Commercial real estate is at a crucial turning point. In the current economic climate, today’s landlords are tasked with optimizing leasing and differentiating marketing in a robust strategy that encompasses both functional areas. On the leasing side, retaining quality tenants, maintaining effective occupancy, and optimizing the leasing cycle is essential. When it comes to marketing, success comes when landlords engage quality tenants and personalize outreach efforts to capture the limited available tenant interest.
The dip in market demand paired with high interest rates has caused landlords to focus on maintaining current occupancy and renewing leases. But with the power in the hands of tenants, landlords need to inject energy into their engagement and renewal strategies.
Digital marketing has become a clear priority for landlords in every sector. Modern tenants have high expectations of their workspaces, so anything but a detailed, accurate, captivating online presence will capture their attention. From listing to lease, an effective digital marketing strategy is imperative.
This exclusive research digs into the leasing and marketing trends affecting the CRE industry in 2023.
Trends for optimizing and connecting teams emerge
Landlords want to see leasing teams align more effectively with both property management (63%) and portfolio management (58%)
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What were once separate, siloed business functions are now becoming more intertwined. Leasing and marketing teams who work together, have strategic alignment, and share real-time data are better able to react to market fluxes and adapt to the changing expectations of modern tenants.
01 TRENDS
Landlords see value in removing barriers between teams to more effectively support leasing strategies.
49%
of landlords say the economic climate
has affected their technology investments
In 2023, there is an emphasis on aligning internal teams. Leasing, property management, portfolio management, and marketing were listed as the teams who would benefit more from improved collaboration.
Not surprisingly, it was roles within these teams that were also deemed most important by landlords. Leasing, asset managers, property management, and marketing are the roles that landlords seek most often, and acquiring skilled personnel in these roles will determine how successful a portfolio will be.
Top ways landlords are prioritizing adjusting for financial hardship and improving the bottom line:
Relationship
building
Asset
redevelopment
Digital
marketing
Leasing, property management,
and marketing automation software
The state of leasing in commercial real estate
02 THE STATE OF LEASING
Even though 87% of landlords say retention and renewal of current clients is more of a focus in 2023, more landlords don’t have insights into tenant attrition or know what tenants are looking for from their spaces.
The state of marketing in commercial real estate
03 STATE OF MARKETING
Marketing has always been a tool of differentiation, but as 2023 headwinds hold firm, it’s never been more important to carve out a competitive edge with advanced marketing tactics.
For effective marketing, creativity is vital. But that doesn’t mean efforts are built out of trial and error. Today, landlord marketers use quantitative data to show which channels are moving the needle and which are just wasting time. It’s no longer a gut feeling. Top landlords are using data to power their marketing — and the adoption of digital marketing is only set to rise.
Of the available digital tools on the market, landlords are prioritizing marketing automation solutions, photo content, and their corporate websites.
Automation saves landlords time by removing redundancies and improving cross-channel accuracy. Quality photo content drives engagement. And corporate web and microsites allow tenants to easily view and share listings they’re considering.
Social media has emerged as the best way to engage with tenants, followed closely by portfolio websites, and building websites and microsites. With these top three channels being such visual platforms, it makes sense that when listings spotlight professional-level content, they are more likely to capture the attention of quality tenants.
Amidst disruption and change, landlords have continued to adapt strategies to keep up with industry changes. Reconsidering investments and implementing technology has been pivotal for 2023, helping landlords support retention and renewal strategies.
Armed with technology, landlords are optimizing digital marketing, enhancing tenant experience, and evolving to meet the expectations of today’s modern tenants in a period of lower demand.
But that’s just a part of the picture. Landlords are also more dependent on data and insights than ever, and tenant relationships are quickly surfacing as a main driver of growth.
CONCLUSION
Discover all that landlords deem valuable and strategic in 2023.
Download the full Global Landlord Report
Copyright View the Space, Inc. 2023
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Global Landlord Report:
2023
Leasing and Marketing Trends
Landlords view some roles as more critical to their 2023 strategies than others. These roles will be placed at the forefront of strategic decisions and prioritized when it comes to increasing headcount.
Landlords see marketing teams (41%) and brokers and agents (38%) as essential
70%
of landlords see property management teams as a top priority
80%
of landlords see asset managers as the most important role
Aligning leasing and marketing teams improves the flow of data between departments. With this comes an improved touring experience for prospective tenants, a greater ability to craft personalized content and outreach, and greater insight into tenant expectations that helps close deals.
41%
Less than half (41%) of landlords are sure they have insight into upcoming renewals or tenants that are at risk of leaving
38%
Only 38% of landlords are sure they have the tools that help them understand, in real-time, how tenants are using their space and amenities
Across their portfolios, landlords are putting tenants first as retention becomes more important than ever before.
54%
of landlords say they plan to redevelop assets in 2023 to ensure their buildings meet tenant expectations
55%
of landlords are implementing new tenant-focused amenities as a means to improve the likelihood of renewal
57%
of landlords are placing the management of tenant relationships above all else when it comes to investment dollars
Top three content marketing teams rely on to drive engagement:
Building and
space photography
Virtual tours
Accurate space details like conditions, terms, and amenities
With a lower office demand, landlords are paying close attention to their marketing strategies.
of landlords are investing in digital marketing software in 2023, despite only 4% of landlords invested in digital marketing software in 2022
is the top marketing investment for landlords in 2023, followed by photo content, corporate websites, content management solutions and digital advertising
54%
Today’s economy is also influencing digital marketing, with landlords continuing to invest funds toward marketing technology. Capturing the available demand in the market is becoming even more competitive, so marketing tactics that captivate prospective tenants are essential to beating out competing firms.
86%
48%
of landlords are focusing investment on adding new technologies to operations
38%
of landlords are focusing on consolidating and optimizing existing technologies
of landlords are investing in technology. Many landlords are prioritizing new tech, while a significant portion are making do with existing solutions.
Landlords are evaluating the most important areas of business that they want to be tracked with digital marketing metrics
46%
of landlords consider knowing the total number of anonymous views of listings as the most important
69%
of landlords consider understanding how long it takes a listing to get to market as the most important
73%
of landlords consider de-anonymized listing views as the most important
Leasing and marketing teams are dependent
on data
04 DEPENDET ON DATA
Landlords are using many different communication channels with current and prospective tenants. With so many methods to project their message, landlords depend on the data from their marketing channels.
With a keen understanding of what is performing best, they can adjust marketing strategies to support leasing revenue and occupancy goals.
01
of landlords rely on technology to manage their tenant relationships, sayings it is critical to their strategies. Landlords still struggle to gain the clarity they crave despite a desire to improve performance transparency.
Property managers don’t have time to focus on tenant engagement
90%
Landlords are unsure
how best to communicate with tenants
02
Landlords don’t know and can’t measure what tenants find valuable
03
However, the ability to measure channel performance has improved in the last few years.
Landlords are investing in ways to align business functions, making time to focus on what hospitality-like experiences mean for tenants and how to shift leasing strategies to put renewals — over acquiring new tenants — at the forefront.
The way tenants work has changed, forcing firms to adapt leasing strategies to match. Retention of current tenants, over acquiring new tenants, has become more critical. Tenants are revaluating their needs as hybrid and remote workplace models become more prominent.
However, landlords still lack the insight that helps them build winning leasing strategies that support retention and renewal.
But even with barriers creating some friction when introducing a new solution, investment dollars continue to flow into technology, and for good reason: with effective, advanced digital marketing, landlords are significantly elevating their marketing abilities.
The data collected from digital content informs leasing, helping landlords understand what tenants want.
The new age of commercial real estate
Landlords are investing in technology to bolster their existing resources in the current economy. Data shows that landlords are often welcoming of the digitization of leasing and marketing.
05 NEW ERA OF CRE
59%
of landlords are leveraging digital marketing to first capture tenant interest, and 65% of landlords are focusing first and foremost on driving virtual tour attendance.
However, there are a few barriers: a learning curve that comes with adding new solutions, users needing to be more open to change their ways and adopt new processes and new systems needing help to integrate well (or at all) with their existing tech stack.
There are a few explanations for why landlords could be experiencing issues using their new marketing tools.
The main barriers landlords experience when introducing new tech to stakeholders are:
New tools aren’t integrated with existing technology (78%)
New tools are too complex (62%)
Brokers don’t receive enough training on new tools (38%)
41%
Less than half (41%) of landlords are sure they have insight into upcoming renewals or tenants that are at risk of leaving
38%
Only 38% of landlords are sure they have the tools that help them understand, in real-time, how tenants are using their space and amenities
Even though 87% of landlords say retention and renewal of current clients is more of a focus in 2023, more landlords don’t have insights into tenant attrition or know what tenants are looking for from their spaces.
54%
of landlords are investing in digital marketing software in 2023, despite only 4% of landlords investing in digital marketing software in 2022
57%
of landlords are putting marketing automation as a top priority, which is a new investment priority for 2023
Landlords are keen on investing in marketing tools that allow their teams to capitalize on limited tenant demand.
79%
of landlords aren’t leveraging the available metrics, analytics, and insights provided by digital marketing tools to inform decisions.
With this in mind, alignment is even more critical. The more stakeholders with access to insights, the more opportunities there are for putting them into action.
Global Landlord Report:
2023
Leasing and Marketing Trends
Commercial real estate is at a crucial turning point. In the current economic climate, today’s landlords are tasked with optimizing leasing and differentiating marketing in a robust strategy that encompasses both functional areas. On the leasing side, retaining quality tenants, maintaining effective occupancy, and optimizing the leasing cycle is essential. When it comes to marketing, success comes when landlords engage quality tenants and personalize outreach efforts to capture the limited available tenant interest.
The dip in market demand paired with high interest rates has caused landlords to focus on maintaining current occupancy and renewing leases. But with the power in the hands of tenants, landlords need to inject energy into their engagement and renewal strategies.
Digital marketing has become a clear priority for landlords in every sector. Modern tenants have high expectations of their workspaces, so anything but a detailed, accurate, captivating online presence will capture their attention. From listing to lease, an effective digital marketing strategy is imperative.
This exclusive research digs into the leasing and marketing trends affecting the CRE industry in 2023.
ABOUT
Trends for optimizing and connecting teams emerge
01 TRENDS
49%
of landlords say the economic climate
has affected their technology investments
Top ways landlords are prioritizing adjusting for financial hardship and improving the bottom line:
Relationship
building
Digital
marketing
Leasing, property management,
and marketing automation software
Asset
redevelopment
02 THE STATE OF LEASING
03 STATE OF MARKETING
Top three content marketing teams rely on to drive engagement:
Building and
space photography
Accurate space details like conditions, terms, and amenities
Virtual tours
With a lower office demand, landlords are paying close attention to their marketing strategies.
Marketing automation is the top marketing investment for landlords in 2023, followed by photo content, corporate websites, content management solutions and digital advertising
54%
of landlords are investing in digital marketing software in 2023, despite only 4% of landlords invested in digital marketing software in 2022
of landlords are investing in technology. Many landlords are prioritizing new tech, while a significant portion are making do with existing solutions.
38%
of landlords are focusing on consolidating and optimizing existing technologies
48%
of landlords are focusing investment on adding new technologies to operations
86%
04 DEPENDET ON DATA
of landlords rely on technology to manage their tenant relationships, sayings it is critical to their strategies. Landlords still struggle to gain the clarity they crave despite a desire to improve performance transparency.
90%
Property managers don’t have time to focus on tenant engagement
01
Landlords are unsure
how best to communicate with tenants
02
Landlords don’t know and can’t measure what tenants find valuable
03
Landlords are evaluating the most important areas of business that they want to be tracked with digital marketing metrics
69%
of landlords consider understanding how long it takes a listing to get to market as the most important
73%
of landlords consider de-anonymized listing views as the most important
46%
of landlords consider knowing the total number of anonymous views of listings as the most important
05 NEW ERA OF CRE
The main barriers landlords experience when introducing new tech to stakeholders are:
New tools aren’t integrated with existing technology (78%)
New tools are too complex (62%)
Brokers don’t receive enough training on new tools (38%)
Amidst disruption and change, landlords have continued to adapt strategies to keep up with industry changes. Reconsidering investments and implementing technology has been pivotal for 2023, helping landlords support retention and renewal strategies.
Armed with technology, landlords are optimizing digital marketing, enhancing tenant experience, and evolving to meet the expectations of today’s modern tenants in a period of lower demand.
But that’s just a part of the picture. Landlords are also more dependent on data and insights than ever, and tenant relationships are quickly surfacing as a primary driver of growth.
CONCLUSION
Discover all that landlords deem valuable and strategic in 2023.
Download the full Global Landlord Report
Copyright View the Space, Inc. 2023
BACK TO TOP
However, there are a few barriers: a learning curve that comes with adding new solutions, users needing to be more open to change their ways and adopt new processes and new systems needing help to integrate well (or at all) with their existing tech stack.
There are a few explanations for why landlords could be experiencing issues using their new marketing tools.
Marketing automation