Writing adverts and marketing material in commercial real estate is critically important in that you have to capture the attention and the mind of the prospective buyer or tenant. Marketing a property today is now even more specialized in that we have more channels to ‘spread the word’. The internet is fast becoming the advertising channel of choice to get the message out.

Here are some processes to improve your copywriting processes in the promotion of investment property.

AIDA

One golden rule of designing marketing material is AIDA. It has been used by many over the years and is well-known in the advertising trade. It helps significantly when you design an advert to promote a commercial property for Estate sale services or lease. When you know who or where your target market is for the property then you can use the AIDA formula with great effect. It should also be the rule behind the design of all your property:

  • Signboards
  • Brochures
  • Banners
  • E-brochures
  • Flyers
  • Direct mail

Essentially AIDA means the following:

  • Attention – the top of the advert is designed with a headline to grab the reader’s attention.
  • Interest – when you have the attention of the reader you must extend their reading with something of interest. This is the detailed part of the advert.
  • Desire – in this area you put in some elements of desire to make the reader want to have the property. This must be emotional and play to the basic human desires. Simply use the Maslow’s Hierarchy charts to determine which emotion you will write the advert to and attract.
  • Action – at the base of the advert you should always close on a call to action. Make it easy for people to find and contact you with any questions. This call to action close will be something like ‘call me now on phone XXXXXXX’.

In this order of AIDA you can design a great piece of marketing material or advertisement.

Advert Content

Given the previous comments, any advert should be built with and around the following information:

  • Type of property sale or lease (e.g. Auction, Sale, Tender, etc)
  • Timing of Sale or availability
  • Name of Property, Identity
  • Major Selling Points or points
  • Type of Property
  • Location detail
  • Photograph or Drawing (optional and subject to budget)
  • Agents Company, Logo, Address
  • Salespersons Name, and Contact Telephone
  • Advert Size vs. content

The golden rule of Advertising: Always be factual – never speculate. Speculative claims are misleading and can come back to haunt you later through legal disputes.

Editorial

A good Editorial for commercial real estate should always accompany the advert ‘roll-out’ of a notable or different property when it is released for sale. If the property is unique in some way, it will always be of interest to the media. The subsequent running of an Editorial costs nothing and is of high value to your campaign. Expect the media to change whatever Editorial text you give them, but make sure that you give them all the facts that will make your property interesting to the readers.