to use on websites, YouTube and presentations.
8. Download our free guide to commercial property marketing
Get our free guide with more helpful tips and advice for commercial (and residential) property marketing. Complete with advice on digital marketing channels, tactics and a useful checklist page for starting your marketing planning for 2016.
Download our free Property Marketing Guide