If you’ve been in the commercial real estate business even a short while, you’ve undoubtedly seen or heard reference to that famous scene from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross where Alec Baldwin is absolutely emphatic about the need to “always be closing”. It’s a dramatic scene that became a key take away from that movie.  While that small piece of cinema is probably not reflective of contemporary commercial real-estate sales environments, it does punctuate the value of rhythmic, repetitive processes that are so valuable to business success.

Commercial Real Estate Marketing is one of those processes where true value is derived by making a commitment to a schedule of marketing activities focused on building relationships with customers and prospects. If you’re thinking the last thing you need is one more commitment in your already overloaded schedule, then consider this idea from James Archer, founder of  world-class user experience firm, Forty, “successful companies never stop marketing”.  But don’t worry, if creating this drumbeat of activity has you concerned, you may already be doing some of the right things, like creating a brand identity for your commercial real-estate business  or using your website to turn visitors into clients. 

Whether you’ve gotten your feet wet with marketing or if you’re just starting out, here’s four things that you can do to make sure that you’re creating consistent, predictable impressions in the commercial real-estate marketplace.

Automate your marketing efforts
Using specialized software, you can automate many of your marketing tasks. This helps ensure you’re working efficiently and keeping messages flowing on a regular basis. It also creates a sense of expectation with your customers and prospects, reminding them that you’ll be there when they need you.  Automation will also help convert traffic and become a source of real estate lead generation which will hopefully turn into additional sales. 

Be regular and scheduled
People like schedules.  It’s a fact of human nature that people will anticipate and respond to scheduled activities much better than things that are done “willy-nilly”.  Marketing your commercial real-estate business is no exception to that rule.  Pick a specific day each week to publish commercial real estate blog articles.  Or maybe the 15^th and 30^th of each month is when you send out your updated listings.  Whatever you decide, pick a commercial real estate marketing plan, select some dates and stick to them.

Divide your time
As a commercial real-estate professional, you have a two-fold job.  You need to focus on the business of running your company and you need to market your services and available properties.  It’s easy to forget about the marketing side of things when you’re immersed in running the day-to-day activities of your business.  You may have experienced this when you’ve had to choose between wrapping up a deal with a new client or making the final edits on the current week’s listings.  Dividing your time though, will be critical to ensuring your on-going marketing success.  If you need help figuring out how to divide your time, the Eisenhower method is one approach. Another approach would be to outsource commercial real estate marketing needs to a firm that specializes in this type of work.

Get your team involved
No one says that you have to do this alone.  Get your team involved and make them stick to a schedule.  Be sure each team member knows what their job is for each particular task and don’t miss the opportunity to check-in with them on these tasks.  Your expectations and the on-going regular responsibilities will give them a sense of accomplishment which will help boost their engagement in your business and their own productivity. 

In the barrage of messages, communications and content that is thrown at us every day, marketing your commercial real-estate business today is more important than ever.  You’ll be challenged to just break through the clutter in order to gain the attention of your audience.  Well-crafted content and an on-going rhythmic approach will help.  And, remember, always be marketing.