Commercial Real Estate Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2025
Expert Tips to Strengthen Your CRE Strategy and Stand Out in a Crowded Market
* A note on the author: Dylan Joubert is the Chief Strategy Officer at ATYPICAL with over 15 years of experience in digital marketing. His career includes award-winning work as Head of Influencer Marketing at Ogilvy, where he earned 12 global awards. Passionate about building strategies that deliver measurable results, Dylan can often be found on a golf course, in the ocean, or at the nearest aquarium.----
Expert Tips to Strengthen Your CRE Strategy and Stand Out in a Crowded Market
In 2025, commercial real estate marketing is evolving faster than ever.
From shifting digital trends to growing competition across platforms, CRE firms face a constant challenge: how to get the right message in front of the right audience at the right time.
In a recent episode of CREview, we explore the Top 5 Most Common Marketing Mistakes that could be costing your business attention, leads, and revenue.
These issues range from underestimating the power of visuals to overlooking essential SEO and analytics practices. The good news is that every one of them can be fixed with a clear, strategic approach.
Below, you can watch the full discussion and read a practical breakdown of each mistake, complete with actionable steps to help you improve your campaigns, connect with your audience, and get better results from your commercial real estate marketing in 2025.
And if you want more tips to help you market smarter, win more leads, and stay ahead of your competition, don’t forget to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel!
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The 5 Mistakes Holding Back Your CRE Marketing in 2025
The most common mistakes in commercial real estate marketing are not always the most obvious.
Many CRE firms know they need to post on listings platforms, run ads, or share content on social media, but the details in execution make the difference between getting noticed and getting ignored.
Here are the five mistakes the ATYPICAL team covered on CREview, along with actionable ways to fix them.
- Weak Visuals That Fail to Grab Attention
First impressions matter, especially online. In a crowded feed or search result, the image you choose f1or your property or campaign is the hook that gets someone to click. Grainy, poorly lit, or distorted images can cause prospects to scroll right past, even if the property itself is ideal.
How to fix it:
- Invest in professional photography and, where possible, drone footage or high-quality video.
- Use angles that showcase the best features of a property.
- Pay attention to lighting and alignment so images feel polished and inviting.
Think of your visuals as the storefront for your marketing, they need to be inviting enough to get people through the door.
- Writing for the Wrong Audience
Too many commercial real estate marketing campaigns fail because the messaging is aimed at the wrong people. A listing written for an investor will not resonate with a tenant, and a pitch crafted for a corporate audience will not connect with a local small business owner. Using the wrong tone, language, or focus means your message misses the mark entirely.
How to fix it:
- Identify exactly who you are speaking to before you write a single word.
- Highlight the benefits and features that matter most to that audience. For example, a restaurant operator will care about foot traffic and kitchen facilities, while a warehouse tenant will focus on loading access and ceiling height.
- Avoid jargon unless your audience uses it daily. Clear, direct language is easier to understand and more likely to persuade.
When you speak your audience’s language, they are far more likely to engage with your marketing and take the next step.
- Neglecting SEO Basics
Even the best visuals and descriptions will not help if your audience never finds them. Search engines and listing platforms rely on keywords to match your content to what people are searching for. Without the right search-friendly terms in your marketing, your property or campaign can be invisible to the very people you want to reach.
How to fix it:
- Use specific, location-based keywords in your titles and descriptions, such as “Class A office space in downtown Chicago” rather than vague terms like “prime commercial property.”
- Include asset type, location, and standout features in the first few lines so both people and search algorithms understand the value quickly.
- Apply these same SEO principles across your website, social media captions, and paid ads for consistency.
- Optimizing for search is not about adding as many keywords as possible. It is about using the right ones in the right places so your audience can discover your content when they are ready to act.
If you want to go deeper into this topic, check out our blog A Complete Beginner’s Guide to SEO for Commercial Real Estate and our post on How AI is Changing SEO in Commercial Real Estate.
- Not Tracking and Optimizing Performance
Publishing a listing or launching a campaign is only the first step. Without tracking how it performs, you have no way of knowing what is working and what needs improvement. Many CRE firms miss opportunities simply because they are not reviewing analytics or testing new approaches while a campaign is live.
How to fix it:
- Use analytics tools provided by listing platforms, ad dashboards, and your website to measure clicks, engagement, and conversions.
- Set up UTM tracking so you can see exactly where your traffic is coming from and which channels are delivering the best results.
- Run A/B tests on titles, hero images, or calls to action to see what resonates most with your audience.
- Review your results regularly and adjust your approach to improve outcomes over time.
When you monitor performance and act on the data, you can make small changes that lead to significantly better results without increasing your budget.
- Over-Relying on AI Without Editing for Quality
AI tools can be incredibly useful for drafting property descriptions, writing ad copy, or generating marketing ideas. The problem comes when firms copy and paste AI-generated text without tailoring it to the property, audience, or campaign goals. This can result in content that feels generic, overly sales-focused, or disconnected from the real value on offer.
How to fix it:
- Use AI as a starting point, not the finished product.
- Edit the copy to match your brand voice, highlight unique selling points, and speak directly to your audience.
- Avoid exaggerated claims unless they are backed up by facts.
- Keep descriptions concise, clear, and relevant to the property or campaign.
AI should be a time-saver, not a replacement for strategy or human judgment. The best results come from combining AI efficiency with your own expertise and market knowledge.
If you want to explore this in more detail, I wrote an eBook on How to Use AI to Enhance Every Area of Your Commercial Real Estate Business. It covers practical ways to integrate AI into marketing, sales, operations, and client service while keeping the human touch that makes your business stand out.
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How to Turn These Mistakes Into Strategic Wins
Avoiding these five common pitfalls is a great start.
The real value comes from turning each one into a strength that works consistently in your favor. By improving your visuals, tailoring your messaging, applying the best practices, tracking performance, and using AI wisely, you can create marketing campaigns that stand out and convert.[DJ1]
Action steps to start today:
- Review your most recent campaigns and identify which of these mistakes might be holding you back.
- Prioritize changes that can have an immediate impact, such as updating visuals or refining your listing copy.
- Build a checklist for every new campaign to ensure you address visuals, audience targeting, SEO, analytics, and AI editing before launch.
- Schedule regular performance reviews so you can adjust quickly and keep improving results.
We also have a few online products to help you with creating and planning your content, as well as email best practices.
When you treat your marketing as a living, evolving part of your business strategy, you build a system that attracts more qualified leads, maximizes your budget, and strengthens your position in a competitive commercial real estate market.
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Take Control of Your CRE Marketing in 2025
In 2025, success in commercial real estate marketing comes down to being intentional.
Every image, every line of copy, every keyword, and every piece of data you track adds up to either missed opportunities or measurable results.
By avoiding these five mistakes and applying the strategies we have shared, you put yourself ahead of many in the industry who are still relying on outdated approaches.
If you want more tips, strategies, and insights on how to market smarter, watch the full CREview video above and subscribe so you never miss an episode. We share real-world advice you can apply immediately to win more leads and close deals faster.
Ready to take your marketing to the next level?
At ATYPICAL, we specialize in helping commercial real estate owners and operators, brokerages, and tech firms (like you!) improve their digital marketing from the ground up.
Whether you need help with campaign strategy, SEO, creative content, ad performance, social media, or just want to make a splash, our team knows exactly how to make it work for CRE.
👉 Visit www.atypicalcompany.com