By James Carnegie, Director, Commercial Property, Good Relations
Property is a sector full of opinions, reports, events and data. All vehicles for thought leadership. But why is so much time devoted to creating it?
A key reason is because on the transactional side, you can only PR the land, plan, development or deal for so long. To build the brand in a sustainable way and create new opportunities, you must focus on the key people and the business expertise behind the deal.
If you are a built environment industry organisation, you will need to highlight important issues to your stakeholders. And creating engaging thought leadership content that resonates with them is an excellent way to do this.
But a lot of so called thought leadership - from long white papers to rambling speeches - is ineffective. It has no impact. Effective thought leadership must be insightful, easily digestible and well planned. And it must benefit your audiences.
Here are six of the property sector’s most effective thought leaders.
1. CBRE
CBRE’s quarterly market reports are bibles for anybody requiring accurate, digestible data on global property markets. They are ‘go to sources of information for CBRE’s investor and occupier client base.
Verdict: These informative reports clearly demonstrate CBRE’s extraordinary breadth of market knowledge to its target audiences. The reports also deliver a ‘call to action’ by highlighting CBRE employees with expertise in the market a report covers.
2. Rightmove
Rightmove is more than a portal for finding your next home. It’s a complete resource for house hunters. Insightful content highlights everything from house price differentials between areas, to the happiest towns to live in.
Verdict: Rightmove’s content truly inspires and aides its customers’ property search. No wonder so many people start their search on Rightmove.
3. The Urban Land Institute (ULI)
ULI leads the future of global urban development. Bringing together world leaders from real estate and land use to exchange ideas on real issues, including urbanisation, conservation and land use.
Verdict: ULI has created a true forum for global urban development experts. The result is agenda setting education, research, publishing, and digital content.
4. Lendlease
Lendlease is a global property developer and thought leader on workplace design and wellbeing. It uses its experience to create workspaces designed for modern businesses to drive collaboration and innovation. One example is the use of neuro science research to understand the impact of workspace design on innovation and creativity.
Verdict: Lendlease’s neuro science research is tailored to the unique needs of its customers. For example, it helps them create spaces that enable optimum brain function, so they can attract and retain the best talent. It also helps its customers think, feel and achieve their business goals.
5. Linklaters - Real Estate Division
Linklaters is at the forefront of the legal complexities around owning, developing and funding real estate. Its series of reports and events tackle the most current legal issues facing its clients. From government policy to Brexit.
Verdict: Linklaters thought leadership content doesn’t only flag the legal issues its clients might face. It is also a resource that helps them take advantage of emerging business opportunities.
6. New London Architecture (NLA)
NLA’s core mission is to shape a better city. Its insightful content leads the debate on what architecture is best for London. An example is its annual London Tall Buildings Survey which shows how over 500 towers currently proposed for London will affect the capital’s skyline.
Verdict: The London Tall Buildings Survey is about more than just future gazing London’s skyline. It brings architectural issues facing the city to the forefront. Including the liveability of high-rise buildings, and their role in solving London’s housing crisis.
Thought leadership works. If you are interested in finding out more about how it could work better for you, join our LinkedIn group, and if you would like to attend one of our events, contact Holly on hdedman@goodrelations.co.uk