A Whole New Morkel

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Nolionol Conlerence
J3 Oclober 2005
Online Marketing
How Agents Can Leverage the
Internet for Profitable Growth
Presentation
Agenda
The internet is rapidly becoming the dominant advertising medium
for the real estate industry
Three ways in which agents can leverage the internet to improve the
profitability of their business are:
Attract vendor leads through strategically farming the internet
Let vendors self manage during the sale process
Better work the internet to attract quality buyer leads
It is essential that an office or franchise group put in place quality
lead tracking and lead management processes
Agenda
The internet is rapidly becoming the dominant advertising
medium for the real estate industry
Three ways in which agents can leverage the internet to improve the
profitability of their business are:
Attract vendor leads through strategically farming the internet
Let vendors self manage during the sale process
Better work the internet to attract quality buyer leads
It is essential that an office or franchise group put in place quality
lead tracking and lead management processes
The internet has significant penetration in Australia with consumers
now migrating to broadband
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14
Source: Merrill Lynch Actuals FY02-04, Estimates FY05-14
TOTAL INTERNET PENETRATION AND BROADBAND MIGRATION
Total Usage
Broadband Penetration
Percent
Key uses of the internet are information, communication and
transacting
Source: StarcomIP and ninemsn Survey, June 2005
USES OF THE INTERNET
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
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Surveys indicate that for internet users, the most important source in
property searching is the internet
Q15.1. When looking for property or companies that offer real estate to rent, buy, sell or share, which of
these sources do you use to search?
Source: amrinteractive Online Survey June 2005
FOR INTERNET USERS - MOST IMPORTANT SOURCE IN PROPERTY SEARCH
63%
15%
9%
7%
4%
2%
1%
Internet Sites
Newspaper Classifieds
Real estate agent/s
Search Engines
Newspaper Articles
Other
Paper Directories
Readership of Australian real estate sites continues to grow quickly
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
J
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0
5
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0
5
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings (formerly Red Sheriff) Unique Browsers
AUSTRALIAN READERSHIP OF REAL ESTATE SITES
This is in contrast to the declining circulation of major real estate
carrying metro newspapers
200000
250000
300000
350000
400000
450000
Jun-03 Sep-03 Dec-03 Mar-04 Jun-04 Sep-04 Dec-04 Mar-05
CIRCULATION OF MAJOR REAL ESTATE CARRYING METROPOLITAN NEWSPAPERS
Source: Australian Bureau of Circulations
West
Australian
SMH
Courier Mail
Age
Advertiser
The online Australian audience is very attractive for the real estate
industry
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings (formerly Red Sheriff) July 2005
DEMOGRAPHICS OF AUSTRALIAN ONLINE REAL ESTATE SITE USERS
53
47
Female
Male
21
22
27
5
11
14
<35k
35-50k
50-75k
75-100k
100k+
Unknown
Gender
(Percent)
Household Income
(Percent)
60% of real estate site users are over 35 year old
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings (formerly Red Sheriff) July 2005
DEMOGRAPHICS OF AUSTRALIAN ONLINE REAL ESTATE SITE USERS
27
35
20
5
5
9
<18
18-24
25-34
35-49
50-64
65+
Age
(Percent)
75% of online users believed that researching property online improved
the quality of interaction with the agent
31%
44%
11%
3%
11%
Jun 2005
Not sure/not applicable
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
Q17. How strongly do you agree with this statement: Researching property online improves my interaction
with agents during the buying process
Source: amrinteractive Online Survey June 2005
RESEARCHING PROPERTY ONLINE AND IMPROVEMENT OF AGENT INTERACTION
The internet has helped open Australian real estate to the world
TOTAL READERSHIP OF AUSTRALIAN REAL ESTATE SITES
2.26m
0.47m 2.73m
Australian International Total
Top Countries
USA
UK
NZ
Singapore
Canada
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings (formerly Red Sheriff) Unique Browsers
Not only is readership increasing, the amount viewed per reader is
increasing
0
20
40
60
80
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings (formerly Red Sheriff) Page Impressions (REA + Domain) /
Unique Browsers (REA &Domain)
AVERAGE PAGE IMPRESSIONS / UNIQUE VISITOR (REA & DOMAIN)
For many agents, the internet is now one of the prime sources of leads
SOURCES OF LAST 100 BUYERS FOR A VICTORIAN AGENT
34
27
17
14
4 4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Referral Internet Local Paper Signboard Window
Display
Metro Paper
Source: Detailed tracking of leads by one South-Eastern Suburb Victorian agent
EXAMPLE
Agenda
The internet is rapidly becoming the dominant advertising medium
for the real estate industry
Three ways in which agents can leverage the internet to
improve the profitability of their business are:
Attract vendor leads through strategically farming the internet
Let vendors self manage during the sale process
Better work the internet to attract quality buyer leads
It is essential that an office or franchise group put in place quality
lead tracking and lead management processes
The internet has the potential to deliver significant profitability
enhancements for real estate agents
Reduce the cost of
acquiring buyer leads
Reduce the time property
is on the market
Aggressively manage online
advertisements to quickly
generate low cost buyer
leads
Online buyer leads
Reduce the cost / time in
servicing a vendor
Increase time available for
signing new vendors /
managing buyers
Leverage the internet to
allow a vendor to self
manage minor interactions
with agent
Online vendor management
Reduce cost of vendor
lead acquisition
Increase number of
listings
Aggressively farm the
internet for vendors
especially early in their
decision cycle
Online vendor leads
Value Creation Potential Approach Area
INTERNET DRIVEN VALUE FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND FRANCHISES
Agenda
The internet is rapidly becoming the dominant advertising medium
for the real estate industry
Three ways in which agents can leverage the internet to
improve the profitability of their business are:
Attract vendor leads through strategically farming the internet
Let vendors self manage during the sale process
Better work the internet to attract quality buyer leads
It is essential that an office or franchise group put in place quality
lead tracking and lead management processes
Buyers (and therefore many sellers) are using the internet to research
the market before contacting agents
Source: amrinteractive Online Survey June 2005
50%
15%
8%
3%
14%
10%
3 weeks or less One month About 6 weeks 2 to 3 months More than 3 months Did not use internet
when bought home
Q16. When you bought a property, how long did you research on the internet before you contacted an agent?
LENGTH OF INTERNET SEARCH BEFORE CONTACTING AN AGENT - BOUGHT IN LAST 12 MTHS
40%
There is a clear set of steps an office or franchise group can take to
generate vendor leads
1. Develop quality online ads with the right offer
An offer that a vendor will action not just a branding exercise
Not just banners but all advertising formats
2. Place quality ads on the right sites
Sites where potential vendors may be visiting
Real estate portal sites
Google and other search engines
Locally relevant sites
3. Drive clicks from ads to a qualification page
Dont waste advertising dollars on driving vendor leads to information pages
Use the internet to capture leads and to help qualify the lead
USING THE INTERNET TO SOURCE VENDOR LEADS
Most online real estate advertising does not have a clear call to action
and are likely to be ineffective
EXAMPLES OF ONLINE BRANDING EXECUTIONS
What is the
compelling
reason for a
seller to
click or call?
To attract vendors, the proposition needs to be clear and compelling
EXAMPLE ADVERTISING MESSAGES TO ATTRACT VENDORS
More
compelling
reason
Free
Answers a
question a
vendor
probably has
Easy to do
just click (not
phone)
There are multiple online advertising opportunities on websites
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES BEYOND BANNERS
Banners
Tickers
Text Links
Advertorials
Tower Ads
Portal sites are highly trafficked and provide access to a pre-qualified
audience
EXAMPLE ADVERTISING ON PORTAL SITES
Visitors to real estate portal sites
are interested in real estate
(therefore qualified)
Most buyers are also sellers
Most people move within ~10km
of where they currently live
Many people monitor the market
before making the decision to
move a key area of research is
price
Prime audience to offer a FREE
ONLINE VALUATION SERVICE
Search engines are a great source of traffic to your site especially for
vendors
EXAMPLE ADVERTISING ON GOOGLE
No agents
advertising
here
Cost per
click
between
50c and $2
(depending
on search
terms)
Local sites and sites known to be visited by locals are prime advertising
areas especially for a compelling free valuation offer
EXAMPLES OF LOCAL SITES IN RICHMOND
Some companies are making it easy for a vendor to register interest
and thus become a lead
HOUSEVALUES.COM UNITED STATES EXAMPLE
Agenda
The internet is rapidly becoming the dominant advertising medium
for the real estate industry
Three ways in which agents can leverage the internet to
improve the profitability of their business are:
Attract vendor leads through strategically farming the internet
Let vendors self manage during the sale process
Better work the internet to attract quality buyer leads
It is essential that an office or franchise group put in place quality
lead tracking and lead management processes
Once a listing is signed, any time not spent selling the listing or signing
a new listing is non-revenue time
1. Reduce low-value vendor interaction through automated 3
rd
party products
2. Allow vendors to self-service through secure logins
Information on advertising campaigns online and offline
Update on open for inspections
Message board to discuss sale process
Able to review email comments about the sale
USING THE INTERNET TO MANAGE VENDORS
The internet can automate manual time consuming tasks
EXAMPLE PROPERTY LIVE WEEKLY EMAIL
Automatically send a online
advertising notification to vendor
Automatically send a weekly
online property performance
report to vendor
Branded with agents branding
Reduce Time Spent on
Answering Minor Vendor
Questions
A secure vendor section can allow your vendors to self service for basic
sale progress information
EXAMPLE VENDOR MANAGEMENT SECTION
Should contain
Online views
from all sites
Copies of emails
received
Message system
between agent &
vendor
Details of other
marketing
activities
Comments from
OFIs
Agenda
The internet is rapidly becoming the dominant advertising medium
for the real estate industry
Three ways in which agents can leverage the internet to
improve the profitability of their business are:
Attract vendor leads through strategically farming the internet
Let vendors self manage during the sale process
Better work the internet to attract quality buyer leads
It is essential that an office or franchise group put in place quality
lead tracking and lead management processes
The internet is a low cost tool to source buyer leads however it needs
to be actively managed
1. Advertise your properties where people are looking
Buyers primarily use portal sites
Agent sites are mostly used as support for the complete marketing campaign
2. Ensure property ads are highest quality
Photos
Detailed / accurate information
Virtual tours
3. Make sure your property ads stand out from the others in the area
Larger ads
Ensure displayed first
Proactively send to interested buyers
USING THE INTERNET TO SOURCE BUYER LEADS
Online ads must be comprehensive and compelling as buyers will make
decisions based on what they see and read
Multiple photos inside / outside / surrounding
locations
Floor plan
Compelling title
Comprehensive information
Address
Beds / baths / parking etc
Virtual tour
Future
Video
Audio
KEY ELEMENTS OF A QUALITY ONLINE AD
Must look good
at the search
results page as
well as the
property details
page
Larger ads usually stand out more thus increasing the chances of being
clicked on
EXAMPLE OF VARIABLE AD SIZES AT SEARCH RESULTS PAGE LEVEL
Domain realestate.com.au
Another way to stand out is to lock in top spot of searches
EXAMPLE OF GURANTEED TOP SPOT
AT SEARCH RESULTS LEVEL
Agenda
The internet is rapidly becoming the dominant advertising medium
for the real estate industry
There are three ways in which agents can leverage the internet to
improve the profitability of their business
Attract vendor leads through strategically farming the internet
Let vendors self manage during the sale process
Better work the internet to attract quality buyer leads
It is essential that an office or franchise group put in place
quality lead tracking and lead management processes
Understanding where leads are coming from and how much you are
paying for leads is becoming more important
WHY TRACKING OF LEAD SOURCES IS IMPORTANT
Agents should understand their
options and use what works
Increase in advertising opportunities
within each media
Agents should understand which
media deliver leads
Increase in number of media servicing
the industry
Need to understand which medium is
working best
Cost to advertise is increasing
Need to make sure that you stand out
from the crowd and get cut through
Decrease in number of buyers
Advertising dollars now need to last
longer
Time on market has increased
Impact Trend
RESULT TRACKING THE SOURCE OF LEADS AND THE COST
PER LEAD IS CRITICAL
However, most agents appear to not track the sources of leads
AGENTS TRACKING SOURCES OF LEADS
Source: realestate.com.au Telephone Survey, n=150
13%
87%
Agent did not ask for where the
advertisement had been seen
Agent asked for where the
advertisement had been seen
In the US, real estate groups are taking a business approach to
managing leads
15,000 sales associates, 330 sales offices
All leads (print / online / phone etc) to a central lead management team
Ads in each media have a different telephone number
All leads are scrubbed by a central team
Qualified leads (ie ready to transact) are passed onto sales associates
Early stage leads (ie not ready to transact) are centrally managed until
qualified
Cost per lead per media channel centrally tracked and media spend
redirected into those lead sources that deliver greatest volume at lowest
price
WEICHERT LEAD NETWORK
Agenda
The internet is rapidly becoming the dominant advertising medium
for the real estate industry
There are three ways in which agents can leverage the internet to
improve the profitability of their business
Attract vendor leads through strategically farming the internet
Let vendors self manage during the sale process
Better work the internet to attract quality buyer leads
It is essential that an office or franchise group put in place quality
lead tracking and lead management processes
It Is A Whole New Market Are You Connecting With It?
Thank You For Your
Participation.