The mobile version of the website has become more important than the desktop.
Property marketing is all about getting onto a house hunter's list of must-see properties. Once you're on the list, the buyer is almost guaranteed to come to your showroom. Here are a few tactics for getting onto that lucrative list.
Mobile friendly websites
Real estate sales is about location, timing and events. Mobile provides the perfect platform to harness these three variables. The arrival of 3G phones and cheap data plans by telcos is making this a reality.
The mobile version of the website has become more important than the desktop. While the desktop website may constitute the start of the journey through search, and present a favourable image of the property commensurable to the price, it is the mobile site that enables the user to find info quickly when they are in the field.
During a house hunt, the buyer is time-poor. Faced with seeing many properties back to back on a Saturday morning, they need information delivered to them in the field quickly. While they are planning their appointments using the phone calendar, they can check maps, video and Facebook to find information about the property.
Mobile also enables buyers to do less preplanning before embarking on their house hunt. Property developers with strong mobile friendly content presents a tactical advantage over their competitors.
Locality-based SMS
A promotion timed on certain days, targeting an age group, based on their proximity to the showroom is a good way to get on their list. That way, even if they have not heard of the development before, their location, age and timing can provide some quality in the data. For example, locality bases SMS can be sent to an age group 25-35 years-of-age, on Saturdays, when they are near Tanjong Pagar.
Digital showroom
The sales brochure and agents are not expendable. In fact, they complement digital. What can be removed from the equation are CD ROMs. These are inconvenient and easy tossed away. Bluetooth provides a more ubiquitous method of sharing information.
Bluetooth overcomes the issue of phone compatibility as a way to share video, pdf brochures, maps and other content. Once it is on the buyer's phone, they have it with them to check anytime, anywhere. It's easy to share it with friends or family to gather opinions and validation.
Offer free wifi and encourage downloads of an audio walk-through application. Events create a focus and reason to download and use applications. Add codes or numbers to the exhibition stand and sales materials to allow buyers to get more information from the application.
While browsing printed sales brochures, keying in codes to a mobile application can reveal more information. This is convenient for the buyers, as they have their phones beside them as they browse.
Present custom maps that sell the entire area, and not just the condominium. After their prospect leaves the showroom, their journey of discovery continues with interesting historical information, shops to visit, and parks to sit in.
