If you’re in a commercial real estate business or are thinking of starting one, at some point or another – you will need a Marketing Strategy that works! Here’s the thing – every business today that does not actively focus on marketing is going to be flushed out of the market sooner or later. The importance of marketing is more significant than ever for any business to stand out in the crowd, apart from the competition, and the commercial real estate bridge loan for business is no exception in this regard. A strong marketing plan is one that not only helps with acquiring new leads but also in making profitable closures.
Putting it simple, marketing is quintessential for your business to acquire and find a potential lead and retaining the existing customers by providing the best services. Companies that are serious about their marketing are also often taken seriously by their customers, and the brand loyalty of customers is almost certainly going to increase. Regardless of whether you are a beginner or an expert in the field, here is a detailed guide on how you can create your marketing strategy for commercial real estate business. Read on.
To make the somewhat overwhelming process simpler, let’s divide the process into three sections:
1) Find your USP or Unique Selling Proposition
2) Get your branding game right!
3) Develop and follow through an online and offline marketing plan
Before we break into each step in detail, let us first answer what a good marketing strategy is?
A good marketing strategy is one that defines who you are and what you do very clearly and distinctively to your customers. It puts you out there in the market and showcases your presence. This presence could be set forth to investors, customers, competitors, etc. Secondly, a good marketing strategy will showcase your clientele or the kind of projects you’ve worked upon in the past.
It helps the right target audience get in touch with you for their varied and diverse financing needs. It further highlights your expertise – defining very clearly your area of experience, showcasing your credibility, and tells people about your area of strength. The last thing a good marketing plan should achieve is to generate new leads for your business and help retain your existing customers, turning them into happily satisfied customers. A good marketing strategy must tick all the checkboxes explained above.
And how or when would you know if a marketing strategy you’ve decided to adopt is a good one? Trial and error is the key. You learn as you do it, making few changes in your plan, tweaking your objectives time to time will lead you to create a successful marketing strategy for your commercial real estate business. Moving on, here’s how you can create one that works!
Step #1 – Find your USP or Unique Selling Proposition
Being unique is the key to the success of any business. You may not necessarily be exceptional in every way of conducting business or delivering your service. Still, there’s always something in every industry that makes them stand out from the lot. Figuring out what this unique selling proposition is for your business is the first step.
Why is it important? It instantly sets you apart from the competition, and you can focus your energies on capitalizing from such USPs. You could have more than one USP, too, and the more important thing is – how you position your USPs over how many USPs your commercial real estate business has. Many commercial real estate businesses make the common mistake of thinking that they’re going to be the best in ALL ways.
That’s a trap because being a Jack of all trades does no good to anyone, focusing your energies on being the master of one is more important. You’ll find your USPs when you start questioning yourself with basic things like – What is the area of commercial real estate business that you have expertise? It could be in dealing with a particular type of commercial real estate property like multi-family properties or retail spaces, perhaps or shopping malls, etc.
Defining this helps the right customers to find you quickly and avail your services. The next thing to set here would be your target leads. Knowing who you are creating your marketing plan for, perhaps, is the first step, or you’ll waste time in putting your efforts towards a somewhat blind marketing plan.
Step #2 – Get your branding game right!
Once you’ve set your USPs in place, the next step is to brand your business. Branding refers to the process of building an image for your business that shows not only reflects your mission and values but also sets you apart from the competition and tells precisely why your customers should choose you over your competition. Why is it important? Branding is vital in any business that has considerate competition. It is especially necessary for commercial real estate business because of the large numbers – making your stakes even higher! Losing out on clients can mean a huge loss for your commercial real estate loan. Here’s a brief on how to get your branding game right.
A) Branding is more than just a professional portfolio – Many novice Commercial real estate businesses believe that branding begins from building a professional portfolio, but the truth of the fact – it’s just the beginning of branding. Creating a nice logo that can be later also used in various other marketing collaterals is super important here. Investing money, time, and some thinking here is important to create an imagery brand logo that sticks in people’s minds while also sending a strong brand message.
B) Put out your slogan or a tagline in the front – communicating in a simple, powerful message who you are and what you do or what solution your business provides. Don’t be stingy with the hours of brainstorming you put in here because it’s going to pay you off in intangible yet significant ways.
C) A Sleek Website – Your website is the face of your business, and you should ensure that it’s seamless. The User Experience and Interface of your website should be simple, understandable, interactive, and sleek. It’s a great place to showcase your portfolio and client testimonials.
D) Professional photos and videos that communicate your Brand story – the Brand story is something that’s gaining tremendous traction these days, and it best helps you set apart from your competitors. Create a beautiful Brand story that tells who you are, how you began, your agenda, vision, and mission. Connecting with your target audience on an emotional note is the key to excellent Brand storytelling.
E) Build Strong Connections – A reliable and robust network is crucial for a real estate business or an investor. Your connections could be with builders, property owners, other real estate agents or agencies, commercial real estate loan lenders, banks, private money lenders, and so on. Stronger and more extensive your network, better it is for you.
Step #3 – Develop and follow through an online and offline marketing plan
A solid marketing plan, both online and offline, is quintessential in bringing in leads to your real estate business and to also retain your existing clientele. Drawing up a meaningful plan should involve both online and offline ways of reaching out to as many people as possible. Here’s a quick brief of what you should have and just cannot miss.
- A great website to begin with – All your marketing strategies across your social media platforms will be connected to your website, and every online marketing effort that you indulge in will follow through a funnel that finally lands to your site. Thus, ensure that you build a great website that is not only thoughtful and helpful but can also create a long-lasting impression in the minds of your customers, pushing them to take a call to action.
- Virtual Reality is the new deal – Virtual Reality has become more critical than ever before in bringing in new customers to real estate business’ marketing funnel. Try creating a virtual tour of your properties using the 3D Virtual Reality techniques by hiring an experienced company to do the job.
- Blogging and Content Marketing – Telling is the best way of selling. The more you tell your customers about who you are, what you do in alignment with the queries they’re searching for, the better your customers will connect with you. Blogging and effective content marketing is the best way of showing thought leadership and authenticity of business, ultimately bringing in new prospects to your Commercial Real Estate Business.
- Social Media Marketing – if you’re not online on social media platforms, it’s as good as your business does not exist. Any new prospect who’s heard about you through someone by word-of-mouth publicity, or through one of your other marketing channels – the first thing to do would be to check your online presence. Having a sturdy well built, and thought of social media marketing plan in place is a sure way of bringing in newer leads to your real estate business.
- Get your print materials in place – Print materials include everything from brochures and flyers to signage and your coffee-table magazines. Creating visually enticing materials and assets here can bring in traction to your business and build strong positive brand perception.
- Effective video marketing – video marketing is pacing up in today’s marketing world, and you cannot miss out on this. Creating highly valuable and informative video content helps people trust your business, and thus, it will inevitably show up in bringing in newer leads to your company and widen the reach of your marketing collaterals.
