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A new marketing platform aims to do away with the “one-size-fits-all” property marketing approach that’s traditionally been taken by real estate agencies.
Properti.ai is a new offering that allows a customised marketing package to be tailored to a client’s needs, borne out of the understanding that a cookie-cutter approach to marketing is no longer effective.
Properti.ai founder and CEO Craig Deveson said many agents have struggled with the conflicting information that’s been presented by the media, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, making marketing all the more an important consideration for agents.
“Most of the media initially focused on the likely impact on rents and house price falls,” he said, “despite much of the analysis neglecting to take into account record-low interest rates and increased household income for many.”
According to the CEO, it has resulted in a “multi-speed market” that hasn’t eventuated in the doom and gloom market that many predicted.
Instead, Mr Deveson said the biggest change to the property market has been around “buyer wants and needs”.
“The work from home movement has gone from a niche idea to one embraced by large and small organisations alike, with a hybrid work environment emerging in the future,” he continued.
“This has seen property buyers look for extra space for home offices, as well as look at regional or outer city ring locations where it’s more affordable.”
It means agents are facing new challenges in marketing their services to sellers and buyers, as they have “had to find a way to manage real market expectations versus the media”, the CEO said, flagging a need to “think outside the square”.
With the one-size-fits-all approach becoming increasingly redundant, Mr Deveson said that, previously, claims of customisation still saw agents advertising on the portals, putting up a sign and printing brochures.
“However, now with Properti.ai, the ability to target specific interstate buyers on other channels including social media, with tailored video and custom ads, plus adapting the campaign to using a pre-market approach, or to boost the reach of a traditional portal marketing approach, is now available,” he explained.
Even in a location such as the Gold Coast, which has benefited from an influx of inter- and intra-state buyers looking to leave the capital cities due to COVID-19, the pandemic has caused challenges for local agencies, including DJ Stringer Real Estate.
Principal David Stringer said that the uncertainty that the pandemic has created in his local market required a new approach to attracting buyers and sellers, given “the unknown of a potential downturn in the market [and] the impact on both residential and commercial tenancies”.
Calling Properti.ai a “simple, automated program”, Mr Stringer has applauded the offering for its ability to cover all major social marketing platforms.
He said the extra exposure has been a boon for sellers, with buyers now noticing listings more than ever before.
Alice Hagen is another principal who saw the effects of a nervous market first-hand.
Hailing from Brisbane’s Calibre Real Estate, Ms Hagen said the agency had been following “tried and tested” advertising methods, but realised when the pandemic hit that they needed to move their approach away from targeting active buyers and sellers to fostering engagement with people who were not necessarily actively seeking out property.
“Unless you’re looking to buy or sell right now, you’re unlikely to be browsing the portals.”
Ms Hagen said “we wanted to reach a greater audience so our properties would cut through to people when they weren’t intentionally looking for properties”.
Calibre Real Estate has reported that it now relies on Properti.ai’s ability to produce high-quality videos automatically.
“The result has been a great user experience, greater engagement through social media, more videos being produced and uploaded ‘in-house’, and the ability to easily see the statistics on the Property.ai platform,” Ms Hagen explained.
It’s led to Calibre Real Estate experiencing “a massive increase in social media engagement, comparative and competitive to the engagement levels of large franchise groups”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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