Best Practices for Marketing Office Space
You need to know your target audience, and what criteria at the property level will impact their needs.
To resonate with your tenants, you need to have a perfect match between your marketing strategies and messaging. The foundation of a successful marketing campaign is how you will advertise your office properties.
How to Promote Office Space
To encourage potential tenants to rent or lease office space, you must promote the benefits and features of the space. It can be done in a variety of ways, including advertising on CRE listings services, print ads, real estate agents, and networking events.
The marketing material, including photographs and floor plans, should highlight the unique selling features of the space. Incentives such as reduced rent or custom-built interiors can help attract tenants. To find and retain tenants, it is also helpful to build relationships with local businesses and developers.
There are three important things to keep in mind when you’re looking to rent office space:
1. Organize All Essential Content
Property Description
A property listing can help tell your story, including the location, amenities, and other details that are relevant to the property. This will allow prospects to get the key information needed. Be sure to include the overall building, its key features, as well as the property’s location and proximity to local amenities.
Building Specifications
Building specifications and health standards can be an important advantage for potential tenants who are looking to lease office space.
Specific Building Specifications to Include:
- Column spacing
- Internet connectivity
- HVAC systems
- Parking is available for cars
Tenant Services and Onsite Amenities
More information is better. By listing all amenities and features, you will allow potential tenants to easily compare the benefits of the property with other similar properties. You may want to include the following in your listing:
- Storage for bicycles
- Conference Center
- Fitness center
- Restaurants and cafes
- Recent renovations or upgrades
- Security services
- Janitorial services
Professional Photography
The right type of photography will help your office make it onto a tenant’s list when they are looking at a variety of properties online.
A high-quality photograph will highlight your space’s most attractive features and help you to stand out from the crowd.
A few photos taken with your mobile phone won’t do, so hire a photographer to capture the best angles of your property.
These images are timeless and can be used in marketing materials over and over again.
Video Content
Even professional photography will only take you so far. Video can bridge the digital gap and the physical visit. Aerial drone footage can highlight location and layout while interior videos show the layout of the facility.
Location Maps
The location is important and should be front and center.
A shipping company, for example, would like to know whether a property is near a highway as it would improve transit times.
It is also important to note the proximity of the property to residential areas where employees may reside. Use a custom-made map to create a comprehensive picture of the area, including local points of interest.
- Local Restaurants
- Cafés and bars
- Fitness centers and gyms
- Metro stations
- Major transportation routes
Floor Plans & Test Fit Plans
Office tenants need to know the layout of the space, including the floor number, suite number, rent type, and lease terms.
These details should be nicely packaged as floor plans or possible fit plans in a PDF that can be downloaded.
Building Certifications
List the certification on the property description, and make sure to advertise it to the right audience. If you advertise the property properly, it can be a big selling point for the right tenant.
Here are some of the current green building certifications available:
- LEED
- Energy Star
- BREEAM
- Green Globes
- Living Building Challenge
- National Green Building Standard
- GreenGuard
- WELL Building Standard
- NABERS
- Green Star
- CASBEE
Team Members
This is a great opportunity to show off your knowledge, share important information about your real estate office company, and put a name to your name.
You can describe your experiences working with landlords, tenants, and clients.
Existing Tenants
You can use your existing tenants to inspire confidence in potential new tenants.
Social proof is a way to instantly gain recognition and trust with just a few simple words. Display your current tenants and you will attract similar businesses.
It is not only a matter of like attracting like, but also a benefit for businesses to share the same office to generate some synergy.
2. Create Key Marketing Assets
Investors and tenants in office properties must evaluate several opportunities simultaneously against dozens of crucial criteria. There is much to consider.
A document that contains key information on leases in an easily digestible format can help potential clients weigh their options.
These marketing assets are essential and should be available for download on your real estate websites. Otherwise, interested parties will lose interest or become frustrated by having to search for the information they need.
When leasing office space, you need to include the following marketing information:
- Property Web Site: A dedicated property site highlights property details, location, and configuration for those who are evaluating several locations simultaneously. The information should be presented clearly and easily accessible.
- Property Flyer/Brochure: Create a PDF and print version with a professional design that can easily be shared or printed to refer back to in the future.
- Floor Plans Printed: Create professional floor plans, test fit plans, and branding for your property that you can convert to PDF to share online and print to give to guests during property tours.
- Email Templates: Email templates should highlight the key features of your property. Create templates that are unique for your announcements, follow-up messages, nurturing messages for prospects, as well as other important communications.
- Promotional Products: It is a great way to make your tour memorable by having branded promotional products on hand.
3. Promoting Your Office Space
After your website for the office space is complete, you will need to create digital, print, and email marketing materials that promote the property. These marketing campaigns will increase your visibility beyond your current audience, and improve your broker’s ability to locate prospective clients.
Display Your Company Website
Each property site is a tiny part of a much larger ecosystem. The digital footprint of your company must be always interlinked. This means that the listing website you use should always have a link to the main website where all properties can be viewed and aggregated. You can use the main website to highlight properties that are relevant to the visitor.
Send Your Own Email Campaigns
Use your database to inform potential tenants of office spaces that are available by email.
You can save time by using email templates to quickly add the information you need. This includes adding different properties and locations to your list. When sending an email campaign, consider these factors to turn your database into deals:
- Segmentation – Use metadata to segment contacts based on location and interest. You can also use previous client status. You can then send emails to only those people who are interested.
- Customize Message – With these segments, you can customize your message to target individuals depending on a variety of factors. Send emails to investors, tenants, and clients. You can also target specific pipeline stages – for example, if someone has just begun their search and is looking to get a tour of the site, your message should be different.
- Nurture new prospects- A proactive outreach can be an effective tool to increase interest in newly listed properties. Email can be used to nurture new prospects. Sending relevant emails to contacts who fill out forms but do not answer the phone over several weeks will keep your business in their minds and help them move up the funnel.
Register on CRE portals
You should list your property on the most popular commercial real estate websites. You should also consider putting your property on regional sites that are based on geography, and those that specialize in office properties.
Promoting on Social Media
It is important to have a strong presence on social media because it can be used as a tool to build trust and spread relevant information. It is important to take this with a grain of salt. Spending time on social media should be in line with the return you expect. Don’t go overboard.
Launch Paid Ad Campaigns
You can reach your target audience quickly with paid advertisements. There are many options available. It’s possible to test, create, and then run an ad within one day. Consider the following tools to help you create a message that is effective, set a budget for advertising, and launch a campaign.
- Google Advertisements- Google’s advertising network reaches over 92% of Internet users via web searches, display advertisements, retargeting, and mobile devices. Google’s ad network can reach someone who searches online. You can segment your ads based on demographics, search terms, and location in just minutes. It is impossible to target your campaign more quickly.
- CRE industry sites – Industry news websites and blogs sell advertising that reaches a specific audience. This type of advertising is highly targeted and can reach a large number of people quickly, especially if you’re in a big market that caters to tenants in a particular geographic area.
- Trade journals – In a highly information-driven industry, Commercial Real Estate trade journals are still relevant to commercial real estate professionals. Advertisements in these publications can be used to target people looking for new properties, or partners that can boost your property’s visibility.
- Flex Engine – Track all of your insights and integrate all analytic tools in one simple CRM.
