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Simon Parker
Principals should invest time this year understanding what the shift from traditional to digital marketing will mean for their agency, a senior industry executive has said.
“The transition from more traditional marketing through to electronic marketing is the one thing that a lot of principals will need to spend more time understanding,” said Andrew Cocks, executive director at Richardson & Wrench, in a video interview with Real Estate Business.
“If you look at the typical profile of the owners of businesses they’re generally going to be more in the senior part of the industry, and as a result they may not have been brought up with technology to the same extent of junior staff or support staff. I think as a result of that you’ll find some principals may be left behind.
“That’s what we’re focusing on not only by providing the right tools but also talking with principals in particular in how they can leverage those tools to the benefit of their business.”
Early last year Richardson & Wrench undertook a digital marketing campaign, which included a social media initiative, that yielded "phenomenal" results for the group.
“As a branding exercise this campaign presented Richardson & Wrench as a real estate network that was prepared to engage through social media,” Mr Cocks said in May. “This is a space embraced by multiple generations but especially younger people who will increasingly be our clients and customers in the future.”
Talking not long after the group’s ‘Jump Start’ event late last year, Mr Cocks said his group’s franchisees would need to determine what was best for their own businesses.
“Our job is not to tell them how to do their business, how to be successful – there are some very successful people we have … and our function is to really provide them with the tools and support to become as successful as they can,” he said when asked about the role of franchisors in the real estate industry.
“Sure, we can give them guidance that we can impart to them that they’ll find helpful but the real feature for us is to make sure that we’re adding value to the business and helping people profit.”
Mr Cocks' comments come as a report by Google and the US-based National Association of Realtors revealed a 22 per cent increase in the number of real estate-related searches in 2012.
One of Google’s marketing experts believes the changing nature of the consumer is far more complex than previously thought.
"Today’s shoppers bounce back and forth at their own speed in a multichannel marketplace. They switch devices to suit their needs at any given moment,” the report read.
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