A new marketing approach for two Manhattan office buildings gives new meaning to the term “Internet address.”
The virtues of two buildings being leased by Williamson, Picket, Gross are being touted on Web sites that are their actual street addresses.
The Internet addresses for two buildings, located at 317 Madison Ave. and 51 E. 42nd St., are www.317madisonave.com and www.51e42ndst.com. On both sites, Williamson, Picket, Gross wastes no time putting the buildings’ best face forward.
The home pages feature photographs of the buildings against stylishly designed backgrounds. Visitors can learn about the building’s history, its tenants, the leasing company’s background, a locator map showing the building’s proximity to subway lines, and what’s currently available.
In the availability section, visitors can scroll through individual office spaces, floor plans, zooming in as close as individual rooms. Prices per square foot are also listed.
The site has been in operation for three months and the company plans to add a newsletter and tenant questionnaire this summer, said Robert Leitner of Williamson, Picket, Gross.
“We had limited success with our print advertising and were looking for a new method of reaching the business community at large,” Leitner said. “Creating our own Web site seemed to be an easy, relatively inexpensive way of advertising our properties 24 hours a day.”
And it is likely to be logical choice for others as well, says Peter Pike, the proprietor of PikeNet, an online commercial property information site.
“Street addresses and property names are coming to the Web,” Pike said. “Just like 1-800 numbers get converted into easily remembered words, major properties will try to get URLs (Web site addresses) that are short and catchy. Then they’ll plaster these URLs across their marketing materials. It’s a terrific way of building brand identity.”
