The commercial real estate sector has continuously evolved in cycles, but the pandemic didn’t just accelerate trends; it fundamentally redrew the map. Office demand plummeted, retail formats fractured, and migration patterns disrupted decades of geographic assumptions. Three years later, we’re not going back—we’re building forward.
The result is a market full of friction and opportunity. We’re seeing legacy properties in places where demand has moved on, messaging still anchored in pre-pandemic assumptions, and investment strategies out of sync with how people now live, work, and shop. This three-way mismatch—between supply and demand, location and investment, and private strategy and public need—redefines CRE success rules.
To meet this moment, companies can’t rely on traditional marketing playbooks. Static listings and broad-stroke outreach no longer cut it. Success now demands sharper audience segmentation, messaging that frames properties as future-forward rather than legacy-bound, and a marketing infrastructure built for speed, data, and adaptability. This post explores the latest insights and lays out the strategies CRE teams need to navigate—and lead—in the post-pandemic era.
The Three-Way Mismatch Defining CRE Today
The pandemic didn’t just shake up commercial real estate—it fractured the alignment between what the market needs and where value is held. As we emerge into a post-pandemic economy, three major mismatches are reshaping how properties are used, how capital is deployed, and how marketing strategies must evolve.
Mismatch #1: Available Space vs. Actual Demand
Across the U.S., millions of square feet sit vacant—particularly in legacy office buildings and traditional enclosed malls. At the same time, demand is rising for entirely different types of spaces: open-air retail centers, flexible mixed-use developments, and suburban or secondary-market offices designed for hybrid teams.
CRE supply hasn’t caught up to where (and how) people now want to live, work, and shop.
CRE supply hasn’t caught up to where (and how) people now want to live, work, and shop.
Mismatch #2: Investment Capital vs. Geographic Momentum
While people and businesses are relocating, CRE capital isn’t moving fast enough to follow. Coastal metros like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago still hold significant CRE portfolios, even as growth accelerates in Sun Belt cities like Austin, Tampa, Nashville, and Phoenix. This shift creates a gap between where investment is concentrated and where demand is rising.
Mismatch #3: Private Incentives vs. Public Needs
Property owners are under pressure to preserve NOI. Cities, meanwhile, are desperate to activate underutilized downtowns, boost housing stock, and improve walkability. These priorities often clash, delaying redevelopment and leaving buildings vacant longer than necessary.
Together, these mismatches signal a fundamental shift: what made a property valuable in 2019 doesn’t guarantee its relevance in 2025. That’s why CRE marketers must evolve from promoters of space to curators of relevance, helping reposition assets for the realities (and opportunities) ahead.
Key Takeaways for CRE Marketing Teams
If there’s one universal truth in commercial real estate today, it’s this: the fundamentals may be local, but the shift in buyer and tenant expectations is global. Marketing teams can no longer rely on static brochures, generic personas, or one-size-fits-all strategies. To remain relevant and competitive, you must rethink how you attract, engage, and convert to a world defined by change.
Data is the New Location
In a volatile market, you can’t afford to guess. With leasing and acquisition decisions increasingly influenced by shifting migration patterns, telework trends, and real-time economic conditions, data-driven targeting is essential.
- Use tools like Placer.ai, Esri, or CoStar to layer mobility, demographic, and economic data into your segmentation model.
- Map your outreach strategy to behavior, not just geography—target based on move patterns, business formation activity, or even foot traffic trends.
- Turn data into creative fuel—personalize email campaigns, dynamic ads, and social content based on user signals and preferences.
Sell the Experience, Not Just the Asset
Specs and spreadsheets are table stakes. What gets attention now is vision. Prospects don’t just want to know how many square feet—they want to know what kind of business or life they could build there.
- Create immersive content like virtual walkthroughs, drone videos, and photo-driven “day in the life” storytelling.
- Incorporate testimonials from tenants or community stakeholders to humanize the asset and build trust.
- Frame your space as a tool for productivity, brand storytelling, and employee engagement. Think transformation, not just transaction.
Shorten the Feedback Loop
Traditional CRE marketing cycles are too slow for today’s pace. Prospects make initial decisions in seconds; if your messaging isn’t on point, they scroll past.
- Shift from long, quarterly content plans to sprint-based campaign cycles. Test and iterate quickly.
- Use AI tools to accelerate copywriting, asset creation, and A/B testing.
- Monitor engagement signals and pivot fast—optimize headlines, CTAs, layouts, and formats in real-time.
Be Platform Specific and Mobile First
Your prospects are researching from their phones, scrolling LinkedIn during commutes, and watching video over reading PDFs. If your materials aren’t built for that reality, they’re getting lost.
- Design every touchpoint for mobile—from email layouts to property websites to call-to-action buttons.
- Use short-form video to drive engagement and reach new audiences.
- Break long documents into modular, snackable content that can be deployed across platforms and formats.
Build for Meaning, Not Just Metrics
Vanity metrics—impressions, clicks, likes—can distract from what actually matters: connection, trust, and deal velocity. In a high-stakes, high-value industry like CRE, brand equity and buyer confidence are the true performance indicators.
- Create thought leadership that speaks to your audience’s challenges—emerging trends, regulatory shifts, or innovative use cases.
- Align your messaging with purpose-driven themes: ESG, DEI, adaptive reuse, or community impact.
- Treat every campaign as a brand-building opportunity, not just a pipeline filler.
The stakes are higher in this post-pandemic CRE market, but so is the opportunity. Marketing isn’t just about promotion anymore. It’s how you shape perception, earn attention, and drive action. Get that right, and your assets won’t just be seen; they’ll be chosen.
Marketing is the Engine of Realignment
The post-pandemic disruption in commercial real estate isn’t just about empty office towers or shifting migration patterns. At its core, it’s a challenge of connection between spaces and users, assets and demand, vision, and value. And that challenge is one marketing is uniquely equipped to solve.
Marketing has moved from the sidelines to the center in this new landscape. It’s no longer a downstream activity, activated after deals are shaped or spaces built. Instead, it’s become the vehicle through which CRE firms signal transformation, build trust, and drive action. Marketing reframes underutilized assets as future-ready opportunities. It translates raw data into relevance. And when investors are cautious or tenants are uncertain, marketing helps them see the upside—and believe in it.
Marketing reframes underutilized assets as future-ready opportunities. It translates raw data into relevance.
Great marketing today isn’t about louder promotions or prettier brochures. It’s about helping buyers, occupiers, and stakeholders make sense of a market in motion. It’s how firms tell better stories, ask more thoughtful questions, and lead confidently in an industry still finding its footing.
Real estate may be physical, but in 2025, the differentiator will be strategic communication. Marketing is how you earn attention, shape perception, and accelerate momentum. It’s not just about visibility—it’s about viability.
Now is the time to stop waiting for a return to the old playbook. The firms that invest in smarter, faster, more audience-aligned marketing will be the ones who don’t just survive this realignment—they’ll define what comes next.
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