Featured in image: Nesh Ganesan and Maha Lakshmi
About 16 years ago, at 6am, Mrs C Indrani flipped through the advertising pages of the Straits Times newspaper, identified the houses for sale, and went to visit the houses in the afternoon.
The 41-year-old property agent, known as ‘Natalie Indira’, is one of the directors of Propnex.
Previously, she advertised her services using more traditional methods such as the radio, through the distribution of temple plastic bags containing her contact details, and distribution of leaflets at festival meetings.
The current IT world has changed the strategies employed by property agents.
Buyers are now looking for properties on the internet. Thus, agents are adapting by advertising homes for sale and rent online. It has now become essential for them to strengthen their unique identities online.
When the plan to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus came into effect in April last year, restrictions were imposed such that agents were not permitted to meet with clients in person until June. As a result, home visits were postponed.
In that period, both agents and clients turned to technology for assistance.
Meetings via Zoom
Video conferencing platforms such as Zoom gained popularity across various industries. As a property agent, Mrs Indrani too, saw benefit in embracing this technology. While she adopted the process, she ensured that her clients were also equally familiar, by sharing techniques associated with virtual advertisement of the homes. This allowed both her sellers and buyers to interact seamlessly during the live viewing sessions.
Financial calculations and details of the transaction process were also conducted virtually.
She noted that there were those who bought a home without even viewing the house in person and just by watching virtual home videos.
Mr Ganesan, 34, co-director of Singapore Realtors Inc., said he often showed three-dimensional home videos to homebuyers during Covid-19.
Video Advertising Strategy
A large number of home sales advertising videos were widely shared on social media during the outbreak. Having adopted platforms such as Facebook and Instagram for advertisement some years ago, Ms Indrani is no stranger to this strategy. Her two-minute videos include a tour of the home and highlights its unique features.
“Having had experience in the media industry, speaking in front of a camera comes naturally to me. These videos have much greater reach than traditional advertisements,” says Ms Indrani.
She explains that having had an impression of her via the videos, they act as catalysts for easy interaction with her clients during their eventual meetings.
Property agent Mr Ganesan and his wife, Ms Mahalakshmi, who works for the same company, have been featured together in house-selling promotional videos since the beginning of this year.
They both contribute to ensuring the best features of the house are presented to their potential clients.
“When there was a restriction to the number of people who could view a home physically, these promotional videos helped a lot and have also been well-received by clients,” said Ms Mahalakshmi, 33, Associate Senior Sales Manager.
Sellers were also afraid to allow their houses to be visited physically when the restriction was implemented by the government. At that moment, Mr Ganesan went alone to the house where the sale was taking place, took a video on his mobile phone, sent the video to the home buyer and managed to successfully complete the sale remotely.
Mr Ganesan said that the promotional videos on social media also allowed better matching of potential clients with their ideal homes, reducing visits to properties are of less ideal fit.
The couple claims that their promotional videos also help attract new customers and look forward to launch new videos on TikTok and LinkedIn.
These three property agents, who believe that these advertising means will prove effective well after the Covid-19 pandemic, also intend to produce content featuring property advice in the near future.
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This article was published in Tamil and has been translated into English.
As seen in Tamil Murasu -<https://www.tamilmurasu.com.sg/community/story20210718-70531.html>
