Real estate marketing is currently undergoing a “radical transformation” as consumers flock to mobile devices and other new tech, meaning this is the moment for real estate agents to put their “stick in the ground” in this brave new world.
Joe Hyrkin
That was the message from a group of technologists Tuesday at Inman Connect New York. During a panel dubbed “Marketing Through New Digital Mediums,” Joe Hyrkin argued that the world has fundamentally changed.
“For the first time in 80 years,” Hyrkin — the CEO of digital publishing firm Issuu — said, “there’s a new “screen people are engaging with more than television.”
That new screen, of course, is the mobile phone. Hyrkin said, for example, that today between 70 percent and 80 percent of emails are read on phones. Formats like Instagram Stories also continue to grow in popularity, he added, and have created a “stories first” world in which 500 million online accounts are regularly interacting with new types of content.
Though it may not come as a surprise that the world is moving toward mobile devices, Hyrkin said that this shift has tangible repercussions for real estate marketing. In the past, there were just a handful of potential advertising channels, for example, meaning agents could spend marketing dollars on newspapers or radio ads or billboards.
Today, however, there is nearly an infinite number of channels online that agents can use for marketing. That means agents should focus on creating the right content for a given situation, Hyrkin argued, and then figure out how to distribute it.
“To create for each one of those channels is time consuming and expensive,” he said to the packed room. “When you’re thinking about a content strategy, think ‘how do I create the best content and then leverage the tools.'”
Hyrkin also advised agents to make sure their marketing content is optimized for Google, and “for the screens people are using most.”
“It’s about the phone, it’s about where our audiences are spending the most time,” he said, adding at another point that, “we’re in the midst of a total radical transformation in digital marketing and content creation tools.”
The phone, however, is just one part of the marketing world’s ongoing transformation.
Miguel Berger
Hyrkin was joined on stage Tuesday by Miguel Berger, CEO of Voicester Pro, who said that voice-activated technology should also be reshaping agents’ marketing strategies.
“This is ’94 all over with the internet,” Miguel argued, referring to the early free-wheeling days of the web. “Put your stick in the ground in the voice space now.”
Todd Mosier
And Todd Mosier, vice president of marketing at advertising firm Adwerx, also stressed that while people have moved to their phones, there are still opportunities for marketing in television. In fact, the rise of connected and smart TVs could potentially be a game changer.
“Theres 182 million people on connected TV today,” Mosier said. “You’re actually able to connect with people in connected TV in a totally distinctive way. You’re ads can now be a lot more personalized.”
