IAA Nashik Seminar:Digital Media is way forward for Realtors: Bhumkar, Tripathi

Google India’s Shashi Tripathi, Head of New Business Sales, and leading marketing services major GroupM's Trishul Bhumkar, Head of the West Region, Motivator, spoke at the knowledge seminar with the theme ‘Real Estate in a Digitized World’ organized by the International Advertising Association (India Chapter) at the Nashik Engineering Cluster, Nashik, recently. The seminar was sponsored by 'Deshdoot’, the leading Marathi daily in North Maharashtra and the Nashik wing of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI).

Ramesh Narayan, veteran advertising professional and IAA India managing committee member delivered the inaugural speech. He stressed the importance of digital media in today’s global market and explained IAA’s focus not just on “good” initiatives but also on bringing quality programs to smaller cities across India. He thanked Janak Sarda, Managing Editor of the Deshdoot Group of Newspapers, and Jayesh Thakker, the president of Nashik CREDAI, for facilitating the seminar.

Awareness to Sale in one go: Bhumkar:  In his address, Bhumkar explained the work profile of ‘GroupM’ in India and its contribution in Indian market today. While making the realtors aware of the power of advertising, Bhumkar brought it to their notice that sale of the product, consideration of the product by customers, and awareness about it among customers are the three factors which play a key role in growth of any business. Digital media is the only media in which all three can be achieved simultaneously, he said.

He added that among urban population of 34 crore in India, 14 crore people use the internet today not only through computers, but also via mobile phones today. With this backdrop, real estate developers should make their property advertisements digitized to reach maximum number of customers, he said.

Bhumkar further informed that more than 15,000 users search for properties in Nashik online every month. It means that if realtors from Nashik make information about their projects more accessible through internet, they can get better response and grow their business with greater speed, he added.

Digital media benefits are measurable: Tripathi:  Reflecting Bhumkar’s sentiments, Tripathi evaluated the overall possible outputs that real estate developers can achieve in the next few years if they follow this path of the ‘Digitized World.’ He noted that the real estate market in India would double by 2017.

Digital media is the most cost-effective media and its striking USP is that the benefits are easily and clearly measurable, he reiterated. He revealed that there are more than 235 million users of internet in India today. This figure can rise upto 350 million by the next year. And these are mostly English knowing users.

With Indian languages gaining ground on the internet, there will lead to an explosion in the internet population. Thus, internet can be considered as the best medium to reach the maximum number of people today.

Tripathi explained how using the internet would be a cost-effective option for real estate developers. He informed that 89% of all real estate business in the country today happens online. One in two people look for properties online, while one in four research these online.

Speaking on the success of the Seminar, Srinivasan Swamy, President IAA India Chapter & Vice-President, Development Asia/Pacific said: “We are overwhelmed with the response we received with the Seminar in Nashik and hope to organize many more such efforts beyond the metros in the months ahead. “

Added Janak Sarda, Director, Deshdoot and Chairperson of the event: “The success of the seminar is indicative of how the industry in Tier 2 cities is hungry for information and real-life guidance on new trends in media and technology.”