6 Ways Brokers Benefit from Commercial Real Estate Email Marketing

In a rapidly evolving commercial real estate landscape, using the right marketing tools at the right time is imperative for both identifying opportunities and accelerating deal timelines. At the center of business communication lies email, and leveraging automation to speed up communication and share data is a key need for CRE brokers in the digital age. 

Enabling brokers to send information quickly and ensuring that their messaging and branding are standardized can be challenging. However, leveraging a marketing platform that provides email automation tools empowers brokerages to help their team send key information promptly to clients and prospects while providing assurance that all communication is on brand.

Below are six examples of commercial real estate email marketing messages that can be optimized through automation. The list is organized based on specific examples for listing and tenant brokers.

FOR LISTING REPS 

1. Sending Availability Updates

Listing reps can send vacant properties and spaces to tenant reps via newsletter-like emails that keep potential clients up to date about availabilities. An effective marketing tool streamlines the process through automation and leverages a centralized database to ensure consistency across listing data, marketing collateral, branding and contact details. 

For instance, a listing broker working with CommercialEdge Marketing is notified of spaces soon to become available. Before these spaces are listed, the marketing team reviews all space and property information to make sure everything is up-to-date and accurate. Then, using the email marketing tool, the listing rep can easily pull the listings into an email — even before the spaces are listed — and send it out to a pre-built list of tenant reps to let them know of spaces coming on the market. 

2. Responding to Space Inquiries 

When a lead comes in, it’s imperative to promptly get in touch with potential clients to move deals forward. After a phone call to review options and availabilities, the prospect or tenant rep generally requires more information and will request an email summary from the listing rep.  

That is when, instead of having to pull together different brochures and ask someone to update them, the listing rep just clicks a few buttons in CommercialEdge Marketing, selects the spaces they want to share and quickly sends out the email. These messages can include brochures, virtual tours and other engaging marketing collateral.  

And, since the marketing tool is connected to the listing database, all listing data is synced, up-to-date and on-brand, ensuring that the broker only sends out the most accurate information. 

3. Qualifying and Nurturing Leads

Sending follow-up messages is key for qualifying and nurturing leads. Using a comprehensive email marketing platform to send follow-up emails with specific questions is a great way to filter leads and eliminate poor-quality ones. Depending on asset type, questions can pertain to the intended start date of the lease, business specifics, number of people in the company, space preferences, specific requirements and more.   

Consider sending follow-ups to keep prospects engaged during periods of slow activity or after important milestones such as tours or client meetings. Staying in touch with prospects is not only essential for keeping them motivated but also a great way to demonstrate your commitment and willingness to assist.

FOR TENANT REPS 

4. Prospecting for New Clients

A targeted, research-driven process helps tenant reps narrow the prospect pool when prospecting for new business. Tailor-made emails are more likely to engage and prompt action, so it’s essential to communicate based on the specific needs and interests of potential clients.  

Certain factors can help identify the most qualified person when deciding whom to contact with this top-of-the-funnel message type. Contact the right people directly and personally considering: 

• Role and seniority within the organization 
• Level of authority (e.g., they can make budget-related decisions) 
• Prior positive experience/familiarity with your services 

For example, a tenant rep specializing in retail and restaurant space in a specific market puts together a curated list of restaurant operators in that area. Using the CommercialEdge email marketing tool, with just a few clicks, the broker creates a bespoke, branded email that introduces themselves and highlights their market knowledge. This is a great way for listing reps to present their unique perspective in a specific real estate sector and offer their services to potential clients who might be looking to open a new location, relocate or renegotiate their current lease and so on.

5. “Tenants in the Market” Mailing Lists

When working with a tenant with very specific space requirements, tenant reps can use various tools to serve their clients better. For instance, a tenant rep has researched listing marketplaces and has gotten in touch with listing rep brokers but has exhausted all availabilities without finding a space that would meet their client’s requirements. 

A solution, in this case, is using marketing tools that bring this information to the market and uncover space opportunities that cannot be found through typical means. With the CommercialEdge email marketing tool, brokers can create emails encompassing their clients’ needs and, with just a few clicks, send them out to a list of owners and landlord rep-focused brokers in their client’s target market to uncover unlisted availability that meets a unique client requirement.

FOR LISTING AND TENANT REPS 

6. Nurturing Client Relationships

Once a deal is closed, broker-client relationships may not require frequent communication. Still, a proactive approach and occasional check-ins can benefit the parties involved and contribute to building a long-term partnership.  

As a listing rep, consider sending recurring informative emails to a mailing list of existing tenants in the properties you represent. Relevant information can include building-, space- or area-related updates, industry news, market trends and so on. 

As a tenant rep, keep in touch with clients to develop long-term relationships and ensure future collaboration. Consider sending emails in the early stages of the lease term to let tenants know of your availability to assist. Later, send a reminder before lease expiration and offer to discuss the next steps, such as potential lease renewal, extension or finding new space options.

• As a general best practice, we always suggest including a compelling call-to-action and ensuring that your contact details are visible and accessible. In addition, consider including a headshot, which adds a personal touch and contributes to ensuring a brand-consistent experience across your messaging. 

How Commercial Real Estate Email Marketing Tools Help 

Whether you are a listing rep or a tenant rep, an effective marketing plan coupled with a powerful CRE solution can maximize your email marketing strategy — CommercialEdge Marketing optimizes communications through powerful automation. Powered by a single database of real-time property and space information, the marketing solution ensures consistency across your marketing collateral, branding and contact details. 

The CRE solution syncs email marketing processes for seamless access to your contact database. And, since segmenting contact lists is an essential step in any commercial real estate email marketing strategy, the CommercialEdge tool allows you to build custom contact lists and group relationships by specific criteria such as market, asset type, lease term and more. This makes it easy to craft more targeted, prospect- and client-facing emails. 

The CommercialEdge Marketing email tools empower you to: 

• Auto-populate email templates and brochures 
• Customize content with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor 
• Automate email sending and scheduling 
• Track and assess performance with real-time email analytics 

What’s more, email and brochure templates are optimized for different devices, from mobile to web browsers, ensuring your content is adapted to and visually appealing on every platform.   

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CommercialEdge Marketing is available standalone or fully integrated with Yardi property management software. For Yardi clients, property and space information is in sync with Voyager Commercial to ensure that only the most accurate and up-to-date information is marketed to prospects and clients.