What Are UTM Parameters (and Why CRE Marketers Should Care)?

Commercial real estate marketing teams are investing more than ever in digital campaigns. Whether it’s email blasts, LinkedIn ads, property listing syndication, and more. But without clear attribution, it’s hard to know what’s working and what’s not. That’s where UTM parameters come in.

What Are UTM Parameters?

UTM parameters are short pieces of text you can add to the end of a URL to help track the performance of specific campaigns in analytics platforms like Google Analytics, HubSpot, or SharpLaunch. Without UTMs, it’s like launching campaigns blind.. you know there’s activity, but you don’t know where it came from or what moved the needle.

Here’s what a UTM-powered URL looks like:

https://www.companywebsite.com/123-main-street?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=summer_lease_push

Each parameter gives you context about how a visitor got to your site:

• utm_source: Where the traffic is coming from (e.g. linkedin, email, loopnet)
• utm_medium: The type of channel (e.g. cpc, newsletter, referral)
• utm_campaign: The specific campaign (e.g. summer_lease_push, investor_outreach_q3)

Example for a CRE Campaign

Let’s say you’re launching a marketing campaign for a new office building at 33 Main Street. You’re promoting it via a LinkedIn Ad and a broker email blast.

Example 1: LinkedIn Ad URL
https://www.yourcompany.com/properties/33-main?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=33main_launch

Example 2: Email campaign URL
https://www.yourcompany.com/properties/33-main?utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast&utm_campaign=33main_launch

Final Thoughts

Now when you view your analytics, you’ll clearly see which campaigns drove most results. UTM parameters are a small detail with big impact. For commercial real estate marketers, they unlock the ability to track and optimize every digital campaign with precision.