Staking your claim in the commercial real estate market has taken a lot of hard work.  The results are added up on your bottom line, and they are counted in the lives of those that are dependent upon you for livelihood and in the customers that turn to you for guidance. Your success makes you a go-to thought leader in the industry.

Now that you’ve set expectations, your reputation depends on progress. How will you continue to grow in that realm? A great way is blogging and it’s one of the necessary real estate marketing tools.

Blogging is an effective method to get your story out to your peers. According to Hubspot, companies posting 16 or more blogs a month receive 3.5 times more traffic than companies posting only four times a month or less. Their studies show that 55% of marketers credit blogging as their top inbound priority. When you blog, you’re building your thought leadership reputation, demonstrating your understanding of the market, and you’re working to grab your audience’s attention.

Thought leaders know that people buy from people, and blogging is an opportunity to connect and grow your audience. Through your blog, your building synergy across your social media channels including  LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. By doing this, you’re promoting your brand with the right people in the right environments.

Know the Influencers

A successful blog strategy is one that is in tune with the industry. Stay in touch by following other influencers in the CRE market through social media, traditional media and signing up for email newsletters. In doing so, you’ll have a wealth of industryinformation to associate with your brand.

Blogging doesn’t mean single-handedly spinning-up articles. Invite other industry leaders and your own associates to contribute to your blog schedule. Sharing the posting responsibilities with them, and publishing their thoughts on your blog and your social media  expands your sphere of influence, and this generates networking opportunities for you and your readers.

If you haven’t built up your list of influential movers and shakers, you can start by signing up on email lists on the business sites you frequent. Read the blogs of other experts and thought leaders and comment on them. Creating discussions will generate follow-up from these leaders and their audiences, and will convert followers to your social networks.

Building Brand, With Your Blog

The purpose of a blog can follow many routes— generate leads, build sales or simplify inform. But this post is about a different path altogether, selling yourself as a thought leader. This in and of itself will help build your brand. You’re selling yourself as an established authority. The value you’re presenting to your audience is knowledge. Keep the hard selling away, and develop a relationship where the reader is comfortable with providing feedback, and is happy to share links to your blog.

Make a Plan

There are many guides to blogging but they all start with creating a plan. The subject matter must be calculated and planned out with a frequency that allows the reader to connect one blog to the next. It develops an eagerness for the next installment to be published.

Imagine a syllabus from college. You knew what to expect week one, and how it will correlate to week five subject matter. Your blogging shouldn’t be that formal in its presentation, but it should develop into a smooth production week to week. Subtle insertion of links with relevant statistics will reinforce your topics and build reader confidence.

Tap Into Subject Matter Experts

Tackling the task of demonstrating your thought leader prowess  doesn’t have to be taken on solely by you. Becoming a thought leader means you have developed a staff around you who are educated in your style and preach your ethics and carry a similar demeanor. It’s up to you to share your team’s expertise.

Who on your team knows offering memorandums better than Jane does? Jim is an expert in long term investment strategies. These subject matter experts on your team are the people through whom you can communicate your message. Delegating blog assignments to your associates inspires the team while building your brand.

Bringing in guest bloggers from outside the firm shows your audience the reach you have in the CRE market. By building these relationships outside your firm, you will be invited similarly to post guest blogs on their sites, expanding your audience.

Blogging and social media go hand in hand. They offer 24/7 exposure of your abilities and promote your standing as an established thought leader. Engaging a professional marketing team to help exploit your attributes is essential to building and maintaining your momentum. Engaging a commercial real estate marketing team to help with your blog will allow you to celebrate your thought leadership, while they tend to the details.