Product, price, place, promotion are the so-called, “4Ps” of marketing. These components of the marketing mix represent the levers that can be moved in advancing the sale of a commercial real estate offering. Industry experts employ each of these based on industry knowledge, instinct, and best practice. In a soft market, prices may be lowered to increase the interest of potential buyers. To make a property more attractive, a landlord may entice leasers through use of concessions or other promotional tools.

 If you’re in business today, you have a website. That’s almost a given. Smallbusiness.com conducted a survey, through which they estimated 71% of small businesses have websites, and that number grows for the mid-size companies and enterprise businesses. There are some key elements to consider in designing and managing a commercial real estate website, but chief among those is making sure that your site gets found. That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in.

While day-to-day sales and customer engagement are filled with marketing-type activities, marketing a commercial real estate business requires a much more comprehensive approach. To be sure that you’re reaching your target audience in as many ways as possible, you’ll want to make sure that you have all of the necessary marketing tools. However, running a comprehensive marketing program takes a lot of effort and can be taxing on any company. For that reason and others, outsourcing your commercial real estate marketing can make sense.

Expect performance from a virtual marketing company

The first thing to remember in hiring a virtual market team is that you’re not hiring an advertising agency. You’re hiring a team that will act as an extension of your organization. If you hire the right team, you’ll also be hiring a group of professionals that know your industry intimately. Hiring the right team means that you won’t be stuck explaining the difference between a real estate brochure and an offering memorandum.

A real estate marketing agency that has your best interest in mind will provide a turnkey outsourcing solution capable of handling all your commercial real estate marketing needs. They’ll help you to strategize, develop, design and orchestrate your next and future marketing campaigns. The best outsourcing providers will also have a proven process for driving the success in your industry.

Benefits to outsourcing

Outsourcing maximizes your time. Executives that outsource their commercial real estate marketing will tell you outsourcing streamlines their marketing processes. When asked for his impressions of outsourcing, one leader at a real estate investment firm said, “The ability to outsource responsibilities allows me to spend more time in front of my clients and prospects and close more deals.” In a nutshell, that’s precisely the reason to look outside your organization for marketing help—so you can stay focused on the core business.

While opportunity cost is one reason to consider outsourcing, there are also some very tangible monetary benefits as well.

Cost savings is one of the biggest reasons for considering outsourcing the marketing of your firm. While every firm is a little bit different and has different needs, at least one expert feels that you can get an entire team of experts for what is likely a fraction of the cost of one full-time marketing executive. In fact, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the salary of a marketing manager is about $130,000 annually. Outsourcing lets you tap into professionals without incurring the cost of overhead.

Another reason that outsourcing comes with cost savings is the pricing model. A virtual marketing that runs based upon a subscription model is going to have a solution that is right-sized for your business. That means you’re not paying for more than you need.

The ultimate measure of any business venture is the return on investment (ROI). An outsourced marketing team will do just that. The right team will do things like refine your search engine optimization, help flight your newsletters to build readership and create value-added content that will lead to inbound lead generation. The additional interest in your offerings and the opportunity to close more business means you’ll be re-cooping your investment in your new marketing team in no time.