Property Exhibitions, Advertising, Real Estate & Clients!

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“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does.” …  Stuart Henderson Britt

Well, Britt was the first person to receive a dual appointment at Northwestern University as Professor of Marketing in the School of Commerce and Professor of Advertising in the Medill School of Journalism & no wonder he can explain the importance of marketing in such a simple & witty way! And that is why no wonder the Americans are known for their aggressive & innovative ways of marketing because of the minds like Britt at their service! The reason I remembered this quote about marketing or advertising is actually for three things, one is a discussion at my friend’s company (gift Galore) for brainstorming session about marketing & costs (for all industries), second is about participating in exhibitions of real estate (which are mushrooming a lot) & third is request from a senior developer who happens to be my teacher also in engg about writing few words for Credai’s upcoming exhibition (of course of real estate). And let me admit at the start (or say confess) I am not a marketing person or a sales person rather in my nearly ten generations from my mom’s or dad’s side nobody has even sold an egg or a biscuit package in their life & I am happy to plan & build the homes as an engineer. But then you may build the homes like Taj Mahal & yet you need to sell them also or else they really will end up like Taj Mahal which is a tomb & not residence (apartment) if you know the history, right?

Here is where real estate marketing followed by sales comes in the picture. And trust me, just a decade back (not even a decade actually) marketing of the projects (read as homes in every form) was not at all a problem for the real estate rather sales were the only front known to this industry. Indeed, advertising was there but barring a few builders (can’t say brands to them) most of the real estate advertising was meant for sale only. Now, one will ask what’s the difference & let me tell you I am not the authority but my logical reply or answer is, the advertise which you make to generate the inquiries for your home or brand or workmanship which creates curiosity among the home buyers or make people to think about buying a home from you, is marketing. And when the advertisement directly helps you in sale of the homes you are making can be considered as sales in itself, such was the scene as all what the developer has to do is make a lunch advertise campaign of the project & sale used to follow & gone are those golden days is fact! And the advertisement campaign was simple, some hoardings at prime location, glossy brochure of the project, full page jacket ads on front pages of newspapers & posh sales office & you are done with the sale! Few builders used 3-D views & walk through but even that was spending for ego & never meant for sales as that was not necessary & if those who have gone through those days of real estate, I am sure must be smiling to themselves as that was golden era of real estate where everything used to get sold (marketing or no marketing), so who needed marketing or branding, right?

Come 2014 (I am not referring to political change) & slowly things started to change as supply demand difference wasn’t much & buying power of end user of homes got reduced as well the expenses graph kept rising up, the law started tightening grip on real estate deals (RERA) & so did the policies. FSI started raining & the landlords wanted their cut of the rainfall & so wanted every person associated with real estate & by the time builders started realizing all that shines isn’t gold, it was too late for many! Now the customers are also aware about market scenario i.e., aspects such as rates, availability or inventory of homes (thanks to google & co.) & smell the kill, as well are patient not to jump on the deal like its last deal of the life instead the customer waits till the builder bleed & surrenders to the home buyers demands! The scene in the real estate, is just like that of in the forest where every deer can run faster than the tiger. Yet when its summer time the tiger silently waits at a water hole & though the deer knows there is the tiger waiting for the kill & most deer prefers to wait till the tiger goes away, some deer surrenders to the thirst & dares to go to water hole thinking it can outrun the tiger & eventually ends up in the stomach of the tiger! Only difference between the jungle & real estate is this is concrete jungle but laws are the same & we all know who is the tiger at present in the real estate & who are the deer! And on all such backgrounds now the builders have to reach out for the customers & here is where marketing via advertising becomes more important for real estate than ever in the past. As the customers never has their trust in the builders (sorry folks, no offence, this is the fact, accept it) & that’s why for real estate first & foremost thing now is, to make the clients believe in your capacity to give them what they want than just advertising the product i.e., the home! And for that find the avenues to reach the home buyers (read as, right avenues) as no more the buying age group is fifty plus & hooked to conventional media (read as, newspapers or TV) but this is age group of thirties we are looking at & they get bored very fast with everything which includes any particular media also!

Now, apart from conventional media (newspaper, hoarding , exhibitions etc) you can reach to the customers through OTT Platforms, Mobile Phones (SMS/WhatsApp), Social Media sites (Insta, FB), News Media, Digital News Media, Radio & what not, I think only Akashwani is remaining to get used for advertising (I meant literally from mythology & not our Govt radio channel). And on top of all these, FB has already opened up another avenue i.e., Metaverse which is hailed as the future of advertising. But among all these avenues I still say when its home then physical communication or connection still remains the strongest medium when the product is a home as you can reach virtually to the home buyer yet the home, he is going to live in along with his family is going to be very much real & so are the people who are going to build that real home! And for this one sure way is exhibition as here you can actually meet the people (read as, team) who is going to make your dream home a reality & trust me for many the home will always be that special just once in a lifetime buy as that is what makes the home a special commodity than every other commodity in the market! It’s not just about the price it’s about the experience the home named commodity gives you but here is where your generations are going to grow & this is your life time’s investment also & just the way you can’t buy vegetables unless you feel their freshness touch by your fingers same way one has to feel the home before buy.

And how you can feel your future home, answer is very simple, by physical interaction with the people building that home as well knowing their completed projects (read as, homes) & this can be possible only by visiting the office of the builder as well their projects, right? But unless you don’t know where to look & whom to meet, how you can randomly visit some builder’s office or the project & here is where real estate exhibitions still rule the conventional advertising medium by creating a platform where many builders can be accessible to one single homebuyer in the physical form! Indeed, the numbers of the exhibitions I mean, real physical exhibitions are getting reduced in comparison to the past but that’s because we underestimate the power of our own product & specialness, is my personal opinion. In the exhibition you may not be able to see the project much better than the virtual media but you can see or feel something which no online world will make you able to do & that is feeling the personal bond or touch.

Dear homebuyers, visit the exhibition not to get information of the project but to get the information of the team you are going to enter in the deal with as unless you don’t speak with salesman, marketing guys, the builder himself, look in to their eyes, see their body language & the way they meet you, how you are going to trust them to put all your savings in their hands, is the question I will ask you And for that real, physical exhibitions are a must for the real estate buyers as well the builders!

As for the builders, I will share one thing, try to remain as much accessible to your clients existing as well future in physical form as well keep the bond alive through physical medium. May it be by a get-together over cup of tea, a concert organized for the clients, an exhibition or even a birthday card but always try to use a physical bond to connect with your clients as you can give them living experience through media like Metaverse but you can’t give them a living, that comes via only a real physical brick & mortar made home, mind it!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You Tube link below..

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/