“If you do things the way you’ve always done them, you’ll get the results you’ve always got”. In the fast-changing world of commercial property, such complacency is dangerous. You must adapt to survive or, better, maintain your competitive edge. And that means embracing the promotional power of digital advertising.
This is not to say you should abandon tried and tested methods. Rather, that you expand and reinforce them. Let’s consider how digital and traditional marketing can work together to powerful effect.
Digital Property Marketing
The great advantage of digital property marketing is its immediacy and flexibility. A good deal of our lives are spent on-line nowadays (check your screen time this week!), so the web is our first port of call for business as well as social activity. Your clients expect you to be digitally active and discoverable, and to drive them to your website you need to be visible and engaging.
Your website is fundamental to your online presence. It’s a go-to showcase for your properties and a promotional platform for your company. On the first count a well-designed website attracts visitors and streamlines conversion. On the second it builds your brand and expands your customer base.
The Digital Toolbox
As in traditional marketing, digital marketing falls into two broad categories: attracting enquiries and making the sale.
First and foremost, your website needs to be primed to get you highly placed in Google search results. For that you need Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). And bearing in mind that mobile browsing now accounts for 60% of web visits, your website also needs to recognise and adapt to the user’s device.
But you can do more than wait for clients to seek you out. You can engage with them on social media platforms or more directly with emailers. It’s all about building up your following across the platforms, be it email subscribers or on social media. Once you have this ‘list’ its quick and easy to push updates and new property opportunities.
Once a prospect enters your site, they are on the sales floor, as it were, and the real selling job can begin. To streamline the visitor journey (and close the sale) you need to employ what is loosely called content marketing. Content marketing can showcase your knowledge and expertise in your industry or highlight the benefits of a particular property.
Examples of content marketing include infographics (to present detailed information in an attractive visual way; White Paper and industry reports (to affirm your professional credentials and position you at the forefront of your sector); and interactive tours and videos (the next best thing to an in-person visit and essential for those ‘must be seen’ properties).
Alongside these in-built features you should consider a stand-alone digital brochure, and an asset specific website which allows you to promote the offer effectively, and respond to enquiries quickly and easily, with a professional, high quality resource.
Traditional Property Marketing
There is no matching the prestige and authority the printed format gives you, especially when marketing high-end developments. A really good example of this was our Weston House project, where we designed and produced a high-quality printed brochure to demonstrate the prominence and desirability of the Midtown based office.
We also used highly targeted, creative direct mail to great effect on this project.
Newspaper and special interest magazine advertising is another effective way of targeting potential clients, allowing you to reach an extensive, well-defined readership. The printed press is also a bold, attention grabbing medium, pro-active rather than reactive, and still of value in targeting audiences in a specific geographical area or business sector.
Of course, the best advertisement for a property is usually the building itself, and what better way to bolster its presence than with on site or adjacent signage, especially on busy roads where it is clearly visible to passing traffic. Signage also allows you to reinforce the development branding by using matching images, fonts, and colourways.
Maximising Your Reach
Using digital and traditional marketing together will maximise your reach, and will promote your property, your agency and your reputation in the industry. Not sure where to start? Call us now, or download our free Property Marketing Brief
