How do commercial real estate brokers market their listings?
Selling a commercial space can involve more tedious work compared to marketing residential properties. However, the most successful brokers take it upon themselves to promote their listings as fervidly as possible.
There are many ways to advertise a commercial property. For example, one of the easiest ways to communicate with interested buyers is through the Internet. Anyone who isn’t on the web yet is missing out on so many opportunities every minute.
So, how does a broker effectively market commercial properties online exactly?
Your website is your showroom
In the world of commercial real estate, newspapers and other print media are still the leading source of information for buyers on the lookout for property.
However, according to the report Real Estate Marketing in the Digital Age published just this September, 94 % of millennials and 84 % of baby boomers use real estate websites to look for homes.
So the first step to improving a commercial listing’s presence is to have a website. Once real estate brokers engage in online marketing, they’re already a step ahead of the pack.
A real estate website should not only be informative but also interactive. A commercial property website should include:
- Information on the real estate broker
- Detailed information on the properties for sale (type of property, location, size, price, and so on)
- A “Contact Us” page that makes it tremendously easy for online users to inquire about your properties, including your telephone numbers, a chat or direct messaging facility, your email address, and the street address of your office
While inquiries may not always result in a sale, it’s always nice to interact with prospective clients, who may choose in the future to buy from you.
Real estate brokers can also use newsletters to share updates. These can be sent out by email with the frequency you prefer, including every week, every two weeks, monthly, and so on.
The website also needs to be optimized through keyword usage, quality content, enhanced URLs, and a responsive design. Optimizing your website improves the site’s search rank, traffic, and conversions. The idea is to ensure that your website appears on top of the search results page when people Google for properties that fit the criteria of your real estate.
Social media engages customers
Social media is a great way to reinforce your online presence and engage customers, potential buyers, and business partners.
Millennials and Generation Xers depend not just on the Internet as a resource, but also on social media for answers to anything—including their real estate questions because they trust the opinion of their peers in their social media circles.
Determine which social accounts you’d like to maintain. The list is growing: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and so on.
Then ensure that you always have fresh content—updates on Facebook, eye-catching photos on Instagram – to keep people interested. Using social media ups the chances of having your listings noticed.
Commercial real estate is hopping into online marketing; it’s definitely not a fad and it isn’t going away, so don’t get left behind.
