RISMEDIA, May 6, 2008-Real estate agents are continually looking for ways to stay ahead of the curve and provide potential home buyers with easy access to information regarding listed homes on the market. As competition in the real estate industry continues to increase, the team at Keller Williams Realty in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, has recognized that a rise in the use of text messaging and mobile websites is presenting the firm with an opportunity to reach home buyers in a new and innovative way.
Keller Williams is launching a mobile marketing program that combines SMS messaging and mobile websites to automatically respond to a potential home buyer’s text message query with additional details about the home and a link to a mobile website created specifically for the available property. The technology, which will be available throughout the Washington, D.C. Metro area with the potential to expand nationwide, was developed by Proteus, a global mobile products company based in Arlington, Va. Keller Williams’ mobile Web pages will be created using Proteus’ Swift(TM) mobile Internet publishing platform.
“This program is not only beneficial to the home buyer, but also the home seller,” explained Shane McCullar, managing broker of Keller Williams Realty. “It provides immediate information at the exact time a property piques the interest of a buyer. For the seller, the application represents an innovative tool to market his or her home in the digital age. At Keller Williams, the new standard in real estate is anything but standard.”
According to the company, the mobile marketing campaign, which works with any phone that can send and receive text messages and/or access WAP sites, is available immediately. When an individual sees a property in print, online or onsite, he or she is prompted to send a property-specific keyword to a mobile short code for more information. The potential home buyer instantly receives property data via Proteus’ auto-responder technology, available 24 hours a day/7 days a week. The text message not only contains key property information, but also a link to a customized WAP site that provides additional details, property photos, realtor information and lead capture tools. The opt-in program provides Keller Williams realtors with contact information so that they can follow up with the interested party.
“In what we believe to be the deepest mobile integration with a real estate company ever, this is an exciting use of the Proteus mobile platform,” said Guy Vidra, president of Proteus. “From the beginning, Keller Williams has been forward-thinking in embracing mobile marketing, and their clients — both home buyers and sellers — will benefit from its immediacy, convenience and marketing value.”
For more information, visit http://www.kw.com and http://www.proteus.com.
