The proptech market is more crowded than ever, with new tools constantly entering the space. A strong marketing strategy isn’t optional – it’s essential.
Marketing generates opportunities through targeted campaigns. But to truly stand out and earn long-term trust, you also need strategic public relations.
Together, they form a powerful combination: PR makes you credible, and marketing gets you leads.
In this guide, we break down the core elements of an effective proptech marketing strategy — one that’s enhanced by smart, strategic PR. You’ll learn how to:
- Understand the difference between marketing and PR (and why you need both)
- Build trust and credibility through strategic public relations
- Get your positioning right before launching any campaign
- Choose the right marketing channels and create effective content
- Measure performance to drive continuous improvement
Let’s get started.
Are you a proptech startup looking to build your brand’s reputation through strategic PR? Drop us a line.
Marketing or PR: Which do you need?
Marketing and PR often get lumped together, but they play very different roles in building your brand and growing your proptech business. The short answer? You need both — but for different reasons.
Marketing is how you promote your business to generate leads and drive sales. It includes strategic planning, campaign development, and choosing the right channels — whether that’s SEO, email, paid media, events, or content. Marketing gets you seen by your target audience and encourages them to take action.
Public relations, on the other hand, builds the trust and credibility that supports and enhances your marketing efforts. While marketing promotes your message, PR shapes how others perceive you — through earned media, thought leadership, and strategic industry engagement.
PR isn’t always flashy. In fact, it’s often seen as a powerful but unseen layer underneath your marketing efforts. But it’s this layer that influences opinion, creates meaningful connections, and earns industry respect.
In proptech, strong PR means showing up as a thought leader: joining conference panels, contributing to press articles with expert commentary, and offering a bold point of view on industry trends. Done right, PR makes people sit up and take notice — it helps you lead, not follow.
When you integrate marketing and PR, you don’t just generate leads — you create lasting impact.
Proptech PR: The halo effect you need for marketing success
Successful marketing is more than a single stand-out campaign or a good social media ad. For your marketing strategy to work, you need to build a strong foundation of trust and credibility that underscores everything you do. And the best way to do that is by leveraging the power of strategic public relations.
Maximizing strategic PR and communications helps you build your reputation, gain trust and influence, grow your visibility, and position yourself as an authority in your space — so potential clients see you as the obvious go-to solution for their needs.
Working with a company that specializes in strategic proptech PR, such as Abode, will help you attract attention in your target markets and ensure that your offer gets in front of your ideal customers while increasing your company’s reputation.
Effective B2B PR might include placing your spokespeople on trusted industry podcasts, securing speaking engagements or panel seats at industry conferences, and driving thought leadership by authoring insightful articles in leading trade publications.
For example, after working with Abode, the multifamily property automation tool PointCentral was able to boost its presence via speaking opportunities and podcast interviews (on shows such as Proptech Espresso and Millionacres), well-placed social media campaigns, and publication slots in leading trade magazines (such as PhocusWire and VRM Intel).
In this way, they reached 23.6 million online readers, boosted organic traffic to their website by 39%, increased followers on LinkedIn by 24%, and secured 1,000 social media engagements – solidifying the company’s reputation in the multifamily space. Read our case study for more.
Before you get started with PR or marketing, get your positioning right
If you want your marketing or PR strategy to land, you need to be crystal clear on your positioning first. And that starts with deeply understanding your audience.
Who are they? What are their priorities, pain points, and challenges? Where do they spend their time, and how do they consume information? Whether you’re targeting asset managers in multifamily real estate or operators in student accommodation, you need to know exactly who you’re speaking to.
This insight is the foundation of your positioning. It helps you craft messaging that resonates, content that educates, and campaigns that convert.
At Abode Worldwide, we work with proptech companies to sharpen their positioning before launching any PR activity. This means:
- Clarifying your brand story. Define your unique value proposition, market fit, and messaging for maximum impact.
- Strengthening your competitive edge. Highlight what sets you apart, making your brand more compelling to customers.
- Aligning your team. Ensures team-wide consistency in communication and brand positioning.
- Uncovering growth opportunities. Identify strategic partnerships and visibility tactics to expand your reach.
- Creating a roadmap for success. Pair strategic positioning with a tailored PR strategy to boost credibility, engagement, and industry leadership.
When your positioning is solid — and based on real audience understanding — you give your PR and marketing strategies the best possible chance to cut through the noise and make an impact. It’s the difference between shouting into the void and sparking real engagement.
Not sure where to start with positioning? Our team at Abode helps proptech brands illuminate their difference and amplify their message. As sector specialists, we live and breathe the modern rental living market, and understand the B2B focus of proptech brands better than anyone else. Get in touch to discuss how we can help you shine.
Steps to a successful marketing strategy in 2025
Positioning gives you the clarity and confidence to move forward with your outreach — whether you’re pitching to the press or publishing your first blog post. Once you know what you stand for and who you’re speaking to, it’s time to build out your strategy. Here’s how to do that in 2025.
1. Select your marketing channels
With so many platforms and tools available, it’s easy to spread your efforts too thin. Instead, focus on a few high-impact channels where your ideal clients are most active and engaged. Choose based on your goals, team capacity, and where your target audience prefers to consume information.
Key options include:
- Email marketing: Great for nurturing leads and sharing updates directly
- Social media: Helps build community and showcase your brand personality
- SEO and content marketing: Drives long-term visibility and organic traffic
- Paid advertising: Useful for quick wins and high-intent conversions
Each channel has its strengths — and each requires a tailored approach. You can repurpose content across formats (e.g. turning a whitepaper into a webinar or a LinkedIn carousel), but always adapt to the channel’s tone and audience.
Looking at how other proptech companies succeed on different platforms can spark ideas for your own approach. Consider:
- LinkedIn: Utopi, an ESG platform for multifamily and student accommodation, uses its LinkedIn profile to share everything from news (product launches, events, and company updates) to customer testimonials and blog content.
- Instagram: ElevateOS, a PMS and tenant app provider, has cracked the Instagram code. The company uses the platform to share photos and videos of its resident events and concierge-style services.
- SEO: Real estate PMS Yardi has optimized its website for dozens of relevant keywords, including “commercial property management software”, “resident screening”, “property management accounting software”, and more. This means that Yardi shows up in search results when users type in these and similar queries, driving organic traffic to its website.
2. Leverage content marketing
Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to generate qualified leads, improve search visibility, and keep your proptech brand top-of-mind throughout the buyer journey.
Unlike paid ads or short-term social campaigns, content works over time — building momentum and delivering long-term ROI.
The right content strategy helps you educate your audience about industry challenges and trends, drive organic traffic through SEO, nurture leads through value-driven insights, and even support your sales team with assets that help close deals.
Whether you’re sharing how-to guides or industry research, content marketing helps you stay relevant and discoverable at every stage of the funnel.
Types of content marketing include:
- Blog articles: Address your audience’s most common challenges and offer solutions. For example, property management software Spike recently published a blog post on the benefits of digital documentation and how property managers can use it to save time and eliminate stress.
- Ebooks and whitepapers: Showcase your industry expertise by sharing original research that provides value to your audience. For example, PointCentral has a library of whitepapers for asset owners on topics such as increasing NOI with smart property automation and leveraging proptech to overcome operational challenges in multifamily buildings.
- Podcasts: Entertain and inform listeners, build your industry network, demonstrate your expertise, and share new or disruptive insights. For example, property management software RealPage produces a proptech podcast called Multifamily Talks, where the hosts interview industry experts on trends in multifamily operations.
- Webinars: Educate your audience and position yourself as an authority in your niche. For example, StarRez, an automation platform for PBSA, multi-family, co-living, and other housing accommodation businesses, has a library of on-demand webinars where its audience can get industry insights, advice, and best practices.
- Short- and long-form videos: Entertain and inform your audience and capture their attention in a compelling way. For example, real estate software MRI has an active YouTube channel where it shares product demos, partner spotlight videos, client success stories, and podcast episodes
- Case studies: Demonstrate real-life examples of specific challenges and how your product helped to overcome them, showing potential clients that you can do the same for them. For example, PMS provider Res:Harmonics’s website features a prominent case study of its work with Gravity Co, a fast-growing co-living brand based in the UK.
3. Track results and measure success
A good proptech marketing strategy is only as strong as your ability to measure its performance. By identifying and tracking a handful of key performance indicators (KPIs), you can understand what’s driving results — and what needs adjusting.
Metrics help you identify where leads are dropping off in the funnel, which channels are delivering real value, and how your content or campaigns are contributing to business outcomes. For example, you might track clicks on a paid ad, see how many of those clicks result in demo requests, and ultimately how many of those convert into customers.
This kind of insight helps you optimize your spend, improve your campaigns, and strengthen weak points in your sales funnel.
Here are some of the most valuable KPIs to track:
- Website traffic
- Landing page conversion rates
- Email open and click-through rates
- Cost per lead
- Social media engagement and reach
- Organic search rankings
Over time, a data-driven approach ensures your marketing not only looks good, but works hard too.
Conclusion
A killer proptech marketing strategy doesn’t just happen — it’s built on a strong foundation of audience insight, clear positioning, credible PR, and consistent, value-driven content.
In 2025, your success will depend on how well you combine these elements to stand out in an increasingly saturated market. Start by getting clear on who you serve and how you solve their problems. Then, build out a thoughtful marketing and PR plan that amplifies your voice, builds trust, and drives measurable results.
At Abode, we specialize in helping proptech companies craft strategies that move the needle — strategies rooted in smart positioning, strong messaging, and standout PR.
Are you a proptech startup looking to build your brand’s reputation through strategic PR? Drop us a line.
FAQs about building a proptech marketing strategy in 2025
What are the key trends in proptech?
Some of the key proptech trends right now include features that offer AI-enhanced automation (such as using AI to improve dynamic pricing rates), specialized tools that champion the guest experience, smart home technology features, sustainable practices, and tools that offer 3D tours of rooms and rentals.
What is an example of proptech marketing?
Proptech marketing uses strategies like social media, content marketing, and strategic PR to boost visibility and industry thought leadership. For example, a campaign could focus on email marketing, repurposing content into TikTok videos, or working to feature your company leaders on top podcasts and events, positioning the brand as an industry thought leader.
What technology can you use to enhance your proptech marketing?
To enhance your proptech marketing, you can use AI-driven SEO tools, CRM software, marketing automation platforms, chatbots, data analytics, and social media management tools. These technologies help optimize campaigns, personalize outreach, and improve customer engagement.
