2021 Trends for Real Estate Project Marketing

Project Marketing is a field that is ever changing and always developing. Tracking and monitoring these trends can be useful because it can assist in making future predictions. Marketing News Canada reached out to Project Marketers to gain some insight on what they see currently happening in the year of 2021.

What trends are you seeing in project marketing?

According to Senior Vice President, Jamie Squires of Fifth Avenue Real Estate Marketing, “more and more paperless marketing in all aspects, from online marketing campaigns, to digital brochures, touchscreens versus floor plans on the wall, to paperless contracts and digital disclosure statements.”

A trend with Covid is a lot of consumers are doing their research online, emailing, and then visiting the presentation center. “Our presentation centers all abide by WCB COVID 19 rules and regulations so only a limited number of people can enter at time wearing a mask and sanitizing between groups,” states Squires.

Alex Wan, the Chief Executive Officer and Co Founder of Periphery Digital, believes that developers are becoming more receptive to digital, and it is becoming a primary focus of their marketing.

According to Wan, “gone are the days where a project would have a half working website, and would simply launch a print ad, and have a line up in front of the presentation center. Developers are understanding this, and are shifting their priorities to anything digital - not only from an advertising perspective but making sure their websites are polished, mobile-friendly or also making sure they have a social media presence.”

Wan also believes Social media engagement is becoming more important. His company is seeing more developers and project marketing companies now using social media tools such as comments and direct messaging. Communicating through these channels can often feel more accessible and user-friendly for the potential buyer, as there is less personal information being shared. There has also been a significant decrease in the cost of leads compared to this time last year. “However, we are predicting that this will become more competitive and lead cost will start to increase as more developers are using digital,” states Wan.

Christy Emonds of Frontline Real Estate Services Ltd. believes that digital brochures have become much more prominent this year. She said there was a significant increase in the sharing of information electronically due to the convenience of it. “We are using QR codes in our sales centres for prospects to access information rather than using traditional print materials.”

Deren Akinci, Marketing Director of Rennie & Associates Ltd stated that the company has began “taking a service based approach to the business, that relies heavily on an interconnected suite of systems (in Rennie’s case Salesforce forms the backbone of our system), in turn giving our B2B clients the clarity and confidence they need to make their decisions.” In addition to this, the company's developers now expect real time reporting on their projects and in-depth insight across markets. “This has made tools like our Developer Dashboards and products like the Rennie Landscape and Rennie Review essential in our practice.”

What marketing mix and changes are you seeing with out of home vs. print vs. radio vs. online ads? What is being used more than the other, and why?

Fifth Avenue Real Estate Marketing has noticed a change in the use of print ads. More people are receiving their news online, so marketing advertising has followed this trend. There has been an increase in “video fly throughs of homes versus still renderings to be more interactive with customers and gives them a better feel for their future home as well,” states Squires.

Wan also notes that digital is becoming the primary use of their budget. Online ads are more cost-effective from a rate of return perspective. This way “our clients can see how much lead they're getting for every dollar they spend and can use that math to work backward on projected sales.”

Another trend Wan is observing is, Digital OOH. These are digital banners that allow changes to be made to similar campaigns, but without the cost and commitment similar to traditional OOH campaigns. Other traditional media techniques are still used to generate awareness, however there is more of a demand for digital advertising.

Emonds explained that they also advertise solely online now. They have stopped the use of traditional print media. This seems to be a recurring trend as people move primarily online for not only convenience factors, but as well as environmental factors.

According to Akinci of Rennie & Associates Ltd. there have been changes throughout the year of 2021 regarding their spending on advertising, presentation centres and use of technology. “When comparing 2019 to 2020 ad spends, by almost eliminating print media from our advertising in 2020, we reduced our overall spend by 64% compared to 2019. In doing so we reduced our average cost per lead from $313 to $51, while also capturing more leads and sales compared to 2019.” This information stays relevant for the year of 2021.

Presentation centres have had to make some changes throughout the year to follow COVID-19 protocols. The biggest change has been “the transition to appointment

bookings for all sites. For the most part this has resulted in reduced daily traffic for presentation centres, however, the net effect has been overwhelmingly positive. Appointment bookings have led to sales teams having more focused and leisurely showings with prospects.” Akinci also believes this change has resulted in better service, and more in-depth conversations when interacting with a sales advisor, which in-turn has led to better conversion rates. “Prior to the pandemic we would see PC visits to sales conversion rates range between 3-5%. Since the summer of last year we have seen that rate double on average, with some sites even converting as high as 15-20%.”

Akinci believes Technology is becoming more important than ever. Rennie & Associates and Ltd. has increased investment in their animation budget. The investment in this has paid off because they have seen an increase in engagement on their project sites, and in some cases the time spent on site has doubled compared to previous years.

When observing the trends of 2021, it can be seen that there is a significant increase in the use of online advertising. Traditional methods of marketing are quickly becoming less used, and may become obsolete in the near future.

The demand for in person interactions has decreased in recent times due to the current pandemic. As a result of available technology, companies are noticing a lot of activities can be completed online. With this being said, it can be predicted that post pandemic, a lot of in person interactions will no longer be necessary.

Marketing News Canada would like to thank Fifth Avenue Real Estate Marketing, Frontline Real Estate Services Ltd, Periphery Digital and Rennie & Associates Ltd. for their insights regarding trends in project marketing. For more information please visit their websites.