3 Strategies for Real Estate Marketing
You’ve spent years getting the proper permits, months assembling a crew, and many more months building a beautiful building complex. Although you likely have an idea of who you want to target and an idea of the image you want to convey, do you have a concrete marketing plan? One that can withstand market volatility, meets buyers where they shop, and creates a great brand experience?
This marketing plan should be in place well before the development is ready for renters or buyers to maximize exposure and set up the project for long-term success. Without a full marketing plan, you will miss opportunities to connect with investors, renters, and buyers.
Don’t worry; we’ll walk you through three key strategies this plan needs to include and some ideas on leveraging your marketing plan for optimal success.
1. Establish A Brand Strategy
What Is A Brand Strategy?
First and foremost, you need to make sure you have a strong brand strategy. We've learned over the years that when we say "brand strategy," the first things that come to mind are a logo, slogan, and brand colours. While these are all crucial pieces of brand strategy, they don't define a brand strategy.
A brand strategy is part of a company's strategic plan to build rapport and favourability within its target market, optimally creating a lasting and measurable impression. So, what does this include? A well-defined brand strategy consists of all aspects of the business and connects to the target market's needs and competitive environments. It's also important to include intangibles and tangibles (for example, the "feel" of your brand). As a side note, if you're interested in learning about brand strategy in the craft beer industry, check out our blog post.
You’ll need to consider whether your development will become its own brand or be part of your overall brand. We’ve found that, in most cases, it makes sense to have a sub-brand for each large development. This idea is especially true if your company does other developments (residential, industrial, commercial, etc.).
For example, one of our real estate development clients that work in all these different areas found that it made the most sense for a large residential development they were working on to have its own brand since the target audience and value proposition would be very different from some of their commercial and industrial projects. If you’d like to learn more about this project, check out our case study.
Now, let’s review the various elements of brand strategy.
Strategic Elements Of A Brand Strategy.
Let's say creating a sub-brand for your new development makes sense. First, we need strategic elements, such as a positioning statement, brand values, and brand architecture.
A positioning statement is a sentence (or two) that conveys a brand's value proposition to its target audience. When crafting this statement, it's important to consider what makes your business different from the competition.
Brand values are key principles of how a brand operates. An example of this could be giving back to the community.
Finally, brand architecture is the organizational framework companies use to structure their brands and sub-brands. This framework is where your company will decide how the sub-brand of the new development will fit in with the parent company.
Brand Guidelines
Next, we need brand guidelines. These guidelines are where the logo and colour palette come in. However, this also includes other elements, such as the font, logo usage, etc.
Typically, you should pick 2-3 brand colours. Remember, you'll use these colours in all aspects of your brand, from your logo to stationery. Therefore, these colours must work together.
In terms of font, it's a good idea to pick a header font and body font. Typically, one should be a serif font, and the other should be a san serif font since these fonts work well together.
Another element to think about here is logo usage. This decision is crucial if you have different logo variations. It's important to decide when and where you'll use each version of the logo to maintain consistency.
Other Elements Of Brand Strategy
Another element to consider is the brand voice guide. How does your brand talk? Is it formal? More laid back? Whichever you decide, it's essential to keep it consistent. If you choose to keep a more formal tone, ensure that style comes across in all your social media posts, website copy, etc. You may also want to choose a handful of words your brand frequently uses and pepper those into copy across channels.
We also need to consider the brand's visual direction. What does the brand look like? If you need help figuring out where to start, create a mood board with imagery inspiring your brand. Once you've nailed down this imagery, it should remain consistent with imagery on your website, social media and other digital platforms.
Finally, you’ll need to consider the brand experience. What story does your brand tell? How did your brand come to be? These are details that will set your brand apart from competitors. Include the brand experience across channels. This approach could mean having an “Our Story” section on your website, including these details in your social media bios and more.
Once complete, this brand strategy will influence future marketing communications and help your brand remain consistent, which will help build trust with your target audience.
Create A Targeting Strategy
Once you’ve developed your brand strategy, it’s time to start your targeting strategy. Most real estate development companies know who they want to target well before development begins. However, we can’t stop here. It’s essential to have a well-defined targeting strategy well before you complete the development.
First, we need to consider who the value proposition will speak to. Remember the value positioning statement we talked about in the previous section. Consider that statement and think about which type of audience that statement would speak to.
What are your target audience’s pain points? What do they want to get out of your building? Regardless of the state of the market, high interest rates, lower inventory, and higher prices, people are only open to buying a new home or renting a new apartment if your marketing speaks to their unique pain points. For example, if you’re building an apartment complex designed for families, consider some of the issues families face when renting an apartment. What does your brand offer that speaks to these issues? Do you offer competitive pricing? On-site family activities (such as a pool or games room)? Is the complex close to a school or grocery store?
All of these are things you should consider. For example, suppose you don’t offer competitive pricing but have extra on-site amenities. In that case, your value proposition is speaking to a specific type of family (those who can afford more and are looking for more than just the basics).
Another way to build your target audience strategy is to consider who your existing customers are for your various other developments. Although the target audiences for your other developments likely won’t fully translate to this new project, by reviewing what your current client’s wants and needs are, you can build off of them.
For example, let’s say all of your projects are high-end, but your last few projects were commercial, and the latest is residential. The target audiences won’t be an exact match, but thinking about what your existing customers in the commercial space prefer, should give you an idea of what a high-end client in the residential space might want. So, if it’s a high-end development, the businesses renting from you probably have relatively high revenue and are willing to pay more to get specific amenities (perhaps a direct line to the property manager or something similar).
These preferences loosely translate to residential customers. Regardless of the type of development, residents can expect to receive a level of luxury and prestige in high-end developments if that’s the focus of your brand. For example, if it’s a high-end development, you’re probably looking at individuals within a certain income bracket. You’re also probably looking for individuals willing to pay a little extra for better amenities (perhaps, on-site property management).
Finally, look at what your competitors are doing. This analysis can be especially helpful if your company is branching out into a new area of real estate development. For example, suppose this is your first time developing an upscale apartment complex when you usually work with commercial real estate. In that case, it can be helpful to see who other developers of upscale apartment complexes are targeting.
Build A Content Strategy
Once you have a well-defined target audience, it's time to decide where your brand will focus its marketing efforts. Remember, increasingly more buyers and renters are looking to shop online, so a good website and social media presence are essential.
Where will your target audience want to find you? Is your development an apartment complex or commercial development? Are you targeting young families or professional millennials? If so, you'll want to be on popular social channels for each demographic, such as Facebook and Instagram for residents or LinkedIn for business owners to lease. Consider using traditional channels such as direct mail if this resonates with your audience or digital out-of-home advertising.
Once you've decided where your brand will be, it's time to decide what content you will put out on each channel. For paid content, of course, the focus needs to be on sales. Your ads will probably include pricing, square footage, a few ways to get in touch, and a nice picture of the building (you can always use a rendering if the building isn't ready yet). This type of content would include anything created for paid social, digital out-of-home, mailer cards, and any other paid ads your company chooses to use.
For organic content, on the other hand, although some posts can be on the more "salesy" side, you should also focus on including posts that are around building your brand. A great example of a way to do this while the project is still in development is by creating a blog about the progress.
Did you break ground today? Is a new floor being added? Is the community excited about this new build? All of these events would make great blog topics. Remember to add some progress pictures as well!
You can post this blog on your website and re-share it to your brand's social channels. Not only will this help to build your social media following and website SEO before the development is ready, but it will also help to build anticipation for the completion of the project.
Once you complete the project, add a 3D virtual tour to your website and socials! Or, you could host a virtual Q & A session for buyers or renters to ask questions about specific properties or the housing market in general. These are great ways to get your target audience's attention and create a great brand experience. You'll meet your customers where they spend the most time: online.
It’s Time To Build Your Real Estate Development Marketing Plan!
You now have the tools to start building your marketing plan. Make sure it includes the following:
Brand strategy - this is more than just a slogan and logo! It also includes elements such as a positioning statement, brand values, brand architecture, brand guidelines, brand voice guide, visual direction, and brand experience.
Targeting strategy - this is more than just thinking about who to target. This strategy should be crafted by thinking about who your value proposition speaks to, who your existing customers are, and what your competitors are doing.
Content strategy - includes where your brand will be putting out content and what types of content your brand will be putting out. This strategy should consist of sales and brand-building elements, and yes, you can absolutely put out content of both types before you complete the project!
We went over a lot today, but there are so many other things to consider when building your real estate development marketing plan. If you’re looking for assistance with making your marketing plan, book a call with a member of our team!
Sources:
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/positioning-statement
https://www.shopify.com/ca/blog/brand-values#:~:text=Brand%20values%20are%20the%20key,mission%20statement%2C%20and%20earns%20money.
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/brand-architecture
https://milanote.com/guide/create-better-moodboards
https://mediaboom.com/news/marketing-for-real-estate-developers/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/real-estate-development-marketing-plan-maximum-growth-nhemachena/?trk=public_profile_article_view
https://www.peripherydigital.com/blog/7-common-real-estate-marketing-challenges-property-developers