I brought up the topic on Newspaper Ads and discussed about the seemingly aggressive trend of agents’ expenditure on print media marketing. Today, let’s bring our attention to online marketing or what some of us call internet marketing for real estate.

This is a huge topic to begin with. Huge in the sense that the word “ONLINE” could evoke two totally extreme reactions from agents or consumers alike. On one end of the spectrum, we have a generation of tech savvy younger generations who are very comfortable with the wide range of mobile computing devices to the various platforms of social media online. On the other end, we have a group of consumers and agents who may be frozen at the sight of any unfamiliar sudden message on a computer scren.

As the direction of the future seems apparent when you start seeing 5 year olds around you telling you about “Google” , “Email”, “Facebook” or “YouTube” , I think we should study the trends that are happening around us in more details. Let’s study Singapore’s current case of internet or online marketing for a reference of our discussion.

When you speak of “internet marketing”, I guess the immediate picture that forms in the mind of a salesperson(or agent) in Singapore would be the posting of properties in listing sites that he or she has subscribed. By paying an annual subscription fee which ranges somewhere around S$500, the agent is able to post a maximum of 50 online listings each time in each of these sites. Apparently, the reason why agents are subscribing to these sites is simply because of the supposedly high volume of online traffic that these sites generate through their companies’ efforts in offline and online marketing campaigns.

And thus, it seems that such subscription based business model makes good business sense as long as the agents could not find a better alternative to boost their online presence. With more subscribers, it comes with a bigger database and hence more online searches and thus, more agent subscribers and the self-feeding cycle repeats itself. Not a bad business idea, isn’t it?

Not a bad business idea if the features of the website increase the productivity of the agents and most importantly, increase the income of the agents.

Ironically, assuming the self-feeding cycle is true, the agents eventually will have an added challenge of making his property-post stand out in the sea of posts from the other agents who are hoping to get a glimpse from the searchers online. Unless the listing sites are able to come up with innovative search algorithms that attempt to maximize the exposure of each ad, such best-case or worst-case scenarios (depending on which angle your viewpoint is) clearly is a strong reminiscent of the current state of affairs we have on Print-Media marketing – where agents are spending more and more for higher chances of getting the glimpse of the consumers. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the eventual winner of the online marketing game.

As a broker, let’s discuss what an individual can do in line of the inevitable trend of increased usage of online searches for property information by consumers.

I think the association of “online or internet marketing” with “posting of properties” appears somewhat ignorantly simplistic.

Let’s tackle the advantages of “online” over “offline”. To name a few:
1). Allows more streamlined searches – either via listing sites search algorithms or free-play search engines like Google.

2). Online is more than words (like what you are reading now). It can literally evoke more of your senses like sight (pictures, color, videos) and sound (music, voice) that ultimately fullfills the theory that buying is a matter of emotions.

3). And simply because of the vast different ways of presenting information online, internet marketers are longer restricted to just selling or posting a product (like a property) online. This school of thought projects us to a different arena of marketing , such as personal branding, knowledge sharing, projecting your online persona (via social media or commentaries made) and creating your likeability among your pool of followers.

4). It allows this critical element called “interactivity”. Within the last few years, we have witnessed the meteoritic rise of the Social Media, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and how it has already influenced a series of social events and caught the attention of political figures. Infact, as I am writing this book, there are already huge research and attempts by businesses tapping on the bandwagon of adopting Social Media as a form of vital marketing tool. Infact, it is quite apparent that I am also adopting a non traditional approach of using Social Media and a variety of internet marketing techniques such as Search Engine Optimization, Blogging, Websites and Info-product to position myself in this new and aggressive wave of marketing.

Now, since I have mentioned about interactivity, I need to hear from you. What’s your take on Internet Marketing for Real Estate agents? Do you foresee the day when online marketing overtakes print media marketing as the main source of leads for agents? Do you think agents are generally handicapped in terms of useful knowledge in adopting the internet as an cost-effective marketing tool? Do you feel that you are already sucked in to the “self-feeding” online cycle that I mentioned with regards to relying excessively on listing sites? What changes do you see will take place in 2 to 3 years’time? What new business functions do you think will surface to serve the agents in years to come?

Start sharing your views now and see your visions come true within the short future ahead.

Before we part, click on the Google +1 button for a short video – to be revealed only after.you have clicked.

This is also an example of how viral marketing works

Cheers.