Commercial real estate budget marketing can be done without breaking the bank, even with a limited marketing budget. With a little creativity and some smart marketing strategies, you can attract new commercial real estate clients and close deals without spending a fortune.
1) Blog / Content Creation = $0
Writing won’t take money, just time. Great, original content is key to higher rankings in Google and effective marketing, leading to repeat business.
If you have a marketing budget to hire a writer, make sure you’re asking them to write “authority” subjects. IE “10 things to look for when buying a warehouse” or “7 tips to leasing a vacancy”. Ask a writer to only write on subjects they can easily Google for answers, otherwise you’ll be editing and rewriting everything since most writers don’t know anything about commercial real estate.
If you’re looking to use ChatGPT or other AI tools, the best way to get success on your initiatives every time is to train the AI on your writing style. If you don’t have a blog already, this can be tricky, as you need data to feed AI so it can mimic your branding and writing. If you are starting from scratch, check out Steal My ChatGPT Prompts to make a blog that’s optimized for SEO. I also suggest setting it to a “5th grade reading level” to minimize its tendency to use outdated words and phrases in your content. (Lowering the reading level makes the content less “library reference” and more “reader friendly”.)
2) Newsletter = $0
Keeping in touch with prior, current, and future clients with a monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly newsletter marketing is key to being top-of-mind when they’re finally ready to the next step.
Fill a newsletter with information that your clients want to read like trends in investing, tips to finding a new space, or retail information.
If you don’t have the time to write, consider filling it with links to “helpful articles” from around the Internet. Or use to for advertising what you’ve just listed, sold and leased. Especially if you’re just starting out with email marketing or a digital marketing strategy, leaning on your listings for content is an easy and budget friendly way to start.
MailChimp [affiliate], offers a budget friendly free email account for under 500 contacts.
3) Google My Business Account = $0 (Brokerages)
Be sure your business is listed on Google’s Business directory.
This will ensure your brokerage shows up when locals search for “commercial real estate agents” or brokerages in their area. It is 100% the easiest way to get seen online and you need zero dollars in your budget to advertise on Google My Business.
Individual agents, make sure your brokerage is showing up here. Tell your broker if they need to add the business, as YOU are missing out on deals every day it’s not advertising on Google My Business.
4) Press Releases = $0
Don’t depend on your broker to do your press releases. They often only choose the top 3 deals for the month to distribute to their PR list. Start by writing down all your local CRE magazines and newsletters. Check out CCIM, NAIOP, NREI, real estate specialists in local newspapers, and any other local magazine or newsletter that produces content. These publications will provide their emails and fax numbers for you to submit information. Send all your recent dealings to your PR contacts, be sure to Blind CC, as some may not publish information if they believe someone else beat them to it.
If you’re willing to budget some money to PR, a service like Presswire automatically sends your press release to thousands of news outlets in one click. Using a PR service is also a great advertising strategy for premier listings. Shock your clients with a list of huge news outlets picked up their listing info. Such a small investment for a big impact.
5) Contribute to industry blogs and magazines = $0
One of the easiest ways to get leads fast is offering to guest blog for industry blogs as part of your marketing strategy. You can write up a few posts for your favorite commercial real estate blogs and news outlets and offer them for distribution to their market. Most PR and industry specific blogs enjoy getting content, linking back to your website and showing your contact info. I’ve personally, gotten a lot of leads this way, so I know it works!
6) Comment on blog posts or forums = $0
Having a well written comment with additional information on the subject or offering related services is a great way to participate in a community blog / forum and get your name out there. If your comments aren’t spammy they’ll likely get approved for published articles. You never know how much traffic a certain page or blog gets, so don’t hold back on relevant and intelligent comments.
7) Website = $
Seriously, if you don’t own a website by now, there’s no hope for you! Even if you are an agent working under a brokerage, you should have your own website. (MyName.com) If you decide to change brokerages or go it alone, your former clients will be able to find you.
If you want my help to create an amazing website built for lead capture, check out the website designs.
Anyone can build a website.
Anyone can put buttons on a website and call it “lead generating”.
I’m the only one that provides a the Sales Funnel Masterclasses, giving you strategies to drive traffic to your site, setup automations, and keep in touch with automated welcome sequences to turn traffic into sales. If you don’t have a sales funnel, you won’t get long lasting results, period.
If you’re nodding along and agreeing that it’s time, let’s get started! Schedule a call or zoom.
I’m out to take the “broke” out of commercial real estate brokerage.
I want to start with you.
You coming? Schedule a call or zoom.
