Marketing

Marketing is an interesting (and confusing) topic. There are people who believe (as certain politicians do) that throwing money at something will result in action.

Just as those politicians are deluded, so are those who believe marketing is just about spending money.

Illustrating this is the old joke that says that half of all the money we spend on marketing is wasted. We just don’t know which half.

There was a time when the default advertising option for real estate was the daily newspaper. Over time that has morphed to TradeMe.

Along with physical signs, glossy magazines and a scatter-gun approach to direct emails. But just as the sun is setting on social media platforms for promoting consumer brands, significantly the landscape is changing in the reality of marketing industrial real estate.

There are some agents who hold to the belief that putting a property on Trademe, and/or erecting a sign, is an effective promotional move. However, the reality is very different. Agents we speak to tell us that virtually all their sales come from targeted database marketing. In other words they are promoting to people and organisations who are potential buyers.

You may as well try and sell shampoo to a bald man as expend energy on promoting industrial property to someone who doesn’t even know what it is. The signs, the ads and the Linkedin posts are simply vanity projects. They probably have their place, but they don’t sell property.

What does sell (based on our feedback) is the targeted approach. And with the use of email it is also very cost effective. But just like the fable of the boy who cried wolf (for those not familiar with it, a shepherd boy grew bored with looking after his sheep, so for some amusement cried wolf. All the villagers came running – much to his amusement. Next time he was bored he did the same thing for a little amusement. But then when a real wolf appeared, the villagers ignored his calls) scatter gun email marketing is likely to be counter productive.

Trust and confidence become increasingly important aspects of direct to database marketing. Send me offers of a kiwifruit orchard near Te Puke, a family home in Parnell or a 2 bedroom cottage in Cambridge and I am less likely to take seriously your next missive. But conversely, come to me with a real prospect that makes economic sense, and even if the deal is not consummated, next time you will be taken much more seriously.