New Methods: What would the Insurance Man do?

There’s a tenant-leasing lesson to be learned from car insurance companies. Maybe it’s more of a “what not to do…”

I received a marketing postcard in the mail for car insurance today. The card promised me that I could save up to $350 by switching to XXXXXX car insurance company. I think I get at least 1 of these per month, and I just want to say to all the insurance marketers out there: The message is old. (and also… Liars!!!)

Every insurance company says the same thing, so I know it’s not true. And beyond that, it’s just boring. How much longer is the average consumer going to pay attention to this junk?

We’re seeing the same thing for Commercial Real Estate marketing: The methods are outdated.

We were analyzing a different Commercial Real Estate Marketing company (which I won’t mention here). We took a look at the postcards being produced. They were horrible! Bad photos with bad color, absolutely NO design, and a few cliche words about the commercial property.

At the very least you’ve got to have good presentation. GOOD Design does a few things for marketing tenant properties: It (1) catches the potential tenant’s eye (2) establishes your credibility as a Real Estate professional and (3) relays the message.

I think excellent design does another thing: It keeps itself out of the garbage can (at least for a little while).

Beyond that, you’ve got to get your message to the right people. The cardinal rule here is: If it’s useful, people will pay attention. Leasing your commercial space requires that you aren’t just blasting the masses. But we’ll talk more about that in another post…

So, all that to say: If all your marketing company is doing is slapping a picture of your building onto a postcard with a few boring words, it’s time you give us a call.

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…ahhhhh, I’m glad I got that off my chest. I feel like Doogie Howser at the end of a long day. A long day where I have saved several lives at the hospital as well as patched up some humorously strained relationships. …Doogie is patting himself on the back.