By: Lulu Raghavan, Managing Director, Landor Associates
Track2Realty Exclusive: So if there is a real estate brand in India that wants to fully realize the benefits of branding to drive its business forward, what is the way forward?
Recognise that branding in real estate cannot be treated the way it is done in other industries, specifically fast moving consumer goods. The dynamics of the market are quite different. Buying a home is a high involvement purchase. Most consumers buy at most one – if lucky then perhaps two – homes in their lifetimes.
The frequency of purchase is therefore almost none. It is a very high involvement category, as consumers will scrutinize all aspects of the product before deciding to invest a big amount of their money upfront. At every step of the way, the brand has to come across as trustworthy, dependable and reliable.
It is also not easy to change your decision once you have made a purchase decision. And in this industry, word of mouth plays a very significant role in the branding process. Consumers are more likely to take the recommendation of their friends of family about a brand’s reputation rather than self-promotional advertising alone.
And most importantly, consumers now have a plethora of options that allow them to be very discerning about what your brand’s real differentiation is. So clichés about “affordable living” and “lifestyle enhancing” homes are just that. Brands need to be authentic about their promise, not just copy what everyone else is saying.
Beyond product functionality (the specifics of the property that consumers will scrutinize), consumers will be asking how the brand makes them feel and how it will make them look to others. This means that real estate brands have to create emotional as well as aspirational value in their brand promises as well.
Trust, reliability, peace of mind, pride of association are some of the brand attributes that will need to be built up over time through successful execution of projects and delivery of promises to consumers that build the brand’s reputation.
So, let us delve deep into the process of branding. Fundamentally, a real estate brand exists to serve the interests of the business. A strong brand image can create awareness, trial, preference and word of mouth, all of which are directly linked to the health of the business.
Strong brand images are not built overnight through advertising alone but through the repeated delivery of consistent customer experiences over a period of time. The essence of branding is managing expectations. Make a promise. Keep a promise. Brands must be consistently managed across all touch points so that what the brand stands for is reflected at every point, every time the consumer comes in contact with the brand.
Real estate developers in India must start by defining their corporate brands. Consumers are always interested in the “who” behind the properties. Who is standing behind this development? What do they uniquely stand for against their competitive set? Why should I believe them? Are they easier to do business with?
Do they have a successful track record worthy of the claims they are making? Is their promise exciting and compelling to me personally? These are just a few questions that will need to be answered in shaping the promise of the corporate brand. What the brand stands for must be arrived at after a thorough examination of the market, consumers, competitors and the company itself.
…to be continued
