As Managing Partner of a marketing and communication company that also has an important competence on the real estate segment, I am concerned with the low degree of innovation in our country and in the real estate market in particular. This level needs to be improved, in terms of product development, as well as marketing communications. There is too much imitation, and quite a low appetite for new ideas. Most office projects are green, most malls have pretty much the same retailers and entertainment facilities, most projects communicate the same benefits and features. So, in order to increase the innovation, I believe that new methodologies need to be used, that marketing people need to be involved early in the product development phase, and more focus to be given to customer needs instead of competition. The marketing specialists has to work side by side with the sales personnel because we come with the consumer insight, we work directly with them, we discuss with them, we are more connected with their needs and expectations and we know their responses in other industries. For example, I think that we should work on the architect’s brief in order to analyze it from the consumer’s perspective, not only from the location’s or competition’s point of view.
The real estate marketing needs to be measured not by external instruments, like the number of contracts signed at the end of the campaign, but by integrating all the specific KPI’s in order to have positive results for the final consumers and for the industry. United developed a strategic platform, named Mallketing© that aggregates in 4 dimensions (Traffic, Financial, Tenants and Brand) all the KPI’s that are necessary in order for the commercial centers to function properly.
On the other hand, the real estate market is an “optimistic” market again, and that gives room to that much needed innovation too!
