Over the course of this series, The Mobile Consumer and the Right Response to Responsive Design, we examined some of today’s most popular technology trends such as Responsive Web Design, Mobile SEO and Mobile Lead Generation. This month, in the final piece of the series, we’ll examine how the trends of today can be leveraged within your marketing mix so that you and your business can win at the local level.
It’s no secret consumers are turning to their mobile devices as the primary means of finding information. The question becomes, how do we as businesses, in particular, real estate professionals, capitalize on this behavior? According to Google, 28 percent of smartphone users have used their device to search for a flat or a house, and this number continues to rise year-over-year. As we’ve examined previously, competing in the search arena with the likes of a Trulia or Zillow can seem to be a daunting task. Luckily, there’s more than one way to reach the mobile consumer as they’re interacting in many different ways.
The beauty of mobile is that it allows for the convergence of the real and digital world. In addition, being constantly connected allows us to act quicker when something piques our interest. So how can we steer the eyeballs away from the large national players and back into our own hands? By capitalizing on the real assets we control, such as our signage, print ads, mail pieces and social interactions, and by incorporating mobile triggers or entry points into them.
A great example of a mobile entry point is a text code. For example, from a printed advertisement that a consumer may pick up in their local coffee shop, you can include something as simple as “to see all the pictures now, Text WLAS to 85377,” which would instantly trigger a text message to that consumer with a link to all the property photos. But that’s not all. By using something as simple as a text code, you’ve completely bypassed the normal search parameters along with the large national players that would normally come up first when a traditional search is conducted. That consumer is now in an environment which you control. So what will you do with them now that you have them?
Here’s where taking an adaptive approach to Web design as opposed to a responsive approach comes in handy. If your website recognizes this consumer as a mobile user, which it should, you can accommodate this user with all the information and features you know they’ll be expecting on their mobile device, such as location-based searches, mapping, images, and the ability to connect through click-to-call or email. Providing these elements not only engages the consumer, but puts you in the best possible position to win at the local level and connect with that consumer.
Mobile allows us as businesses and real estate professionals the ability to capitalize on today’s most popular technology trends and take back our local markets. Connecting the real and digital worlds through mobile triggers creates a direct path to you and your business that, if implemented correctly, can be extremely profitable.
For more information on how you can implement a mobile strategy that will allow you to win local, contact WinLocal@MobileRealEstateID.com.
Seth Kaplan is president of Mobile Real Estate. For more information, please visit www.mobilerealestateid.com.
