A Roadmap For Real Estate: Harnessing The Power Of Digital Marketing

Vivekanandan N, Vice President - Digital Marketing, G Square Housing

With more people living their lives online, real estate companies can benefit from Digital Marketing by increasing brand visibility through Brand Lift, measured by surveys on brand recognition. The key to building brand awareness is frequent exposure, as the more people see the brand, the more likely they are to remember it. By promoting the brand more aggressively, the buyer is more likely to remember it. Today's consumers tend to go online in response to any stimuli, creating a solid online media presence can build buyer confidence and trust. Most buyers search online for suggestions, listings, and reviews, even if they eventually seek the help of a real estate agent.

To increase Brand Lift, real estate companies need to focus on more than just their website. In addition to generating news about property availability and launches online, a strong presence on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook is necessary. WhatsApp and email marketing can also be used to boost brand lift. Creating expert articles or blogs on multiple platforms, including the company's website, can help establish credibility.

The company website itself is an excellent tool for engaging with the customer. Leveraging pop-ups and forms which can be attached to the website and social media posts as we all the call-to-action- sections of news articles, companies could access the consumer's contact along with their specific queries and help them to meet their need with a quick turnaround time. This indicates that digital marketing is a tool for brand awareness and a direct avenue for sales generation.

For a successful campaign, another pillar of Digital Marketing needs to be considered: Search Lift, which measures how many internet searches consumers make to find out about the brand once they are aware of it. If Brand Lift has been effective, Search Lift follows.

Once and after the realtor has generated enough buzz about the project, they need to ensure that the information about the project is widespread to the minutest detail online, enabled via SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques: the easier it is to fish out the details, the more genuine the company seems to the consumer, as well as the quicker it is for the buyer to proceed towards the purchase.

The third pillar of Digital Marketing, Conversion Lift, is the difference in sales figures before and after the campaign, which realtors can witness in many ways. For example, many NRIs, seeing the robust presence of the company online, are more likely to trust the real estate entity with remote transactions than their counterparts. And it is needless to remind realtors, worth their salt, of the premium involved in sales when dealing with NRIs.

Further, to attract the youth into real estate investment, digital marketing is an effective tool given the significant amount of time the young consumers spend on the internet.

The massive number of sales leads for the recent projects of G Square Housing, one of the leading developers in South India, especially Tamil Nadu, validate the role of Digital Marketing in real estate. In the last financial year, the real estate company received over 3.2 lakh leads via digital avenues, accounting for around 80% of overall leads generated.

According to Vivekanandan N, the Vice President of Digital Marketing, the company's progress was greatly influenced by Digital Marketing. The success of projects launched in key areas across South India, including Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Hosur, and Ballari, was attributed to the valuable leads generated. Notably, the digital marketing efforts resulted in impressive figures such as over 4000 leads in just 4 days for the G Square City project at Coimbatore, and over 2000 leads in just 4 days for the G Square City project in Ballari. These figures are a testament to the outstanding success of the company's digital marketing efforts.

G Square Housing employs a multifaceted approach to maximize its marketing efforts. In addition to collaborating with local digital marketing agencies that possess an in-depth understanding of the regional consumer, the company utilizes an array of digital strategies such as social media campaigns, influencer marketing, digital public relations, property aggregators, WhatsApp-verified accounts, and OBD calling to facilitate site visits. Furthermore, the company employs benchmarking websites on react technology to assess its standing in relation to the industry.

Another innovative way the company leverages Digital Marketing is by encashing the star power of its brand ambassador, the ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni. While brand ambassadors have pulled the crowd for a long time, significantly before the emergence of Digital Marketing, the digital route has enabled the real estate giant to measure the impact of this move; the campaign with Dhoni brought in 54 million digital reaches.

During the past six months, Digital Marketing played a pivotal role in generating leads for G Square Housing's new launches in Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Mysuru, and Trichy. The total number of leads generated amounted to almost 4.4 lakhs, accounting for 85 percent of the total leads. Notably, in previously unexplored areas for the company, such as the G Square Palacia in Mysuru and the G Square Eden Garden in Hyderabad, more than 3000 and 3800 leads, respectively, were generated through digital marketing efforts. Moreover, for the pre-launch and launch of the G Square Epitome Integrated City in Hyderabad, the digital marketing campaign produced 12000 leads in just two weeks, and the online outreach reached an impressive figure of 300 million.

G Square Housing leverages Digital Marketing techniques to promote transparency, a notable aspect worth highlighting. Through the use of AI-powered tools, we can easily target interested buyers. Prospective buyers can access a 360-degree panoramic view of the properties. This immersive experience provides buyers with the opportunity to remotely explore the projects while also ensuring the project's authenticity. Thanks to technology, real estate professionals can now showcase properties to potential buyers and sellers without the need for in-person visits. Online tools such as 3D modeling allow clients to get a realistic sense of a property's layout and features from anywhere, making the process of buying and selling properties more efficient.

"On behalf of G Square Housing, I am pleased to announce that we achieved sales of RS 2000 crs in the last quarter, with a significant contribution from generating 9 lakh leads through Digital Marketing. This achievement demonstrates the pivotal role of digital marketing in the Real estate industry, from initial research to final purchase decisions of buyers. Real estate professionals must remain updated with the latest digital marketing trends and techniques to remain competitive and successful in today's market." said Vivekanandan N, Vice President - Digital Marketing.

In conclusion, Digital Marketing is a novel philosophy and business practice that has emerged with the advancements in technology. It has paved the way for a more comprehensive analysis of effective strategies and allowed us to identify what works and what doesn't. With the use of Digital Marketing, businesses can reach their buyers quickly while also respecting their needs and preferences. It is essential to remember that the right service must be combined with technology for it to be effective. Therefore, it is imperative that businesses stay abreast of the latest trends and techniques in Digital Marketing to remain competitive and thrive in today's marketplace.