Introduction to Real Estate Marketing
In the real estate business, marketing is the pulse of success and given the competitive nature of the industry and changes in consumer preferences, actually implementing a marketing strategy is crucial. Marketing is important whether you sell residential properties, lease commercial space, or manage rental units. Knowing and implementing the four P’s of marketing, Product, Price, Place and Promotion, gives you the framework to formulate marketing strategies for your market segment. You can apply these four P's to every aspect of real estate marketing.
Product in Real Estate
What Is the Product?
In real estate, the product is the property itself, whether it is the residential home, apartment, commercial office, or industrial building. The product is the physical structure, its attributes, and amenities, the location, and the lifestyle/value proposition for buyers or tenants. For instance, an apartment in Mumbai selling for ₹50,00,000 has a product description that includes its amenities (e.g. a gym, parking, proximity to metro stations), location, and price.
Why the Product Matters
The product is the basis of your marketing strategy. A clearly identified product builds trust and demand with your target market—whether they are young professionals, families, or businesses. Knowing what makes your property a unique proposition can help showcase your property's strengths and set it apart from your competitors within your local market with lots of similar offers.
How to Optimize the Product
Try to build a product that can be marketed successfully, which means making it complementary to users. Put money into upgrades, like refurbished units, energy-star appliances, or smart home features, enticing a target audience, such as buyers. For example, you can spend ₹5,00,000 to redecorate a kitchen and potentially add ₹10,00,000 in value to a property. You should identify your two main market target audiences to buy. For residential buyers—for families, you'll want kids' play amenities, and for commercial tenant businesses, you'll target the demand for high-speed internet.
There are also many advantages to selling property—providing a unique piece of land. You should sell buyers intangible benefits like the "mood" in a neighborhood. Approaches that attract and evoke attention than the basics—like freeways close, schools within walking distance, or a kinder engaging with neighbors. Creating a script for engaging with potential clients about the emotions they may be able to locate in your property could help the client's connection with your offer.
Price in Real Estate
What Is Price?
Price is the cost to both purchase or to rent property; for example, a sale price of a home or the monthly rental fee for an apartment. Price also includes costs associated with the property, such as maintenance fees, taxes, financing at a certain interest rate, etc. For an example, an average haussiere villa may be priced at ₹1,00,00,000, but the buyer could also have to spend ₹10,000 per month on maintenance fees. The monthly fees influence the "buying detection" that impacts the price perception.
Why Price Matters
Price is important, because it influences both the affordability and value perception; if you want to buy a villa, you will only consider one at a certain price range. The price must be set right so that you attract the right target audience, while maintaining maximum potential profitability. Pricing too high could put buyer's off; pricing too low could result in losing out on potential revenue. Because India is a diverse country with budgets in various amounts (it could range from affordable housing to up to ₹1,00,00,000 for a luxury estate), it is prudent to get the price right before negotiations commence to close the deal.
How to Set the Right Price
To conduct a comparative market analysis (CMA), evaluate similar properties located in the area. (A CMA is a good way to evaluate pricing for similar properties). So, if for example, you are pricing 2BHK apartments in Whitefield, Bangalore and you see that the selling price is ₹60,00,000 to ₹70,00,000, you would price your property within this range to be competitive. You should be able to show rationale based on market trends, for example how the market in Tenpee or Jaipur is developing, which could justify a higher price. Property financing is also attractive to buyers, flexible purchasing options backed by the developer is always a good thing if you reasonably adjust the price. Consider this flexibility as we would with "buyers" for rent. Allowing a budget of 25 to 30 percent of income is common for tenants, so a month rent of ₹25,000 for a tenant earning ₹1,00,000 is reasonable.
Place in Real Estate
What Is Place?
The meaning of Place is the site of the property and its channels of distribution. The site of the property - a bustling urban site such as Delhi or a suburban city like Noida reflects perceived value. The channels of distribution are the distribution systems that typically include online marketplaces, brokerages, or sales teams to connect properties with their buyers or tenants.
Why Place Matters
Location can almost be the most important aspect when deciding what a buyer / tenants need and wants. Location can influence convenience, lifestyle, as well as investment options. Access to schools or employment locations, or public transportation systems can be of paramount importance when trying to market a property. Likewise, distribution channels make it easier for your audience to search and engage with your property. In India, the speed of the digital revolution and rate at which the ability to be online is proportionally less than most of the population still prefers the personal touch of being shown or given access.
How to Leverage Place
Acquire properties that are in high-demand locations, e.g where the area has new infrastructure coming, like the metro lines in Pune or the new IT hub in Hyderabad, as such properties would appeal to buyers as growth potential. For distribution, we would list the properties on high traffic sources such as MagicBricks or 99acres that reach millions of users. We would run local advertising, e.g. hoardings or local community based events, to target buyers proximate to the properties. Alternatively, if we were to run an advertising campaign of ₹1,00,000 in digital advertising, with a potential return of being contacted by buyers for a property, where the price of the property is ₹50,00,000. Lastly, we could work with reputable brokers who have good connections and extensive networks in their area of interest.
Promotion in Real Estate
What Is Promotion?
Promotion involves the strategies and tactics used to communicate the value of your property to potential buyers or tenants. This includes advertising, social media campaigns, open houses, email marketing, and public relations. For instance, a promotional campaign for a ₹2,00,00,000 luxury villa might include virtual tours and targeted ads on Instagram.
Why Promotion Matters
A successful promotion creates awareness, generates interest, and establishes trust in customers. In a competitive market like India with numerous buyers needing help deciding due to the abundance of choices, a robust promotion will differentiate your property. It will also help emphasize the USPs (unique selling points) like location or exclusive features, which are reasons for the price.
How to Enhance Promotion
Create a promotional plan that engages multiple channels to reach many audiences. Use quality images and videos, such as 360-degree virtual tours or drone videos, to promote your properties. A good example is when an agent spends ₹50,000 on professional photographs and gets 50 inquiries as a result. Social media is another avenue. Use where people are willing to pay for targeted promotions (e.g., Facebook) to target anticipated demographics (e.g., NRIs for luxury properties). Use open houses, or create an expo/event for buyers to come and see properties. Have some incentives that can encourage potential leads to close the deal. E.g., waive their maintenance fees for one year. If you have any digital influencer or local celebrity that are relevant to real estate, consider partnering with them—people in these spaces typically seek to build their audience as well.
Balancing the Four P's
Why Balance Is Key
Not every P is going to get equal importance, but you don't want to have one be dominant either. If you really have a good product in a great position, if you price it improperly or leverage a poor promotional tactic—good luck! Similarly, good promotion and a good price won't help if your product isn't appealing or you are just too aggressive. The best approach is to cover each P appropriately to make sure you are hitting all the avenues to get clients and attract them to you for a close.
How to Achieve Balance
To begin using the 4 P's of marketing in real estate you must first state your audience - e.g. first time homebuyers or corporate tenants - then consider the 4 P's in relation to that audience's needs. For example, if targeting young professionals, a ₹40,00,000 apartment, you need to have some modern amenity features (Product), keep the price level in relation to local market prices (Price), it needs to be located near to business districts (Place), and you need to promote where they look for properties (Promotion). After listing the property through various channels (Promotion), remember to take a further assessment on the feedback from the market, such as number of calls and time spent on the market, to adjust or realign your marketing options. Consider diversifying your property portfolio across property types and areas, to not only reduce risk but also expose varying segments of buyers.
Conclusion
The 4 P's of marketing or Product, Price, Place and Promotion, are pivotal to successful real estate marketing in India. If you are the developer agent or investor and identify and maximize the products features, price based relevant to the localized area, place looking for the best locations/channels for development orientation, and promote correctly to appeal too and attract market buyers or tenants in a dynamic market space, you should have success. Understanding the 4 P's will enhance the efficiency of your marketing campaign, and may even enhance your progress to meet your business objectives as you adapt to the competitive environments in which you do business.