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Commercial real estate marketing requires considered investment in a number of resources, but one of the most important is the property description that sits at the center of your campaign.

To guide you in crafting a high quality, results-oriented property description, we’ve outlined the core elements you should include along with real property description examples that you can use as a template for marketing your next property.

With the right approach to your target audience, location, and property description best practices, you can produce an enhanced property description that generates more leads and helps existing prospects find the information they need quickly.

How to Write a Property Description

Your commercial real estate description is a summary of everything that matters most about the property.

This is where you tell the story of your property, the location and amenities of the property, and any other relevant details.

Imagine you are having a conversation with a prospect.

What details would you highlight when introducing the property to them?

Below we’re outlined 5 major elements and 8 useful tips that can help you optimize your property descriptions along with concrete examples you can use for inspiration.

1. Craft a Great Headline 

The headline is the hook – the billboard that will determine if someone stops skimming through dozens of listings and clicks through to read yours.

If your headline doesn’t speak to the specific needs and interests of the people who are most likely to be interested in your property, you’ll lose them.

How do you ensure it is effective?

• Be Specific – The more detailed your headline is, the more effectively it will target the right, qualified buyers who are a good fit for your property. Vague, detail-thin headlines can attract a lot of false positives, while pushing away people who are in a buying mindset.
• Be Professional – Show your expertise by including key details that matter to investors. Square footage, the style of the property and the location are all key details that are often relevant at this stage of a prospect’s search.

Capture attention quickly with a headline that speaks to the specific needs of the target prospects you want to look at your property.

2. Tell a Compelling Story

Many property descriptions are short, uninteresting and loaded with facts and figures. There is a place for those numbers, but it’s not your property description.

This is prime real estate – the top block of text prospects will see when they land on your website and the most effective way to engage with them in the sales process.

A good description should be a narrative. It should tell the story of your property. It should focus on the emotions that the property and its amenities evoke. This is where you can describe the style of the property, the history of those who have operated there, and the importance of its place in the neighborhood.

You’re not just selling a property – you’re selling a component of another company’s brand. This property will become part of how they present themselves to prospects and customers. How will it do so?

Property description example:

Current Cap Rate: 4.7% | Market Cap Rate: 5.4% | Day-One Cash-on-Cash: 6.0%
As the exclusive listing advisor, the Bay Area Multifamily Group of Colliers international is pleased to present the opportunity to acquire a property in an highly demanded, in-fill location. Citadel Apartments is among the best located and best maintained properties in Rohnert Park, where a veritable hotbed of development is set in a family-oriented, values-focused neighborhood community. The property offers 22 two-bedroom units, all sitting on one quaint tree-lined parcel that totals over an acre in size. The property was built in 1976 and recently significantly upgraded by the current ownership.

Citadel Apartments boasts manicured landscaping and an ample amenity package. Parking is comprised of 44 total spaces, half of which are covered garages while the other half are lined surface spots. The property entrance is magnificently marked with a new wood trellis and cement walkway. That pathway accesses all units and, at its terminus, is a robust recreational area. The all new fire pit and barbecue area is the perfect poolside complement. Also adjacent to the pool is the all new fitness center.

3. Emphasize the Location

Beyond the property, go into greater detail on the location, surrounding businesses and amenities. Elements like foot traffic, the vibe of the neighborhood, and more will have a direct impact on many businesses as they enter a new neighborhood. Your description of the location will largely depend on the type of investors or tenants you are looking for as well.

Photography plays a prime role here. Invest in a professional real estate photographer who can take appealing photographs that augment and highlight the most important elements of your property while reframing any potential negatives.

Technology now makes it possible to supplement photography with inexpensive video tours and 3D property tours as well.

Depending on your prospects and the type of property you’re promoting, consider the role that these technologies might play.

Property description example:

Directly overlooking Fan Pier’s activity and Boston Harbor, 100 Northern Avenue @ Fan Pier pairs breathtaking views of Boston’s waterfront with a magnificent backdrop of the city skyline.

4. Focus on Key Facts and Features

While your property description is the narrative base of your marketing efforts – the shiny coating that will capture the attention of prospective investors and guide them into a sales conversation – the facts, features and highlights of your property are equally important.

This is the information that will be referenced throughout the sales process and help filter prospects based on key features that matter most. Specific information you should list includes:

• Size of the Property – What is the total square footage of the building and the lot? Are there relevant sizes or segments of the building to highlight?
• Market Information – What type of property are you listing and who is it designed for? You’d be surprised how many listings neglect information about the Class and property type.
• A List of Amenities – What is included with the property? Is it primed for a certain type of business (restaurants, for example)? Are there nearby bus stops or train stations? Highlight what you feel your prospects will care most about.
• Capital Improvements – What improvements have been made and how recently? What opportunities are there for further updates?
• Demographic Information – Highlight neighborhood information like walking score, transit score, the age breakdown of the neighborhood, average income and other factors that might influence an investor’s decision.
• Tenant Information – What companies are already tenants in the building? Who has been there in the past and how successful were they? These are things your prospects will care about.

Invest some time to include a comprehensive list of accurate information here. It will help filter prospects and ensure only qualified investors or tenants contact you about the property.

Property description example:

KEY FACTS

• 97,189 SF retail shopping center
• Miami-Dade’s largest and most dynamic submarket with over 19 million SF of retail and an impressive 97% occupancy.
• Stable tenant mix with average tenant duration over 10 years.
• Going-home side of Kendall Drive.
• 5-mile density is an impressive 5x greater than Miami-Dade average.
• Average HH income of greater than $81k within 5-miles.

5. Don’t Forget a Call to Action

The final element of your property description is the call to action – the language and button through which someone reaches out and engages with your company. The call to action you use will largely depend on what you want prospects to do.

Are you scheduling tours? Fielding calls? Channeling outreach to specific people in your company?

Make sure you very specific about what they are requesting when they click the call to action button. This is how you will actually capture and nurture new leads.

Keep the below tips in mind next time you write a description that will be featured in your commercial real estate website design to improve your chances of converting visitors to potential prospects

6. Keep it Short

Provide the facts quickly in clear English. Nobody wants to read a wall of text so use this opportunity to succinctly provide all the key information that is relevant to your target audience.

Remember:

The majority of your audience are scanning through your listing, not actually reading!

A good rule of thumb is to write descriptions that are between 80-150 words in length. Less than 80 words is a bit too thin and more than 150 words starts to become very dense.

7. Accentuate the Key Amenities

The property description is a great place to reaffirm both building and local amenities. Consider highlighting a few of the key “stand-out” amenities using positive descriptive phrases.

This is not a place to include a laundry list of all features and specifications.

Keep it short and sharp.

If the building itself is uninteresting, then focus on the submarket and access to transportation and surrounding points of interest.

8. Highlight the Other USPs

In commercial real estate, there are a lot of “unique selling points” apart from the building itself.

Besides the physical property there is other specific information that could be very relevant to your client that you should consider including.

For example: zoning, tax credits, new area developments, etc.

Use the USPs appropriately to seduce your buyer.

9. Define the Audience

Who is this property for?

Spell this out.

The best property descriptions clearly tell you who the ideal tenant or buyer would be.

Not only can this save you time and get rid of inquiries from irrelevant leads, but it can also open the door to leads that might not have previously considered your property as a viable opportunity.

10. Reinforce “Social Proof”

Social proof can be a powerful way to give your property listing instant credibility and make your building much more attractive.

Two easy ways to sway your buyers are by focusing on:

• Quality of tenants or
• Quantity of tenants

If your property is home to notable anchor tenants, you might want to consider dropping a few names. Nothing can better attest to the quality of a property better than the quality of its tenants.

Another option is to include the number of tenants at the property or in the neighborhood (for example: “East Cambridge is home to over 120 high-tech companies”). The quantity by itself can have a powerful effect.

11. Optimize for SEO Friendliness

Typically, the property description is the first large chunk of text Google will see on your page so make sure you consider including SEO-friendly phrases.

Two important elements to remember to always include are the:

1) property type and
2) location

Here is an example of SEO-optimized lead sentence: “123 Main Street is a mixed-use property available for sale in West Hartford, CT…”

Why?

Because most tenants and investors will include a combination of those elements in all of their Google searches when looking for property. So make sure you have your bases covered for SEO.

12. Check Spelling and Grammar

This is basic: Incorrect spelling or grammar is a red flag that screams “sloppy”.

Don’t risk losing the confidence of a buyer because of a spelling or grammar mistake. Have someone (other than you) double-check your writing.

13. Break Up the Text

If you want to encourage your audience to read through and digest the content from your description, then break up your text into smaller paragraphs.

Don’t make the mistake of writing a large block of text.

This not only improves readability but also makes it much more appealing to your potential clients.

Property Description Examples

Example 1 – Office Tower   

University Tower is a 17-story Durham landmark building, offering unique Class A office space with stunning views of Durham and Chapel Hill. Positioned equal distance between downtown Durham and downtown Chapel Hill, University Tower offers professionals easy access to both “city centers,” I-40, Research Triangle Park, and RDU Airport. Visible from 3 miles away on approach from I-40, the sparkling emerald colored Tower is seen rising above the pine trees with its tall spire.

Amenities include the exclusive penthouse floor University Club Restaurant, bar, and private dining/meeting rooms, on site professional property management team, (4) high speed elevators, and new Trane Building Management System. Floors may be subdivided as needed to accommodate any size business.

Example 2 – Retail

Located downtown in the heart of Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, The Retail at the Realtor Building is a world class retail space on the ground floor of the prestigious Realtor Building, 430 Michigan Avenue.

This prime retail oasis boasts 207 feet of wrap around storefront, with 33 feet of frontage on North Michigan Avenue, expansive windows and high ceilings of 13 feet. Situated in a high traffic area of up to 55,000 people per day, neighboring retailers include The Shops at Northbridge anchored by Nordstrom’s, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Ermenegildo Zegna, Apple, Forever 21, GAP and recently signed Under Armour.

Sustainability should be a major concern for anyone in the commercial real estate space. According to studies*, tenants are willing to pay about a 9% rent premium for green building features. What’s more? A strong focus on sustainability can also help keep you competitive and it can also increase your property values* significantly.

Green building certifications are a great way to showcase your firm’s focus on sustainability to prospective tenants and investors.

11 Green Building Certifications to Know

Fortunately, there are nearly a dozen different certifications to choose from.

Want to make your commitment to sustainability known? Here are just a few of the green building certification programs you can take part in:

LEED

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), issued by U.S. Green Buildings Council, is the most easily recognized sustainable building certification out there. It has nine separate certification programs, including ones for commercial, retail, new construction, existing buildings, and more.

Each program has a points-based rating system. You get points for each green building feature, and your point total determines whether you’re LEED Certified, LEED Silver, LEED Gold, or LEED Platinum (the highest level).

To apply, you’ll need to:

• Head to the U.S. Green Buildings Council website to register your project, fill out your forms, and pay the application fee.
• Identify the credits you’re seeking, and prepare documentation to support how you achieved them.
• Wait for the USGBC to review your application. They may ask for supplementary documentation in the process.
• Get your certification. You’ll need to pay a fee based on the size of your project and the certification you’re seeking.

Energy Star

Energy Star is another well-known green building certification that’s offered through the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. To qualify, your building needs to be at least 15% more energy efficient than traditional properties. These certifications last for one year.

To apply, you’ll need to:

• Have an Energy Star score of 75 points or higher.
• Register for a Portfolio Manager account and fill out your application.
• Get an approved engineer or architect to conduct a site visit and verify your project.
• Enter the site visit information into your account
• await the final verdict

BREEAM

BREEAM (the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is an international program that recognizes sustainable buildings and infrastructure projects.

The certification comes with a star rating from one to six and a designation of “pass,” “good,” “very good,” “excellent,” or “outstanding.”

You can get BREEAM-certified on new construction, in-use, or refurbishment projects. To get started, you’ll need to:

• find a licensed assessor in your area
• register the project
• have the project assessed
• await your certification

Green Globes

The Green Globes certification program is offered through the Green Building Initiative.

It consists of three categories: new construction, existing buildings, and interiors.

To qualify, you need to meet at least 35% of the program’s 1,000 available points. The process consists of an online survey, a third-party on-site assessment, and a post-assessment.

To get started, just file a quote request for your project.

Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge certification is based on your building’s sustainability performance over a 12-month period. To qualify, you need to achieve all seven “petals,” which include materials, site, water, health, equity, beauty, and energy.

To apply, you’ll have to register at Living-Future.org, pay your registration fee, submit your documentation over the course of 12 months, and submit to a data audit at the end of the year.

National Green Building Standard

A sustainable building certification from the National Association of Home Builders, the NGBS designation is for residential properties only (including single-family homes, multi-family properties, and mixed-use developments.)

Like LEED, it has different levels of certification, ranging from Bronze to the much-coveted Emerald.

To apply, you’ll need to score your building, hire an accredited project verifier, have your designs verified and scored, send your report to the Home Innovation Labs, and pass a final inspection with the verified. You’ll receive your certification once the process is complete.

GreenGuard

The GreenGuard certification is all about air quality and focuses on low-emission building materials, mold prevention, moisture protection, and more. The application process requires various planning meetings, reviews, test groups, compliance testing, and a final certification package.

According to the GreenGuard Environmental Institute that manages the program, it usually takes up five to six months to complete.

WELL Building Standard

The WELL Building Standard measures sustainability using seven core concepts, including air, water, nourishment, light, movement, and more.

Awarded by the International WELL Building Institute, the certification focuses on the overall impact of buildings on human health and wellbeing. The entire certification is broken down in this guidebook.

NABERS

NABERS is a green building certification available to Australian projects only. It measures environmental impact on a six-star scale, based on energy use, waste production, water use, and indoor environment.

To participate, you can estimate your rating using the program’s online calculator or find an accredited assessor near you.

Green Star

Green Star is another Australia-based option that certifies interiors, building designs, energy performance, and even entire communities.

The process requires online registration, documentation, and an independent panel assessment.

CASBEE

The Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency is a green building certification in Japan, though it’s currently being piloted for international use.

The program certifies residential and commercial construction, urban development, and city management. The application process includes various assessments.

References:

Demand for Green Buildings: Office Tenant’ Stated Willingness To Pay For Green Features

Impact of Sustainability on Property Values

A well-designed office website is pivotal to help reflect the value of your asset and can (positively or negatively) affect your overall marketing efforts.

Tenants are becoming increasingly tech-savvy, as they spend more time researching office space for lease on their own from various mobile, tablet and desktop devices. A well-designed commercial real estate website makes a strong visual impression, provides quick and convenient access to key information, and can help your property stand out from the crowd.

To help inspire your next website design, we compiled a selection of the 5 best office property websites based on design, content and functionality.

Bank of America Tower at Legacy Union

Visit the Bank of America Tower at Legacy Union website

33 Arch Street

Visit 33 Arch Street website

99 High Boston

Visit 99 High Boston website

Capital Center Providence

Visit Capital Center Providence website

The Ivanhoe

Visit The Ivanhoe website

Water Ridge Office Park, an 844,958-square-foot office complex in Charlotte, NC, comprised of 11 buildings, was acquired in 2015 and went under extensive renovations.

Soon after, the property management team at Foundry Commercial launched a property website to help increase tenant engagement and create a digital community that tenants could interact with every day.

The digital presence created for Water Ridge Office Park provides their tenants a great experience with the property from end-to-end, not just with the physical asset.

Here’s how they did it:

1. Accentuate key amenities

Apart from the description, photo and video gallery of the property, the Water Ridge website has dedicated sections that highlight key amenities and provide tenants with an interactive information hub they can come back to every day.

Some of the highlighted key on-site amenities include:

• food truck service
• fitness facilities
• community events
• outdoor picnic areas and walking trails
• yoga and cross training classes
• car wash
• rewards program

2. Highlight property events

The property management team added an interactive events module that provides occupants of the office park with deeper community involvement.

The module includes a calendar of upcoming social events and also direct links to image galleries of past events, holiday activities, and special promotions.

By promoting building events and activities, the website helps foster social connections to help tenants engage with their building community and increase overall sense of connectivity and satisfaction.

3. Provide a virtual tenant portal

The property website also includes a dedicated area where tenants can login to access information about tenant procedures, restaurant menus, reward coupons, upcoming activities and other available offers.

This digital engagement platform can easily connect occupants to all the local amenities and streamline communication.

4. Quick access to property management info

Tenants at the Water Ridge Office park can directly access the maintenance requests portal and contact property managers through the property website.

By providing an easy and transparent line of communications and creating a direct link between occupants and property management, the team can provide a high quality customer service and build strong relationships and better tenant satisfaction.

Need more ideas to engage your tenants?

As per CBRE’s North American occupier survey  more than 80% of occupiers perceive amenities as integral to the employee experience and over 59% of landlords are investing in technology that will enhance the employee experience.

With a few simple tactics that can easily be implemented on your property website, you can help create a positive tenant experience. Here are 5 Ways to Improve Tenant Experience with SharpLaunch.

Over the past few years, there has been a drastic increase of CRE tech adoption in the industry and continued investment into Proptech companies. In Q1 of 2019, funding for the first quarter 2019 reached nearly $6billion with the half year total now close to $9billion according to PropTech funding 2019 data by Unissu.

Where can we expect the CRE industry to go from here?

We asked some of the top commercial real estate thought leaders about which CRE tech and marketing trends they are most excited about for 2020:

“While I’m not sure it will hit big in 2020, one trend that is definitely coming to commercial real estate is Augmented Reality. We are already starting to see this in proptech in the facilities maintenance realm. But, as more of our world gets digitized we will one day be able to view a building or property through our smartphones or tablets and have relevant data overlay the buildings in real time.”

  Diane K. Danielson, Chief Operating Officer, SVN International Corp.

 

“In 2020 we will see a lot of of M&A in proptech. Raising money will be harder to achieve since we are in a much more mature state of the market for those products. It’s an important year to show real revenue potential.”

  Jonathan Schultz, Founder and Managing Principal, Onyx Equities

 

“I think 2020 will finally see the tenants demanding that landlords provide a certain tech stack in both residential and commercial buildings. Forward thinking landlords will leave their competitors in the dust as they offer efficiencies, services and amenities old-school landlords hesitate to adopt.”

  Jeremy Neuer, Executive Vice President, CBRE Institutional Properties

 

“Connectivity and mobility continue to be key tech trends in CRE. We have seen it first-hand in our new office space at McCall & Almy with our workers having the flexibility to pick up and work anywhere in the office or even our building lobby to have impromptu meetings with clients or collaborating with colleagues. With everyone interacting on our smartphones, I am excited to see tenant experience apps continue to gain popularity enabling us to be more efficient with our time by signing up for gym classes, ordering lunch and even the ever-popular office complaint of changing temperature controls.”

  Linda M. McDonough, Vice President, Marketing, McCall & Almy

 

“One of the most important trends in the CRETech marketing space is that startups are really emerging as powerful brands in the CRE industry at large. These brands have built a clear identity, value prop and product differentiation after years of investing in their marketing and culture. This is a wonderful reflection of the growth and maturity of the sector overall that we have arrived at a point where companies are known in the commercial real estate industry at large. Tipping point? Not yet. But a powerful statement. Hell yes!”

  Michael Beckerman, CEO CREtech, The News Funnel, Atypical

 

“I see a maturity in the industry that I have never seen before. This is evident in the bigger and bigger VC checks that are being written, the M&A activity and the general spirit of cooperation. No longer does it feel like a lot of startups all competing for attention. Now successful companies are looking for ways to work with others to grow their platforms even bigger. The property industry is waiting for winners to emerge and now I think we are seeing some. I predict we will start to see some wide-scale global adoption soon.”

  Julia Arlt, Global Digital Real Estate Leader, PwC

 

The incremental technological improvement to a multi-trillion dollar asset class like commercial real estate will always happen in some form or another, but where is the true opportunity to dominate?

The tenants who occupy space will drive the next wave of innovation in commercial real estate. And the opportunity is in the ability to empower the tenant and the user of commercial real estate.

  Duke Long, Founder, Duke Long Agency

 

“The marketing of property has always required a huge amount of work for brokers (some brokers I know have a full time graphic designer just to put together their offering memorandums) and given them very little feedback in return. The automated systems that are being developed will help many brokers in creating great marketing material and the digital distribution channels are allowing them to do proper A/B testing on their messaging. Hopefully, this will lead to a lot better-looking marketing material, we have all seen our share of terrible advertising enough to know that there is plenty of room for improvement.”

  Franco Faraudo, Co-Founder, Propmodo

 

“A few years back I discussed, on this website, a CreTech juggernaut that was hitting the real estate industry. There are now well over 7000 businesses involved in PropTech globally and over 50% are involved in the commercial sector. Whilst I expect this to decrease in time (though a combination of M&A activity as well as a consolidation through other means such as businesses failing) it still means there is a raft of exciting opportunities out there as this juggernaut continues to have an impact.

Looking at the market view today however, tenant engagement seems a really high priority for landlords and occupiers. It is easily understood, there are legal ramifications for not understanding your tenants and, ultimately where they are, and solutions are plentiful therefore making it an on trend topic. Looking further to the future, artificial intelligence (AI) solutions will come into force, and indeed are already starting to. From digitising leases to understand the physical make up of our buildings for rooftop possibilities for anything from extra development potential to drone landings, AI will have an impact on almost every area of the CRE market. Whilst AI solutions currently make up less than 5% of PropTech tools on the market, I am sure this will grow in the near future and will have a fundamental impact to our daily lives.”

  James Dearsley, Co-Founder, Unissu

Which CRE tech and marketing trends are you most excited about in 2020? Share your comments below.

An interactive real estate map is one of the secret ingredients to help engage your prospects and provide an impression of the area’s potential that can ultimately add value to your commercial real estate.

Showcasing key points of interest such as corporate neighbors, restaurants, hotels, transportation, around the target property will help prospects evaluate a neighborhood and proximity to surrounding establishments.

Here are 6 reasons why interactive real estate maps should be an integral part of your commercial real estate marketing material:

1. Increases Familiarity

Viewing a commercial property on a map with its surrounding points of interest helps prospects get more familiar with the area.

Seeing familiar establishments in an unknown area creates comfort and helps visitors quickly categorize the information to make conclusions about the socio-economic and cultural characteristics of the location.

2. Increases Engagement

Do you know that the average bounce rate of a property listing page is 55%?

That means for every 100 visitors that land on your property website, approximately 55 of them leave right away.

There are a lots of reasons why visitors might leave your page (here are 5 mistakes that can kill your property listings) but an informative and attractive map that highlights local amenities maps can help fight this.

A static website that has dry content and no interactive components will never create a memorable experience for a visitor. In fact, studies by Forrester Research suggest that 40% of visitors will never return to a website after having a negative experience.

An interactive amenities map can drastically increase user engagement for your listing. It is a perfect combination of design and functionality to help make your property website much more “sticky” and keep visitors engaged.

3. Quick Access to Key Information

We all know this is true: location is a key decision driver for any potential tenant or investor evaluating commercial real estate.

So why not provide access to this information?

The beauty of a map is that it can provide relevant information and allows you to quickly highlight specific establishments that would resonate well with the end user you are targeting (office tenant, retail tenant, etc.).

4. Visually Displays Key Advantages

Maps can be a powerful visual asset to stress the benefits of your property and create a memorable experience. They can help tell a story and impress your prospects without you having to spell everything out in writing.

Think about it: would you rather read about how great a location is or see it for yourself?

The points on an amenities map help visually represent the key benefits (nearby restaurants, retailers, hotels, transportation, etc.) of your property’s location.

It can also provide relevant information and allows you to highlight specific establishments that would resonate well with the end user you are targeting (office tenant, retail tenant, etc.).

5. Reinforces Social Proof

The ultimate testimonial of your property’s location is the surrounding other businesses and corporations in the area.

People are wired to learn and follow the actions of others, and this also holds true in commercial real estate.

Including “corporate neighbors” on a real estate map gives more credibility to your property and helps enhance the prestige of working alongside important companies.

6. Insight Into Competitive Landscape

For retailers, maps are critical to evaluate the competitive landscape of a specific location and are a key part of the decision making process in site selection.

An interactive map can give retailers a visual assessment of the level of market saturation as well as complimentary businesses (surrounding retailers) in the area very quickly.

How to Create a Real Estate Amenities Map?

There are a lot of options to choose from if you want to create a neighborhood amenities map for your listing or property website.

You can boil it down to two approaches: static vs. interactive maps

1. Static Maps

If you want to create a static map, it can be as easy as copying a screenshot from an online map provider, like Google Maps, and then dropping in your points of interest.

Another popular approach is to work with an aerial photo and overlay local amenities and logos directly on top of the aerial.

Finally, you could also consider a professionally illustrated map that has been created by a graphic designer.  This usually provides the most professional look and feel.

All three of these options can be effective to help provide visual impact for your listing.

2. Interactive Maps

Although static maps can be effective, interactive real estate maps are much more powerful. The benefit of working with an interactive real estate map is that they are much more engaging for your prospects and you can easily update your map on the fly without having to call up a designer or open an InDesign file for every change.

There are plenty of commercial real estate mapping software options available. No matter what approach you take, what’s most important to include is the key information of the amenity (name, address, logo, etc.) and organize by type of establishment. Depending on the property type, some commercial real estate amenities to consider for your local map:

• Corporate neighbors
• Transportation
• Entertainment
• Food/Restaurants
• Hotels
• Schools or Universities
• Shopping Centers
• Supermarkets

Amenities Map Example

To see a good example of a live SharpLaunch interactive map for a commercial property, you can take a look at 100 Northern Avenue @ Fan Pier. It serves as an important visual presentation for the leasing team (CBRE New England) to help convey the vibrance and activity of the property’s surroundings within Boston’s Fan Pier neighborhood.