How to Write a Commercial Real Estate Marketing Plan

The information in a Commercial Real Estate Marketing Plan is often sub-divided into several topics; Executive Summary, Company Description, Market Analysis, SWOT Analysis, Marketing Strategy, Budget, and Projections. It is standard to have a Table of Contents since many of these topics may have sub-topics. Additionally, it is a good idea to include appendices and a Non-Disclosure Agreement if the firm is using a stand-alone marketing plan for a presentation.
Both the Executive Summary and Company Description act as a basic introduction to the Firm and the marketing plan. The Executive Summary will speak about the goals of the marketing plan, the developers, and a brief description of the company while the company description will briefly describe the company, its place in the market place, its history, and its employees. These two sections are meant to complement each other as short introduction to the company, the people in the company, and the marketing plan.
The Market Analysis is meant to provide a complete description of the market the firm exists within. Thus, it is often subdivided into several sections which look at such things as the competition, past, present and potential clients, properties that are available or will be available, building codes, tax codes etc. This section is meant to put the firm in perspective of the environment it is in and can be subdivided into quite a few subtopics in addition to the ones mentioned.
A SWOT analysis takes a closer look at the firm. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. Here an analysis of a firm’s strengths and weaknesses are covered. In addition, the opportunities and threats in the market are examined. For instance, are there any commercial building construction projects scheduled for an area in the near future and if so, what are the biggest obstacles in the way of a firm being able to win a profitable contract may be covered.
The Marketing Strategy section is the meat of the Commercial Real Estate Marketing Plan. This will explore different options for reaching a target population [i.e. cold calls, buzz cards, emails]. It will also cover the best way to show off a property. For instance, the firm may have a contract to fill a fantastic office space that is near a host of transportation and highways but close to a federal penitentiary. Obviously some rather good ideas need to be brought forth in this scenario. The Marketing Strategy should also give hard numbers of the resources available to the firm to achieve its ends. This section is meant to give a very definitive plan on how the firm will implement its plans and what is necessary for it to grow.
The Budget and Projections sections will deliver very concrete information about the present and future financial status of the firm. It should be as inclusive as possible and every effort must be taken for this information to be accurate since, the marketing strategy will depend heavily on the numbers here.
These sections can be the heart of any Commercial Real Estate Plan however; many firms will continue to monitor their plan and include an Evaluation and Control section that will be updated more frequently as this is directly related to how successful the marketing plan is in meeting the firm’s goals. This is often a good idea. A good Commercial Real Estate Marketing Plan will accurately describe and predict the market and the best way for the firm to behave in that market however it should remain flexible enough to deal with unforeseen events such as hurricanes or new competitors.