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Development Marketing: The Difference Between a Project That Gets Built… and a Place People Choose

After 20+ years in development marketing through expansion cycles, recessions, retail shakeouts, “experiential everything,” and the post-pandemic recalibration, I’ve learned one thing that never changes:

The market doesn’t punish projects that aren’t perfect. It punishes projects that aren’t clear.

Clear to the city.
Clear to the community.
Clear to tenants.
Clear to customers.
Clear to capital.

And here’s what developers, operators, and leasing teams know intuitively: assets have a relevance cycle. On average, you have about 12 years before a shopping center, mixed-use district, or destination either reinvests and evolves or starts to drift toward irrelevance. Not always dramatically. Sometimes quietly. Slower leasing. Less buzz. More concessions. Less loyalty. Fewer “reasons to go.”

Development marketing is the discipline that helps prevent that drift and builds momentum long before the first tenant opens.

So what is development marketing, really?

At the core, development marketing is the discipline of turning a development from a set of plans or an outdated space into an updated or new project people understand, support, and choose…while protecting entitlement, accelerating leasing momentum, managing reputation, and building long-term asset value.

It sits at the intersection of real estate strategy, community reality, public process, and consumer demand.

In practice, it aligns three forces that can make or break a project:

The Capital Story (owners/investors): Why this project deserves investment and how it wins
The Approval Story (municipal + stakeholders): Why it deserves permission and support
The Market Story (tenants + consumers): Why it earns preference and repeat visits

When it’s done right, development marketing doesn’t just “promote” a project it de-risks it, earns permission for it, and positions it to win from entitlement through opening and beyond.

Why it matters more than ever

Today, perception moves faster than entitlement schedules. A single narrative—accurate or not—can harden quickly:

“Traffic nightmare.”
“Not for us.”
“Too dense.”
“Dead mall.”
“Another luxury project.”

Once that story takes root, everything gets more expensive: approvals, time, trust, and leasing velocity.

Development marketing is how you keep the project from being defined by someone else.

What development marketing actually entails (the big picture)

This isn’t a checklist it’s a set of core pillars that flex by phase.

1) Positioning and the Project “Why”

Defining what the project is and is not
Clarifying the point of difference and market role
Translating the investment thesis into a human story people can repeat

2) Stakeholder Strategy and Social License

Identifying who influences outcomes (community, business leaders, institutions, agencies, elected officials)
Understanding objections before they become opposition
Building trust through engagement, listening, and responsiveness
Creating advocates and “raving fans” not just attendees

3) Entitlement Communications Support

Messaging designed for zoning/entitlement realities (facts + empathy + proof)
Hearing readiness: FAQs, visuals, talking points, supporter mobilization
Managing sentiment so the project isn’t defined by rumor or a loud minority

4) Narrative Control and Reputation Management

Proactive storytelling to set the frame early
Reactive communications for controversy, delays, litigation, construction disruption
Crisis readiness: speed, clarity, credibility

5) Market Demand Strategy (Leasing’s best friend)

Defining target audiences (B2B and B2C) by phase
Creating early demand signals that support leasing and partnerships
Aligning tenant mix, amenities, and programming with real market appetite

6) Brand + Experience Inputs

Brand development beyond visuals. What’s the promise + experience?
Placemaking guidance: wayfinding, art/culture, “moments that matter”
Ensuring the built environment reinforces the story

7) Community Programming + Placemaking

Programming as strategy (not entertainment)
Demonstrating community benefit in ongoing ways
Building identity and habit before the project is complete

8) Digital Footprint + Content Engine

A credible, updated source of truth (web, email, social)
Milestone content that explains progress and builds anticipation
Social listening and community management that reduces misinformation cycles

9) Marketing + Leasing Enablement

Leasing narrative and pitch assets that match the strategy
Broker/tenant storytelling and milestone campaigns
Coordinated announcements that build momentum

10) Lifecycle Management + Phase Transitions

One story, many chapters: entitlement → construction → pre-leasing → opening → growth
Refreshing messaging as the project evolves
Keeping partners aligned through shifts in economy, politics, market conditions, sentiment

11) Governance + Decision Support

Acting as an advisory layer across owner/developer, architects, leasing, PR, and city-facing teams
Defining who says what, when, and how
Creating playbooks and cadence that keep execution tight

The simplest way to explain it

Development marketing is risk management and value creation through clarity and execution:

It earns permission (entitlements, stakeholders, political reality)
It builds preference and loyalty (tenants, consumers, market pull)
It protects the asset (reputation, narrative control, long-term identity)

It’s the difference between a project that gets built…and a place that gets embraced.

Budgeting guidance (so partners can underwrite appropriately)

When the scope includes full-lifecycle work—consulting services, positioning and narrative development, stakeholder/community engagement and entitlement communications support, proactive/reactive PR and issues management, a credible digital footprint and content cadence, and phased marketing/leasing enablement through delivery and launch development marketing is best budgeted as a 2–3% line item of total project/development costs.

Planning for this early allows ownership groups and partners to underwrite for entitlement and reputation risk reduction, maintain momentum at key milestones, and scale paid media, programming, and activation up or down as the project advances rather than pulling from contingency.