Property companies must embrace marketing, otherwise they will be left behind   

For too long the real estate sector been lagging behind finance, tech and consumer goods, which all put marketing to the fore to maximise performance. The time has come to do something about it. With so many people fighting over the same sources of capital, you will be left behind if you don’t ensure marketing techniques are front-of-mind with investors.

While financials and in-depth analysis will always be critical, cutting-edge marketing could be game changing for the real estate industry, which has historically been dull, repetitive and lacking in creativity. Why does the sector market £200m buildings using PDF brochures that say very little?

In real estate, we deal with physical assets that people use every day. With the right marketing, buildings and developers can create authentic brands that reflect and communicate the user-experience better – cutting through the noise and allowing them to attract the best capital, talent and sites.

A good brand is often the difference between assets achieving premium values, higher rents and tighter yields. Harris Associates has demonstrated that investors are attracted by savvy social media campaigns and targeted digital marketing. This is particularly the case as capital is moving from offices and retail to living.

Our internal data shows that 30-40% of inbound (pre-qualified) investors were attracted to assets that had been marketed using enhanced social-media marketing collateral compared with the 5% using traditional PDF strategies. This is truly transformative for a sector that rarely relies on LinkedIn and other social channels to sell assets (as well as its own property companies).

Some elements of digital marketing are simple but still massively underutilised. For example, did you know people are 300% more likely to open an email with a video attached?

Harris Associates’ LinkedIn campaign for a student accommodation forward-fund in Leeds achieved more than 12,000 video views and 100,000 LinkedIn impressions, culminating in a deal with BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset managers, with $9.1trn in AUM.

We’ve shown the power of B2B digital marketing, but we’ve now gone one step further. We’ve launched Harris Studios, a new in-house marketing agency that aims to help property companies amplify their marketing to achieve their strategic objectives.

Whether it’s a re-brand, a comprehensive LinkedIn strategy, a new website, an event or a campaign, Harris Studios is there to make real estate marketing “unboring”. We are on a mission to help property companies innovate, providing best-in-class marketing to developers, operators, lawyers, investors or anyone who wants more exposure.

Harris Studios is here to drive our clients’ goals, through excellent marketing, grounded in a deep understanding of the investment market. No other marketing agency has this capability.