E-MARKETING THE GROWING FORCE IN REAL ESTATE SECTOR

Among the older generation of property marketers there was for some time a definite reluctance to get to grips with the internet and to maximise its potential – but this has almost entirely disappeared now that the power of this medium has made itself felt.

This was said recently by Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank, the Cape Southern Suburbs and Atlantic Seaboard estate agency. 

“None of us, I suspect, realised just how effective websites and internet exposure would be,” said Steward, “but there is now clear evidence that e-marketing will increasingly generate sales.”

At Anne Porter Knight Frank, she said, the number of internet referrals has increased by some 55% since January 2009 – “a remarkable upswing”.

Steward said that the main internet enquirers are young people who have grown up in the electronic/digital era.  It is, she said, a great help to her staff to be approached initially via the internet because the potential client will usually have set out his area, price and other preferences in writing at the outset, thereby giving the agents a chance to understand and prepare for his visit.

Overseas referrals, particularly those from the UK (many coming via the Knight Frank referral system) have, said Steward recently, been on the increase and have often had substantial sums of money to invest.

“I find it heartening that in the wake of the credit crunch UK buyers are again more and more in evidence, often showing great faith in the future of South Africa.”