How to make an effective commercial real estate rental announcement?

Well-written text and visual photos give the broker more views and calls. Thanks to this, the premises are rented out faster. In the article I tell you how we photograph commercial real estate, what we necessarily indicate in ads and how we track their effectiveness.
We add details to the ad text that will hook a potential client

In order for the texts of our ads to be simple and understandable for any client, we assigned work on them to one employee ― a content manager. The broker enters the basic data about the placement in the questionnaire and passes it to the content manager, who based on this information compiles the text of the ad. Thanks to this, agents devote all their time to searching for objects and preparing them for delivery.

We have questionnaires for each type of premises we work with: offices, warehouses, catering and retail space. Each of them contains a set of object characteristics that must be specified in the ad.

For example, in the questionnaire for the office, the broker enters information about:

    price;
    squares;
    district;
    finishing: pre-finishing, rough, requires repair or not;
    layout: open or cabinet;
    availability of windows, wet spots, furniture, air conditioning and parking;
    bathroom: shared or separate.
    ventilation: supply, exhaust or natural.
    entrance: separate or shared, with or without security.

An experienced broker immediately sees which business the room is suitable for, and based on this, forms semantic bullets — special details that will accurately hook the right client. We add them to every ad. For example, if a building is next to a bus stop and it has large windows, it means that it can be rented for catering — a coffee shop or bakery. Therefore, there will be triggers in the ad for the owners of such a business. We will tell you that there is powerful ventilation in the room, there are no steps and a large number of passers-by thanks to the business center and the university nearby.
Photographing the object from the outside and from the inside

The photos in the ad confirm the information about the object that we give in the text. Our experience shows that it is not necessary to invite a photographer. The pictures that brokers take work efficiently.

In order for brokers to take pictures of the premises quickly and efficiently, we have prepared a short regulation. Here are the three main steps from there:

1. Preparation of the object. Before shooting, the broker prepares the room: organizes cleaning, takes the extra things of the previous tenant out of the frame. Sometimes there is a beauty salon in the room, and we understand that it is more suitable for catering or a pick-up point. Photos of couches and barber chairs will not interest a client who is looking for a room for a cafe. Therefore, we will try to photograph the room without them: we will take them out for the duration of the shooting, and then return them to their place.

2. Shooting. Our agents photograph both the room and the building. Outside, the entrance group, a pedestrian path with an entrance group and a sign and a view across the road are removed to show car traffic. Inside, all rooms are photographed from every corner. This way customers get a complete picture of the object and its passability. Our agents know that it is better to use horizontal photos on DOOBY. Otherwise there will be a lot of empty space on the sides: it looks ugly.

3. Photo processing. We recommend our brokers to add 10-15 photos of good quality to the ad. But sometimes photos are obtained with minor flaws, for example, the background is too dark or an extra object got into the frame. In order to show such a room as profitably as possible, we process unsuccessful pictures in a photo editor. There are many such programs, their functions are similar, you can choose any one for our purposes.
Tracking the conversion from views to contacts

For us, the indicator of the effectiveness of an ad on DOOBY is the conversion from viewing to contact. To track it, we divide the number of contact requests by the number of views. This shows what percentage of people wanted to call or write to the broker after viewing the ad.

When evaluating the conversion, we take into account the characteristics of the room. For large illiquid objects, not the highest indicators are acceptable, but for liquid and small premises, the conversion should be significantly higher.
if there are enough views and calls, we leave the ad unchanged. If not, we change the photos or wording in the ad, try other promotion services. It is difficult to say exactly what the conversion should be. This indicator differs in different cities and varies depending on the market situation. Sometimes what seemed ineffective yesterday becomes a good indicator today.
In short: how we make ads and monitor their effectiveness

Here's how we work with ads to get as many customers as possible:

    To make the ads understandable to the client, and brokers did not spend a lot of time on them, we have developed a questionnaire for each type of commercial real estate. The agent fills it out, and the ad texts are prepared by another employee — the content manager.
    In each ad, we include semantic bullets — the features of the object that will definitely hook the client we need. For example, if the object is suitable for catering, we talk about large windows and a powerful hood.
    We photograph the object inside and out: to give the client as much information as possible and not waste time on impressions that will not end in a deal. Pictures from brokers work effectively, so we do not use the services of a photographer.
    If there are minor flaws in the pictures, we fix them in the photo editor. At the same time, we make sure that the object looks realistic. If the client does not recognize the room at the viewing, it is unlikely to remove it.
    We evaluate the effectiveness of the ad by conversion from viewing to contact: we divide the number of contact requests by the number of views. If the result does not suit, we change the photos or wording in the ad, try other promotion services.