Real Estate Community Realizes a New World of Opportunities for Mobile Marketing

Woburn, MA, (03-23-2011) – Some real estate professionals may look at this matrix and see an ugly black box. Others may be more familiar with Quick Response (QR) codes but not know how to use them. Others may already be using QR but need help to maximize their opportunities.

The fact is, a revolution in mobile marketing is sweeping through corporate America, with particular significance to the real estate industry. And if these codes aren’t now part of your marketing program, you’re already behind your competition. This is especially true at a time when the housing and office markets are still soft and you need every advantage in marketing your properties to homeowners or commercial tenants.

By the end of this white paper, you will see how QR codes are transforming the way the real estate industry is providing instant and interactive messages to customers on the move–and driving traffic to properties. Whether you’re a residential agent, a commercial broker, a loan officer, or other real estate professional, this has important implications for the way you do business.

With this in mind, we will review best-practice QR applications that you can adapt. But first, some quick background.

What Exactly Are QR Codes?
In a way, these codes are the next generation of barcodes, only much more versatile and advanced. They are designed for mobile customers, allowing them to use their Blackberries, iPhones, Androids, and iPads to scan value-added data, even from a distance. The cell phone users receive simple prompts that allow them to control the process and retrieve multiple forms of targeted information. Unlike barcodes, QR codes contain substantial data–up to 7,089 characters versus 20 digits in barcodes.

The amount of data is very important in the real estate business, since buying property isn’t a snap decision based on a soundbite. Rather, your prospects are looking for helpful, accessible information that they can review anywhere at any time, including late at night, when the ad they saw in the morning is off the radar.

How Does QR Work?
Customers can use software supplied free on their newer devices or simply download free software onto their camera-equipped smart phones, which capture information in real time. The software decodes and transfers information to a web site or landing sites like other apps, SMS, social media, text messages, calendar appointments, YouTube, v-cards, music downloads, and geo locations. You can review the information on the spot or later, when you have more time.

How does QR make a difference?
Let’s consider two scenarios:

• In the first one, a prospective homebuyer or office tenant sees a standard for-sale or for-lease sign on the lawn of a home or on the facade of a building. These signs (which may also appear on buses, billboards, and many other sites) are standard fixtures on the landscape. They contain the predictable logo and contact information and not much else. Problem is, they typically receive ho-hum attention. Often, in the case of homebuyers, they may be interested in learning more but don’t feel like hassling with a broker and receiving literature they will likely throw away.
• In the second scenario, the sign also includes a provocative QR code. Passersby will likely take a second look at these codes just out of curiosity. And, increasingly, they know what to doÑi.e., quickly scan the code and see where they land. Perhaps they will be prompted to call the listing broker on the spot and schedule a site visit. Or they will check their ever-present cell phone browser later, when they are more relaxed, and find stored information that will allow them to see a virtual tour of the house or facility, interior photos, or sell sheets. They can also view comps of neighboring properties, check on services and stores in the area. At the very last, they will have your web site and contact information. All this, at their fingertips, will help them in deciding their next steps.

If you’re a broker or a shopper, which scenario is more appealing?

Why Is this App the Next Big Thing?
While American realtors and retailers are now realizing new opportunities with QR, they aren’t the first to use this technology. QR was launched in Japan and then migrated to Europe. Today, it is about to explode in the States (it already has created a buzz on the West Coast). Indeed, the early returns are clear: reports show that scans have increased by more than 400% since 2008, and they are expected to be the main form of mobile marketing by 2012. According to an industry analyst, “To bet against QR codes is like betting against smart phone growth.”

What are the forces beyond this buzz?
More and more young–and not-so-young–professionals are fused to their smart phones, with many preferring texting to talking. In this fast food, on-demand world, QR is an instantaneous, interactive way to reach these people. QR is also far-reaching, with over 100 apps that read the codes.

How Does QR Generate Revenue?
Realtors are seeing QR as a means of making a quick but lasting impressionÉa tool that is economical and easy to track. QR codes, if generated properly, allow realtors to track the potential buyers and capture their email address so that can contact them about future properties of interest in the same area, neighborhood information, and/or market value.

Overall, there is potential for great ROI.

Let’s face it: The real estate business is extremely competitive, and companies are always looking for ways to differentiate themselves and add value to customers. Witness the way digital technology, web-based marketing, and social media have dramatically changed our worlds. Well, many regard QR codes as the next big game-changer (they were already deemed the number-one marketing trend in 2010 in the UK).

In this light, by adopting QR codes, real estate shops have an opportunity to show that they are ahead of the curve. They can educate their customers and connect on a “cool” bandwidth like never before. In reaching out to their targets, they have unlimited opportunities to develop new campaigns.

At the same time, QR is making print media more relevant and leading realtors to partner with printers in innovative ways. Savvy printers are seizing the opportunity to go beyond traditional digital and offset jobs and infuse energy into their shops. They have discovered that QR codes are platform-friendly for all formats and any size run.

How Are QR Codes Being Used?
From paper to packages, from canvas to cars, the uses for QR codes are virtually endless. This is particularly true in the world of print, as traditional formats find new life during this exciting evolution in the real estate community and beyond.

Some quick examples:

• Business cards: share your contact info and listings.
• Your MLS: connect with images of a specific property or multiple listings.
• Signs: lead drivers or pedestrians to your single property web page; other info options are maps, local area videos, interior photo galleries, and local school information.
• Other print media: place codes on post cards, flyers, brochures, ads, direct mail, holiday cards, and letters to your sphere of influence.
• Email blasts: link to value-added information.
• Web site: add page-specific codes on all pages of your web site.
• Trade show graphics: connect to landing pages with behind-the-scenes information.
• Trains, buses, cabs: consider signs that can be scanned by passengers.
• Clothing: print a code on uniforms, golf hats, t-shirts, and more.

This list includes some of the more obvious applications. For additional ideas and how-to information, you can draw from many sources for innovative ideas. (See a YouTube Video.)

To learn more about mobile marketing, perform your due diligence by reading literature, checking out the competition, and consulting with industry experts. Learn the basics about the technology and how to install the software.* And consider fundamental principles like how to optimize your displays and customize your messages for particular audiences rather than using generic information.

Sources like full-service printers can add considerable value. They can help you create the codes, produce the material, and provide one-stop creative and fulfillment services as well.

What’s in the Future?
The future of QR codes is today, and this wave of mobile marketing will surely continue to spread. Soon, we can expect enhancements such as adding variable data to the codes. Another big benefit will be the next generation of iPads and other tablets, which will provide more marketing opportunities and easier viewing, thanks to larger display screens.

In the near future, marketing campaigns will become more refined, and clients will become more sophisticated and demand this kind of application.

They say real estate is all about location. But are you doing all you can to drive people to your locations? Simply put, you can enhance your efforts by arranging for QR codes to be strategically located on your marketing material.

Indeed, these funny-looking boxes are creating beautiful visions for real estate professionals. Because, at the end of the day, QR codes are more than smart technology and smart marketing. They are smart business.

* Service Point can provide information on locations to download software if requested. 

About Service Point
Service Point provides tools and services for greater efficiency in document, print, and information management via networked service centers, online, and through On-Site Services programs with client firms nationwide.

Service Point USA is a subsidiary of Service Point Solutions. It employs over 2,700 people across 8 countries through a network of 140 services centers and 840 facilities management programs. SPS is headquartered in Spain and listed on the Madrid and Barcelona stock exchanges (ticker: SPS.MC).

Contact:
Michele Blackstone
781-497-7765
michele.blackstone@servicepointusa.com

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