How brands can leverage festive season to boost their marketing strategy

Authored by Snehil Gautam, Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Housing.com, Makaan.com & Proptiger.com 

Come festive season and the market is flooded with ATL and BTL campaigns. Right from FMCG to automobiles and consumer durables to retail, every industry is ready to spend and reap the benefits of the festive spirit. After all, Indians are emotionally driven to make purchases during the festivals, and hence, the market is flooded with offers.

Real estate as a sector is no different than any other industry when it comes to marketing spending during festivals. As a matter of fact, real estate in India is the second largest advertiser after the FMCG sector. However, historically the sector has had its own challenges in strategizing the ad spend during the peak cycle of marketing campaigns, and here are the reasons why. 

The festive season is the time when the newspapers are flooded with very many cover jackets; TV commercials are repetitive and digital campaigns are too many. Hence, it is a challenge to grab the attention of the target audience during the festive season. 

This is not to say that the brands can’t leverage the festive season to boost their marketing strategy. As a matter of fact, this is the best time to leverage, if one has the ability to strategize the campaigns which solve a very big & relevant pain point of the customer. 

There is no one size fits all answer to this complicated market dynamic. One has to delve deeper into the consumer psychograph to get a clear answer. 

For instance, when mutual funds were not gaining ground in India, the Mutual Funds Association of India under the mandate of SEBI launched a campaign for investor education. A simple ad with assurance narrative ‘Mutual Funds Sahi Hai.’ This has been one of the most successful marketing campaigns in India. Its success could be measured by the tangible results where the AUM (Asset Under Management) of mutual funds in India grew manifold. 

So, can an industry-led narrative work similarly in the business of real estate in India? The answer is not a simple one. Real estate as an industry is a micro-market business where the ground realities differ between market to market and product category wise too. In order to leverage the festive season, marketing strategists have to think out of the box. 

For example, a few years back a Ghaziabad-based developer came up with an innovative marketing campaign during the festive season where he made a buyback offer to the home buyers if the prices crashed more than 10 percent. Now we all know that the transaction cost of the house, including stamp duty and other taxes, is around 10 percent itself. So, even if in the worst-case scenario the price drops 10 percent, no buyer will take a haircut of 20 percent.

However, the campaign was a huge success and the developer could sell 70 percent of his inventory during the festive season itself. After all, it could instill confidence in the minds of the potential buyers at a time when the prices were not appreciating and hence, fear of a crash was inevitable.    

Another developer in Whitefield, Bengaluru, preferred to go for a corporate tie-up where some of the corporates were given a golden handshake scheme of more discounts, with more number of buyers from the same company. It not only saved his marketing campaign but also turned the employees of the corporate offices into his extended sales helping hand. Did it work? Of course, it did! The campaign, even though it was not a traditional marketing campaign, was a huge success. 

The point, therefore, is that marketeers have to strategize the campaigns so brilliantly that it not only stands out in a season of cluttered marketing campaigns but also touches the target audience in a way that it tempts them to take a plunge and invest in the property. 

However, strategizing a successful marketing campaign during the festive season is easier said than done. The devil here lies in the detailing. One also has to be very clear that overthinking more often than not, over-complicates the campaigns and even though it looks classy from the standpoint of creativity, it doesn’t resonate with the target audience.

Gone are the days of brand ambassadors with no relevant connection with the product; nor do fancy tried and tested discounts and freebies necessarily bring buyers to the project. The players in the market should know their own products and accordingly plan the marketing campaigns. 

For example, a cricketer as a brand ambassador and setting up a cricket academy within the township can work in a luxury product but definitely not in the price-sensitive affordable housing segment. Bottom line is that the brand ambassador has to be relevant to the brand, and is definitely not to be used for ornamental value.  Similarly, make sure to keep your offers simple and direct, to have a strong connection with the potential buyer and create an actual value-add for him/her.

We can simply conclude that the brands can definitely leverage the festive season to boost marketing strategy if they know their product and the buyer in depth. Brands should closely monitor what works and what doesn’t as far as the collective consciousness of potential buyers is concerned. This learning agility is crucial for the success of any marketing campaign. So, let this festive season be the beginning of a new wave of marketing campaigns where other sectors could replicate the model of real estate.