9 Content Marketing Tips for Commercial Real Estate

Content marketing for commercial real estate is a high-level, high-stakes game. Unlike the residential real estate sector, you can’t just write a blog post describing “12 Ways to Stage Your Home.” To succeed in the incredibly competitive world of commercial real estate, you need to optimize the conversion rate and ROI of your content marketing efforts, which should include data-rich materials across a number of content and media types (i.e., sector reports, blog posts, white papers, e-books, webinars, case studies, and more). Here are nine tips that will help you do just that:

1. Incorporate and Leverage Your Brand Identity

Your commercial real estate brokerage should have a clear brand identity, one that differentiates your brand and its voice from those of other brokerages. Use your brand’s voice and visuals to enhance the quality of your content. You can then use your content to establish your voice in the industry and become a thought leader in your market.

2. Vary Your Content

Ideally, you will want your content to be varied, to capture the attention of each viewer — every potential customer — regardless of their channel preferences. By mixing audio-visual media like videos and webinars with more traditional white papers and reports, you can begin a conversation with each visitor in their own comfort zone.

3. Produce Professional-Quality Content

Your content is your voice, and therefore your brand. It’s also your first contact point with potential clients, so make it count. If proper grammar and storytelling aren’t your forte, hire a professional. Not only will it free up your time for more lucrative ventures, but it will also help your commercial real estate brokerage look more professional to the viewing public.

4. Optimize for Local Traffic

Creating exceptional content with broad industry appeal is great (and if you’re marketing for a multinational company, mission accomplished!). However, if it doesn’t have a local tie-in, and accompanying local keywords, then you’ll be marketing to the wrong crowds. Learn the ins and outs of the cities and neighborhoods you’re marketing to; they’re the folks you’re attempting to win over, so they deserve your genuine interest in their region. Think about asking your content developers to source writers from the localities you’re marketing to. Go even further by requesting these writers do some research at the local level, possibly employing some topical subjects or “local dialect” in the content itself.

5. Make It Bite-Size

Clients in the commercial real estate space are very busy. Because they may not have the time to read through every report, make your content bite-sized. Digestible pieces of content can be returned to later on, are easier to remember, and can garner a deeper read. Use ample subheadings, bullet points, lists, framed boxes, and prominent quotes, as well as infographics and other visuals, in your content.

6. Leverage Big Data

Although “big data” has become a buzzword in business, it actually has tremendous value. Big data now offers key information on listings, availability, comparative transactions, demographics, and sociographics, which will help your understanding of the local market. These insights are especially powerful because few commercial real estate professionals are leveraging them in a meaningful way.

By using large-scale data and bringing it down to your local market’s level, you can help clients rationalize their real estate decisions. You can not only use these insights on your website, but also on marketing emails to both existing clients as well as new leads. In addition to touching base with existing clients, you’ll establish yourself as a thought leader and encourage new website visitors to explore your portfolio of services and successes.

7. Narrow Your Focus

You won’t grab everyone’s attention with a single piece of content, so don’t try. Instead, be laser-focused on content that is designed for the clients you serve. This should be relatively easy, because you know who your targets are. With specialized groups and targeted marketing on social channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, getting that focused content into the right hands has never been easier.

8. Focus on Conversion Early

Many brokerages and companies starting out in content marketing don’t optimize their lead conversion rate until traffic has risen to a level that makes it worthwhile. This can be a fatal mistake. Failing to optimize your site and lead-capturing technology can result in lost sales and missed opportunities.

9. Use Expert Knowledge

Content marketing for commercial real estate is tricky. The content you create is important: It can build your brand, target specific client sets, increase conversions, establish your position as a thought leader, and help you connect with your target markets. A great content vendor like Prose Media can help you hit the ground running. Sign up today for free, no-obligation access to our platform. We would love to hear about your needs and current strategies. We’ll work with you to elevate your commercial real estate content marketing strategy.