Marketing Real Estate In The Digital Age
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Real estate is a bellwether industry because of the high emotional and economic value it brings… owning a home fulfils one of the biggest psychological needs for most of us and it is one of the largest industries offering employment and investment opportunities for a growing economy. Having its fair share of peaks and troughs, residential real estate has gone through several phases of transformation. From hypergrowth in the 2000s, the sector slowed down in the mid-2010s, due to the global subprime crisis, mismatched supply and financing difficulties. Hence, primary sales at launch/booking stages slowed down across many markets, and cities such as Delhi NCR and Mumbai had rising unsold inventories. The pandemic further aggravated the challenges with a complete shutdown and almost negligible physical interaction between buyers and sellers.
However, despite these challenges, policy initiatives such as reduction in Stamp Duty and Circle Rates by State Governments, attractive offers by developers and expedited deliveries as soon as the market opened up, boosted end-user demand and sales. The pandemic was a watershed moment for the real-estate sector that also changed customer preferences towards larger home configurations, plotted developments, gated communities, peripheral locations in metros, and growing demand in tier 2 & 3 cities.
There was also accelerated digitalisation of the customer behaviour and approach to decision making, who now researched and consulted a range of online sources for nuanced decision making- which city, location or type of house to buy. This “Zero Moment of Truth” was powered by the growing internet penetration and democratisation of information it ushered. Customers now assess everything from the lens of convenience (to the extent of having 10-min deliveries!) and their effort and time are valued at a premium. To serve this “digital economy” of over 740 million active internet users, the real estate also had to digitalize to assist buyers in their home-buying journey.
This triggered growing digitalisation across the customer journey in property, - search, shortlisting, finalisation and moving in, with new business services and marketing touchpoints. From a customer's point of view, they can now enjoy a variety of dependable advice and services in order to make that property their dream home. In addition to buy, sell, rent, customers can also avail expert advice, home loans, pay rent services, valuation, legal assistance, movers and packers, decor and vastu, etc, conveniently on their mobiles and desktops
This business transformation was aided by digital marketing touchpoints to transcend customers from awareness and consideration to adoption. Traditionally, real-estate marketing leveraged “offline modes” such as hoardings, print advertisements, sales workforce outreach and channel partners’ referrals for the same. However, as word of mouth moved online, there has been growing investment in technology and innovation to include virtual tours and walkthroughs, 3D tours, and real-time online site updates amongst others, to remain relevant. With customers understandably adopting precautionary measures to avoid physical meetings, studies estimate that over 90% of home buyers searched online to shortlist their preferred homes and required credible online sources to aid in this decision-making process.
At the intersection of storytelling and technology, videos as knowledge marketing tools are gaining popularity to bring authentic advice to aid decision making. From locality & project reviews and expert advice to home tours and virtual showcases, videos have emerged as the most interactive form of digital marketing in real estate. Studies estimate that real estate with videos receives 403% more inquiries as compared to their counterparts and 86% of homebuyers use video to research a community. Our YouTube channel, MBTV, which has grown into a 145,000+ strong community, hosts an exhaustive universe of such videos to aid customers in search and shortlist of their dream homes. Similarly, webinars and e-meets bring all stakeholders together and share information, knowledge and trends which help in making more informed decisions
Further, when combined with innovative and creative storytelling such as influencer marketing, videos create compelling content that resonates with the audience. Recently, we launched our #PropertyBhiServicesBhi campaign, for which Magicbricks partnered with Instagram influencers and told its story the “Khabi Way”; reiterating the ease and convenience with which Magicbricks assists the customers, making it an obvious choice for all property needs. The developed western markets have also adopted experiential marketing, 4D billboards, and Experience Centers to woo the digital customer, and these technologies are soon making way into the Indian real-estate marketing ecosystem as well.
Another powerful value proposition of digital marketing is bringing real-time and relevant communication to the customers, nurturing their journey with targeted, personalised ads aligned to their past behaviors, present needs and future requirements. Enriching the ads with miss call extension, chatbot assistance and voice optimisation further enhances discoverability and increase click-through rates by encouraging two way conversations. Programmatic advertising is almost a superfood for the real estate sector, as it uses the power of automation to create multiple touchpoints through the customer journey and raise brand awareness. These assist marketers to invest in capturing audience mindshare rather than just buy ad space, by defining the audience traits very precisely.
Having an intimate understanding of the audience helps marketers in delivering brand salience, contributing to business growth and enhancing customer experience. A recent study by EY suggests that as high as 5-25% of the sales can be generated using various digital tools in real estate marketing.
With more than 700 million active smartphone users, one such asset is mobile marketing using tools such as QR Codes, NFC Tags and beacons. Further, geo-targeted ads in vernacular languages are becoming a powerful tool to catch the attention of the audiences. Especially now, with growing work-from-anywhere, there is a surge in demand for commercial and residential spaces in tier 2 and 3 cities, bringing in huge scope to go deeper into different regions of the country.
In essence, the real estate industry is transforming as digitalisation and innovation unlock new opportunities and growth potential. As India gears up for the next billion internet users, continued digitalisation of real estate is the only way ahead.
*The author is Devarshy R Ganguly, Head of Marketing, Magicbricks
