FUTURE OF ONLINE MARKETING IN REAL ESTATE

National Conference on “Innovative Marketing Strategies for Sustainable Growth”

Mr.Bibek Singh Sandhu*1, Ms Tamanna*2
Manager –Sales and marketing
Dhillon Group.
Assistant Professor
SMS Deptt.,Baddi University Of Emerging Sciences & Technology.
bibek.sandhu@gmail.com
tamanna11587@gmail.com
9888394581
 FUTURE OF ONLINE MARKETING IN REAL ESTATE

Abstract
With the increase of internet penetration and easy access of information on the net more and
more home buyers are now using internet to help them make purchase decision. Nonetheless
to say internet presents tremendous opportunity to real estate developers to reach much wider
audience and market their projects.
As per the data provided by Google survey more than half of real estate purchases in India
are now influenced by internet. Most developers have realized the scope of online marketing
and are fast venturing into this mode to promote their projects. The main purpose of this
study is to find the future scope of online marketing in developing countries like India. A
sample size of 100 has been taken and appropriate statistical techniques have been applied to
drive the result. A structured questionnaire was provided to recent home buyers to see how
much their purchase decision was affected by online marketing.
Keywords: Online marketing, real estate, internet.

Introduction

In India internet penetration is increasing at a very fast pace, mobile internet penetration
alone is expected to reach 213 million by June 2015 that will be a 23% increase within 6
months. As per TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) there are 935 million mobile
connections as on 31 October 2014, so we can well imagine the huge potential for the growth
of this market. Figure 1 explains the growth graph of internet penetration in India

Fig 1
India is now the third largest internet user in the world but the internet penetration is just 13%
of the total population. Thus there is tremendous scope for marketing and reaching wider
audience through this media.
Most real estate businesses have realized the scope of online marketing in developing
countries like India and are fast venturing into this mode of marketing also for their projects.

Advantages of using internet as a marketing media are:

 Cost-effective
 Vast Reach
 Minimizing Risk
 Maximizing efficiency

Cost-effective:
Online marketing is the most cost effective mode of marketing as there is no requirement to
set up physical infrastructure for this kind of marketing we are able to reach maximum target
audience at minimal cost.

Vast Reach:
With the help of internet we can reach more people than traditional advertising media at a
fraction of the cost. If we want to promote a real estate project in the national and
international market then also internet is one of the most suitable method.

Minimizing Risk
As we do not have to set up any infrastructure thus there is lesser risk to our investment. We
can also mitigate the risk of marketing the project to the wrong segment by focusing on our
target audience on the internet.

Maximizing efficiency:
Internet advertising can also be more targeted than some traditional media, ensuring that your
messages are seen by the most relevant audiences. Also because we reach a wide range of
customers at a minimal cost, this mode of advertisement can be considered one of the most
efficient.
Marketing of the project helps in the sales closure. The sales closure happens or not depends
on how marketing has been planned for all of the stages of a sales cycle.

The various stages of sales process are explained in Fig 2

Fig. 2

Online marketing can play an important role in the promotion and sales closure of a real
estate project. As explained in Fig 3

Fig 3
The concept of Internet marketing has extended and opened more opportunities to companies
in their marketing. The website of the companies, social media pages and presence on the
internet has become a very common media for presenting the company, its offerings and
image. Internet has become a strong marketing tool in itself which can be compared
separately to other marketing tools. Internet is a new marketing tool that can be used by
companies in order to reach their customers.
Internet marketing is set to play a very important role in the 21st century. New opportunities
will be thrown open which will be accessible to both large corporations and small companies,
and early movers to internet marketing will reap the benefits.

Traditional modes of marketing Vs Online medium

Online real estate marketing has not put traditional modes of marketing completely out of
context or relevance whereas it is a healthy combination of the two which is reaping the result
of real estate companies
Real estate agents bridge the gap between internet and viewing a home. Internet thus helps to
shorten the sale cycle. The importance of agents in real estate has not been superseded by
Internet. Clients search for the property online that then contact the agents to finalize the deal.
Some comparison points of online media and traditional modes of marketing are being
presented below:

Cost:

The cost of online marketing is only a fraction that of television, radio and Yellow Pages cost.
Pay per click also assures that money is only charged when a potential customer clicks on
your advertisement thus helping in reducing the cost. Whereas in traditional marketing the
marketing cost is fixed even if the advertisement is being viewed by the non-desired segment
of customer.

Analysis of effective advertisement:

When you place an ad in the newspaper or a magazine, it can be difficult to assess the direct
sales impact for your business. With online marketing, everything can be tracked and
illustrated in detailed graphs that illustrate traffic growth, leads and sales conversions from
your specific search marketing campaigns
Brand Presence and awareness:

In the traditional marketing we need to establish and maintain positive brand awareness and
client loyalty from newspaper advertisement, radio advertisement, word-of-mouth and
through personal relationships with established clients whereas a website is the most effective
marketing tool a business can have. A regularly updated website with well-written content
will help maintains people’s interest and in conveying how you offer the best value to your
clients.

Demographic Targeting of customers:

Through internet we have the power to target our client based on their demography like age,
profession, personal interests whereas in traditional marketing the demographic targeting is
far less effectives it reaches all the clients irrespective of the clients it is targeted at. The
degree to which an online marketing campaign can target and measure the response from
specific demographics and regions is often astonishing to real estate business.

Real-Time Results and monitoring:

With online marketing you don’t have to wait weeks to see a significant boost in our
business. Internet marketing campaign can help to experience real-time results that also
enable us to fine-tune the marketing strategy to achieve your desired effect. If the marketing
strategy isn't working effectively, real-time monitoring tools allow you to easily pin-point
exactly where you are going wrong. Whereas in traditional marketing we have to wait for
some time and then are able to analyze the effect of a particular marketing campaign.

Long-Term Exposure to campaign:

The benefit of an organic search marketing campaign that optimizes a website for specific
keywords is that you will achieve a long-term return on your investment. Once your website’s
visibility is well-established with search engines, it is easy to do regular low-cost
maintenance of your strategy. The early adopters of new online marketing platforms like
social media marketing will have a significant head start over their competition.

Internet leads to faster discovery of customer needs, greater customization of the products to
the customer needs, faster product testing, and shorter product life cycles. Price on the
Internet has become very competitive due to price transparency on the Internet as it is much
quicker and easier to compare prices by visiting company or channel partner websites. The
other reason is the ability to reduce costs such as store space and staff costs. In this sense,
Internet is considered as the most cost-effective marketing tool. Internet offers a new way for
distributing products through online selling and also with Internet companies can expand
from local market to both national and international markets. Internet can also be used to
exploit new markets. Internet also offers a new additional marketing communication channel
to inform customers of the USP’s of a project and assists in different stages of the buying
process.
Types of Online Medias for marketing
 Websites
 Real estate portals
 Social Media
 Blogs
 Video Hosting websites
Websites:
Websites help in the direct contact between customers and the company. Daily traffic on the
websites of various real estate companies also helps in driving sales. With the increase of
internet users most people have started going online and searching for details about a
residential project on the net. If we do not have a website we will be losing on to potential
customers
Real estate Portals:
Real estate portals act as an interface between buyers and the sellers of property, as per
analysis done by magicbricks.com the average daily visitors on their website is 1, 60,000.
Some of the popular real estate web portals are:
a) Magicbricks.com
b) 99acres.com
c) Indiaproperty.com
d) Commonfloor.com

The average daily visitors on these websites is given in Fig 4 below

 Fig. 4

Social media

Popular social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter can act as marketing tool
also as it helps in connecting with the desired audience.
Some of the advantages of Social media are:
Brand Recognition – Social media is one of the most powerful brand building tools. We can
manage the brand positioning and build the reputation through using the power of social
media.
Repeat Exposure – with the help of social media we can repeatedly hit the target audience.
We get an opportunity to remind customers over and over again about what we have to offer,
which can shorten our sales cycles dramatically.

Increase in Website Traffic – Social media can be a leading traffic generator for the websites.
When we share blog posts, videos and other content from the website, we give our audience a
reason to click through and visit our site. This extra traffic on the website can be converted
into business opportunity.

Blogs:

Blogs and forums provide an opportunity to increase the transparency and make the customer
more informed about the project and the company, thus blogs can help in brand development
and positioning of the project in front of the potential clients.

Video Hosting websites:

With the increase in quality of internet services video hosting websits such as YouTube,
dailymotions, Metacafe can be used for marketing the real estate project. Builders can use
these sites to upload their walkthrough videos depicting their plan and vision. The best videos
tend to be short (less than three minutes) and highlight the USP’s of a project. These websites
can also help to spread company news and information.

Some ways in which the online campaign of the real estate companies can be maintained are
as:

 Creating listings on real estate web portals like magicbricks, 99acres, commonfloor
can help that to promote offers such as sales and new projects.
 Search advertising can be used which is a method of placing online ads on Web pages
near search engine results, with Ad Words
 Contextual advertising takes display ads to the next level, by placing them on sites
related to your offerings.
 Geotargeting simply means advertising to prospects in specific locations which could
be very useful, for example, we can pitch a residential project in a particular location
where we feel we might get prospects.
Many Smartphone and mobile devices provide web browsing, GPS, cameras and video
capabilities. This means we can develop creative promotions with text messages and location-
based social networks for mobile marketing.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Technology plays a vital role in improving the quality of services provided by the business
units (Khan and Mahapatra, 2009). The technology of internet has brought a revolution in the
field of information sharing and. Internet is already playing a vital role in real estate sales and
promotion and with the advent of more internet penetration it is all set to grow. Thompson
(2005) remarked that the growth of Internet technology has enormous potential as it reduces
the costs of product and service delivery and extends geographical boundaries in bringing
buyers and sellers together.Melody and Robert (2001) remarked that the Internet can provide
timely information to customers because of its ability for instant communication, and its
availability.The Internet is an extremely effective medium for accessing, organizing, and
communicating information. Peterson, et al. (1997).

Several unique characteristics of the Internet regarding communication:

(1) The ability to store vast amounts of information that can be searched and
disseminated in a cost-effective manner which is accessible by virtually everyone on
the internet
 (2) Being interactive and the ability to provide information on demand
(3) Provide perceptual experiences that are superior to a printed catalog.
This means more interaction (Rosenspan, 2001), better customer services and quicker
responses (Isaac, 1998).
Objective

• To determine how much purchase decision is affected by the online presence of Real
Estate Company.
Research Methodology
In the present study descriptive method is used. Data was drawn from the home buyers in
Chandigarh and tricity region. A Sample size of 100 is used. The primary data was collected
by a structured questionnaire and secondary data was collected through books, journals and
with the help of internet. Questionnaire contains 7 statements. Data has been analysed by
frequency distribution and shown with the help of pie charts and bar charts

Findings and Interpretations

The result from the study conducted on a sample of 100 home buyers who had recently
purchased homes in various housing projects around Chandigarh revealed the following
statistics:
Q1. Are you a first time buyer of property?

As per the response given by home buyers

72% were first time home buyers and had
not made a real estate investment before.

Fig.1
Q2. Did you use the internet to get details before purchasing the property?
 Of the people who were surveyed 69%
had used internet to get information about
the projects.

Fig.2

Q3. Did you use mobile applications to search for a property before purchasing?

Only 36% of the responders used mobile

application or searched for details from
their mobile phone. This can be attributed to
still a huge scope in the mobile penetration
in India

Fig.3
Q4. Did you watch any video online that helped you in your purchase decision?

Fig. 4 clearly shows that 44% responders

also went online to watch a video or
walkthrough of the project before
purchasing.

Fig.4

Q5. Which website did you go on to watch video/walkthrough of the project before buying?
Kindly choose one
 The most preferred website of the
responders to watch a video about the
project was YouTube with 87%
preferring it, followed by company
websites by 12%.

Fig.5

Q 6. For how much time did you search on the internet before contacted an agent:

As per the findings almost 66%

of the people surveyed internet
for 1 to 3 weeks before
contacting an agent.

Fig.6

Q 7. For how much time did you search on the internet before finally purchasing the
property?
 From fig.7 almost 43% of the
responders surveyed the
internet for 1 to 2 months
before finalizing a real estate
purchase.

Fig.7

Limitations of this study:

1) Due to lack of resources and time the survey was conducted on the recent home
buyers around Chandigarh Tricity region only.
1) Respondents may have been biased towards some questions.

Scope for future research

This study can be conducted in other cities of India to get a holistic approach of the
importance of internet marketing in real estate. Expanding the demographic variety can also
help in understanding the future potential of online presence and marketing in real estate
industry.
Conclusion

As per the findings of the survey conducted online medium is going to have major
significance on real estate sector in the near future.

At present internet has already gained relevance amongst the mid and high income group of
customers for buying, renting and selling real estate but with the growth of internet
penetration it is going to find relevance amongst the masses also. Internet marketing helps to
boost the sales and to improve the brand image and perception amongst potential clients.
As per Google Rs 2,58,000 crore worth of real estate transactions are being directly
influenced by the Internet in India i.e 53% of all internet transaction today are being
influenced by the internet currently and this figure is all set to increase with the increase of
internet penetration. As per Nitin Bawankule, Industry Director, Google India said, “It is
estimated that the real estate industry will grow to become a 140 $ billion by 2017 and the
Internet audience base is expected to reach over 450 million by then. There is tremendous
opportunity for online real estate aggregators, brokers and developers to engage the buyers
online by providing rich, meaningful and immersive experience to buyers on the Internet.
Internet helps to provide the maximum exposure a minimal cost and is going to be one of the
main driving force for real estate sales in the near future.
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