Commercial Real Estate Marketing Agency: How to Choose the Right Agency for Growth

A no-fluff guide to hiring a CRE marketing agency that actually knows what they’re doing.

By Walter Fitzgerald 

* A note on the author: At 83 years old, Walter isn’t your typical copywriter—and that’s exactly why we love him. His offbeat take on blogging and colorful storytelling make him a standout voice at ATYPICAL. 

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The Real Reason You’re Reading This Blog 

You’re not wondering if you need marketing, you’re wondering how the hell to make it actually work.

Look, I’m not gonna pretend this is your first rodeo.

You already know marketing matters in commercial real estate; what you don’t know is how to make it less of a headache and more of a growth engine.

Maybe you’re the marketing manager at a mid-sized brokerage, juggling paid ads, property flyers, and your third “just one quick update” from leadership this week.

Maybe you’re an exec at a REIT trying to grow brand equity and deal flow in a market that’s tighter than your Q4 budget.

Or maybe you’re at a CRE tech startup, trying to make noise in a space that doesn’t exactly throw welcome parties for new ideas.

Whatever your title is, you’re wearing way too many hats and trying to run a smart, scalable marketing strategy on top of everything else. That’s tough.

You’re not looking for another agency that’s going to sell you buzzwords and rinse-and-repeat strategies. You want someone who can hit the ground running.

Someone who gets the complexity of CRE. The long, unpredictable sales cycles.

The shifting decision-makers and layered approval processes. The constant pressure to generate demand in a market where timing, interest rates, and sentiment can turn on a dime.

Someone who understands that a lead today might not convert for 9 months but every touchpoint in that journey still matters.

Because in CRE, marketing isn’t just about the next deal, it’s about building trust, brand equity, and staying top-of-mind when the market finally swings your way.

You don’t have 6 months to teach an agency all the ins and outs. You need a partner who already knows and can show you how to turn smart marketing into actual ROI.

Maybe you’re curious. Maybe you’re ready to make a move.

Either way, you’re here because you know your marketing needs to work harder, and you’re looking for a partner who can actually make that happen. And yeah, let’s talk about AI. AI can help support execution, but it can’t replace experience.

The real value of an agency is in the critical thinking, the ability to see nuances and interpret them correctly, ask the right questions, and know when something’s working or not working based on years of industry knowledge and experience. AI is not there yet; it still makes a lot of mistakes, and those mistakes can be costly if not interpreted by experienced professionals.

So, let’s make sure you find the right partner, whether you’re ready to move fast or just starting to explore what’s possible.

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What Services Should a Great CRE Marketing Agency Offer?

Soup to nuts. Strategy to execution. And yes, they absolutely need to be fluent in commercial real estate.

Let’s clear something up right out of the gate: having a list of services doesn’t make an agency qualified to market your business.

Anyone can slap “SEO, paid media, content strategy” on a pitch deck. That doesn’t mean they know how to lease up a struggling retail center in Phoenix or launch a CRE tech platform in a crowded market.

In commercial real estate, your marketing agency can’t just be good at marketing. They need to understand your world.

Because CRE isn’t just another vertical. It’s its own beast - —relationship-driven, data-heavy, and full of nuances that most generalist agencies miss by a mile.

If they don’t get the difference between leasing and investment sales, or why “Class A” means something entirely different from “A+ copy,” you’re going to be in for a long (and expensive) ride.

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What a Full-Service Commercial Real Estate Marketing Agency Should Actually Offer:

• SEO that targets intent-based, high-value keywords, like “flex space Atlanta,” “retail space for lease,” or “CRE data platform.” 

• Paid media across Google, LinkedIn, Meta, and YouTube, with targeting based on audience type and sales stage, not guesswork.

• Social media strategy and content that builds a brand brokers want to work for, tenants want to lease from, and investors want to follow.

• Content marketing like blogs, reports, and campaigns that position you as a thought leader, whether you're a brokerage, REIT, or SaaS startup.

• Email and lead-nurturing campaigns built for long sales cycles, from tenant prospecting to software onboarding.

• Website design and development that looks sharp and converts, whether you're showcasing listings, a platform, or a portfolio.

• Video production, from property walkthroughs to product demos and founder-led explainers.

• Custom pitch decks and investor materials that win capital, close leases, or support acquisitions.

• Property branding including offering memorandums (OMs), visual identity, signage, and digital rollout.

• Analytics and reporting tied to real CRE benchmarks, not pulled from a generic B2B dashboard.

And sure, that’s a lot.

But here’s the kicker: services are only valuable if they’re built on real industry insight. Otherwise, you’re just lighting your budget on fire and hoping for the best.

CRE is complex. Your agency should be equipped to handle it.

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How Does Payment Work (and What Should You Watch Out For?)

Marketing budgets aren’t Monopoly money, so here’s how smart agencies structure them.

Let’s talk dollars and sense.

When you’re hiring a commercial real estate marketing agency, you’re not just paying for deliverables,—you’re paying for time, expertise, and outcomes.

And the way that time is structured? That’s where things either stay on track or go totally sideways.

1. The Retainer Model:

Most agencies operate on a monthly retainer, and for good reason.

A monthly retainer gives you predictable billing, long-term strategy alignment, and consistent access to a blended team of specialists across paid media, content, creative, SEO, strategy, and more.

Instead of hiring one in-house marketer, you get a full bench of experts.

Retainers are typically broken out by service line, with hours allocated clearly across key functions. Everything is tracked, scoped, and transparent. No surprise bills. No ambiguity.

And when the hours run out? You pause, extend, or reallocate. Simple.

Why It Works for CRE:

CRE marketing needs consistency. Retainers let you build momentum over time, while still adjusting for shifting property cycles, deal flow, and market conditions.

And when you're working with a niche agency that already understands CRE, your KPIs are more realistic and way more achievable.

2. Project-Based Fees:

Perfect for one-offs: a website refresh, a new brand rollout, a campaign for an upcoming conference, or the launch of a new product or service. You agree to a scope, timeline, and budget and get it done.

This model gives you clear deliverables, fixed costs, and a shorter commitment window.

Why it works for CRE:

If you're testing out a new agency, piloting a service, or need help with a key asset launch (say, leasing up a new industrial development), project pricing gives you a tight, focused engagement with defined ROI.

3. Performance-Based Pricing:

This model ties compensation to outcomes, like lead volume, conversion rates, or occupancy goals. You pay more if the agency delivers more.

It sounds great, and it can be, but the key is setting the right KPIs. Those metrics need to be grounded in the realities of CRE: long sales cycles, niche audiences, and the difference between “clicks” and real value.

Why it works for CRE:

When aligned properly, performance-based pricing keeps everyone focused on results. But it only works if the agency deeply understands your business model and market dynamics, otherwise, you're measuring the wrong things.

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What You Should Watch Out For

• Ad Spend Isn’t Included (That’s normal):

Your monthly retainer pays for the strategy, execution, and optimization. The actual media dollars (your ad spend) are a separate budget line.

Keeping it separate from your retainer means you can scale up when you need to.

You’re not locked into a rigid monthly spend. You control the throttle.

A reputable agency will never take a percentage of your ad spend.

If they do, that’s a conflict of interest, they’re incentivized to spend more, not spend smarter. Your budget should go toward performance, not padding someone’s margin.

• Reporting Fees? Nope. 

If an agency tries to tack on extra charges for monthly performance reports, that’s a red flag. Clear, consistent reporting should be baked into your retainer.

• The best agencies treat your budget like it’s their own. They help you invest smarter, not just spend faster.

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What Should Success Actually Look Like?

Because if your agency can’t show you the value, what’s the point?

Here’s the truth: Metrics matter. But not all metrics matter equally.

A good commercial real estate marketing agency isn’t just going to throw you a spreadsheet of clicks, impressions, and “engagements” and call it a day.

They’re going to show you how those numbers ladder up to real business outcomes.

More brand visibility? Great.

Higher-quality leads in your pipeline? Even better.

Driving tenant interest, broker inquiries, or investor attention? Now we’re talking.

But that’s just the tip of it.

Because in CRE, success isn’t just about who fills out a form, it’s about who’s paying attention long before they ever do.

The right agency knows how to warm up cold audiences, nurture long-cycle leads, and stay visible during the months (or quarters) it takes to convert.

And once those deals close? It’s about retention, re-engagement, and turning your clients into brand evangelists who bring in the next one.

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What Your Agency Should Be Reporting On

It’ll depend on the project, but in general, here’s what you should see:

• Cost-per-lead (CPL)

• Conversion rates (from ads, landing pages, forms)

• Lead quality, not just quantity

• Website performance (traffic, bounce rates, time on site)

• Channel-specific performance (what’s working best and why)

• ROI: Are we helping you close deals, fill space, and grow brand equity?

The key isn’t the volume of metrics—it’s the why behind them. Every stat should tell a story. Every graph should have a purpose.

If the numbers aren’t showing you how marketing is supporting your business goals, it’s just noise.

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Why Industry Benchmarks Matter (and Which Ones Actually Do)

Comparison is critical. You need to know how your marketing is performing relative to the market.

But here’s the thing: your data only matters if it’s being compared to the right data.

Benchmarks aren’t just a vanity tool, they’re the context that tells you whether a 3% conversion rate is excellent or needs work. Whether your ad performance is above industry standards or burning through budget with nothing to show for it.

But most agencies? They pull from generic B2B data that has nothing to do with CRE.

That’s why we built the only report of its kind: ATYPICAL’s Commercial Real Estate Digital Advertising Benchmarks, real data, from real campaigns, in the world you actually live in.

Because commercial real estate isn’t SaaS. It isn’t ecommerce. It’s long-term, high-value, and nuanced.

And if your agency doesn’t get that, they’re not benchmarking you, they’re just bluffing.

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Red Flags to Watch Out For

Let’s cut to the chase. The wrong agency won’t just waste your budget, they’ll waste your time. And in CRE, time is tied to deals, deadlines, and dollars.

Here’s what to look out for when you’re vetting an agency:

• They say they’re great but can’t back it up.

  
  

No case studies. No testimonials. No Awards. Just buzzwords and bravado. If they’ve delivered results in CRE, they should be able to show you exactly how they did it for companies like yours. 

• They say yes to everything.

  
  

A true expert doesn’t just nod along; they push back when something’s not going to move the needle. If your agency never challenges your thinking, they’re not strategists, they’re order takers.

• Their decks feel like templates.

You’ve seen it before: stock images, generic language, and slides that could’ve been lifted from a dozen other pitches. If nothing feels tailored to your firm, it probably isn’t.

• They don’t understand the CRE industry.

  
  

If you’re spending half your kickoff call explaining what a REIT is or how a leasing cycle works, that’s a problem. You need a partner who gets it. From the language to the timelines to the target audience.

When you hire an agency, you're not just paying for marketing muscle, you’re buying expertise, insight, and trust.

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So, How Do You Choose the Right CRE Marketing Agency?

You’re not hiring a vendor. You’re hiring a growth partner.

This part? It’s make or break.

The right agency will feel like an extension of your team, just with more time, more expertise, and a deep understanding of how to turn marketing into momentum.

The wrong agency? They’ll feel like a cost center with a Canva account.

Here’s how to spot the difference.

Ask These Questions:

• What’s your experience working with companies like mine in commercial real estate?

  
  

You want specifics. Not “we’ve done real estate before.” You want brokers, REITs, CRE tech. Actual, relevant experience.

• How do you stay on top of what’s happening in the CRE industry right now?

  
  

If they’re not regularly reading, analyzing, or contributing to CRE insights, they’re not in it deep enough. Period.

• What does your onboarding process look like?

  
  

A good agency has a real plan. Discovery. Research. Strategy. Not “we’ll figure it out as we go.”

• How will you align marketing efforts with our business goals?

Because clicks, likes, and views mean nothing if they don’t lead to deals, brand equity, or occupancy.

And Look for These Traits:

• They ask smart questions. Not just about marketing, but about your business, your market, and your goals.

• They have the receipts. Real results. Real brands. Real impact.

• They’re proactive, not reactive. You shouldn’t have to chase them for ideas or insights.

• They’re comfortable telling you “no.” The right partner won’t just agree—they’ll guide.

  
  

When you find the right agency, you’ll know. The strategy will feel tailored, the communication will be clear, and the results? They’ll speak for themselves.

Because in this business, good marketing isn’t about being flashy, it’s about being effective.

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Walter’s Final Word: This Isn’t Just Marketing, It’s Momentum

You don’t need another agency. You need a partner who’s in it with you, for the long haul.

Let’s call it what it is: commercial real estate isn’t easy.

And the margin for error? Pretty damn slim.

So, if you’re going to invest in marketing, make sure it’s with a team that truly understands your world, and knows how to help you grow in it.

The right commercial real estate marketing agency won’t just “do your marketing.” They’ll help you:

• Clarify your positioning

• Tighten your targeting

• Help you budget

• Build your brand

• Generate real, qualified leads

• And turn all that activity into actual growth

They’ll know how to play the long game and the short game.

They’ll get what’s happening in the market today, not six months ago.

And they’ll never make you explain what a 1031 exchange is (again).

So here’s my advice:

Don’t settle for “good enough.” Don’t hire an agency that talks louder than they listen. And don’t waste your budget on people who don’t know how CRE works.

You’re building something real. Your marketing should reflect that.

And if you need someone to make sure it does, well, you know where to find us.

As always,

Stay ATYPICAL 😊