You’re starting a new brokerage shop, fantastic! I want to equip you with a SEVEN-STEP marketing plan to get you ramped up as quickly as possible. Let’s set the stage with a scenario we hear ALL the time.

“My partner and I have had a tremendous amount of success at the LARGER NATIONAL firm that we’re currently at but have reached a point in our careers where we want to start our own company. While transitioning, we want to create all necessary materials so we’re ready hit the ground running on day one – what are the next steps?”

Here we go! This is your SEVEN-STEP plan for ramping up your marketing for your new commercial real estate brokerage firm in 60 days.  

Company Name, Real Estate Logo & Real Estate Branding **Day 1 – 15

Don’t overthink it, although the company name will stick with you until the end of time (joking), getting hung up will seriously slow down the process. One thing to consider (very important) is to coordinate the name of the company with available website domains, GoDaddy is a great resource for searches – let the ideas fly until you’re able to connect your domain and company name. Let’s design the logo! Colors and style are crucial as these are design elements that will connect to all future marketing collateral. Follow How to Design a Commercial Real Estate Logo for a step by step guide. Once you have a logo, develop essential branding items such as business cards, letterhead and property signs. 

2. Company Overview & Past Success **Day 1 – 30

It’s amazing to me the number of people who start a company without putting on paper a detailed outline of the services that they offer. Developing a company overview will help tremendously in a number of areas. Most significantly it’s the introductory process of creating a company snapshot that can easily be distributed after meetings or sent via email after a call with prospects. Also, this document can serve as the working outline for the website development process. This will help avoid any content road blocks that you face while creating your web presence.

Website **Day 15 – 45

Your commercial real estate website is the hub for all of your digital marketing efforts. Initially, focus on developing a clean and attractive landing page with core sub pages that you can easily direct traffic to. For ALL companies, a good web presence is crucial, therefore overly lofty goals with your first web presence can drastically delay the launch date. You can always add pages and create additional depth. Visit our real estate website design portfolio for inspiration.

Marketing Collateral **Day 15 – 60

 If you’ve been in the game, it’s likely that you’re taking clients and listings with you – If this is the case you’ll need to transfer over previous materials to the new company’s look and feel. In most instances this is a great opportunity to improve layouts and visual components. If you’re starting from scratch, it’s still a great idea to formulate templates so you’re ready to go when the assignments start rolling in. Examples of marketing templates to create at this stage include offering memorandums, real estate flyers, real estate postcards, real estate email marketing and real estate presentation materials.

5. Social Media Platforms **Day 45
No longer optional, social media has become a necessity to market your company’s capability as well as a great way to connect with your audience through articles, market reports and case studies. Initially focus on creating pages for the big three (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook). Avoid driving traffic to your real estate social media platforms until you have an opportunity to begin posting updates and content. Having the platforms ready to go will make it an easy process for posting once core marketing initiatives have been accomplished. Utilize Hootsuite once you begin making posts to automate and manage all your accounts in one place.  

6. Introductory Email **Day 60

Let’s tell the world! Utilizing an email marketing service such as Constant Contact or iContact – upload your contacts via an excel spreadsheet to create your distribution list. Formulate a simplistic yet attractive email marketing piece that let’s your audience know that you’ve started a new firm, give a summary on the services that you’ll be offering, provide updated contact information and direct visitors to your new website. 

7. Ongoing Marketing **Day 60 – Beyond

Marketing never stops. It’s an ongoing process and something that you need to stay on top of. Key items to consider include case studies for successful projects, regularly published content with corresponding real estate newsletters, market reports, social media posts and of course the marketing collateral to support new listings and assignments.

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That’s it! Your new company is ready for business. As always, marketing is a test and tweak activity, therefore monitor response and always be ready to adjust accordingly. If you need help developing a custom marketing plan or creating the items discussed above, schedule a consultation as we’d be happy to assist in getting your company ready for prime time in 60 days.