Technology brings marketing revolution to real estate.

Technology is a new frontier for marketing the commercial real estate industry, with information services creating a competitive edge. Using an information provider that is an acknowledged pioneer in multimedia will help real estate firms market their properties with state-of-the-art technology in an activity that changes daily.

On-line marketing has the powerful advantage over other advertising mediums to reach an immense readership, comprised of a captive audience that accesses computers all day and every day. Today's software can directly influence marketing by digesting volumes of data, crystallizing the information into comprehensible forms and augmenting the facts with photographs, video and audio.

Brokers rely on countless daily phone calls to identify space availability, buildings for sale, lease expirations, tenant updates, and other pertinent information to support their marketing efforts. In a market like the New York region, with 2 billion square feet of commercial space, over 500 brokerage firms updating information on 30,000 properties would generate a minimum of 15 million monthly phone calls. Information providers create tremendous economies of scale for brokerage firms by serving as a single information source, handling thousands of phone calls and disseminating up-to-date data. The information provider becomes a valuable conduit for brokers, allowing them to produce more options for clients, more quickly and accurately.

Traditionally, understanding the supply and demand of commercial real estate was an art and not a science. Deals were often based on relationships and gut feelings. During the 1980's, when troubled markets created surplus office space, the new industry of providing information emerged. The concept of using a third party for information became a creative solution for brokerage firms, and an information service was acknowledged as an intricate science and a crucial component to successful marketing.

By the end of the 1990's, commercial real estate will embrace technology and bring its industry to new heights. Today's state-of-the-art software can integrate research, analysis and presentation and distribute messages to a vast audience. When more than 5,000 brokers access the system CoStar over 100,000 times a month, the leasing system becomes a powerful tool. Brokers can quickly and accurately review more options like lease terms and vacancy rates, and analyze markets for short term deals. If the system is not informed about a property, the space will not be exploited. In the Mid-Atlantic, 75 percent of all commercial deals begin in CoStar, indicating that traditional means of marketing have fallen by the wayside.

Conventional flip charts and slide shows are being replaced by multimedia presentations which synthesize audio, video, photography and animation. Without leaving a boardroom, clients can tour several buildings through aerials, building photos, lobby shots and floor plans. With simulated building tours, today's brokers are conducting fewer windshield tours and performing more laptop virtual reality tours. The race for information will only accelerate as brokers, wired together through an information system, begin to e-mail RFP's and presentations across the country in seconds.

The vast marketing potential of information technology remains in embryonic stages, soon to emerge. Technology has the power to change opportunity landscapes, as demonstrated by television advertising where sponsorship costs can range upwards to the $1 million national Superbowl commercial. With the number of PC monitors sold last year outnumbering TV sets sold, marketing through on-line services will certainly follow the promotional trends established by television.

Consider the staggering amount of opportunity created by the internet, a free-wheeling collection of about five million computers worldwide. Formed in the 1960's by the federal government as a way to connect computer systems at military, government and educational institutions, the internet requires an internet access provider to link users. As there are novice users, there are also novice providers. The provider should allow users to tap into the internet to perform quick searches on subjects like commercial real estate. Businesses are beginning to use part of the internet called the World Wide Web, which lets users see graphics like photographs and illustrations as well as text, to distribute information. Progressive real estate firms are utilizing the internet to market their properties across the country. By hyperlinking, a user can move around connections to view several home pages, such as co-developers on a project. Similarly, an interactive multimedia presentation may spontaneously convey different directions, depending upon an audience's response. If asked a specific question about research, property management or other clients, the multimedia presenter could respond by clicking a button and direct the laptop to display an appropriate example for discussion.

What to Look for in an Information Provider

To find the right information provider, beware of a business that appears real, but is in fact, a paper tiger. The dynamic computer revolution has instilled fear in many businesses that feel they have not kept pace with their competition's technology. Non-technology specialists may offer a service just to maintain a presence in the electronic industry. If they offer a multimedia collection of building photographs, confirm that they use high resolution images and have a complete library containing all buildings. A good information provider will have financial solidity, a business track record of at least five years, and sufficient resources to devote to its service. Review references of at least 50 major clients, select five and contact them. Another helpful method is to evaluate client cancellation rates, since a good provider will create strategic partnerships with clients and have few, if any, cancellations.

Some may dismiss the fact that technology has already impacted business. But if one remains oblivious to technology and its marketing advantages, the competition will quickly and easily move ahead. Like the financial world where brokers compete in the electronic environment of Wall Street, the commercial real estate industry will soon become a virtual reality marketplace.