By David Z Beitz, President and Co-Founder of Beitz and Daigh Geographics, Inc.

It's that time of year again where shopping center owners and developers are focusing on how to best present opportunities to retailers.  If you have not been to ICSC Vegas before then you have no idea how busy it is and how difficult it can be to maximize your time. Relationships are an integral part of the show and just as important  is the data on your property.  Property owners must find the best ways to communicate the unique opportunities that are available for each location.  So with a little over 3 months left to prepare here are my top 5 things to do NOW to be ready:

Update your Demographics, Traffic Counts, and Competition Aerials

At this point, most of the major demographic companies are providing 2013 demographics. By now, or at least before RECon, your materials should be reflecting these new numbers.  This includes marketing kits, website, and e-mail blasts. You would be surprised by how many times these numbers don't match even at the same location.  For example - you see a company's web page that lists one number for the 3 mile population, then you click on the flyer and they show a different number.  Also if you create your competition aerials in GIS - then you can bring in new retail layers to check for updates.  You can do this with some traffic count GIS layers as well.  Usually the State DOT even provides these layers for free on their website.

 Geo Targeted E-mails

Did you know that if you organize your contacts with addresses in MailChimp that you can geo-target your e-mail list?  This works by setting up an e-mail campaign and then inputting the  Target Address" for your property then selecting all the contacts within a specified radius of your property.  This is just an extra tool for marketing (not the way to do it every time) but it does follow that logic that since 43% of Google internet searches are for local content then why not market your property locally with a targeted campaign?  Users are searching for local content everyday and here is your chance to e-mail them directly.

Site Plans

Site plans must be updated to show the most recent information.   You will lose your audience if you start saying "well this space is really this...and we just filled this space but..."  Sure this is common sense, but you will see people show up every year to RECon with out-of-date site plans.  This goes for new developments as well.  Have you just sketched those boxes in?  Can the retail really fit and have adequate parking and room for trucks to turn around?  Don't wast your time and a retailers time without doing some preliminary work first. It's amazing what a good site planner can do in a short amount of time.  (Especially the one we have here at Beitz and Daigh!)

Research your markets and the areas near your properties

Remember the 450+ unit residential development planned near your site back in 2008?  Well what's it doing now?  Maybe there is some new activity there you can report.  Or maybe there are some other new residential projects popping up in the area.   How about new employers?  Or are there other retail development projects proposed or planned nearby? What  about out-parcel comparable sales? Real estate is often a puzzle with many pieces and these pieces are literally changing and moving all the time. It's up to you to understand this playing field better than everyone else.

Web-mapping

Are all of your properties on an interactive map somewhere? What better tool could exist to visually show where your opportunities are located. At least have some interactive map on your Ipad and/or website.  The next generation of web-mapping is here and if you want to take it up a notch the technology is ready and waiting for your data.  New Esri web-mapping technology can enable companies to display their site plans right on the map and pull in the latest tenant and availability data and overlay any number of demographic, competition, transportation, and other useful layers.  This same process can also be used to generate static PDF documents or brochures—all based off the same data so it’s all consistent and current. (Ask us about "OneSite" for more information.)

The time to start is NOW!

It's not too late to make plans to look like a superstar when you show up at ICSC RECon.  Contact us today to see how we can help.  With 35+ years of shopping center GIS research and marketing experience we can help you to maximize  location data to help you market your opportunities for ISCS RECon and beyond.  Having worked with Shopping Center Owners, Real Estate Investors, Developers, Brokers, Investment Banking Professionals, and Internet Entrepreneurs; Beitz and Daigh has a solid track record in providing clients with superior location research and marketing as well as online mapping applications.

Register today for  these upcoming Webinars to learn more (Each Webinar will have the same content)

February 21 10:30AM Eastern- Top 5 "GIS" things for RECon (Offering 1) 
February 28 2:30PM Eastern - Top 5 "GIS" things for RECon (Offering 2) 

About Beitz and Daigh Geographics, Inc

Beitz and Daigh Geographics, Inc., an Esri Business Partner, provides cutting-edge GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technology solutions for organizations looking to visualize, research, analyze , and display location data.  Nationwide professional services and consulting are provided using the latest GIS software from Esri, the world leader in GIS.  Professional Services offered include: Market Planning & Site Selection, Location Marketing, Demographic Reports, Site Planning, Web-Mapping, Mobile Application Development, Trade Area Analysis, Predictive Analytics, Target Customer Analysis, and Site Planning. Consulting services include data creation, data management, software  training, GIS project scope creation, and cloud based GIS implementation for mobile devices. For more information on Beitz and Daigh Geographics, Inc., please visit  www.beitzanddaigh.com