As our options for marketing CRE properties have grown, so have the expectations of owners and developers for a savvy approach. It’s critical that agents and brokers take advantage of the tools that are available to bring the value of commercial properties home to prospective tenants.

Technology is central to real estate marketing, with more than 90% of home buyers reporting that they use the Internet in their search. In the commercial market, technology is our most powerful marketing ally. New developments and applications specifically for the industry make for compelling marketing that reaches our audience via their most frequently used channels. Incorporating them into your marketing strategy is easier than ever and sure to improve your outcomes. Here are 3 big ideas for upping your marketing game.

Sensors and the Internet of Things

City planners and transportation specialists have used sensors for years to measure vehicular, bicycle, or pedestrian traffic around the clock. The data produced is very valuable in determining the necessary capacity for roads and sidewalks and a plethora of other planning tasks. Sensor data can also be combined with data from other sources and devices (the “Internet of Things”) to create a powerful picture of activity in a specific market.

This same technology is now being used in commercial real estate. These devices can provide valuable marketing information, giving prospective tenants a clear picture of traffic patterns around a given location. This is tremendously useful to retail tenants, for example, who can use the information for planning and for scheduling staff. The data are also very useful in property comparisons.

The technology itself is quite inexpensive and easy to set up. Support platforms take care of monitoring the devices and assembling data into useful reports. This service description from the sensor platform MotionLoft provides a good introduction to the idea.

Drones

Virtual tours are an exciting marketing tool, and really a required element to any successful effort. One area that has seen a lot of growth in recent years is the use of drone technology to create visually compelling tours unlike anything available before.  

Drones are becoming less expensive and more user friendly as time goes on, and it can be easy to incorporate this into a marketing plan. Expert services like Spark Aerial provide all the technical assistance you might need and help in the development of amazing marketing projects.

It’s been just over a year since the FAA first gave permission for the use of drones by a real estate company, but small scale use has continued as the agency deliberates on how best to regulate this technology.  The Economist provides these details:

“…the agency is proposing that drones weighing less than 25kg (55lbs), that are well-maintained and checked before flight, can be flown without certification by operators who have passed a basic aeronautical test. The drones, however, would have to stay below 150 metres (500 feet), fly only in daylight and remain in view of their operators at all time. And they could not be flown over people.

The FAA's boss, Michael Huerta, says the rules will "evolve" as drones, and the businesses around them, develop. As collision-avoidance technology improves and operators gain more experience, it is possible to imagine the agency eventually permitting longer-range, out-of-sight flights. But first its current proposals must undergo a lengthy period of public comment before being finalised, which could take until 2017.”

A Unified Brand

The technologies we’ve been discussing are fantastic, but they don’t stand on their own. A critical element of effective marketing is coordination and connection. Without an overall plan and method for organization, marketing can be disjointed and inefficient.

Technology enables us to create a comprehensive campaign that connects with its audience across devices and around the clock.  Our RealNex platform pulls together the tools and information you need, backed up by excellent support to keep it all running. Tools like interactive maps with informative text overlays provide vital information in an accessible format, a complete suite of presentation tools including video and 3D Virtual Reality integrated with e-marketing campaigns, as well as a detailed tour book app with real time on-line transaction management .  All of the marketing essentials are assembled for you, so your message is powerful, consistent, and timely.

Incorporating technology into your marketing plan will have an immediate effect on your ability to reach your audience more effectively, with more compelling and useful content.