When more digital marketing does not mean more leases

When more marketing does not mean more leases
Why aiming for more enquiries can quietly slow down leasing.

More marketing doesn’t always mean more leases. In fact, chasing ‘more enquiries’ can quietly slow leasing down.

You can pour budget into launch campaigns and watch the dashboard light up – impressions, clicks, form fills. The weekly report looks busy. But if the conversations that matter (shortlists, repeat viewings, heads of terms) aren’t moving faster, you’ve got a measurement problem and, usually, a structure problem. Most digital and paid platforms are built to optimise what’s easiest to count. Leasing is built around what’s hardest to shift: confidence, internal alignment, and risk.

I learned this the hard way managing multi-channel paid campaigns for global B2B tech brands. The numbers were ‘good’. Lead volume rose. Cost per lead fell. And yet deals didn’t accelerate. Progress only changed when we stopped optimising for marketing activity and started engineering campaigns around commercial stages – what actually causes a decision to advance.

Office leasing works the same way. Activity is not the same as progression.

The hidden cost of chasing bigger numbers

This might sound counter intuitive at first, but more views, more clicks and even more enquiries should not be your marketing goal. In many cases, a focus on volume can lead to more filtering, more broker time, and ultimately fewer serious conversations and fewer closed deals.

Awareness focused media campaigns, or relying solely on organic channels, can:

• Attract audiences outside your true target profile
• Mistake interest for intent
• Add workload for brokers rather than momentum
• And even damage internal confidence in marketing performance

None of this suggests marketing is unnecessary only that your objectives need to be tighter and explicitly aligned to leasing outcomes.

In a market where occupiers are selective and competition for best-in-class space remains strong, attention alone is not a reliable signal of demand. Campaigns built around volume risk overstating true leasing momentum.

Many assets also see a heavy marketing push at the point of launch, followed by long periods of reduced visibility. Leasing decisions rarely follow that pattern.

The real test is whether your marketing translates into tangible deal progression. If paid media is not contributing to that outcome, it is unlikely to be working as effectively as it could.

Marketing must reflect how leasing decisions are actually made

While every scheme is different, office leases rarely move in a straight line. A 9–18 month journey from initial search to completion is common. Broker search. Shortlist. Viewings. Financial scrutiny. Heads of terms. Legal negotiation.

At each stage, new questions emerge and different stakeholders can become more influential. Let’s look at a typical decision group. It will most likely include:

• CEO or managing director
• CFO or finance lead
• A Workplace or operations lead
• External broker
• Legal advisers
• ESG input

And each of these individuals will evaluate the opportunity and the risks differently. If marketing only focuses on generating early enquiries, it supports the first step but neglects the more demanding stages that follow.

This is where campaigns often fall short. They are built to generate interest rather than to reinforce confidence as decisions become more serious.

That distinction matters.

What an intelligent digital marketing strategy does differently

From my experience, the campaigns that improved commercial outcomes shared one characteristic – they were designed backwards from the final decision, not forwards from the first click.

In leasing, that translates into four practical shifts in how paid media is structured and assessed.

#1 Define the success in the context of the whole journey

Digital platforms tend to reward what is easiest to measure. Reach. Clicks. Enquiries. The earlier the action, the simpler it is to track and scale.

Leasing, however, plays out over time. A signed lease is the result of multiple stages, and interest narrows as decisions become more serious. If success is judged only at the first awareness  stage, it is easy to mistake activity for momentum.

Stronger campaigns start with a clear view of the end goal and work backwards. Performance is assessed against deal progression, not just response volume. The objective is not more early activity. It is more early activity that leads somewhere.

#2 Target the people who influence the decision with different messages

This is where paid media and audience targeting becomes a real asset. Leasing decisions rarely sit with one individual. Brokers remain central, but finance leaders, operations teams and senior executives can all influence whether a building progresses.

Stronger advertising does not treat this group as a single audience. It runs parallel campaigns with tailored creative and messaging that address distinct concerns.

For example:

• Finance teams want clarity on the full cost over time, not just the headline rent
• Operations leads want to know whether the space will actually work for their team’s day to day
• Senior leadership want confidence that the move supports growth, brand and talent

Platforms such as LinkedIn allow you to reach these roles directly, rather than relying on one broad message and hoping it resonates with everyone.

The aim is not simply to showcase the building. It is to answer the questions that could otherwise stall approval.

#3 Support the middle of the process, not just the launch

Leasing rarely happens quickly. Interest is often strongest at the start, then fades as occupiers compare serious options and internal discussions begin.

Many campaigns focus heavily on the launch moment and then lose visibility just as decisions become more considered.

Stronger strategies remain present beyond first contact and will ensure the asset stays visible to organisations who have already shown interest and provide more detailed information as conversations deepen. The aim is to support the internal debate, not just generate the initial enquiry.

#4 Measure what actually moves the void

Clicks, impressions and cost per lead are inputs. They are not the outcome. Performance should be reviewed against what is happening in the deal pipeline, for example:

• Are brokers accepting and progressing enquiries?
• Is the building making it onto serious shortlists?
• Are viewings turning into heads of terms?

If those signals are not improving, increasing spend or chasing additional volume is unlikely to reduce vacancy.

The strategic shift

In an active but selective office market, attention alone is not enough. Leasing rarely stalls at awareness. It slows in the middle, when internal questions go unanswered or when visibility drops at the wrong moment.

The strongest strategies are built backwards from the outcome. They define success in terms of real deal progression, not early stage activity. They recognise that multiple stakeholders shape approval and speak to each of them directly. They remain present beyond launch, supporting the internal debate as options are compared.

Paid media works best when it is treated as part of the leasing process itself, not a short burst of promotion.

In the end, the measure is straightforward. Does your marketing help shorten the void?