Written by: Ann O'Neal

Part 0ne - Advertising

Understanding where and how to market retail space for lease or sale and acquisition needs most effectively can sometimes be an expensive lesson, especially in uncertain times. This part one of a three-part series to assist you in being more productive, starting with trade publication advertising, to be followed with marketing on the Internet and alternative media and, lastly, the importance of publicity.

Here are a few tips to save you money and make your marketing efforts a lot more productive. First, decide what is the most important message your marketing efforts should make. For example, do you want to focus on getting name recognition for your company - this is called institutional advertising, do you want to focus on attracting retailers to your space, do you need to locate potential buyers of retail properties or do you need to find centers to acquire? Next, make a commitment to repeat, repeat, repeat. The adage, "location, location, location" is to the retail real estate industry as the adage "repeat, repeat, repeat" is to the advertising business.

If your focus is institutional advertising, some of the most common mistakes include making graphics or pictures so much a focal point that the reader of the ad has no idea what your company does or what's in your portfolio. Institutional advertising is costly, because you're selling an image and this type of advertising requires frequent repeats to create name recognition. If this is the route you plan to take, expect to incur higher production costs due to graphics and higher ad placement costs because of four-color printing.

If your focus is to lease retail space, make sure that the publication you choose is read by retailers and brokers that rep retailers. Common mistakes in this type of advertising include the omission of traffic counts, demographics, tourist counts, an overview of nearby retailing or draws (such as a university), total gross leasable area, former user for existing space and last but most important, exactly where the site your leasing is and how a retailer can reach you. This type of advertising should prominently highlight the city and state (if it's a suburb of a major metro area, also note the major city in your ad), as well as the anchor. In reality, retailers don't care if you have a cool logo. What they want to know is where the site is, who's in it and nearby, what kind of customer lives in the market, how many cars pass the site, what size the available space is and who they call for more info.

If you want to sell retail sites, the key is to make sure the right players quickly know about your property. The quicker and more offers you receive, the higher the probability that you'll get your asking price. For brokers that specialize in selling retail sites, institutional advertising makes sense, but don't go for four-color full pages, instead run smaller ads and repeat, repeat, repeat. Property-specific ads are most effective. Be sure to include the NOI, asking price, cap rate, financing alternatives, lease expiration dates, city and state, and nearby retailers or draws when writing your ad.

If you are in the market to acquire retail sites, your ad should convey that you have the funds available for acquisitions. For example, the headline would read "$200 Million in Acquisitions Wanted," and give a brief overview of recent acquisitions (i.e., "We acquired Plaza Center and Gurnee Keys - We're looking for more"), so brokers and sellers know that you're not just a tire kicker, but a serious buyer. Also, give the reader multiple ways of reaching you by phone, fax and E-mail. The most common mistake in this type of ad is the omission of details about the acquisition criteria. Be sure to include the minimum and maximum GLA you'll consider, whether you acquire portfolios and individual properties, what's the transaction size you're looking for, which geographic region is your focus, and what type of properties are of interest, (i.e., ones needing rehab, leasing, management, priced below market, etc).

Next, decide which publications make the most sense for your needs. The most important factor in making this choice is to ask yourself which publications do the person I need to reach read - NOT which publications you read the most and especially don't make your decision based on which magazine prints the most copies. The most common mistake made when choosing trade publications is getting caught up in big circulation numbers - it doesn't matter if your ad is sent to 30,000 people if only 2,000 of those readers are your targeted audience. You're better off advertising in a publication that has 10,000 readers with 5,000 of those being your targeted audience. Remember, BPA audits are paid for by the publisher of the magazine and the only reason why they spend $25,000 - $50,000 annually on an outside audit is to sell you ads based on quantity, not to make sure that quality leads are reading your ads. Next, ask how much does the reader pay to receive the publication that you're considering placing your ads. If it's free, then ask yourself what compels the reader to look at every page rather than let it collect dust in the reception area. If it's paid, then at what cost and how frequently does it publish? For any publication you consider, look at its editorial coverage and that will help you determine if the reader is a potential lead for you. The following clues will give you some insight so that your ad message to lease, acquire or sell retail sites is read by the right audience (these are topics seen in several trade publications that are often misconstrued as effective ad mediums to lease, acquire or sell retail real estate):

Articles on advertisers are usually done by publications that exchange editorial space for ad money. This dilutes the credibility of the news within the publication. Therefore, the reader isn't compelled to read every page and often questions the editorial integrity of the information that they read. Often, these types of publications are perceived to be well read due to the amount of four-color ad space bartered for publicity, and many advertisers that don't benefit from publicity in these publications are given poor positions. Couple the fact that the editorial content is questionable, with the fact that unless you buy lots of four-color ad space, you'll get little to no publicity and bad positioning. You really want to think hard before you spend your money in these types of publications.
Articles on architecture, contractors or design trends usually mean that a good portion of the readers are involved in the construction of retail real estate, and are not the decision makers to lease, sell and acquire sites.
Articles on marketing centers to the consumer/public, energy costs, waste management, gift certificates, carpeting common areas, loss prevention, ceiling designs, and product suppliers are a clue that the publication is read by people in charge of operations - not the people who lease, sell or acquire sites.
Articles on malls indicate that most of the readers are involved with enclosed malls, rather than the mainstay of the retail real estate industry - freestanding sites, strip and power centers.
Here's the real scoop on the purpose of an editorial calendar. Editorial calendars focused on industry topics are planned at the end of the year for the upcoming year. Obviously this is a flawed methodology for the real estate industry, since it's so dynamic who knows what's going to be the foremost topic eight to twelve months forward. In reality, this type of editorial calendar is planned by the ad sales department of the publication, rather than the editorial department. Plain and simple, most editorial calendars are a gimmick to promise publicity-related editorial around the advertisers. Editorial calendars designed around industry events, conferences and trade shows are the most effective type to use when planning your marketing efforts, because the targeted audience is in a dealmaking mode and most likely looking for deals in your geographic market. When editorial calendars are driven by industry events, always ask how the publication is distributed at the event. Also, ask the ad salesperson: is the magazine delivered to the hotel rooms of the attendees, is it only circulated from just one exhibit booth, how many copies are expected to be delivered to the event (no one gets 100% coverage - so also ask how many people are expected to attend the event)? FYI - when you're exhibiting at a trade show, always, always put your booth address in your ad and when you attend, but don't have a booth, put your cell number in the ad, so you can be contacted at the show.
Stretching your budget is key to getting the most bang for your buck. Don't be afraid to negotiate off the rate sheets - we're in real estate - the industry that epitomizes the art of negotiation. If the ad salesperson won't negotiate the price ask, "what else can you do for me?" Often, trade publications can offer collateral marketing, such as fax or E-mail broadcast, to help maximize your budget. A sure fire way to stretch your budget is to contract for multiple ad placements throughout the year. The only disadvantage is that you need to plan ahead.

An example of a niche trade publication that meets the criteria for effective trade advertising on property for lease or sale and acquisition needs in the retail real estate industry is The Dealmakers. A 22-year-old, weekly news magazine with a national scope and a 100% paid circulation. The Dealmakers has a long track record as an effective advertising vehicle. At an annual subscription price of $274, The Dealmakers is read by people strictly interested in weekly news about retail chains opening and closing stores; shopping centers that are proposed; under construction or have existing space for lease; companies' acquisition needs; retail sites for sale and sources of financing. Most of its readers hold the title of president, vice president, director of real estate or owner for retail chains, retail real estate brokerage companies and owners/developers of shopping centers.

The publication does not run feature articles on one specific company or project. Its editorial coverage is news oriented. The editorial calendar for The Dealmakers is focused on over 30 trade show events, most of which are sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers. At these trade shows, The Dealmakers is delivered to the attendees' hotel rooms, from its exhibit booth and from newsstands in the booths of other exhibitors.

Pricing for ad placements in The Dealmakers can be extremely competitive, due to its ability to maximize multiple placements with its weekly frequency. The publication also offers "added value" with its Power Package Program. The Power Package entails placing ads in three issues for pre, show and post show events, with the advertiser getting at no extra charge a fax broadcast to 7,000 decision makers and the ad hosted on The Dealmakers' Web site (www.dealmakers.net ) under the "Hottest Opportunities" section. In the event, you have a project that needs to be marketed at a trade show and have missed the deadline for display advertising, The Dealmakers offers an opportunity to insert your material with its publication into polybags that are delivered to the attendees' hotels rooms.

Part Two - Marketing on the Internet and alternative media
There are lots of alternatives to market space for lease, sale or acquisition needs of retail real estate. Several ideas include fax and E-mail broadcasts, plus direct mail. This second part of a three-part series will give you some insight how electronic and direct mail marketing can benefit you.

First, fax broadcasting requires an excellent list of fax numbers to send your message. You can use your in-house list of contacts or purchase a list of fax numbers. Either way you go, you need to check the state laws regarding unsolicited faxes and to offer the recipients a way to be removed from your fax list and you'll need to maintain a database of companies that do not want to receive faxes. Your fax message should never exceed one page. It is possible to offer multiple sites on one-page, just narrow down the most important details and offer your phone number so the recipient can call for more information. Make sure you don't abuse the list and restrain yourself from faxing to the same list more than twice a month. Again, the quality of the fax number determines much of your success. If you are trying to reach retailers, you need a list of retailers fax numbers with the proper contact person.

Often, it's easier to outsource your fax broadcasting so you don't have to learn the legal aspects nor maintain a "do not fax to" database. The Dealmakers offers a fax broadcasting service that strictly markets sites to retailers. Its list contains thousands of retailers and tenant reps that have agreed to receive faxes on retail sites for lease and sale. The company will design the flier for you or you can E-mail your flier in WordPerfect, PDF or Microsoft Word formats. While the flier is in progress, The Dealmakers produces a list of retailers that are likely candidates for your site based on: what state the space is in, the size of the vacancy and what types of uses (i.e., supermarkets, apparel or food) are most conducive to the site. Once the flier and list are approved, within an hour your faxes can be sent. The flier has your name and phone number, so the retailers can contact you directly for follow up questions and most importantly, it's personally addressed to the individual in charge of real estate. The cost is $500 to fax a one-page flier to 500 potential leads. To get an estimate of how many potential tenants The Dealmakers has that meet your site's criteria go online to http://dealmakers.net/faxbrodcastform1.htm?from=http://dealmakers.net/ and fill in the blanks or call us (800-732-5856). Within hours, we'll contact you with the count on potential tenants.

Next, marketing via the Internet entails more than just putting up a Web site. There are extremely low to no cost ways to market retail sites on the Web using E-mail, Ezines and newsgroups. Here are a few rules of etiquette that you need to adhere to when marketing via E-mail:

Never ever send an attachment in unsolicited E-mail. If the recipient is somewhat aware of computer viruses, they know that opening an attachment from an unknown source is setting them up for a disaster or at best several days of recovering their hard drive.

Always include a message in the subject line and be brief but detailed, such as "FL shopping center for sale" or "Orlando site for lease." If you forget this part, most likely your message will never be opened.

Always include your name, company name, phone and fax numbers, since many E-mail messages are read by an assistant who then prints out the relevant mail and hands the printout to the decision maker - so if you want a response, don't count on getting a reply via E-mail.

Never load up your E-mail message with background colors, nonstandard fonts and embedded graphics, the load time is extremely long and often the recipient will get garble rather than a readable message.

If your E-mail address is not business-professional, get another E-mail address that conveys a business like tone, for example if you received an E-mail from badboy@yahoo.com would you open it compared with getting mail from leasespace@yahoo.com
Don't E-mail to the same list of E-mail recipients more than once a week or you'll be considered a "spammer," the lowest of low on the Internet. Plus there are several watchdog groups that will try to ban you from sending E-mail if they think of you as a "spammer."
Your E-mail message should always direct the recipient to your Web site and make sure your web and E-mail addresses are linked within the message so the reader can just click to reply or go to your Web site.

Now that you know how to properly send E-mail, you'll have to find or create lists of E-mail addresses that are good prospects to receive your marketing message. One way to create a database of E-mail addresses is to go through business cards collected at trade shows. Another is to post your message to newsgroups that are relevant to your business. For a complete list of 60 newsgroups and email forums, send Email to ezines@dealmakers.net

Several real estate related newsgroups hosted by The Dealmakers include:
Commercial Real Estate (Sale & acquisition of commercial property-Shopping centers, Office Blds, Industrial, NNN Commercial).
Investment Real Estate (Sale & acquisition of investment real estate- Multi-family, Motels/Hotels, Golf, Residential land).
Real Estate Finance (Real Estate Financing Sources & Needs).
Real Estate Appraisal (Discussion & referral forum for appraisers).
Internet & Real Estate (Forum on Internet related Home Pages, forums, software and ideas as they relate to real estate).
NetBizForSale (Businesses-For-Sale, nationwide; acquisition requirements and financing sources/needs).
Property-ForLease (Listing all forms of commercial property for lease and space requirements of tenants).
ESP - Entertainment & Specialty Projects (Forum on Entertainment & Specialty Retailing & Real Estate).
TenantTip (Get a daily retail real estate leasing tip by e-mail).

Newsgroups or forums are usually moderated by the sponsor or owner of the E-mail list. The moderator will not permit your E-mail message to be sent unless you follow their rules and in most situations you need to be a member of the newsgroup/forum. The Dealmakers newsgroups are what is called an "opt in" list, which means the subscribers have taken the time to read and agree to the rules of the forum and wish to receive E-mail from other members of the group that the moderator feels is conducive to transacting more business for its subscribers. Newsgroups that are not moderated will most likely cause you more grief than they are worth after you post, because you'll start getting E-mail offering you stuff totally unrelated to retail real estate and getting off these lists can be a monumental task. It's free and easy to join The Dealmakers' newsgroups, simply send e-mail to Forums@Dealmakers.net and in the body of the message write subscribe. Once, you've joined the forum(s) of your choice, not only can you learn about what other real estate pro's are looking for, you can also post your e-mail messages. To view e-mail messages posted by members of these forums hosted by The Dealmakers, go to http://www.dealmakers.net/mail/index.html and click on the forum(s) of your choice. The Dealmakers accepts sponsors for its email newsgroups, contact Ann O'Neal at 800-732-5856 or ann@dealmakers.net for details.

Web sites are commonly used in our industry for institutional advertising. At the minimum, your Web site should list your portfolio of sites for lease or sale organized by geographic location and an auto responder. More elaborate sites offer maps, photos, leasing plans, demographics and aerials for each property. Here are a few ideas to make your Web site more productive in generating leads:

Auto responders are a useful feature to Web sites. When someone is on your Web site and they request more information about your property or service, an auto responder automatically sends them a message either answering their questions or letting them know that you received their inquiry and will respond by phone, fax or email asap.
Always, always make your phone, email, address, fax and mailing address easy to find on the main page.
Update your Web site regularly, especially your space available and sites for sale listings. Put the date that the listing was posted, so the reader knows that the site is updated. Offer site plans showing vacancy and anchors, in addition to demographics on your Web site for each property.
Lastly, we'll address direct mail, a marketing avenue that is often the most expensive and requires the longest lead time compared to fax and email. The first and most important task of putting together a direct mail campaign is the mailing list. Most companies have an in-house list and they rely solely on this list for their marketing, which is a big mistake. You need to constantly be trying new lists and you should budget $50 to $100 per thousand names to rent a mailing list. Ask "what is the purpose of my direct mail piece?" If it is to find buyers and sellers of retail sites, the International Council of Shopping Centers is a good source. Also, you can contact Marketry at (425- 451-1262), the list manager for The Dealmakers. If you're looking to attract retailers, one resource is TenantSearch, a product of The Dealmakers. TenantSearch allows you to cull the mailing list by use, square footage and most importantly you can mail to tenants looking in your specific market. You also can contact Marketry for a list of local chains based on the zip code and standard industry codes. Rule of thumb is that at the very most 1% of the recipients will respond, so if you mail 5,000 pieces expect 50 responses.

Once you have your list, the next step is to put together a mailing piece. The most cost effective piece is a jumbo size post card, measuring 8.5 x 5.5 inches. We've priced the printing of a two-color jumbo postcard at $750 for 5,000 two-sided pieces and budget $0.34 each for postage, for a total expenditure of $2,500 for a 5,000 piece direct mail campaign using your in-house list and having someone in your office label the postcards. Expect the post office to take at least a week to deliver your postcard, so if time is of the essence you may want to consider sending a fax broadcast. If you need a more elaborate piece, keep in mind added postage costs and the cost of collating, printing and inserting the pieces into an envelope. On all direct mail pieces, under your return address, put "address correction requested," so that the post office will notify you of the pieces with incorrect addresses. Expect for at least 10% of your mailing list to be returned to you with incorrect addresses - this is normal. Advertising agencies are often a good resource to oversee your direct mail campaign, since they can procure the list, produce the mailing piece and have it printed, and finish the job with a mailing house delivering it to the post office. Still looking for more marketing ideas. Check out our free booklet called "72 Ways to Lease Your Center" by sending email to leasing@dealmakers.net

Part Three - Publicity

Publicity is the best kind of marketing, not because it's free, but because when your news is in print it automatically gains credibility and generates new leads. First you want to create a database of publication contacts. A good resource for publication contacts can be found on The Dealmakers' Web site at http://www.dealmakers.net/trade.pub.html. This section of The Dealmaker's Web site gives you the contact information for over forty real estate trade publications. It's always a good idea to add local newspapers for your market to your database of publications. Once the database is set, make a commitment to send a press release every time you have space for lease, sites for sale, acquire a property, sign a lease or get an exclusive, break ground or obtain zoning approvals for a new center and hire or promote within your company. Writing press releases is easy when you have a template to work from and in many offices the agents or brokers simply fill out the template and fax, email or mail it to the trade publications.

Here are a few templates to work from:

Contact information should always be included with every press release as follows:
Submitted by:___________________________
Contact: __________________________________________________
Company: ______________________________________________________________
Phone:____________________________ Fax: __________________________
Email: __________________________ Web site: ____________________________
Address:______________________________________________________________
City: _______________________ State: ____ Zip:_______

New Developments or Space For Lease
Name of Center: ________________________________________
GLA: _____________________
City/State: _________________________________________
Land Area: _____________________
Total parking spaces: ___________
Intersecting Streets: _______________________________________________________________
Type of center : circle one (mall) (strip) (power) (specialty) (outlet) (freestanding) (downtown) (mixed-use)
Spaces available:
______________ sq.ft., and ______________ was the former tenant - Is this a sublease? ____
_______________ sq.ft., and _____________ was the former tenant - Is this a sublease? ____
______________ sq.ft. and _____________ was the former tenant - Is this a sublease? ____
Outlots available: ______________ sq.ft., ______________ sq.ft., ______________ sq.ft.
Opening date: _________________ Ground breaking date: ____________________
Anchors: ______________________________________________________________________
Other tenants: _____________________________________________________________________
Population counts: 3-mile __________________ 5-mile __________________ 10-mile _________________
Avg. (family) (household) (median) income:
3-mile $_____________ 5-mile $__________________ 10-mile $_________________
Daily Traffic Count:_____________________________________________________
Is intersection signalized, are lanes divided, how many ingress and egress cuts?
_______________________________________________________________________
Major centers or retailers in the immediate area: _____________________________________________________
Competing centers or retailers in the immediate area: ________________________________________________
Market rent: ____________ Asking rent: ______________ CAM: ________ Taxes: ________
Additional comments: ______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Retail Properties For Sale
Name of center (if land, write in land):______________________________________
GLA or Land Area:_______________________________________________________
Occupancy rate: _________% NOI: ______________ Asking Price:______________ Cap rate: _____%
Location: (street, city and state): __________________________________________
Anchors:______________________________________________________________
Financing:__________________________________________________
Broker participation: (yes) (no)
Additional comments: __________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Retail Acquisition Criteria
Geographic region of interest:____________________________________________
Preferred price range: ____________________ cap rate: ____% occupancy factor: ________________
Preferred minimum to maximum GLA or land area:____________________________
What type of real estate are you looking for: (circle your preference)
NNN Single Tenant Freestanding Strip Center Power Center Mall Outlet
Additional comments: __________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Recent Lease Signings
(Your company & ph#) recently signed a lease or brokered a deal with (name of tenant) at the (name of center) located in (city & state of site). (Name of tenant) took (size of space) sq.ft. for a (length of lease)-year term at the consideration of $(aggregate rent for the term). Anchors of the center include (list anchors). [If you have space remaining in the center mention it in the press release. ]

New Exclusives or Listings or Management Assignments
(Your company & ph#) recently obtained the (exclusive or listing to sell or lease) for (name of tenant or center). For exclusive tenant reps - note the size requirements, type of real estate sought and geographic region in which you are repping the tenant. For exclusives on property for lease or sale and management assignments - note the city and state where the site is located, the GLA, anchor tenants and if for lease sizes of space available and if for sale the asking price and include the owner of the site.

New Hires & Promotions
(Your company & ph#) recently (hired or promoted) (persons' name) to the position of (title) and their responsibilities will include (give a description such as leasing the company's portfolio in the Midwest, directing the company's acquisitions, etc.) (Person's name) most recently held the position of (list title and company name at last employer).

The Dealmakers publishes weekly, so be sure to keep us informed on your company's activities by frequently sending us press releases. We don't mind handwritten notes, so don't procrastinate because you need someone to do the typing. You can send press releases to Rich Timlin, editor of The Dealmakers, via fax to 609-578-3511 or email at rich@dealmakers.net or by mail to 100 Youngs Road, Mercerville, NJ 08619 or reach us by phone at 800-732-5856.