Marketing Office Space: 3 Best Practices

Marketing office space for lease requires you to have a clear sense of your target audience and the property-level criteria that impacts their needs.

Your messaging, positioning and marketing strategy need to be perfectly in sync in order to resonate and match the demands of your future tenants. This is the foundation of an effective marketing campaign and will drive how you advertise your office properties.

How to market office space

Marketing office space involves promoting the features and benefits of the space to potential tenants in order to attract them to lease or rent the property. This can be done through various methods such as advertising on CRE listing services, print advertising, real estate agents, networking events, and open houses.

It is important to highlight the unique selling points of the space, such as its location, amenities, and size, and to create high-quality marketing materials, such as photographs and floor plans. Additionally, offering incentives such as discounted rent or customized build-outs can also help to attract potential tenants. Building relationships with local businesses, developers and other stakeholders can also be helpful in finding and retaining tenants.

Below are three key best practices to consider when marketing your office space for lease:

1. Organize All Essential Content

Property Description

An effective property description helps tell the story of your property, the location, amenities and other relevant details to help prospects get a summary of key information they need. Make sure to highlight overall building, key features, the location of the property, and its proximity to area amenities.

Building Specifications

For potential tenants looking for office space, building specifications and health standards are absolutely critical and can be a key advantage to referenced throughout the leasing process.

Specific building specifications to include:

• Column spacing
• Internet connectivity
• HVAC systems
• Car parking

Onsite Amenities and Tenant Services

The more information you provide, the better. Potential tenants often view several similar properties that may meet their needs, by listing all the amenities, you allow them to compare all the advantages and facilities available easily. This may include listing the following:

• Bicycle storage
• Conference center
• Fitness center
• Restaurants or cafes
• Upgrades or recent renovations
• Security services
• Janitorial services

Professional Photography

When it comes to viewing a slew of potential properties online, the right kind of photography can ensure your office space makes it to a prospective tenant’s shortlist.

As previously mentioned, potential tenants will have eyes on several similar properties, so a high-quality photography will help highlight the space’s best facets and illustrate any noteworthy features.

Using a mobile phone to take a few shots won’t cut it though, hire a professional photographer who can expertly capture your property’s best angles.

Quality images like these are evergreen and can be used over and over in marketing materials.

Video Content

Even professional photography can only get you so far. Video can help bridge the gap between a digital and a physical visit to the property. Aerial drone footage will emphasize location and layout, while interior videos can show how the facility is configured.

Arena Tower Film by Kilograph

Location Maps

Location is everything and should be communicated front and center.

For example, a shipping company would want to know if a property is located near a highway, as this would benefit transit times.

Companies may also want to take note of a property’s proximity to residential neighborhoods, where staff could reside. Be sure to paint a complete picture of the surrounding area using a custom map, including points of interest such as:

• Local restaurants
• Cafes and bars
• Gyms and fitness centers
• Metro stations
• Access to major transportation

Floor Plans & Test Fit Plans

Office tenants want to understand the visual layout of all available spaces, including the square footage, floor number, suite number, rent type and lease terms.

All these details should be neatly packaged in a downloadable PDF as floor plans and possible fit plans.

Building Certifications

If the property has received a building certification, list them on your description and advertise them to the appropriate audience. This can be a major selling point to the right prospective tenant if you properly promote the property in a place they will see it.

Here are a few of the green building certifications currently available:

• LEED
• Energy Star
• BREEAM
• Green Globes
• Living Building Challenge
• National Green Building Standard
• GreenGuard
• WELL Building Standard
• NABERS
• Green Star
• CASBEE

Team Members

An opportunity to showcase your expertise, share vital information about your office real estate company and put a face to the name.

Here you can detail your experience working with tenants landlords and the solutions you offer to various clientele.

Existing Tenants

Your existing tenant base is one of the most vital tools you can leverage to build confidence in new tenants.

Social proof gives you instant recognition, instilling a level of trust in just a few words. Put your existing tenants on display, and similar businesses will follow.

Not only does like attract like, but it can also be seen as advantageous for companies to be in the same office space to create some synergy.

2. Create Key Marketing Assets

Office property investors and tenants must assess several different opportunities at once against dozens of crucial criteria. Naturally, there is a lot to consider.

Potential clients can weigh their options more efficiently by viewing a document that includes key lease information in a digestible format.

Critical marketing assets like these should be viewable and downloadable on your commercial real estate websites, because interested parties may lose interest or find it frustrating to have to dig for basic information.

Here is the most vital marketing information you should include when leasing an office space:

• Property Website
  A dedicated property website highlights the property details, location, configuration, and other key elements for someone who might be evaluating multiple locations at the same time. Information should be clearly presented and easy to reference.
• Property Flyer/Brochure
  Prepare both PDF version and print version of your brochure with a professional layout that can be easily shared or printed for future reference easily.
• Printed Floor Plans
  Prepare professional floor plans and test fit plans with your branding that can be converted to PDF for online sharing and printed to provide during property tours.
• Email Templates
  Your email templates should be designed to highlight key elements of your property. Create unique templates for announcements, followup messages, nurturing messages for prospects, and other key communications.
• Promotional Items
  Having branded promotional items on-hand during your property tour is an effective way to gain an edge and make your property tours memorable.

3. Promote Your Office Space

Once your office space website is ready, the next phase requires the preparation of digital, print and email-based marketing materials to promote the property. These marketing campaign efforts will help to expand your visibility, beyond your existing audience and help bolster your brokers ability to find prospective clients.

Where is the best place to advertise an office space for lease?

There are many effective channels to create buzz, the ones listed below are considered the most effective:

Display on Your Company Website

Individual property sites are a small piece of a larger ecosystem.

Your company’s digital footprint must always be interlinked, meaning your listing website should always link back to the main company website, where all properties are aggregated and on display. On the main website, you can highlight different properties based on the unique visitor’s interests.

By using an interactive property search engine, site visitors can filter properties by location, property types, availability and more.

This tool also helps to highlight related office spaces, ensuring your relevant properties do not go unnoticed.

Send Your Own Email Campaigns

Leverage your database by sending out emails that notify potential tenants when an office space is available for lease.

Using email templates, you can easily slot in the relevant information quickly to save on time, adding the different properties and locations in your roster. To turn your database into deals, you should consider the following when sending out an email campaign:

• Segmentation – Use metadata about the contacts on your list to segment based on location, interest, property type, and previous client status. This will allow you to send emails only to those who find them relevant.
• Customize Messaging – With those segments, you can now customize your messaging to target individuals based on several factors. Write emails for investors, potential tenants, and previous clients. Write for specific pipeline stages as well – if someone is just beginning their search, messaging should be different than if they just requested an on-site tour.
• Nurture New Prospects – Proactive outreach is an effective way to leverage your email list and garner interest in a newly listed property. Email can also help nurture new prospects. Contacts who complete forms but don’t answer the phone can be sent relevant emails over a series of weeks to keep your company top of mind and push them further down the funnel.

Use this guide to help you get started with email marketing.

Get Listed on CRE Portals

Listing your property on mainstream commercial real estate listing websites is a no brainer. It would be best if you also considered putting your office space onto regional market sites that focus on geography and websites that cater specifically to office properties.

Promote on Social Media

A strong social media presence is essential for prospects, as it is another vehicle to instill trust and push out relevant information. This, however, should be taken with a pinch of salt. Time spent on social media channels should correspond to their investment return; don’t overextend yourself in this department.

If you want to learn how to leverage social media marketing for your office space, check out our comprehensive guide.

Launch Paid Advertising Campaigns

Paid advertisements are still the fastest way to reach your desired audience, and there are many advertising opportunities you can explore. Nowadays, it’s easy to create, test, revise and run ads within a day. To understand how to best curate your message, define an advertising budget and launch a successful campaign, consider the following advertising tools:

• Google AdWords – Google’s ad network reaches 92% of all Internet users through web searches, display ads, retargeting, mobile devices, and video. If someone searches online, you can likely reach them with an ad in Google’s network. Even better, you can do it in just a few minutes and segment based on specific search terms, location, and demographics. There is no better way to quickly target a specific audience for your campaigns.
• CRE Industry Sites – Industry news sites and blogs often sell advertising that is guaranteed to reach a target audience. Especially if you are in a large market that caters to tenants in a specific geographic region, this type of advertising can be highly targeted, allowing you to reach a high number of visitors quickly.
• Trade Journals – In an information-centric industry, CRE trade journals remain relevant for commercial real estate professionals. Advertising in these can help target individuals looking for new properties or partners who can help bolster the visibility of your property to a larger audience.

Office Property Website Examples

101 Marietta

Atlanta, GA
Owner: Dilweg Companies
Marketed by: CBRE

Bank of America Tower

Charlotte, NC
Owner: Hines
Marketed by: Lincoln Harris

99 High Boston

Boston, MA
Owner: Nuveen
Marketed by: CBRE

33 Arch Street

Boston, MA
Owner: Nuveen
Marketed by: CBRE