Commercial Real Estate is not a game for the faintest of heart. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. In order to be successful, you need to be firing on all cylinders. That includes every aspect of business i.e. sales, marketing, finance, communication, relationships, etc. In this article, we’ll be focusing on how to market commercial real estate with proven strategies that minimize your time to sell and make you a winner. In this article, we’ll be using Commercial Real Estate as an all-encompassing term. Under that umbrella, you’ll find strip malls, office space, restaurants, resorts, land, warehouses, etc. We’ll be covering the importance of SEO, Social Media, content, and much more. So, are you ready to level up? 

Real below to learn how to market commercial real estate to sell or lease more commercial properties.

This might seem like a rhetorical question, but there are so many agents and companies out there doing little to no marketing for their commercial properties that still wonder why they get no leads. It’s simple, everyone needs to market themselves, their brand, and their properties if they want to compete in the commercial real estate game. A solid marketing plan helps you:

• Spread Brand Awareness: A fool-proof marketing strategy will carry itself through the community, spreading like wildfire. If your story, your message, and your brand aesthetic are captivating and you consistently produce the most optimized, informational, and entertaining content, your brand will spread itself.
• Lend Credibility: Every established business displays a well-thought-out marketing effort. By putting time and money into marketing and content, you create an inviting “storefront”; one that leads are more likely to walk into, as opposed to one that is not kept.
• Save Time & Money: This might sound counterintuitive, but by spending money on marketing, you can save time and money in the long run. A beautiful thing about marketing is the potential for automation. Once marketing funnels and strategies are established and set up correctly, they can pretty much run themselves. This means you’ll no longer need to hunt down or pay for leads and exposure.

Clearly, if you want to succeed in the world of Commercial Real Estate, marketing is a big part, and it’s not easy. There are three factors you need to consider when building your strategy:

1. How do you market yourself?
2. How do you market your listings?
3. How do you market your brokerage? / How does the brokerage you’re with, market?

Before you begin strategizing, ask yourself, “How does my brokerage, or the brokerage I’m with, market?” Once you have an understanding of the brokerage’s marketing strategy, it’s time to decide what your personal goals are. Do you want local domination? Regional? Maybe you want to be prominent in multiple states. With these questions answered, you’ll have the foundation you need to get started.

While it’s not uncommon to have access to a plethora of marketing resources through the Real Estate Brokerage you’re licensed with, it is expected that many of the critical components are overlooked; things like Google My Business, your own website, and social media. That’s why, for the sake of efficiency, it’s important to recognize which resources are handed to you, and which are not.

In most cases, it’s likely that you are offered listing photography and video resources, then left to fend for yourself. Very rarely will you find a brokerage like McCann Commercial, based in Philadelphia, that offers its agents everything they need to be successful. Unfortunately, most brokerages only market the brokerage as a whole and leave their realtors with very few resources. This makes it much more competitive at the realtor level because you’re not only competing within the brokerage but against ALL other agents in the game too. In order to win, you need to have the best marketing in the game.

In order to market your listings successfully, you’ll first want to check out this video from our partners over at Momentum 360. Seriously. Sean does an incredible job breaking down all of the types of content you’ll want to include in your listings.

In summary, if you’re going to win, you’re going to need top-notch content on your listings. You’ll want clear HD photos, drone footage, and a virtual tour! While this seems obvious, agents often neglect content. If you want to get ahead, this is something simple to consider. And, if you’re lucky, your brokerage will offer these in its arsenal of agent resources. If you’re not so lucky to be with a brokerage that genuinely cares about your success, you can contact Momentum 360 here.

Finally, the final piece of the puzzle, building a brand and marketing strategy for yourself as a commercial real estate agent. But before I get started, for all of you visual learners if you haven’t already watched the video above, I highly recommend you do. I use real client profiles and sites as examples to show you exactly what you should be doing. Those things are Google My Business, Website SEO, and of course, Social Media. Without further ado, let’s jump into Google My Business

1. Google My Business

Google My Business is arguably one of the most valuable marketing assets you can have as a realtor. Why? Well, as a realtor you function very similarly to a small local business; you service one to a few areas, rely heavily on reviews and referrals, and need to show up in local search results to be successful. As a commercial realtor, the calls that your Google My Business can generate are well worth the time and money that goes into climbing up in search results. A client of ours recently profited over $100k from a call that came from his Google My Business! Check out this video for tips on how to optimize your Google My Business for Commercial Realtors.

1. Website SEO

Your website is your second line of defense. If either your Google My Business does not rank in the top three, or a potential lead is searching without local search terms, then your website shows up, ideally. But, do you even have a website? More often than not, realtors that come to us, don’t even have a website! Sometimes it’s because their brokerage doesn’t offer it, other times it’s because they didn’t know it was necessary! Having worked with some of the most successful realtors in the world, I know they’re necessary! So first, if you don’t have a website, get one built. We can help. Once it’s built, get it optimized and ranking higher in Google!

1. Social Media

If all else fails and you just don’t have the time or money for a Website & Google My Business, then you should consider a different career. In all seriousness (I still mean it), if for whatever reason you have an easier time imagining yourself recording videos and taking pictures, then social media is where you MUST be focusing. Social media is where you’re able to build yourself a brand and go viral, especially nowadays, as Tiktok, reels, and shorts take off! Philadelphia Realtor, Ryan Stawasz, has done an incredible job staying active on social media, but also getting creative. So much so, that he is amongst some of the most well-known realtors in the area, all thanks to social media.

Now that you have a better idea of how to market commercial real estate and what it takes to be successful, it’s time to put it into action! Thankfully, many of these things can be outsourced if you don’t have the time on your hands. Which, in fairness, many of you realtors do not! That’s what we are here for. If you’d like to learn more about what we have to offer, check out our services!