If there’s one key message property developers should know it’s this: before you start to even think about marketing your property development, have you got the foundations right? Before you call your ad agency into the office, here are the steps you need to have taken to ensure a strong pipeline of qualified enquiries and high conversions to sales:
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
- Is your development site in the right Place?
- Do you have a detailed profile on who you Ideal Customer is – i.e. the People who will come and buy your properties off you?
- Does your Market Positioning give you stand out from your competitors?
- Have you designed your property Product to take into account the above three factors?
- Does your Pricing take into account a host of other value components other than just size, quality and local competition?
If you have a detailed creative brief that takes all of the above into account, you are ready to start your Promotions (a.k.a. Marketing Communications).
PROMOTIONS CHECKLIST
Nowadays, SEM and SEO have largely replaced print media (press advertising). Leads are now attracted using “lead magnets”, captured through “name squeezes” onto websites, which load leads into a “CRM” so that they can be nurtured automatically by a workflow of personalised emails. Marketing Communications (MarComs), generally include the following:
- Branding
- A suite of collaterals including a website
- Press and online advertising
- Social media marketing
- Search engine optimisation – SEO
- Database marketing (emailing and print mailing)
- Public relations
- Referral programmes
- Signage
All of the above first generate leads and then nurture them through the sales funnel to eventually become sales.
CONNECTING ALL OF THE P’S
But this is where the previously prepared plethora of Ps come into their own. Your marketing story, key messages, features, advantages, and benefits should all be driven by the homework you’ve done on the other 6 Ps of Property Marketing.
This is how you get your development from “Unseen” to “Unmissable.”
