part two real estate marketing in crisis periods

Real Estate Marketing in Real Estate Marketing in Crisis PeriodsCrisis PeriodsPart 1I

The newest trends which will influence real estate market during crisis

“During an economic downturn you need to increase your marketing dollars to ensure you are ahead of the competition”

Kate Coldwell, Chief Marketing Officer

Thomson Reuters

18th of February 2009 – Radisson SAS Hotel, Bucharest

CIJ Progressive Learning Program

Presented by Adrian Niculescu

Real Estate Marketing in Crisis Real Estate Marketing in Crisis PeriodsPeriods

The growing importance of Green Projects – how to market them and why;

Everybody goes online – techniques and activities to be implemented for a better and smarter online presence;

Why is very important to appear in the news portals and how to do this cost-effective?

The power of blogging and how this works in the real estate?

Case study GLS Invest – www.glsinvest.ro Mistakes done in emerging periods which

have to be avoided in crisis periods;Why and how the crisis can work for us?

Real Estate Marketing in Crisis Real Estate Marketing in Crisis PeriodsPeriodsGreen projects:

There is a general awareness for green energies, save the planet, csr and real estate business will follow this trend and the people specialised in market and promote such projects will cover an interesting and growing market niche.

Within the recent past, the following trends have converged to create significant opportunity for “green” development - including construction and eco-efficiency - in Romania and the surrounding region:

increasing competition for existing fossil fuel reserves and falling (or eliminated) energy subsidies and the resulting rising energy prices;

unprecedented international political and business enthusiasm and demand for securing reliable sources of energy, reducing dependence on unstable suppliers of oil and combating climate change.;

scarce natural resources leading to significantly higher prices for a variety of construction inputs ;

demonstrated investor interest in green building certification schemes

mandated green procurement targets currently implemented;

Real Estate Marketing in Crisis Real Estate Marketing in Crisis PeriodsPeriods falling prices for eco-efficient building solutions; significant EU Funding for sustainable development (4.5 Billion

Euros allocated between 2007 and 2013 for Environmental initiatives in Romania alone) and a general allocation of 30 Billion Euros to Romania for “Structural Funds” to improve infrastructure, competitiveness, governance, etc. ;

greater willingness of financial institutions to consider total life-cycle costs in approving project financing ;

relatively recent introduction of mortgage lending and other forms of construction financing that makes available more purchasing power when planning and designing homes and buildings for better energy efficiency;

implementation in Romania and other member states of the mandatory European Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD) requiring energy certification for new (2007) and existing (2010) buildings;


The marketing of green projects will have to focus in the crisis periods on:

Cost savings

Implementation of the newest technologies

Responsibility for the planet’s resources

We will encounter two categories of green buildings:1.Where will be implemented most of the features which transforms a regular building in a green one – with the proper investments;2.Where will be implemented only few – not heavy cost features to be a real green projects, but only some minor adjustements which will help more the marketing department in the promotion activity than the future tennants.

Case Study Euro Tower – Bucharest – 30% reduction of energy consumption,Proximity to public transportation, public green area, trees at rooftop, work areas with maximum exposure to the natural lights


Everybody goes online

The globalization and people’s disponibility to travel a lot abroad made from internet the main source for information instead of magazines and newspapers. In Romania, BMG publications will be available only in online edition – subscrciption based, the content following to remain the same, from the same editorial team;

That’s why became mandatory for real estate projects to be present and visible online;

Besides the company website is important to have the project featured in other specialised websites to create awareness.

For the company or project website, all begins with the choosing of the keywords from which will be found the website.

Example: residential – project name vs project features, area s.o.


The content have to be adapted according with the keywords to sustain the proper communication of the website.

Links with specialised portals will drive more awareness to your project because customers like to associate with things and brands recognised in the market.

Since a mall is far more than just a complex renting spaces to retailers, it creates a shopping atmosphere, a way of life, the marketing team has to transform all the activities in sources for articles published in the own site or sent to the press.

Case study: Liberty Center

An industrial project have to promote itself through the facilities and also through the anchor tennants which will bring other new clients.

The extreme examples with the IT shops, banks, carpet stores united in “trade areas” and the analogy with A1 area with logistic and industrial projects.


Why it is very important to appear in the news portals?

Let other people, websites, portals to speak about you! Communicate as much as possible your activities in the market to be and remain in the spotlight. Advertising? No!

There are hundreds of websites and portals hungry for content.

If your info is rich in content, interesting for the audience of the website/ portal/ online or offline magazine it will be published at a fraction of the normal adverstorial cost or even for free. Many of the articles will have links to the copmpany’s or project website and the visibility will be maximum.

As previosly said, a crisis is a very good period for some developers or agencies to burn some stages, reposition themselves in the market and come in front.

For big- multinational agencies is a great oportunity to diversify and strenghten the portofolio of clients.


Example 1: real estate company involved in office renting and acquisition

2008 – total market 100,000 from it the company has 10% - 10.000

2009 – total market 50,000

Scenario 1: company will have 10% - 5.000

Scenario II: company will have 20% - 10.000

Scenario III company will have 25% - 12.500


Example 1I: a developer in residential having for sale 300 new apartments in Dristor area

2008 – total market of sold new apartments in Dristor 1000 from it the company has 5% - 50

2009 – total market of sold new apartments in Dristor 300

Scenario 1: company will have 5% - 15

Scenario II: company will have 16.66% - 50

Scenario III: company will have 30% - 90

We can draw the same example for a mall and for an industrial – if we will talk about similar prices and conditions, the difference will be made by: customer service and online + offline awareness for people to choose the projects highlighted.


The blog is a combination between a website and a forum – you can publish whatever you want – as a person or as a company and the readers can post comments so there is also interactivity.

In the last years, the blogs became a very powerful marketing tool and the most famous bloggers are trend setters.

When a new car in launched is offered for free to a blogger to write about it. It is something much more than putting a simple presentation in a website or an ad in a newspaper because it is richer in content, has personal feeling and is very powerful.

Also you can use this in residential to speak about a project, about the facilities, in industrial, with success stories about how you as a developer personalised spaces for customers X and Y, to publish market trends and others.


Also you can use keywords of interest with you which will help your website, or websites to be seen by the people interested.

Please make a comparison:

1. A website, rich in content, optimised by the keywords posted on web.

2. The same website, but with content spread in many news sites and portals (with links to it), articles submitted to blogs about the projects included in the site, about the people behind the projects.

Usually, if you as a person or a company have soemthing to say, don’t hesitate and create a blog. One of the reference blogs – Marriott and Trump.


Case study: GLS Invest

GLS Invest is the investment department of General Lux Service srl, one of the top construction companies in Romania.

In september we started to create a new communication strategy

for the company’s projects and were born: www.glsinvest.ro, www.glsindustrial.ro, www.glslogisticpark.ro and started to implement an intergrated campaign of articles in the most important portals, news sites and newspapers, being listed on Google hundreds of articles and links about GLS Invest. The news releases issues through news agencies were re-published by a big number of also small-medium sized websites specialised in business, financial and real estate news.


Mistakes done in emerging periods which have to be avoided in crisis periods.

These mistakes are related with:

- lack of communication

- not realistic budgets

- leaving the real estate marketing issues in hands of the specialists in fmcg marketing

- full orientation towards the clients – they are fewer and fewer;


Why and how the crisis can work for us?

If the best income producing agent from Colliers network is a Romanian this means that we have a subject to discussion.

The crisis is full of oportunities, but all of us will have to gain new skills, to specialise in more than just one fields and to pay very close attention to the market happenings around us.

I think that our goal should be more than just keeping the job, but to become more than before recognised as professionals in the field(s) we work.

part two real estate marketing in crisis periods

Technology