Applying marketing strategy in the property industry
It’s not just the economic landscape that’s changed. The whole world has changed. How we communicate, how we buy, rent, sell, and market.
This will greatly impact how marketing strategies are applied across multiple industries. But it does make things a little more challenging for the property sector.
Marketing in the property world has always been an entire discipline in its own right. And with worldwide changes in customer expectations, technology advances, and communications, new audiences and ways of thinking are emerging.
These will dictate any property marketing strategy. So a willingness to lean into a strong, yet agile strategy will be the deciding factor on how you succeed in delivering your brand and ultimately, selling your product.
We’ve spoken at length about the core of functional and strategic marketing - the doing and the thinking.
Let’s get those brains warmed up and get thinking about our strategies in the context of property.
Goals and objectives
Let’s start with the end result. Where do you want to be in X months or one year’s time (or more)? What are the ultimate goals for your product? To fill empty units with short term lets? To build a family friendly community? To house and facilitate students, and support wellbeing?
Once you define your wider business mission, you can start to delve a little into your incremental goals.
How will you get there?
By increasing engagement? By gathering data insights? By improving customer service responses?
These goals will influence decision-making and inform how you interact with all communications.
Intentional marketing
Property marketing really is about the consumer first and foremost. A living space, no matter whether that is temporary or long term, is about so much more than providing a roof over someone’s head.
It’s about providing safety, comfort, security, affordability, community, facilities and so much more. Your marketing strategy in property really needs to reflect the proposition, and speak to your audiences with purpose and intention. New developments often get caught up in the bells and whistles, neglecting to create marketing communications that are tailored and suited to the targeted audience. It’s only natural that marketers want to shout about quirky new facilities and add-ons, but are they aligned with your customer’s values and objectives?
Consider: What do they value? What do they expect? What can they afford?
Tune into the core of your targeted persona and speak to them. Leave your own personal opinions at the door, and communicate with the intention of capturing those audiences.
Educate yourself profusely on the following too: region/environment, socio-economic status of the area, audiences and community, affordability, facilities, proposition and competitors. A deep knowledge of those factors will help you to build the most effective brand strategy.
Product and proposition
What sets your product apart? This will be one of the most important elements of your marketing strategy. Whether you are marketing to families, students or solo professionals looking for short-term lets, the proposition will vary across platforms and content.
It’s worth investing some time into outlining your product and proposition at the beginning of any marketing strategy. And if you haven’t already, get back to the drawing board and outline the finer details.
Those finer details might feel superfluous, but they will help to inform communications and marketing content in the future, ensuring you are distinguishing yourself from competitors.
They will also allow you to stand out among investors, and instil confidence in them that you are confident in your product offering.
Knowing your audience and geographic circumstances will also play a huge part. Get to know the city in which you are targeting. Local schools and universities or transport systems will play a key part in how your product is marketed, and to whom. Being clear on your proposition from the offset will enable consistency.
Differentiation/USPs
What are the first three USPs that spring to mind when thinking about your product? What features do you speak about the most when talking to prospects or investors?
Differentiating your product in a saturated market can feel difficult, but connecting with your customers on a personal basis can be a great way to help identify which USPs they value the most.
You may have more than three, you may have less. But try not to dilute your offering too much. Focus on communicating your core differentiations as a part of your strategy, and you’ll continue to elevate your brand and proposition.
Audience segmentation
Who are your demographics?
It’s common for brands to generalise an audience, but audience segmentation is more vital than ever. As diversity grows and audiences become more nuanced, it’s important to recognise distinguishing characteristics that might define new segments of your wider audience.
For example, it’s not enough to define your audience as ‘students’. That term might encompass international students, local students, lower income students, LGBTQ+ students.
You really can segment as much as you feel necessary. But this will help you establish clear strategies and pathways for your marketing strategy that align with the individual values of each audience. Each will come with different buying decisions, influencing factors and expectations when it comes to your product.
You might also be led by geographic and cultural factors based on the region in which your property is located. For example, in a region with a high muslim population, are you considering facilities such as prayer rooms and taking note of prominent calendar events such as Ramadan?
By ensuring your brand and product is communicated with purpose and intention, connecting with the right audiences in the most thoughtful way, you can greatly elevate your marketing strategy.
Data driven actions
Data doesn't lie. Collecting data, whether that is qualitative or quantitative, to inform your decisions is vital. Not only will it provide clear evidence that supports or questions your KPIs, but it will allow you the opportunity to pinpoint trends. The property market fluctuates with seasons and circumstantial/economic changes - e.g. the COVID pandemic and Brexit. With data informed decisions, you can be sure that you're responding in line with customer expectations and requirements.
Do units tend to be emptier over the summer months? How can you adapt your communications to account for this, and drive business back to those units?
Data will, however, demand a level of agility in your strategy. So bear this in mind from the beginning. Implement strategies that will allow movement and unexpected data fluctuations.
Customer feedback
As mentioned above, communication with your customers will be vital to informing your strategy. Are you in touch with your customers?
Even your prospects may be able to shed some light into their expectations and values that attract them to your product and influence decision making. Focus groups, surveys, interviews and questionnaires are all great methods for conducting accurate customer feedback.
Connecting regularly with your customers will also help to foster customer loyalty and build trusted relationships.
If you’re yet to implement a marketing strategy for your property business, this article should hopefully provide you with some guidelines as to where to begin. But even if you already have a marketing strategy for your property business, consider whether it is agile enough to respond to new market demands and expectations.
Your core marketing strategy will define everything you do and ensure your marketing and activations are intentional, purposeful, and yep, you guessed it - strategic.