From DJ To Marketer: How Bisnow Northeast Vice President Chris Bushnell Stays In Tune With CRE Marketing Trends

Bisnow Vice President Chris Bushnell knows that the key to any successful event is bringing like-minded people together, whether it's a concert or a networking function for commercial real estate professionals. In his former life as a DJ, Bushnell entertained millions of people. Today, in his current role, Bushnell helps CRE firms in New York, New Jersey and Boston drive revenue through marketing. 

"I'm still creating a community, but in a different way," Bushnell said. "In CRE, I identify client challenges and link them with problem-solvers. It’s not rocket science, but it’s challenging. But for me, happiness comes from solving problems so it feels good when I’m able to connect dots."

Bisnow sat down with Bushnell to discuss the most successful marketing strategies in CRE right now and how he’s using his experience in the music industry to help in that effort.

Bisnow: What marketing approaches are driving deals and creating more business in the Northeast?

Bushnell: Despite the challenging environment, there are two marketing strategies that work. The first is storytelling. This isn't a new concept, but the best CRE marketers are great at using storytelling to connect emotionally with their target audience.

CRE is more than just buildings and spaces — it's about the businesses, dreams and aspirations of the people who occupy them. A compelling story humanizes an asset, highlighting its unique features, history and future potential. A powerful story makes your property more memorable and the investment opportunity more attractive. It’s pretty simple: create content that tells your story and use channels like Bisnow to reach your target audience as much as you can, for as long as you can.

The second is lead generation. Traditional marketing methods like billboards or print ads can only tell you how many people saw your ad, and it’s usually grossly generalized. With an approach like this, you’ll certainly reach an audience, but you'll never know exactly who they are. Today, the most effective CRE marketers spend all of their time and money telling their story through channels that can target specific industry personas and track engagement with the ones you care about most — the ones that drive revenue for their firms. 

Bisnow: Can you give an example of these marketing approaches?

Bushnell: When you run digital ads with Bisnow, you can track who clicks on your ads, down to the individual Bisnow subscriber in real time. This gives companies the ability to reach out to their most engaged readers. We've seen a surge from landlords and lenders running digital ad campaigns this year. We help landlords reach brokers to promote available space, and lenders reach brokers and borrowers to deploy capital. 

Why are we seeing this surge given the current market environment? We asked, and they told us it's because Bisnow is the only platform that shares this level of insight on who is engaging with their stuff.

When your marketing is targeted, it drives better engagement with the right people, which leads to higher conversion rates and ultimately, more business. Bisnow delivers that in a way that the rest of the CRE media landscape simply does not.

Bisnow: What marketing trends in the Northeast are you seeing that you’re most excited about? 

Bushnell: The companies that are winning right now are creating demand, not chasing it. If you are fighting over the portion of the market that is actively buying, it’s probably too late.

Marketing to the majority of the market that is not actively buying is where most of  the upside exists. It’s all about playing the long game. And when you commit to long-game marketing, you create authenticity, drive awareness and differentiation, and educate your target audience so that when they eventually are in buying mode they’ll want to buy whatever you're selling.

When you think and act long-term, you create demand. Over time, that leads to more deals and compounding gains.

Bisnow: What inspired you to pursue a career at Bisnow?

Bushnell: I started my real estate career in 2008 working for a multifamily developer in Central Florida named Mark Findura. Mark has been a mentor and taught me the business through a very difficult market environment in 2009-2012. I loved the industry, but when an unexpected opportunity came up to pursue a career in the music industry, I decided to put real estate on hold. 

I moved to LA and spent six years building a name for myself. I signed with various record labels like Spinnin’ Records and Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records. I released songs with artists like Moby, and played shows all across the country. 

It was an incredible experience but a difficult industry, so when I eventually decided to come back home, I wanted to get right back into real estate. As you can imagine, that wasn’t easy given my résumé.

But then I found Bisnow. From my years building a brand in the music industry, I saw tremendous value in Bisnow’s engaged audience. So I took a bet that the Bisnow marketing machine would open more doors and allow me to grow my network faster than any other job in the industry. That bet paid off. And six years later, I’m still here building relationships in New York, New Jersey and Boston.

Bisnow: What do you like most about your role at Bisnow?

Bushnell: I’m a naturally curious person. I love to learn how things work and challenge conventional practices. Bisnow has been the perfect place to lean into those skills. In my role, I’m exposed to every asset class in every market across the country. In a world that expects you to choose a lane and specialize in one thing, I’m still able to cut across four lanes of traffic to connect people across the industry. 

Figuring out what people need and who I can connect them with to solve their problems isn’t hard. You need industry knowledge and relationships to actually bring those two sides together. And when you connect two sides of the deal, relationships are formed, buildings get built and skylines change. It’s rewarding to have that kind of impact.

Bisnow: What is one life goal you want to accomplish?

Bushnell: It’s hard to name one, so, in no particular order, I’d like to: own a summer home in Mykonos, join Winged Foot, build a family with my soon-to-be wife, Nicole, and raise two, possibly three, happy, healthy kids who all get full scholarships to play college golf.