BY MARKUS LEVENS
Specialized agencies are key tools for maximizing returns in this area. Instead of a shopping center owner or manager trying to build every single vendor and advertiser relationship alone, it only makes sense for a forward-thinking operator to outsource the administration of marketing its space to a specialist. Similarly, rather than run ragged through self-marketing, a business looking to advertise is also best served through the use of a centralized retail marketing agency.
One example in this field is Expertisale. The German agency executes their database through both an online platform and an offline sales center. Their online platform makes services available to their market partners 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It provides instant access to real-time data about the availability of spaces across all markets and a wide variety of geographic locations. But working exclusively online is not for every business. Because of this, they also serve their market partners offline through a sales center and consultants.
The key functions of Expertisale’s service are twofold. First, the agency connects advertisers with a central database of available opportunities. Secondly, it connects owners and operators with a vast range of vendors and advertisers hungry for space. Just as a chef spends his mornings scouring the city for the freshest, most delicious ingredients to please his clients, so, too, is a mall activation agency constantly in search of the best available spaces for new and enticing marketing opportunities. Because this centralized agency has a much greater reach than any individual business or operator can have on its own, it enables all of its market partners to find exactly the right fit for their businesses.
This type of centralization means that businesses and vendors looking for space can connect in an optimal way with the owners and managers who are able to offer prime marketing opportunities. For mall owners and managers, maintaining consistent visual branding through high-quality displays and events can be a headache, with constant back-and-forth communication between multiple stake-holders causing delays and inaccuracies. An agency like Expertisale ensures consistent branding throughout any space, large or small.
When owners and operators of retail properties try to fulfill their marketing vacancies themselves, their reach is limited only to their personal networking circle. The same issue is encountered by vendors and advertisers looking for retail marketing space: These business people will only be able to achieve a limited number of contact points within the industry, usually limited to hyper-local availability.
A shopping center marketing agency is a good way for everyone to beef up their marketing strategy. Operators benefit from a consistent and polished visual strategy that is always completely consistent with the customer experience they are targeting—a visual strategy tailored exactly to your unique environment and branding goals. Operators also save time when outsourcing the administration of their marketing, valuable time that can be better spent strengthening relationships with tenants and attending to the customer experience. Advertisers and vendors benefit from unparalleled choice—the agency provides hundreds of spaces and opportunities. These can all be carefully narrowed down according to the needs of the individual business.
All the advertisers and vendors have to do is browse the menu and choose the right marketing availability for their business, à la carte. Furthermore, having a centralized space leasing service working for a company means one thing above all: efficiency. As the agency deals with all of the administrative issues involved in renting retail marketing space and combines online activity with point-of-sale activity, the entire process increases in speed.
Of course, a retail real estate marketing agency cannot simply be about building and executing the most extensive database. A good agency also incorporates extra incentives into their service to create a complete administrative package. True, Expertisale ’s centralization provides its market partners with a standardized booking process and transparent market prices. But it also goes the extra mile—as part of its administrative package, it deploys a visualization with a 360° panoramic view so that center managers and project managers are able to make a better decision about renting space right from their desks.
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