As the property sector continues to evolve in a digitally driven world, marketers should embrace both traditional and performance-based marketing strategies. This is critical for staying competitive and driving measurable results.
Whether we’re referring to residential, office or industrial property, the need to combine data-led digital strategies with traditional tactics such as email, hoarding, and OOH advertising has never been greater. Digital enables us to effectively attribute results to the right platforms and provides real-time flexibility to weigh media spend towards the best-performing areas, all with transparent reporting.
A lot of property marketing follows quite a one-dimensional approach, moving straight to lead generation without first building trust with target audiences. In the real world, we build rapport with a prospective customer, providing them with the knowledge that the brand or product is right for them and making them confident in their decision. Why should the same principle not be applied to digital marketing?
Real value creation lies in balancing brand building with conversion-focused tactics via the right mix of online and offline channels. The secret sauce is carefully attributing these marketing results to the appropriate sources. This allows us to learn, review, and highlight future tactics with the highest potential for growth while also preventing spending wastage.
Property marketers across each vertical can optimise efforts using a range of performance-led channels. Professionals across areas like Google Ads, Paid, and Organic Social have all been challenged to find the best tactics to drive performance, benchmark progress and learn as much as possible from results.
Residential Property Marketing Considerations
The B2C goliath of the property sector, residential marketing, demands emotionally resonant creative work paired with dedicated, targeted lead generation. Most of the journey is highly personal and relies on marketers having a strong understanding of the consumer and their headspace at each stage.
In J2X’s experience, whether it’s for renting or buying, platforms like Meta and Google play a huge role in early-stage discovery, and this is something we prioritise. Reaching the right audiences at the right time, when they are actively ready to make a decision, can make all the difference.
Every residential scheme will vary in the results it can deliver based on location, local population density, and so on. Whilst more experienced marketers would expect to be at the better end of these, the below represents the average platform benchmarks across key channels:
Residential Property Industry Google Ads Benchmarks
- CTR range: 1.5% – 2.5%
- CPC range: £1.10 – £1.80
- CPL range: £18 – £30
Property Industry Meta Benchmarks
- CPM range: £5 – £8
- CTR range: 0.9%–1.8%
- CPC range: £0.80 – £1.40
- CPL range: £20 – £35
Key Digital Performance Considerations for Marketing Residential Property
- Google Ads: A key lead generator, best utilised by activating localised Search campaigns with granular keyword targeting.
- Meta: A key paid social channel with Facebook and Instagram, Meta offers the ability to serve dynamic ad creatives tailored to a customer’s life stage (e.g. first-time buyer, young family).
- First-party data: A king in this era. Be sure to build strong email nurture sequences for long lead times and incorporate reactivation campaigns for lapsed prospects.
- CRO: Test, test, test! Whilst some universal proof points can be used, what works for one property brand might not work for your own audience or development. Test mobile-first forms, instant valuation tools, clear call-to-actions and other converting tools to help drive up your conversion rates. Find what works for you!
- CRM: Don’t forget about CRM. Integrate your forms and digital platforms with your CRM to track users from the first point of contact through to the sale. Use UTM tracking for clear source visibility.
Office Property Marketing Considerations
Having worked across countless office property performance marketing campaigns, we can say that the sector has experienced a high level of volatility, driven partly by external market factors such as the pandemic and the shift to home working. One thing is certain, however: the focus of digital marketing should always be quality over quantity.
In the post-COVID era, office leasing has undergone a transformation. When speaking with our clients, we are finding that B2B buyers are more discerning, and decision-making periods can often take much longer. There is also a lot of competition for office keywords on platforms such as Google Ads, making it key to capitalise on more targeted longtail keywords.
Success in this space is about demonstrating value and a positive ROI. To achieve this, our recommendation is, more often than not, to focus on content-led journeys and sharp CRM integration.
The below represents the average platform benchmarks across key channels:
Office Property Google Ads Benchmarks
- CPM: £14 – £18
- CTR: 0.6% – 1.2%
- CPC: £3 – £7 (be discerning, as some Google auctions see bids of £50+)
- CPL: £80 – £150
Office Property LinkedIn Benchmarks
- CPM: £35–£70 (depending on how niche your audiences are)
- CTR: 0.4%–0.8%
- CPC: £5.50–£9.00
- CPL: £95–£150
Key Digital Considerations for Office Property Marketing
- Google Ad Budget: Be careful with your Google Ads strategy, as it can be easy to overspend on terms that are too generic to provide real conversion potential. Use high-intent search campaigns targeting longer tail queries, such as ‘flexible office space Shoreditch’.
- LinkedIn A/B Tests: LinkedIn Ads work very well in driving consideration, but can be expensive when used as a sole brand-building platform. Take the time to test different video or static media formats, such as gated reports, virtual tour offers, or whitepapers aimed at senior decision-makers.
- Audience Segmentation: Always be sure to focus on audience segmentation for your email marketing campaigns. Prospective occupiers, office agents and wider stakeholders each require different information to keep them engaged. Incorporate A/B testing to determine what resonates best with each market.
- Landing Page Tests: It’s important to A/B test your website against dedicated landing pages built based on the audiences you’re targeting. Incorporate demo requests, case studies and social proof to build confidence.
Industrial Property Marketing Considerations
Industrial property marketing has long been a staple at J2X, with our team having worked with leading brands across this space. The industrial and logistics sector has boomed in the years since Covid. However, there is also the possibility that recent world events, such as the United States tariffs, may impact that growth trajectory for the foreseeable future by changing where, when and how corporations set up their industrial properties.
That being said, it is also an incredibly diverse sector. Anything from 500 SQ FT last-mile warehousing to 1M+ SQ FT golden triangle big box schemes could be under consideration, to say nothing of the differences between local, national, or multinational-level campaigns. The approaches have to be considered, and the platforms relevant for last-mile and urban logistics won’t necessarily drive the same impact across mid-box or big-box schemes.
Let’s look at a simplified view of both:
Key Considerations for Last-Mile & Urban Logistics
- Google Ads: This area of the market can see shorter decision-making periods, as there are typically only one or two decision-makers for smaller local companies. This makes Google Ads a primary source of lead generation.
- Meta: Whilst the word ‘Meta’ can act as a repellent for a lot of B2B marketers, we’ve proven its potential on many occasions when reaching and engaging with local businesses for Last Mile and Urban Logistics spaces. For the smaller end of the market, this can almost be treated in the same manner as B2C; Lead to conversion times are quicker, and marketing efforts are centred on direct outreach to the decision-maker.
- CRO Strategies: Don’t guess. Localised CRO strategies and effective attribution are important factors for determining how people are finding, interacting and engaging with your site. Incorporate website A/B testing, but bear in mind that most B2B sites achieve low traffic volumes compared to B2C. As a result, testing is likely to take a while to show statistical significance. We recommend focusing on larger changes rather than small tweaks to see real, comparable differences.
Key Considerations for Mid-Box/ Big-Box Property Marketing
- Agent Marketing: For larger schemes, reaching out to and engaging with the agent market is as important as engaging with prospective occupiers. They represent the bigger brands and are a key component in driving conversations forward.
- LinkedIn is your best friend: Incorporate different brand and consideration strategies to consistently engage with the right audiences. You should also test different content types to understand what resonates.
- Programmatic: Consider programmatic networks for low-cost, high-reach activations. Use geo-targeting to tie this in with any OOH, hoarding or other offline marketing efforts.
- Build on your first-party data: Developing an email marketing strategy that includes appropriate audience segmentation is an important way of keeping your most important and engaged audiences up to date.
Mid-Box / Big-Box Property Marketing Benchmarks
Due to the span in size, demands, location, and usage from larger schemes down to urban and last-mile logistics, it’s challenging to give accurate benchmarks. For more of a detailed breakdown of relevant benchmarks for your scheme, get in touch with the J2X team.
Key Digital Considerations for Industrial Property Marketing
- Capitalise on Google Ads: We recommend using a blend of informational and transactional keywords, combined with direct competitor campaigns. J2X can incorporate inventory and map extensions, deliver site links to specification, and use image extensions to add a visual cue to your campaign.
- Utilise LinkedIn: Directly target agents and prospective occupiers via LinkedIn. Focus on audience segmentation and ABM strategies to serve personalised content to each audience.
- Always-on Marketing: Our tip is to focus on targeted scheme-specific conversion campaigns, using always-on brand messaging to stay front of mind and reach audiences regardless of whether they are currently in or out of the market.
- CRM Success: As decision-making periods can be 18+ months for larger occupiers, ensure CRM tracking and appropriate attribution are in place. Lead source tracking, integration with digital platforms, and sales cycle segmentation are all key considerations that should be made ahead of the campaign’s launch.
Finally, while it’s tempting to focus solely on performance metrics like CPL, overlooking brand investment can hurt long-term growth. Maintaining a strong digital brand presence and optimising campaigns based on awareness KPIs reduces friction in lower funnel stages and can drive a significant lift in overall conversion rates.
Join Us at UKREiiF
J2X is proud to be hosting a panel at UKREiiF to explore these themes further — including how top-performing property brands are integrating brand and performance marketing for sustained growth. We’ll be joined by industry and platform leaders to share insights and success stories.
Whether you’re marketing industrial sheds, city-centre office space or high-volume residential builds, the path to real value starts with clarity, data, and creativity.
