CBRE Group, a $9 billion commercial real estate company, is extending its content marketing program with the launch of "Blueprint," an online magazine that covers trends and issues affecting commercial real estate and the overall business climate.
"Blueprint," which launches today, is produced in-house and with digital agency partner Group SJR. It is aimed at CBRE's clients -- including commercial real estate investors and businesses that buy and lease property -- as well as the general business audience.
"For our brand to be considered world-class by our clients, we must become known as a company that consistently delivers intellectual capital and thought value to our clients," said Paul Suchman, who was named chief marketing officer at CBRE Group in August 2013. Since then, he has been working on building the company's content marketing program, including social media content, research reports and customer stories.
"Everything we're doing in marketing at CBRE must deliver against at least one of three objectives -- building brand equity, enhancing relationships with clients and delivering against revenue growth," Mr. Suchman said.
The online magazine is designed to deliver against the first two objectives, but not necessarily the third, he said, in terms of measuring return on investment.
"We are not putting sales metrics on this, but building brand. The quantity of the audience [reach], how they're engaging with the content, and how they are giving us permission to continue to send them content" are some of the ways in which CBRE will measure the effectiveness of the publication, he said.
The publication will feature articles written by academics, CBRE subject-matter experts, analysts and "Blueprint" staff, including writers at Group SJR. The publication is overseen by Kurt Lindsey, global director-research marketing at CBRE.
The publication also features proprietary research from CBRE Group, such as a recent report on "Scoring Tech Talent," which ranks U.S. cities based on their access to tech talent.
Other features in the debut issue include an article on how property owners in California can navigate the historic drought; a look at the booming real estate market in India; and story about the "budding" demand for industrial space in Colorado to accommodate legal marijuana growers.
"Blueprint tells the real estate story -- not the CBRE story," Mr. Suchman said. "We want to look at issues that are at the intersection of real estate, culture, commerce, cities and workplace talent."
CBRE Group will promote the publication through social media, its own website, opt-in emails and its employees in more than 370 offices around the world.
The budget for the publication was not disclosed.
