Real estate marketing

Real estate marketing applies the instruments of classic marketing to the various products in the real estate industry.

definition

“Marketing” is usually understood to mean the classic business function of “ sales ” and the overarching, market-oriented corporate management. Analogous to marketing , real estate marketing should also be comprehensively understood as the “market-oriented realization of corporate goals and the alignment of the product“ property ”on the market”.

Real estate marketing therefore includes (based on the 4 Ps of the American Marketing Association)

based on market and opinion research.

Or as the German Marketing Association ( Franz-Rudolf Esch ) puts it: "Marketing in the sense of market-oriented corporate management characterizes the alignment of all relevant corporate activities to the wishes and needs of stakeholders". Put simply: real estate developers can only design and sell their projects accordingly if they know how and where people want to live and work. Against this background, the milieu study has found its way into real estate development in the residential segment, for example to differentiate target groups.

Since this stringent transfer of marketing knowledge to real estate in Germany is still quite young and (still) not widespread, there are relatively few marketing agencies in Germany that specialize in real estate marketing. Our neighbors in Switzerland and Austria are a little further along here, targeted real estate marketing has been practiced successfully there for a long time.

history

Until the 1990s, advertising communication in the real estate market in Germany was largely done by real estate agents . These relied mainly on a pure information strategy, which was exhausted in designed sales advertisements and information brochures. Growing competitive pressure and the demand for faster and more targeted marketing of real estate have, however, in the following years led to real estate marketing developing as a discipline with a wide range of instruments.

The advertising industry was more aware of the real estate market and is aligning its offers accordingly; the advertising expenses of the construction and real estate companies rose sharply in 2007. This was determined by the media and advertising research company Nielsen Media Research GmbH. According to this, the gross advertising investments for 2007 in the above-the-line media (newspapers, consumer magazines, trade magazines, television, radio, posters and cinema) of the construction and real estate companies climbed to 6.9 million euros, an increase of 33.9 percent compared to the previous year at 5.1 million euros. Internet advertising for this area even achieved an increase of 123.6% (from 0.4 million euros in 2006 to 1 million euros in 2007).

Objectives and target groups of real estate marketing

Real estate marketing now goes far beyond the design of sales advertisements, because - analogous to other marketing disciplines for special segments (such as consumer or capital goods advertising) - real estate marketing also includes a fundamental analysis, planning, implementation and control, whereby the special features of real estate are taken into account have to.

The primary goal of real estate marketing is to find and address current and future sales markets for real estate projects - from individual buildings to entire development areas. For this purpose, real estate is positively built up as a brand, good real estate marketing is always also sales support .

After the marketing and sales of real estate is no longer (only) seen as a pure broker's task, there has been increasing professionalization for some years now, which has also made use of the broad marketing mix for real estate projects and in particular the distribution part with a focus on advertising and public relations in View has.

The marketing of real estate is basically very simple: the bait has to taste good to the fish, not to the angler. In other words: the property has to please the buyer / tenant, not the investor and project developer. However, what makes a property interesting for a person depends on social as well as financial factors. Knowing these and incorporating them into property development is goal 1 of property marketing. Goal 2 is to provide the property with a positive image and a good name for the target groups by accompanying the property in its development (construction, renovation, rededication ...). And goal 3 is sales support and contribution to long-term value maintenance / increase.

Real estate marketing is about assigning values to sober structures made of stone, glass, concrete, steel and some other elements that anchor themselves in the target group. Architectural visualizations are mostly used for this, as these images address potential customers on an emotional level.

Real estate marketing areas

Consistent real estate marketing begins - as described above - with target group analysis, continues with the creation of a brand image for larger properties and includes all sales promotion measures, as they are also known from retail.

So far, visual merchandising has often been neglected . H. the target group-oriented object presentation at the POS (point of sale). The architectural visualizations often used for this meet the highest quality standards and translate the design into a medium that is understandable for laypeople.

The communication measures also include the design of decision-making aids such as information brochures and exposés, the use and design of unusual construction and rental signs, Citylight posters or blow-ups, the creation of events with appropriate support and the telling of stories about the Object in the media.

Which marketing mix is chosen with which instruments, in which composition and with which intensity, depends on the size and importance of the respective property.

In cases where larger companies are behind real estate projects as project developers and implementers, real estate marketing should have a positive effect on the image of the umbrella brand .

In addition to the structure using the instruments, real estate marketing can also be subdivided by the areas of application: Real estate marketing is available for existing properties, new construction projects, interlinked with city marketing as location, city, district or tourism marketing (commercial areas / logistics properties / office and retail space / outstanding buildings as an attraction).

In the creative implementation today, realistic images of the advertised objects in almost all media are the focus. The starting point is the so-called architecture rendering . In practice, the advertised property or project is visualized in almost all communication channels - in the exposé, in the Internet presence, in outdoor advertising, on construction signs or in complex 3D tours and architectural animations .
Architectural visualizations also play an important role in the real estate marketing mix for building applications or in dialogue with building authorities and the public.

process description

An ideal process in real estate marketing would go like this:

1. Upstream market study / market research on product development (land acquisition and construction planning) with special consideration of the target groups and the question of how they can be reached.

2. Strategy workshop with everyone involved: architects, investors, property developers, sales representatives, marketing and PR experts.

3. Situation analysis with strengths and weaknesses profile (SWOT analysis), elaboration of the Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

4. Marketing strategy and communication concept are set up and explain how the property will receive its unique and unmistakable profile on the one hand (define unique selling points and derive logo, name, likeability values from them) and how this profile should be communicated to the right target groups.

5. Goals, strategy and measures are defined in the time and project plan with milestones for implementation; In addition to pure product advertising, the marketing concept should also have answers to the question "How do I reach customers?"

6. Creative implementation with constant adaptation to the changing market environment.

Development trends:
A process has been in place in real estate marketing for a few years. B. has been common practice in the consumer goods industry for a long time: A high percentage of the annual turnover goes into the advertising budget. Property developers, project developers, building contractors and also brokers recognize the sense and benefit of marketing expenses and bring appropriate service providers on board. Further growth in the industry is to be expected - this includes a. Real estate blogs or the use of social networks.

literature

Series of real estate marketing in real estate newspaper
Stephan Kippes, Professional Real Estate Marketing Marketing manual for brokers, property developers / project developers and property managers, Vahlen Verlag
Karl-Werner Schulte and Kerstin Hiska Brade (editors): Handbuch Immobilien Marketing , 2001

Diederichs, CJ (2006): Real Estate Management in the Lifecycle, 2nd Edition, Berlin / Heidelberg 2006
Ertle-Straub, S. (2013): Immobilienmarketing, in: Brauer, K.-U. (Ed.), Fundamentals of the Real Estate Industry, 8th edition, Wiesbaden 2013, pp. 397–434.
Gondring, H. (2004): Immobilienwirtschaft, Munich 2004.
Käßler-Pawelka, G. (2001): Real Estate Marketing, in: Gondring, H./Lammel, E. (Ed.), Handbook Real Estate Management, Wiesbaden 2001, pp. 941–1002.