“In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure.
In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”
~ Seth Godin

Marketing in real estate development is more important than ever regardless of whether the market is growing, or contracting. No longer the “fluffier” counterpart to planning and design, marketing is an important investment that will shape how developers and new developments are perceived in increasingly competitive marketplaces. The upside of the pandemic is that people are now exceptionally efficient, yet the downside is that that efficiency has led to even shorter attention spans.

In markets that have slower absorption (such as New York or San Francisco), having the best marketing strategy is imperative to set yourself apart from the competition and protect your pricing projections. In markets with high growth and faster than average absorption (Austin, Denver, most of the Southeast) having a great marketing strategy in place will increase the rate of absorption, and help drive benchmark pricing.

Our Three C’s of great marketing when it comes to developers and new developments are Creativity, Consistency, and Cohesion. These pillars ensure that real estate marketing remains unique, yet always feels connected to a primary brand while providing an exemplary customer experience.

Below are the six areas that we will focus on in this real estate marketing report.

00 | Marketing Budget 101
01 | The Role of a Chief Marketing Officer
02 | The Developer Brand
03 | People ≥ Product
04 | Social Media & Content Marketing
05 | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 

00
Marketing Budget 101

So, what should marketing cost? Here are our general guidelines:

Developer Brand
For a smaller developer with one asset type, we recommend that your basic marketing toolkit includes an up-to-date company website, consistent internal and external-facing collateral (floor plans, essentially anything with your company’s name on it), basic public relations strategy, alongside a limited social media presence.
For a mid-size developer with multiple asset types, all of the former should be included, in addition to developing a strategy that can be executed across all current assets and new developments. This more hands-on approach ensures consistent marketing execution across your entire portfolio (more on how that can happen shortly).

For Sale New Development
Marketing budgets for new development for-sale product should be estimated at 1% - 1.5% of the total estimated sellout. This budget should cover marketing & branding services, collateral development, technology offerings as they relate to the sales process, and collateral production just to name a few. Depending on the locale, it may be possible to recover some of these costs via the listing broker’s final commission if they are engaged at an appropriate time.

For Rent New Development
For rental developments, there is no hard and fast percentage, but the budget should be thought of as two key parts: start-up costs, and on-going costs. Your start-up costs are the baseline of what you’ll need to get off the ground - branding, website design and development, visual asset creation, digital marketing, etc...Your on-going costs are usually prepared in conjunction with the property management firm - they will let you know what they estimate needing annually in order to complete initial and rolling lease-ups. 

We’ll be focusing on how to build the perfect marketing budget soon; it’s a combination of art, science, and common sense. When it comes to budgets, and setting your marketing priorities, we believe that it is better to do one thing right than three things wrong. 

00 | Discussion Starters

• How much should I invest in my “developer” brand compared to my “new development” product brand?

• What are our company’s marketing must-haves; what are our nice-to-haves?

• Which collaborators and suppliers can we truly afford? (set expectations early; it saves time)

• Have we factored in live marketing or a “what-if” line item in case something unplanned happens during the project lifecycle? (live marketing is a must and often forgotten until much later)

• Has our budget been reviewed and signed off on by someone who has experience not only in creating budgets but managing them over time?

01
The Role of a Chief Marketing Officer

Who is going to take the lead on our marketing strategy?

Large-scale companies often have a Chief Marketing Officer leading a team of people in-house to oversee their marketing; we anticipate that in 2021 real estate companies will ramp up and prioritize their marketing focus, increasing their marketing spending in 2021. Unpacking the Value of a Brand: How Marketing Defines the Customer Experience, via Builder, focuses on how the real estate development industry is beginning to realize the significance that having a strong brand conveys when it comes to customer experience. Adrian Foley, President of Brookfield Homes, admits that “I think what is evident is that our customers don’t really enjoy our sales experience…I think there’s a huge step up that we can advance our industry in raising that bar and getting it consistent.”

Smaller to mid-size developers, especially those in a growth period, are often consumed by all of the intricacies that go into a development itself. Although there is a need for a CMO, the size of the company makes a full-time CMO cost-prohibitive. To those developers, we have solved for your needs - meet your Fractional Chief Marketing Officer. This fully-available, yet not full-time CMO role allows your company and development team(s) to scale marketing when you need it while being cost-efficient when you don’t.

We know how all of the pieces fit together, what things cost, should cost, and where efficiencies can be achieved. We have built, continue to build, and cross-pollinate relationships with the best people in the industry.

01 | Discussion Starters

• Are we prioritizing our company brand as much as we are prioritizing our new development brands?

• What is the vision for our company and our brand? How can marketing accelerate the path to that vision?

• Is our company branding and messaging Creative, Consistent, and Cohesive across all of our asset types?

• Does every piece of collateral coming from us feel like it speaks to our mission, values, and the quality of our new development product?

• How can we achieve efficiencies of both time and cost when building and executing marketing strategies/deliverables?

02
The Developer Brand

A developer's brand is more important than ever. In addition, as development companies seek opportunities in new locales that they have not had a presence in before, it is their company’s reputation that will introduce them to the market and carry them further to help achieve faster absorption and higher pricing. We’ve been fans of industry stalwart brands such as Related, The Four Seasons, Edition, Grosvenor, and Proper. Without us saying more than their names, you immediately have an idea of what something in their portfolio represents. It’s not just luxury - but more a sense of consistency and cohesion. You don’t have to wonder about who they are or what their customer experiences represent...you just know.

These brands exemplify the Three C’s of great marketing. They are Creative, adapting to their locales in an authentic manner. They are Consistent, often exercising what seems like an excessive amount of control over any piece of marketing collateral. Yet there is also Cohesion in their brand and marketing collateral voice - even if it doesn’t look the same, it feels the same from the first minute that you express interest.

An interesting segment for many developers will be the build-to-rent sector, which is emerging as one of the most promising areas for growth, particularly in the South, and Southeast where land is abundant, construction is financially viable, and housing density is not seen as the enemy (we’re looking at you California). Industry stalwart John Burns and his team have declared that build-to-rent is real estate’s big winner of 2020 (and beyond). Build-to-rent can be thought of as at the same level of almost to-buy quality product, which means that developers need to think about their own brand, and what it represents more than ever. 

02 | Discussion Starters

• Is our company website as nice, and full of helpful information as are our new development websites?

• As developers, who are we as people? What values do we bring to our new development product?

• Do our target audiences understand our values and how they shape our work product?

• What marketing channels are we currently using? Which ones would we like to use?

• Which brands (do not need to be real estate focused) do we admire, and why? How do they inspire us, or speak to our values?

03
People ≥ Product

People are more unique than the products marketed to them. Development teams should be thinking about increasing their focus on marketing the experiences that people will have living, working, or playing in their new developments. These experiences should be marketed as much as the new development product itself. 2020 was arguably challenging - how can you be home 24-hours a day and stay sane? Yet, if you are ever home that much again, you will ask how your home can be structured so that you thrive? To us, it’s no longer only about wellness as it relates to the body, it’s also about physiological wellbeing that enhances your mental health.

In, The Future Of Homebuilding: Are New Three-Bedroom Homes On Their Way Out? Bruce McNeilage writes that “Many builders are typically working within their existing footprint and reconfiguring the space to add a dedicated home office. This is done in order to provide the dedicated home office space without driving up the cost of homes and pricing themselves out of the market…” As marketers, we look at this space as more than a home office; we see this as an opportunity to help potential customers define it to accommodate their lifestyles. From a marketing perspective, we ask how can we take that “home office” space and have it appeal to as many potential customers as possible by demonstrating additional uses.

The customer experience and user journey are as important as the new development product that is being marketed to them. In 2020, we connected with the founders of Cecilian Partners, a customer-experience focused company for real estate. In November 2020, we wrote about Five Technologies That Real Estate Development Teams Should Utilize Now, and are doubling down on our belief that if you are not vetting chatbots now, you are already behind. We can no longer expect people to adapt their schedules to ours, we must adapt to theirs.

03 | Discussion Starters

• How does our company brand influence our customer experiences?

• How can our company, and our new developments engage with our potential customers more?

• How do our new development offerings enhance both physical and mental wellness?

• How is our product offering marketed in a flexible manner so that we engage with many potential customers as possible?

• Is our new development product flexible enough to accommodate a changing world, and how are we telling that story by using marketing?

04
Social Media & Content Marketing

How we discover, purchase, and commit to brands (or people) has changed. We are online more than ever and spend a healthy amount of time on either the big screen or the little screen. Smart social media and content marketing provides a way to engage with industry peers, target customers, agents & brokers, communities & the public sector, and the media in order to share your company’s brand and values with the world. They like your content, their circles see that, and so forth. We may abhor big tech’s algorithms at times, but you have to admit that they work.

Today’s influencer is the equivalent of yesterday’s endorsement, but exponentially lower in cost, and can be tailored to the locale to ensure authenticity. When it comes to real estate development, influencers should be thought of as those in the fields of design, fashion, media, agents, and brokers who have built credible followings sharing excellent content. Depending on whether you are trying to market your company or a new development, they can help you expand the reach of your brand. These “influencers” can be compensated in creative ways other than fees- perhaps space is donated for a period of time, agents & brokers are made to feel like VIPs by knowing that they will have the information first, or another in-kind gesture that has value to them.

Content marketing is the most valuable and long-lasting marketing. Your audience doesn’t want to hear about you, they want to hear about what you are doing that is valuable to them. If your company has an innovative approach to the industry, knowledge to share, or a new way of thinking - tell people about it, and share the how & why of what drives your investment and decision making. If you have chosen a particular set of collaborators for new development, explain how you got there. If you have invested in sustainability, experiences, partnerships, tell your audience how that provides something valuable to them. Above all, be real, and be genuine…be fun and show some personality.

Social media can be one of the strongest things in your marketing toolbox. 

04 | Discussion Starters

• How does our social media strategy align with our other marketing channels?

• Are we highlighting our suppliers and collaborators?

• Are we sharing our internally-approved content with all of our marketing suppliers from a centralized location? 

• Do we have a main point person on our team to manage this sharing of assets and information? (Why a Fractional CMO is needed)

• Is there enough of who we are as people injected into our social media strategy?
  

05
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

We’ve said it before in Dear Real Estate Development, Not Addressing Diversity and Inclusion Is Impacting Your Bottom Line that not understanding the raw purchasing power of people who are increasingly diverse, and often younger generations, will impact your bottom line. We believe that excluding anyone from marketing is wrong and advocate for an equitable distribution of all voices.

With more and more development teams pursuing work in Opportunity Zones due to the grants, favorable financing, tax relief, and other advantages, developers had better be prepared for communities to ask about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and how your company is addressing it. Locales (even those that are not in Opportunity Zones) have preset targets & mandates in place that development companies must be accountable to as early as during the RFP process. We recently heard on a million-dollar RFP information session in a major city from the developers themselves - “We WILL give priority to those teams that have a significant Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) participation or teaming in place.”

2020 taught us how to see color in a way that we never had before, we stand by that learning. 2021 will push us to see people in a way that we have never before. Recently, while reviewing a rendering the other day, we realized that although we featured people of all colors, we did not show anyone disabled, significantly older, or anyone using a walker or wheelchair.  We were so concerned about DEI accountability, that we forgot to see people. Sometimes you need to ask who is missing.

05 | Discussion Starters

• If Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a key value of our company, are we highlighting all types of it throughout the year so that we are not perceived as performative?

• Do we have appropriate representation in our team members and collaborators/suppliers?

• Can any kind of prospective buyer or renter see themselves in our product?

• Does this DEI lens translate across all of our marketing channels, including social media, marketing collateral, and nonprofit endeavors?

• Who is missing? 

In closing, we believe that real estate development marketing needs a combination of problem-solving, creative-thinking, and deep knowledge about our product, processes, and customer needs. All in record time, because the clock is ticking and history has proven that those who think ahead of the curve come through crises successfully.

If you found this useful, please forward it to a colleague or friend.

A thank you to our Butterfly Voyage industry insiders and contributors (including the incredible Basma Rajper). Their perspectives, insights discussion, and support were a key part of making this piece come to life.