// answer · real estate marketing
How much should you invest in marketing to sell a land development?
Updated on 22 July 2026
Marketing for a land development is usually calculated as a percentage of VGV (total sales value), with most of it concentrated in pre-launch and launch. The right math includes media, but also strategy, content production, technology, service and funnel operations. Cutting these items to inflate the ad budget is the most common mistake.
The scale: percentage of VGV by phase
VGV is the sum of the value of all the lots. On top of it, the marketing budget is set as a percentage, and that percentage changes with the development's phase:
- Pre-launch: the heaviest phase. This is when the base of interested buyers, the development's brand and the sales materials get built. The budget is bigger because there is no accumulated demand yet.
- Launch: peak media and operations. The goal is converting the warmed-up base into reservations and sales.
- Ongoing sales: the budget drops and adjusts to the sales pace, with turnover and remarketing campaigns.
- Final stretch: minimal budget, focused on clearing the remaining units.
What is the exact percentage in each phase? It depends on the development's size, the desired sales speed and local competition. That is why the scale is set in the diagnosis, not in a ready-made table. What does not change: whoever promises to sell with a fixed percentage without looking at these variables is repeating a formula, not doing a diagnosis.
What goes into the math besides media
Media is just one line of the budget. A serious land development marketing budget also includes:
- Strategy and management: funnel planning, positioning the development, tracking numbers and course-correcting.
- Content production: filming, drone footage, photos, renders, construction progress videos and ad creatives. Weak content makes every lead more expensive.
- Technology: capture page, CRM, WhatsApp automation and integration with the agents' desk.
- Service: who answers the lead the moment it arrives. A land development lead cools off fast.
- Funnel operations: managing paid media campaigns, creative and audience testing, and reports with cost per lead and per sale.
A common mistake in structuring developer marketing is approving the media budget and forgetting the rest. The result is an ad running to a bad page, answered by nobody.
In practice, in the countryside
In Noroeste Paulista land developments, we see two extremes. On one side, a developer that invests almost everything in media during the launch month and abandons ongoing sales. On the other, a developer that treats marketing as a residual expense and blames the market when inventory stalls. The full land development sales funnel needs budget distributed by phase, with every item in the math working together. When one is missing, media pays the price in expensive, wasted leads.
Want to build the investment scale for your next launch with a diagnosis of the VGV and its phases? Message desigual on WhatsApp and schedule a conversation.
Related questions
how much should a developer invest in marketing
The usual reference is a percentage of the development's VGV, higher during pre-launch and launch and lower during ongoing sales. The exact ranges depend on size, sales timeline and local competition, and that is what a diagnosis defines before setting a number.
how much does launching a land development cost
The launch cost includes media, content production, capture technology, service and operations, not just ads. Pre-launch and launch concentrate most of the budget, because that is when demand needs to be built from zero.