In today’s on-the-go marketplace, everything and everyone is going mobile. For real estate companies not incorporating a complete mobile solution in their grand marketing mix, opportunities are being missed, consumers are being ignored and business is surely being left on the table. On the flip side, companies that understand the pros of going mobile are benefiting from more leads, mindshare and, as a result, more marketshare.
“With the pace at which mobile devices are growing with our client base and agent base, mobile is absolutely one of our critical strategic fronts,” says Tony Floyd, SVP and chief marketing officer for Prudential Georgia Realty. “And it’s a critical success factor going forward.”
Prudential Georgia Realty has its eye on the prize, being one of the aforementioned forward-thinking, tech-savvy companies that “gets it.” According to Floyd, the Internet proved to be a “disruptive force” to the business world, but the next big wave, mobile, is going to make an even larger splash.
Floyd and his team have been early adopters in the mobile arena, using text and QR codes for properties and communities on signs and in print materials for quite some time. In addition, alongside John Lim and Mobile Real Estate, Floyd’s company created full mobile websites for all of their agents.
“There’s a big distinction between having your own personalized website as an agent versus using a standard company version that everybody shares and where the leads go to the company,” says Floyd. “Having their own full mobile websites, agents can capture lead flow with any device.”
Also thanks to Mobile Real Estate, Prudential Georgia runs various contests and campaigns using its mobile technology to the fullest. For example, the company gives away iPads or other prizes to consumers who attend their open houses. Consumers simply text a code, enter a website domain, or scan a QR code to enter, and using Mobile Real Estate’s Intellicodes Platform, the real estate company is given complete control. “It’s a very creative platform that allows us to run marketing and lead generation using mobile devices that fit all screens appropriately and give us the flexibility to manage it behind the scenes,” says Floyd.
Another unique aspect of Prudential Georgia’s mobile strategy is the concept of “One Touch Local Services,” an initiative created with Lim and the company’s website provider. “We stepped back and thought about what would be more valuable and different than anything else from a national provider,” says Floyd. “Real estate is truly local and we have some significant advantages on a micro-hyperlocal basis. Our websites have some excellent customizable searches that we can easily set up—local neighborhoods, short sales, foreclosures in a specific area, homes in a market in the last 30 days. Agents who specialize in a certain area can now customize their own websites, mobile and desktop separately, to get very specific with neighborhoods, school districts, etc. That’s not something that the big national providers can easily do, but it’s very successful for us.”
Prudential Georgia Realty’s partnership with Mobile Real Estate spawned after Floyd and Lim met at a few trade shows. Since then, the two have worked together more closely than most to ensure that Prudential Georgia Realty’s mobile solutions were top notch. Although the company does have a company-wide app, Floyd plans on further diving into that territory in the future.
“The way we look at mobile—you have to make it friendly and simple for the consumer. When someone finds your website from a mobile device, you need to be able to deliver it in the right form. You can’t force consumers to download an app, but you can provide them an option to download an app and get some interesting functionality that you can’t get today with mobile websites. That’s the next place we’re going,” says Floyd.
Currently, mobile traffic accounts for 25-40 percent of all the searches done on Prudential Georgia’s websites and this number is only anticipated to increase in the future. Floyd and his team are dedicated to taking full advantage of the mobile movement and riding this “next big wave” as it evolves.
“We would be crazy to not provide a solution to make it easy for consumers to find us and use our tools,” he says. “We will absolutely be a leading provider and believe it’ll give us a substantial advantage.”
For more information, visit www.mobilerealestateid.com.
