How does a commercial real estate agent cut through the noise to deliver a successful marketing campaign for a client heading into 2022?
For traditionalists, sometimes the old ways can often be the best ways. However, agents looking to maximise their marketing budgets are now turning more to emerging technologies that are quickly establishing themselves as the differentiators.
“Traditionally, we would use vendor paid advertising (VPA) and the more recognised real estate listings platforms,” Harcourts head of commercial sales and leasing Jared Johnson said.
“It was of the upmost importance to ensure our listing descriptions, images and videos and marketing collateral were of the highest quality.
“Now, we have taken a step forward and central to that strategy is CommercialReady—a listings platform that we are using due to its new-age, cost effective approach.
“It is now my personal preference.”
Unlike competing portals, CommercialReady provides agencies with a myriad of tools to sell a property and leverage the live data across its platform to deliver more than just pure enquiry through its built-in proprietary technology and features.
The independently owned Australian company leverages an established database of property investors as well as remaining proactive in adding to and improving its buyer base.
The platform focuses specifically on showcasing commercial investment property for sale and its advanced search features and proprietary technologies support this investment focus.
For progressive agents looking to generate a unique and deep pool of qualified leads, Commercial Ready is quickly becoming the go-to.
Here are the “must haves” to ensure the roll out of a successful real estate marketing campaign heading into 2022:
A clear, cohesive collection of photos and videos enables potential buyers to understand a property’s floor plan, scale, amenities and grade but can also make it stand out from the crowd.
Similarly, copy and listing information will appear across a property marketing campaign so it is crucial it is produced to a high standard.
Despite the increased use of social media, databases and listing portals to sell property, installing physical signage outside a property, which might seem antiquated, still plays a crucial role in the real estate industry.
Print media remains an expensive media placement for agents but be aware that leads coming via these placements can often be difficult to quantify or track due to their static nature.
JLL Queensland senior executive of sales and investments Sam Byrne said his utlisation of CommercialReady had now meant a streamlined sales process while being opened up to a unique base of buyers.
“With CommercialReady we get the same benefits of marketing to a national buyer base through other portals or static print media but with the added bonus of presenting to a base that is pre-qualified, in-the-know, with property portfolios and actively developing.
“CommerialReady has a clear focus on building up their presence in the market and are making a concerted effort to become a trusted news and listing sources.
“In the eyes of many within the property industry it is already one of the most reputable platforms and is the go-to place for ‘high-quality’ listings.”
Virtual reality tours is a new and exciting technology being rolled out across the property industry.
Virtual tours allow a potential buyer to view a property without having to physically move—a particularly valuable piece of technology used throughout the pandemic and snap lockdowns.
Interactive 3D Virtual Tours from the award-winning Little Hinges come included in CommercialReady’s premium Gold marketing package, and can also be optioned in other package types.
Additional to virtual tours, CommercialReady are partnered with Inspace Stack, a property visualisation platform to host stunning 3D digital property ‘twins’ that agents can share across marketing channels and host virtual inspections from anywhere at scale.
The interactivity of the software is the next-generation in virtual property interaction and lead capture, and are now a part of CommercialReady’s offering.
Press releases remain an important part of commercial real estate marketing plan, talking directly to established databases and audiences.
The press release, though a traditional way for advertising a commercial property, remains an affordable and direct way to send a core message effectively.
In addition, press releases can also get the attention of bloggers, journalists and reporters who can elevate a listing through media coverage.
In recent times, Real Commercial, owned by REA Group; and Commercial Real Estate, owned by Domain; have been the go-to portals for commercial agents looking to bring a property to market.
Whilst these two listing portals seem to be the default for commercial agents to advertise their campaign online, they’re very much the traditional classifieds style of portal that takes a mass market approach.
“Our team has experienced over many years now, the benefit of advertising through the ReadyMedia platforms, and specifically CommercialReady,” Stonebridge Property Group partner Julian White said.
“We have consistently found the quality of enquiry has been superior to other advertising outlets, which has assisted us in achieving better results for our vendors.”
Agencies have become more in tune with social media—leveraging established and emerging platforms offering a wide variety of ad types, targeting tools and management systems.
In order to enhance the visibility of its clients’ property campaigns, at no extra cost, retargeting and lead generation is central to CommercialReady’s social media management offering.
The service, managed completely in-house, uses industry leading media production and social media marketing strategies to drive maximum buyer engagement through strategic retargeting.
“CommercialReady has exposed us our listings to people we have never dealt with before,” Ray White head of retail investment sales Lachlan O’Keeffe said.
“It provides us with fresh pool of enquiry which I would put down to the very unique way in which they approach social media.
“We pay close attention and track closely the platforms we use during a marketing campaign and CommercialReady continues to deliver high-quality and unique enquires that reiterates to us and to our clients that we are getting ‘bang for our buck’.”
Agents also have direct access to creative services such as video production, marketing collateral and information memorandums, bespoke branding, copywriting, and much more.
CommercialReady is currently the only listing platform with fully integrated campaign data room technology, InstaDocs.
InstaDocs allows commercial agents to attach a campaign data room directly to the property listing page, hosting and disseminating campaign relevant documentation, such as a contract of sale, building plans and permits, renders and more, to prospective buyers.
For many commercial agents the data room is the perfect and modern alternative to a non-trackable download link, rerouting potential leads browsing a property on an alternate listing portal or social media platform to a centralised hub of information.
“Its an incredibly smart piece of technology that allows me to funnel enquiry from other platforms and campaigns back to a centralised landing page,” Johnson said.
“To have the access to a central data room, where I can place all the information on a property in one place, as well as the ability to track enquiries by seeing how long they are spending in the data room, is in my opinion, leagues in front of that the other listing platforms are offering right now.”
CommercialReady provides in depth statistics on a campaign’s performance as well as detailed insights into the type of user interaction.
Commercial property agents also have access to a central dashboard to attain all of this in real-time at their convenience.
This can be incredibly useful to an agent when liaising with a client to present detailed analytics on where and how their asset is being marketed and the type of buyer it is attracting.
Another important point of difference in the CommerialReady platform is it’s ‘buy now, pay later’ approach.
Unlike competitor portals, its funding solution covers the costs of all marketing activity associated with their property campaign offering vendor’s the ability to pay their marketing fees upon settlement.
CommercialReady also provides up-to-date business and industry content covering the latest activity, exclusive insights as well as interviews and podcasts with thought leaders from across Australia’s commercial real estate landscape.
To learn more about Commercial Ready’s range of flexible listing packages, click here.
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