Report: major shift in real estate marketing tools, technologies

Realtors want their iPad app

Move over MTV, real estate professionals want their, they want their, they want their iPad apps. According to a new study by real estate marketing technology company, Imprev, more than three out of four survey respondents considered an iPad Presentation App as the single most preferred marketing tool they would like to have.

The iPad Presentation App topped a list of 25 different marketing products, from which respondents chose up to five different products they would like to have. The next most popular marketing product was automated eMarketing campaigns (35 percent), followed by single property websites (29 percent), a personal blog (28 percent) and video (25 percent).

“Real estate agents are shouting that they want their iPad apps,” said Renwick Congdon, CEO and Founder of Imprev. He also pointed to his firm’s internal research, which indicates the popularity of iPad-enabled designs the company offers to real estate brokerage firms. “The iPad from Apple is quickly becoming a ubiquitous marketing and productivity tool for the real estate industry.”

Current favorite technologies, marketing products

The smartphone was picked as respondents’ current favorite technology, with half indicating it is their top choice (52 percent), followed by the iPad/tablet (26 percent), laptop/notebook/netbook (16 percent), desktop computer (5 percent) and other (1 percent).

“Mobile marketing continues to accelerate at breakneck speed,” said Congdon. “It’s a game changer for the industry.”

The company asked respondents to indicate their five most effective marketing products compared to those they used ten years ago. Half (51 percent) indicated email marketing is their most effective marketing product used today, with 69 percent stating that newspaper display ads were the most effective marketing tool used a decade ago.

Today, only one in ten indicated newspaper ads are the most effective marketing product in their arsenal. Eight in ten respondents that use newspaper ads noted that they do so because their seller expects or requests the ad for their listing.