Digital Marketing Forming its Roots in Real Estate By Abhishek Rungta, Founder & CEO, Indus Net Technologies

Digital Marketing Forming its Roots in Real Estate

Abhishek Rungta, Founder & CEO, Indus Net Technologies | Wednesday, 01 February 2017, 10:05 IST

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Digital marketing has helped real estate developers reach the right target audience, so that their property also becomes part of the research that the gen-next buyer does online, due to increased digital reach and adoption.

Therefore, today digital marketing is not an option, but a necessity. If you are not present on the digital channels, you are not on the top of the mind, hence miss the recall, and the opportunity to be part of the shortlist that the prospective buyer researches further.

Real estate has a long marketing funnel, i.e. people take a reasonably long time to decide, and hence it is critical to be present in front of them throughout the purchase cycle. And, for a tech enabled generation, the cheapest and most efficient way to do so is to use digital channels, since this is a medium where most of the prospects spend majority of their time.

Realtors can generate high-quality contextual leads, engage with potential buyers and also build a strong brand – all of which directly impacts the top-line of the company. Digital can also be used to provide customer servicing, measure market sentiments, do market research as well as understand consumer behavior. The impact can go beyond this, if a realtor moves beyond digital marketing and adopts digital technology. They can have web and mobile applications to serve their clients better and build automation in the growth engine through applications like CRM and Marketing Automation.

Digital marketing is a very holistic subject and should not be confused with Search Engine Optimization. It of course needs a very detailed strategy including all the three mediums – web, mobile and social. Further, it needs innovative methods to connect, engage and convert users at different phases of their buying cycle. Last, but not least, it needs to map with the customer's buying journey and make the brand presence felt at each stage, so that the confidence and trust is built – which is very critical for high value purchase like real estate.

Mobile usage has outstripped desktop usage now. Websites and landing pages (i.e. sales pages) must be built for mobile-first experience. The focus should be to gather prospects’ interest and hence a lot of attention needs to go into Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) to get more leads from the same spend. Simple, crisp and persuasive communication with clarity of value proposition is the need of the day.

This is just the beginning. Real Estate sector is open to a lot of innovation. Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality will add to the overall experience of the consumer. Further, content marketing will give a much richer experience to the consumers and take away the digital battle from the click-me ads screaming out of Google and Facebook ad networks. More contextual information, easier decision making and consulting orientation is in the offing.

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