In these uncertain times in Commercial Real Estate, many firms must find ways to reinvent and rebrand themselves to their existing clients and new opportunities. Many of us perform Phase I Environmental Site Assessments as well as surveys for radon, lead-based paint, and asbestos; but how do we tell our clients that our firm's way is different?

I read about many firms in our business slashing their marketing budgets or cutting the marketing personnel, but this is precisely what they should NOT be doing. Firms need these services more than ever, whether it is done in house or subcontracted out to a provider of marketing services. Your clients and colleagues need to know why you are in this business and what drives you as well as why your services are different than firm XYZ. In our experience, price was not the driver in most cases, it was the understanding of the client's needs, the responsiveness, communication, and follow up that ranked as most important.

As far as cost, there are limitless "cost-free" options available to us all on social networking sites, blogs, email blasts (low cost) and electronic newsletters, we simply must make the investment in time and producing something of value each time we communicate with our network (i.e. clients, colleagues, peers, vendors). Communicating value and why we are different from one another is a true challenge and takes some adept creativity and writing skill. I would welcome the opportunity for our group to provide some examples of how they communicate and deliver value to their organization and clients.