Commercial Property Agents – Checklist for Advertising Commercial Real Estate For Sale or Lease

The process of advertising a commercial property for sale or for lease may have changed somewhat over recent years, but the need to promote the property remains as important as ever before.

Every property listing is a great excuse to talk to local business owners and property investors; in this way you will get more market intelligence and opportunities to work on as a commercial real estate agent.

Decisions and Strategies

Before you start to advertise a property, a few decisions and strategies should be set.  In this way you can optimise the enquiry that you create for the commercial or retail property.  Here is a checklist of some of the main things and ideas that you can use in establishing the advertising program and campaign:

1. Inspect the property comprehensively to understand the factors of presentation that should be addressed prior to any inspections.  If something doesn’t look good then it should be removed or fixed; we have limited qualified enquiry today for most properties that are taken to market, and every enquiry should be optimised.  You do not need ‘hurdles’ when it comes to property marketing.
2. If the property is already tenanted and therefore to be sold as an investment, you will need to comprehensively review the lease documentation to see how it will impact the marketing efforts and the target audience that you wish to attract.  It may also be that you will need to address any weaknesses in the lease and occupancy documents (such as rent reviews, options, and vacancies) prior to marketing.
3. Determine the 4 things that the property clearly offers a buyer or tenant.   Will these things influence the enquiry rate that you could create?  If so, they will need to feature prominently in the advertising copy.
4. Get some professionally prepared digital photographs of the property that can be used in the marketing effort.  It is remarkable just how these photographs will help you create enquiry as the property is advertised.  Most agents do not take photographs of sufficient quality to help generate property enquiry.  Ensure that your vendor is encouraged to have a portfolio of professional images taken of the property before the campaign commences.
5. What will be the best timing of the property promotion?  In saying that, have due regard for seasonal and business pressures that may impact your target audience; on that basis, choose the right advertising material and how it is initiated into the market.
6. Some marketing efforts will be more successful than others.  For this reason you should have a process of ‘test and measure’ when it comes to monitoring all of the marketing for a particular property.  If something is not working, change it before you waste too much precious marketing effort and funds.

It pays to have all drafted advertising and layouts checked by others in your business team before the material is lodged with the respective media.  Get these people to tell you of any weaknesses in message and presentation.

When you take the right steps in preparing your marketing, you will find that the outcomes from each property promotion are more genuine and specific to the property.  In this way you can optimise the outcomes that you require.

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