The hyperlocal movement in real estate-Rakesh Raghuvanshi, Founder and CEO- Sekel Tech

Marketing at a local level has undergone a major shift as newer channels of communication have emerged in recent times. As the focus has shifted to precise location targeting, a host of defined techniques have become a rage. Hyperlocal marketing is among these defined techniques that have made it possible to identify potential customers based on their geography and target them within a specific area.

The importance of hyperlocal movement has become important because people have today begun to reach out to their smartphones before making a purchase. The need to search for any comparison that helps make the right decision is being felt. Studying the different prices being offered locally helps bring transparency. While offering a clear picture about the best price being offered, hyperlocal also holds on bars on the product type be it clothing, apparel, electronics, consumer goods, or even real estate.

• Disrupting Realty Marketing

In a digital age where mobile devices are aiding the choices we make, consumers have begun to compare various options available locally on their devices. When this happens, information gets populated with a new algorithm from Google and plays out on consumer behaviour. The message from this approach is that businesses will have to go hyper-local in order to attract mobile customers. For instance, while purchasing a property, customers search by locality. The first thing that a customer will do is search in the following manner – the name of the locality, location-based pricing, benefits, the proximity of educational institutions and hospitals, etc.

Searches in real estate are always location-driven and real estate companies powering their sales agents choosing to focus on hyperlocal marketing can actually gain many potential benefits by embracing it strategically. It is extremely important that sellers get discovered, and hyperlocal marketing offers the right context in the early funnel of lead for conversion when it comes to purchasing a property. Over 1.8 billion mobile connections and 700 million internet users have unleashed a revolution in digital powered-commerce that has led to hyperlocal contextual digital advertising catching up. Hyperlocal marketing sends out action-oriented advertising to mobile customers with their respective phone numbers and a map of their current location. The location information is also provided to similar channels that can help advertisers reach out to their target audience with more precision.

• Aiding in Property Purchase

When looking for property, buyers search for a variety of permutations and combinations on their smartphones. These include price, area, local area information, etc. A search also throws up information of local brokers listed, but more often than not these estate agents do not have all the details required for the buyer’s research. This happens despite all the properties being located in that area. Hyperlocal offers the real estate business a newer and better marketing tool powered by a digital ecosystem. Hyperlocal marketing is a key solution to achieving a platform to make sure local brokers have all the information being searched for, and are able to efficiently offer their service.

There is no real difference in the way real estate operates traditionally and as it does in a digital world. For instance, when a new project is announced the developers reach out to local estate agents of the particular area of the launch. The location will be highlighted in terms of necessities like educational institutions, markets, hospitals, railway stations, etc., and the time taken to travel to each of these places. Any person buying property will need this information and every developer or estate agent makes it a point to highlight it prominently in their advertising.

What this goes to show is that there has always been an inherent need for hyperlocal and this can be seen in the marketing of a project. But though the need for hyperlocal is seen, the real estate players often don’t know how they could meet their requirements and that of their customers digitally. The solution does not lie in only advertising real estate projects, but in creating organic discovery. Connecting the digital dots will lead to conversions and make a hyperlocal movement in real estate possible.