Put CRE Marketing on Autopilot with CommercialEdge 

Note: Article originally published in December 2022 and updated in April 2024 to reflect product updates.

Using the right commercial real estate marketing channels effectively and in a timely fashion is vital to keeping commercial spaces occupied. It’s easy for things to get out of sync if you’re bogged down in obsolete processes and technology or manually updating the same information across many websites and materials. 

Many CRE property owners have discovered that optimizing occupancy requires shortening the lead-to-lease cycle. Achieving that goal calls for technology that eliminates manual processes and integrates marketing with the entire leasing workflow in a single connected solution. So, where to start? 

Maximized Listing Exposure for Effective Marketing 

Effective online marketing begins with assembling the right information in a single, connected system. This system should then power as many marketing channels as possible, like property and company websites, listing sites, brochures, email content and so on.  

Managing all marketing content in a single system makes for easy publication on listing portals, with the goal of displaying your availabilities as high in search results as possible. The CommercialEdge marketing module does just that, with centralized and automated listing management and effortless syndication that maximizes listing exposure. 

With CommercialEdge Marketing, listings are not only published on your website but also on leading marketplaces and the rapidly growing CommercialEdge Listing Network, which includes CommercialCafe, CommercialSearch and PropertyShark. These listing sites rank on the first page of Google and generate hundreds of thousands of qualified leads annually. 

What’s more, users of Yardi property management software can sync spaces, properties and key lease information, including expiration dates, directly with CommercialEdge Marketing. Those key lease dates can then be used to notify the marketing and leasing teams of space coming available, an automated process that saves brokers the manual effort involved in updating websites and listing services. 

CommercialEdge also forges the link between listings and deals, with leads from client- and public-facing sites pushed directly to CommercialEdge Marketing and Deal Manager for further negotiations. 

Email, a Key Component of Optimized Marketing 

Email is another popular marketing medium that can be simplified with the right tools. Email marketing is a powerful resource for advancing CRE timelines through professional and responsive email campaigns and automated email and brochure creation. 

CommercialEdge Marketing is an example of a platform that automatically pulls in property and listing information and transmits emails to a contact or a list of contacts — without having to update the information through different fields and filters manually.  

Ready-to-use email templates can easily be saved for later use, enabling information to be displayed for as many properties and future leasing cycles as desired. When a template is applied for a property or space, it pulls in tags that map to various data points, including the property type, size and pricing information. Email templates are then automatically populated with current property and listing information. When emails are ready to send, they can be distributed to individual contacts or curated contact lists directly from the CommercialEdge pipeline manager in Deal Manager. By using dynamic templates, the whole team is enabled with email automation that stays on brand and provides accurate information.  

Customized brochures can be created, updated and dispatched in a similar fashion. CommercialEdge Marketing allows for easy brochure generation, with branded templates that can be applied for any property and automatically populated with real-time listing information. Once created, brochures are always ready to use, either in email marketing or on listing websites. Furthermore, any changes made to the listing details in the CommercialEdge Marketing tool are automatically shown in any saved brochures or emails generated in connection with the respective space or property. 

CommercialEdge Marketing provides a comprehensive database for storing published, unpublished, off-market spaces and so on, making it easy to select specific spaces from a certain property and market them to prospects based on their exact needs. For instance, in case a property owner isn’t marketing all availabilities but would like to show a “pocket listing” to a prospect, having a system that stores all marketing content across spaces and provides easy access to data in one place is imperative. That way, an effective email marketing tool streamlines the entire process by enabling the user to email out spaces that may not be marketed publicly with minimal effort. 

Complete Portfolio Visibility and Real-Time Availability 

Desired marketing outcomes are most easily attained when marketing and leasing are not only integrated but also connected to the property management and accounting system used to manage the properties. That lets agents list properties as soon as they’re available and avoid late and inaccurate listings. 

CommercialEdge Marketing helps market commercial spaces by automating listings based on actual availability through integration with property management and accounting systems. With all marketing elements managed in one place, the platform provides complete visibility into every managed space, organized by lease expiration and the spaces marketed. 

Moreover, the platform can distribute listings to other marketplaces, saving the time and inconvenience of manual entry and data transfer, and automates the change of each stage from off-market to unpublished to published.  

So, if you’re looking for a CRE solution that reduces leasing cycle times and boosts revenue at the same time, consider moving your business forward with a full-service marketing platform such as CommercialEdge Marketing.