Geo-Fences + Mobile Phones = Powerful Real Estate Marketing
Chris Thorman writes for Software Advice which specializes in helping organizations find the right software for their individual needs. He has shared his article “Searching for Real Estate Made Easy: Geo-Fences Plus Mobile Phones” with Dotfusion.
It’s Saturday morning. Joel and Rebecca are walking their dog through a neighborhood in Austin, TX. As they walk, they chat about the movie they saw last night, what they’re going to make for dinner, and the big trip they have planned for next weekend. You wouldn’t know it by listening to their conversation, but the couple is also house hunting.
They cross Brodie Lane when Joel’s cell phone buzzes in his pocket. A text message shows up with specific details about a house for sale, in his immediate location.
Joel says to Rebecca, “We’ve got a match from our real estate company. It’s only four blocks away. Let’s go see what the house looks like.”
Geo-Fencing + Mobile Phones = Powerful Real Estate Marketing
What if a buyer looking for a place to live didn’t have to do anything beyond choosing what features they wanted in a home? What if a buyer was automatically alerted to nearby properties that matched their needs?
This is what we’re talking about with the next generation of mobile real estate marketing.
The use of “geo-fences” surrounding properties really drives the location-based marketing engine. A geo-fence is a virtual boundary surrounding a geographic region. When a person with a mobile phone crosses a geo-fence boundary, a notification is automatically issued to that mobile phone. Traditionally, geo-fencing has been used to send alerts when users exit a certain area, instead of entering one.
Geo-fencing has been used in conjunction with GPS technology for a while now and for a variety of uses:
- Tracking senior citizens with Alzheimer’s;
- Ensuring mobile employees don’t travel outside of certain areas; and,
- Monitoring hazardous cargo, to name a few examples.
Second, from a marketing standpoint, notifying the right person, at the right place, at the right time about your product is powerful.
It’s the holy grail of marketing:
- You have a desirable product;
- You have identified the person that wants your product; and,
- You can automatically tell that person that your product is nearby.
Finally, this marketing method is scalable. A real estate or property management company could theoretically have dozens (or more) of users taking advantage of this service at any given time. Beyond taking calls to schedule viewings, it wouldn’t require any extra labor on the part of the management company.
Please read the full article here.
Sounds very interesting. Amazing how far we’ve come from just 10 years ago.