English Rose is a niche property developer, delivering upmarket developments in Central London’s “Golden Postcodes”. Selling off-plan to investors in the Far East, marketing costs were getting out of hand, rising dramatically over a period of three years.
Having produced the corporate brochure and website, we went to Hong Kong to depth interview potential buyers, key international estate agents and to visit the critical sales exhibitions, to gain a better understanding of their requirements, so that marketing would become more cost-effective and less costly.
Yes, we gained good insights into purchaser behaviour, attitude and motivations, giving guidance to improve the marketing for future developments.
However, the most crucial and beneficial finding was that the chosen route to market – via the big international estate agents, who are fighting to out-do each other like some ‘Space Race’ – was inappropriate for the majority of English Rose’s developments.
The correct route to market comes with a massive saving, making marketing costs negligible compared with what had gone before and thus increasing profits.
