Tuesday 2 June 2015

Will real estate marketing be all about "just" facilitating a sale?

We are seeing changing trends and experimentation in the Real Estate industry, with Real Estate companies, for example, tying up with the new big boys of the industry - the ecommerce companies to promote and sell their projects online or Real Estate companies developing and deploying "smart apps" that can be downloaded by the potential and existing customers on their smartphones.
By the customer response to such initiatives, it is very clear that customer expectations are changing... the customer wants everything made available "on the fly", instantaneous, immediate and as and when they want it and in a format that they are comfortable in and most importantly... at their own time... they do not have the patience to have a face-to-face meeting and listen to long presentations and walk-through at least in their initial stages of a home search. 
Now, this perhaps in my view, makes the job of the marketing team of Real Estate Companies a little more difficult than before... it is not longer limited to as simple as - creating a webpage, putting up social media links on that webpage, email marketing of projects or putting up commonly used marketing contents such as - features, location details, master plans and electronic brochure and /or a walk-through on the company or project webpage... and then hoping the projects will eventually be sold when the customers see all of the above and go for a on-site visit, the on-site sales team is able to sell the project to the potential buyer and the convinced potential buyer possibility buys into the project all based on the reputation and market standing of the Real Estate Company.
Today, the potential buyer is expecting an "overall and complete satisfying experience"... The potential buyer wants to see pictures of the project, see LIVE  images of the construction status and project progress. It is no longer about "a sale and forget" but also about "after sale" service experience and also about the "post moving in to the home" and also perhaps the "day to day tenant" experience too.
Based on the above and the future trends, the Real Estate companies may be compelled to take a longer term view of their customers and partner with their customers over the entire life cycle of their projects. Real Estate companies may have to built innovative IT solutions themselves or with partnership with others to enhance the buyer expectations and use technology to realize efficiencies and improve access to the services even in a post sale scenario.
For example, the customers of the future may want to look at available properties in the comfort of their homes - online (which they can do today too) but through a virtual reality (VRC) headgear, maybe they may want a virtual reality (VR) walk-through or perhaps choose a virtual agent to take them through the project details and its features; further they may want to visualize how their existing furniture and other stuff will look into the new space, may want to add their bit of customizations to the new space. All of this even before they decide to buy the home.
In the post decision "to buy" stage, if the customer is seeking a home loan, the customer may want the real estate company to line a virtual interview. Alternatively, there could be a linking of the customer's income tax account and PAN details with the Banking Loan Approval department to give instantaneous loan approvals and sanctions; a payment gateways for online payments on through their website; the customer may want monitoring and usage of utilities in their home realtime; a portal that can connect them to other service providers to provide and facilitate all service utilities for the tenant.
Well, I believe... the customer of future may want a "complete package" and Real Estate Companies may have to take a note of it soon... The list and the possibilities are numerous and with technological advancements there is great potential to be the real and true differentiator and to have a few USPs up one's sleeve... 

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