Real estate developers are using digital marketing and it is working in their favour

There was a time when buying apartments was a daunting task from going through dozens of properties physically. Cut to 2016, now everything is available online and digital marketing is working in favour of real estate developers.

Digital marketing is picking up with developers who have understood that homebuyers are scanning through different real estate choices online before physically looking at the properties. Builders are progressively framing partnerships with Facebook and Google to interface with homebuyers through customized messages to right group of onlookers and they appear to improve perceivability and results.

“Currently, digital marketing contributes to around 25% of the leads generated through all sources and helps generate around 8% to 10% of revenue. In the next 3 years, digital marketing's contribution would be close to 25% to 30% of the revenue. We feed potential buyers with plenty of information about its projects online, making up for the lack of physical proximity or time for a customer to visit a site. Online experience through virtual tours and videos is supported by a strong pre-sales force that assist buyers in their buying decision. Digital media like Google, property portals, epapers are being used by developers for project promotion and lead generation,” Samujjwal Ghosh, Executive VP -Marketing at Lodha Group, told ET.

Online networking including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube are likewise being utilized widely crosswise over item classes to enhance the scope and to build the purchaser touch focuses.

“Facebook provides marketing services to help grow real estate business and deliver the right message at the right time, to the right people - this is personalization at scale. "Whether real estate marketers want people to buy their products online or are trying to build awareness, we have solutions that drives results. The difference is that Facebook provides new, more efficient ways to achieve traditional, long-held business objectives,” a Facebook spokesperson told ET.
(image: Reuters)

Apart from being present online and targeting right audience, real estate companies are also developing mobile apps to facilitate the transactions.

Tata Housing Development Company, one of the early adopters of digital marketing since 2009, was also amongst the first developers to create a mobile app for its projects The Promont in Bangalore and Arabella in Gurgaon.