Marketing of new build development projects

For residential property developers to reach their full sales potential, keeping up with current behavioral trends among homebuyers is vital to decide on efficient marketing strategies for each individual project. Competition in the real estate sector is tough, and not staying relevant and up to date may lead to sub-optimal results and consequently lower return on investments for the developers.

As homebuyers are embracing the comfort of browsing for their new home from their own couch, digital marketing in the real estate industry is essential. It is more important than ever for real estate professionals to make sure their properties are visible where their target audiences are spending their time, whether it be on social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram, on real estate portals, or via search engines on the web.

Clear goals for your marketing

Most residential property developers will agree that their main goal when listing a new project for sale is to get as many high-quality leads as possible. But to reach this goal, many factors need to be aligned. For instance, one must consider what the perfect timing to announce the project is and when to run digital marketing activities. How can you sell a property development project even before it is built? A good strategy often involves running an awareness campaign at an early stage of the project, as well as just before the project units are out for sale. This will help gain interest from an early stage and in turn, give a kick-start to the sales process. It is all about being present at the right time and place and targeting the right audience.

Become visible to your target audience

The most important issue is to make sure your project is visible to the right audience. One recommendation is to place your new developments on a property portal that matches the profile of the projects. If a project is sold internationally, it needs to be present on a portal that operates in several countries to make sure that you are visible to the relevant markets and investors. On the other hand, if a project is suitable for domestic interest only, it is more opportune to be present on a portal that specializes in your local market.

Regardless of which portal suits your business, it is important to put thought into the content you are displaying on the portal. The potential homebuyers visiting the portal want to see specific information about the development project, such as information about the neighborhood and surrounding area, transportation facilities, and unit-specific information such as prices, size ranges, and floor plans. This way, you will make it easier for people to narrow down their searches through different filters and find what they are looking for in an efficient manner, and at the same time, you will receive leads of higher quality. This will also help you increase your visibility in search engines such as Google. Additionally, if you place your projects on a portal that is made exclusively for new build projects, you will make yourself even more available to the target audience you are seeking for your development projects.

Update information continuously

To keep potential homebuyers interested in your project, it is important to continuously update relevant information that is available on your own website and on the property portal. As the project progresses, share updates that the audience would find interesting. This also includes images such as illustrative images about the units and the project as a whole, as well as images of the surrounding area. Being able to visualize oneself living in the new home plays a large role in the decision process.

Help leads keep track

Another important element of being present on a property portal is that users usually can «like» or select projects as favorites. In new build developments, this is particularly useful as the user can easily keep track of their favorite projects all the way from the very first announcements of a new project, through the construction phase and into the sales process. An advanced property portal will also help you keep track of how users engage with your projects. This will in turn give you insights about user behavior and uncover patterns and trends for you to improve your own performance – and ultimately your return on the project.

Combine visibility with targeted marketing

Some platforms will even offer additional services such as digital marketing campaigns. Combining a presence on a real estate platform and paid social media advertising could be the key to reaching the relevant homebuyers. For example, through the Boost service on the portals Newbuilds.com and Eiendom.no, dedicated marketing will be exclusively targeted towards the continuously increasing number of registered and active leads on the portals. This way, your project will have an increased probability of sales success while you can focus on other important parts of the business.

All things considered, it is important to select a real estate portal that covers your needs and makes your development projects visible for your defined target audiences. The proptech company Marketer has built the two property portals Newbuilds.com and Eiendom.no on the basis of its existing powerful software solutions, which results in portals that can facilitate large amounts of traffic from highly relevant visitors while utilizing the data generated to provide precise digital marketing campaigns.