🌀Marketing Strategies And Plans

In the real estate industry today, developers cannot hope to create the perfect product without detailed market research and analysis to track market trends or without identifying their target audience. They will only reach users in the right location and income segment for their projects, with an efficient marketing and branding strategy.

Branded property portfolio

Indian developers are just beginning to realize the importance of branded realty and have begun marketing real estate projects as ‘branded products’ and not just commodities. To do so, they need cohesive branding strategies that account for nomenclature, brand identity, and the value proposition of a property.

Developers can benefit from creating clear brand architecture, defined along the lines of property and consumer segments. With such initiatives, real estate players can create brands that have loyal customer-base and command sustainable premiums.

Godrej Properties is an example of that in the Indian Real Estate Industry. Godrej Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, which is managed and largely owned by the Godrej family.

Consumer Feedback and Engagement

Maintaining direct customer contact is a powerful tool in a developer’s arsenal as it generates a high proportion of direct sales. But the story of customer engagement should not end at the point-of-sale. After-sale services play an equally important role for a developer’s brand. In recent years, developers with a comprehensive customer engagement strategy have successfully built positive word-of-mouth and a strong referral system.

An important facet of this exercise is the development of a dedicated and experienced customer service team that can assist customers through the entire sales and after-sales process. With it, developers provide their customers with a reliable point-of-contact for their requirements and grievances.

Product Development

Keeping up with the pulse of the consumer during product development precedes all other factors. New trends are emerging in architecture and design to optimize indoor space utilization through fluid designing principles in the structural framework. Similarly, interior fit-outs will allow the easy transformation of a space for multiple needs and functions. Co-living and student housing — buzz words in the sector before the pandemic — now have to repurpose their offering as the recovery of the shared economy will take longer. With Work From Home taking a semi-permanent turn, additional work-space in the house will also become an influencing factor.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, some developers tied up with online grocery stores and payment apps to provide customers with a platform to order essentials from the comfort of their homes and make payments in a cashless manner.

Similarly, to cater to customers looking for various end-to-end services at one place, numerous platforms are helping to provide multi-faceted platforms. For homeowners, these translate to comprehensive property management platforms that can track maintenance and repair needs of a property and also carry out once-in-a-while tasks like finding new tenants and preparing rent agreements. Similarly, for new home buyers and renters, platforms are available to provide a whole range of services from packers & movers and home cleaning, to even credit financing. Such holistic services could generate significant goodwill for any real estate developer.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a proven strategic tool and has proven to be extremely useful for the real estate industry. With customers spending greater time online and, on their mobiles, millennials increasingly becoming home-buyers, and COVID-19 creating social distancing challenges, the limelight is on all things digital. As a result, realty players with efficient online infrastructures, like an SEO-optimized website and engaging social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, have successfully reaped the benefits of digital marketing.

Ideally, developers should optimize their websites for all platforms like mobiles and tablets, and internet connectivity challenges. Advertised properties should be accompanied by high-quality pictures and videos. Contact information and property details, including prices, should also be easily accessible.

Employing New-age Tech Tools

The uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic have propelled digitization in the real estate industry. Potential buyers and tenants were earlier unlikely to finalize properties without physical visits but are now making decisions based on video-walkthroughs and virtual meets with property owners and developers.

By offering more new-age technology like, Virtual Reality and Drone tours, and 3D images, realty players can attract many more consumers. At the same time, using artificial intelligence and machine learning, and by becoming data literate, the industry can highly optimize its marketing strategy and targeting.

Personalized and Customized Offerings

The digitally attuned user is accustomed to a great degree of personalization in the information they consume and the purchasing decisions they make. Realty developers should offer a similar experience to their potential consumers by offering AI-powered search-listings that can be customized with multiple filters and services.

Human-tech also plays a key role here. A sharp sales and customer service team will be able to gauge and profile a customer into segments based on characteristics, using available data on age, occupation, family details etc. This profiling helps in highlighting property benefits more in tune with the respective customer, thereby enhancing the customer experience.

As developers in India look to amplify their brand and solidify their position in the rapidly growing realty sector, a well-defined and customer-centric marketing strategy can make all the difference. And as the market grows and customer behaviors change, these developers will benefit from adapting their strategies and enhancing them with technological innovations. are: