Once Upon a Property: How to Find Your Property’s Story

Every prospective tenant stands at a crossroads. Before them stretches a landscape of seemingly identical properties, each vying for attention in a crowded field.

What will make them choose your building over the others? The answer isn’t square footage or amenities alone, but in the story your marketing tells.

Previously, CBRE Calibre Creative Group explored why your property needs a brand. Now, let's dive into the art of uncovering and crafting that all-important story—the narrative that will set your asset apart in a competitive market, forge an emotional connection with your ideal tenants, and get deals done.

Details Make the Story

A complete understanding of your property, inside and out, is the foundation of every successful story. Gather every detail about the property you can and study it until it's second nature. This seems obvious, but all too often the fundamentals are overlooked—and you might find a small detail that can bloom into a big story.

This deep knowledge allows you to identify unique selling points that might otherwise go unnoticed. Perhaps it's an architectural quirk, a piece of local history, or an innovative sustainability feature.

Here are some examples of how CBRE Calibre Creative Group has built a narrative off of these details:

Distinguished. Elegant. Timeless.

Southeast Financial Center’s brand story hinges on the fact that for a long time it was the tallest building in Miami (and is in the top five today). So we open the brochure with: “Welcome to the top. It’s beautiful here.”

Constructing Community

Gateway South is a state-of-the-art home for the building industry in St. Louis, a city traditionally known as the Gateway to the West. Located in a former industrial district and poised to return the city to its historic manufacturing glory, we tie the past and future together with: “The Gateway to the Next.”

Define Your Audience

Identify your key audience, whether it’s tech companies or law firms, financial services or media studios, but write for an audience of one (yes, one) person. When you try to write for everyone, you end up writing for no one. By focusing on a specific individual, you can create a narrative that feels personal and relevant.

Your audience of one can be a real person you know, or a character you create. Think about what movies they like, what car they drive, what they're worried about and their hopes for the future. This approach, known as creating a "tenant persona," allows you to craft a story that speaks directly to your ideal tenant.

Here’s how CBRE Calibre Creative Group approaches this:

The Power of Presence

For a development seeking blue-chip tech firms, such as OneTERRA, you might imagine yourself writing for an established founder, who is deeply concerned about attracting talent back to the office in an age of fierce competition. In that case, you might catch their interest with something like the following: “Every groundbreaking idea is born from an inspired environment.”

Legends Are Made Here

If your property is attractive to media companies, such as Wilshire Courtyard in downtown LA, you could write with an up-and-coming young creative in mind, who has tasted success for the first time and is eager to drink deep. You would engage them with something like this: “It’s your turn to shine. Wilshire Courtyard is where you’ll plant your flag at the center of the industry, ignite your creativity, and achieve milestone after milestone.”

The Final Touches

While understanding your property and audience forms the foundation of your narrative, three additional techniques can elevate your story from good to exceptional:

Listen Before You Write
Get outside of your head and discover what your audience's desires and fears are—what they’re interested in and what kills their attention. The story you want to write, the story you think your audience wants to hear, and the story your audience actually wants to hear are three different things.

Study Your Competition
Great stories stand out, but what they stand out from can be as important as the story itself. Read the competitive landscape—identify where and how you are different from your competitors. What are they saying, what aren't they saying, and where are there opportunities for you?

Find Fresh Inspiration
Don't be afraid to look beyond the commercial real estate industry for inspiration. Consumer brands and luxury hotel brands can serve as guides for how to deliver the narrative and feel you want—but it's on you to make it feel fresh and compelling.

Unleashing Your Property’s Potential

Building a story for your property isn’t easy, but it is crucial. In today's competitive commercial real estate market, a strong narrative can be the difference between a struggling property and a thriving one. Make sure you give yourself every advantage you can.