How Digital Marketing Has Transformed the Real Estate Market

Digital marketing has changed consumer behaviour and every industry has adapted to this evolution. Real estate is not an exception.

Take, for example, the case of Nalini and Rajat, a working couple in their early 30s who are also expecting their first child. They are on the lookout for a bigger home before the baby arrives.

While Nalini has her weekends off, Rajat only gets alternate Saturdays off. This leaves the couple with few slots to venture out for house hunting.

“The baby is going to come in a few months’ time and so we are in a hurry. Besides, we have a number of criteria for our ideal apartment,” Nalini stressed. Before the panic could set in, Rajat decided to try the internet — their resource of choice for almost everything, from groceries to clothes, and so much more!

They began to browse online for their choice of the house with various filters within the ease of their home and time.

Just like Nalini and Rajat, potential homebuyers and tenants want to research from the comforts of their homes. In this day, when time is at a premium this means that demand never dips due to the inability of physical visits. In turn, the real estate market has also redefined the way they offer their services to consumers. In fact, with digital marketing, the real estate market has evolved its advertisements, streamlined offers, and services toughened the competition and bettered its outreach.

How has Digital Marketing Changed the Dynamics of the Real Estate Market?

Everybody is online and almost all the time. Therefore, product exposure through ads is a constant given for customers whether they are browsing news or reading articles or posting on social media. This constant visibility is where digital marketing has scored over traditional media.

Potential customers of the real estate market are at various stops in their journey of buying or renting. Some are just beginning their research, some are shortlisting while some are on war-footing to secure a new address. In this scenario, if your ad has been popping up, the customer tends to recall that and act on it.

Moreover, digital marketing allows you to:

• Target ads based on age-groups, location, price and amenities to specific groups,
• Run multiple ads and check on their performance based on clicks, thereby providing room for improvement and testing,
• Avail the option of ‘Pay Per Click’ or PPC ads to manage the cost of lead generation as well as allows you to know your customer,
• Get a better insight into the market and its changing dynamics and thereby adjust your ads for optimum performance.
• Today, mobile phones are the primary modes of searching for anything, getting on social media or watching a video. Only digital marketing can help to communicate to the potential customer at various touchpoints.

Digital Marketing Options

Today, Google is the one-stop for all our answers and when it comes to our decisions regarding purchases, then the route usually starts from research to reviewing ratings, to comparing prices and then finally, to purchasing. Thus, with digital marketing, you can reach the customer at the exact time of their decision-making process.

The real estate market has been transformed with the use of various avenues in digital marketing. The display ad is peppered with SEO keywords and can be splashed via various property finding websites and apps, through email, social media advert positioning on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and video ads on YouTube, Facebook, and native ad networks like Columbia. Blogs, real estate listing portals, paid articles, influencer marketing, etc. are also part of this massive ecosystem.

Digital Marketing Advantages

Back in 2014, the then leader of the property finding portals in India posted that every month the number of unique visitors to its website numbered a little below 3,000 and the average daily visits were almost 200. Fast forward to 2019 where internet penetration has leaped to much larger numbers and imagine the number of customers that digital advertising can reach to. With 234 million internet users digital marketing is mandatory for any industry.

Even in the second and third-tier cities, digital marketing has seen a surge to the tune of 51% increase between the years 2016 and 2017, and with regional languages roping in potential customers to make a purchase decision. In today’s India, a real estate developer should start with digital marketing to carve a path towards success. Digital marketing helps to:

• Build a brand and maintaining brand-recall
• Increase visual exposure and constant stimulus
• Conduct performance analysis, which enables refining the reach towards target audience
• Perform cost-effective and targeted outreach

Real Estate Businesses Need to Adopt Digital Strategies  

According to the NAR Study for Realtors 2018, for 95% realtors, having a website is a must to start real estate marketing today. Facebook and LinkedIn are the most popular platforms with real estate businesses with 80% and 71% share respectively. However, Instagram has only 28% real estate participation despite being a growing and popular platform. Although the data are valid for the US market, the pattern in India closely follows.

Social media platforms, videos, messaging, blogging and other uses of digital marketing technology will provide a decided edge over those who are not using them. Almost, 92% of all purchases begin with online searches and this provides an insight into the digital transformation of the real estate market and how it’s the best time to beat the competition and embrace the digital platforms.

Modern property searchers are looking for an amazing customer experience too. Their journey in real estate search is shaped by technology and the availability of data. This evolving consumer behaviour is where the potential lies for real estate businesses to grow and succeed, while the consumer gets what they want — that’s a win-win!