The application of experiential marketing in real estate enterprises
With the advent of the era of experience economy, the traditional strategic advantages of the real estate industry, such as natural resources, economies of scale, capital and technological advantages, have gradually As competition intensifies, it is shrinking and is no longer an inevitable advantage; companies compete at the level of marketing operations such as products, prices, channels, promotions, services, etc., due to market operation norms and information transparency, resulting in mutual imitation and The speed of reference is getting faster and faster, and it is becoming increasingly impossible to establish a long-term competitive advantage; at the same time, in a modern society with extremely abundant materials, home buyers are no longer satisfied with simply purchasing products, products or services. The psychological benefits it brings have also begun to occupy an increasingly important position, and the original marketing model can no longer meet consumer needs well. The compound effect of the three changes makes it possible for developers to use innovative psychology and spiritual marketing methods to open up the situation in the future real estate competition, and ultimately brings about the emphasis on carrying out various communications while improving the use value of the product itself. The marketing concept of experiential marketing has emerged in the real estate industry through activities to enhance customers' experience needs and thereby satisfy customers both materially and spiritually.
1. The impact of the evolution of values ??on real estate marketing
Many times, customers may turn a deaf ear to overwhelming product advertisements. Because there are too many flashy advertisements now, and there are many integrity issues in the fulfillment of many advertising promises. With the changes in values, customers' trust in advertising is decreasing day by day. In fact, what customers care more about is the real experience reflected in the details. If an excellent brand gives customers a real comfortable experience in the details, it is actually ten times better than advertising.
Real estate developers must clearly realize that modern marketing has entered the "experience era", the environment and characteristics of the real estate industry have changed, and consumer behavior has also changed significantly, which requires Enterprises adopt appropriate marketing methods. What kind of marketing method is suitable for you? The author believes that real estate developers must change the way they create value, create value with consumers, and let consumers become co-creators of experience.
Consumer value is the core of marketing concern, and what kind of value is provided to customers is the basic issue for enterprises to win. Traditional textbooks list four types of consumer values, namely functional value, emotional value, social value and personal value. At present, enterprises have already "experienced" the new value brought by the "experience economy". "Consumer experience" has become the fifth type of consumer value, that is, what consumers purchase and pursue is experience value. [1]
2. Characteristics of real estate experiential marketing
Before companies carry out experiential marketing, they should first understand the characteristics of "experiential marketing": real estate experiential marketing mainly has personality ation, intangibility, continuity, interactivity, subjectivity and other characteristics.
First, personalization. Product marketing emphasizes the provision of standardized products, service marketing emphasizes the customization of products and services, and in experiential marketing, due to the huge differences in individuals, in order to attract individual participation and achieve interaction, strong personality must be reflected in the design of marketing activities change. Each real estate project has its own characteristics, so its positioning is also different. Except for unreplicable resources such as mountains and rivers, any characteristics can be used as the content of experiential marketing.
Second, intangibility. Real estate is a comprehensive industry. In addition to developing houses, services are also a very important aspect. However, the services themselves are product-based and intangible. Developers usually sell houses and services in a bundle. In order to better serve consumers, of course many services themselves are also an experience. But intangibility in experiential marketing emphasizes an unforgettable and immersive experience that customers can feel, which is a perceived effect.
Third, continuity.
The feelings consumers get before buying a house will not disappear immediately after the completion of an experience, but will have a certain continuity, such as consumers' various memories of the experience, etc. Sometimes consumers will even think about this experience afterwards. Re-evaluate and develop new feelings. Therefore, the effect of real estate experiential marketing is long-term. Once consumers are satisfied with the experience, they tend to be highly loyal to developers and products.
Fourth, interactivity. In product marketing, consumers are the "users" of the company; in service marketing, consumers are called "customers"; and in experience marketing, consumers are the "guests" of the company and the "hosts" of experience activities. . Because real estate experience activities must involve consumers, an interactive behavior occurs between consumers, developers and products. The "active participation" of consumers is the foundation of experiential marketing, which is the most significant feature that distinguishes it from "commodity marketing" and "service marketing". Without the initiative of consumers, all "experiences" are impossible to be produced and consumed by consumers themselves.
Fifth, subjectivity. In product marketing, companies use price or other differentiation methods to differentiate themselves from other companies. In service marketing, companies enable customers to gain greater benefits through the transfer of service value; and the final effect of real estate experience marketing activities is based on home buyers. Based on the subject's impression (mainly including characteristics of time, space, technology, authenticity, texture, specifications, etc.), it contains the influence of individual differences. Different individuals have different feelings about different impressions, which is manifested as a subjectivity of the individual home buyer.
3. Application of experiential marketing in the real estate industry
The real estate experiential marketing practiced by domestic real estate developers is to divide the consumer’s perceptual behavior into perceptions during the entire marketing behavior process. The four coherent links of (See), Listen (Hear), Use (Use) and Participate (Participate) make full use of the ability of perceptual information to intervene in the behavioral process of consumers by affecting more sensory feelings, thereby affecting consumption. decision-making process and results.
The author believes that real estate experiential marketing uses integrated means such as traditional culture, modern technology, art and nature to influence consumers' viewing, listening, using and participating behaviors, and fully stimulate and mobilize consumers' senses. , emotion, thinking, action, association and other perceptual factors and rational factors, in terms of products, services, situations, etc., to create a rich experience worth remembering and lasting pleasure for consumers, thereby promoting product sales and maximizing customer value.
The author believes that real estate experiential marketing can be divided into three stages: pre-experience marketing, in-experience marketing and post-experience marketing.
(1) Pre-experience marketing
Pre-experience marketing is a very important stage. The main tasks of this stage include analysis of the developer’s internal and external situations and marketing models, and customer experience Expectation analysis and experience design.
By analyzing the consumer’s experience world, we can obtain the deepest thoughts of the consumer. Real estate developers must analyze the consumer’s business environment and living environment, including social and cultural factors, and consumers’ experience needs and expectations. and lifestyle. Developers need to link a wide range of lifestyle aspects to product usage, including product quality and functionality, brand awareness and reputation, and product sales. At the same time, we must also consider competitors, partners, and the relevant situation of the entire industry, and finally connect it to the brand. In other words, developers differentiate themselves from others not by products but by customer experience, that is, by people's consumption mood when buying a house. Developers distinguish.
Now starting from the customer’s perspective, we sort out the four levels of customer experience world: Ⅰ. The experience provided by the brand; Ⅱ. The experience provided by the product category; Ⅲ. The use of the brand and the consumption environment provide Experience; IV. Experience in a broad sense is related to the customer's social and cultural environment or the general environment of real estate investment. [3]
The brand of real estate starts from the specific experience provided by the brand, and then rises to a broader sense.
Brand experience refers to how the house looks, what the environment is like, whether the supporting facilities are complete, etc. Part of this brand experience is driven by product categories. For example, differences in room types and structures, differences between ordinary houses and villas, etc. will all lead to different products. Category experience. What's more important is that brands and product categories are integrated into a broader consumer environment, that is, homes can provide the most basic functions of sheltering from wind and rain, and living in them. Finally, this kind of consumption environment (residence) is part of social culture. The homes consumers buy to live in and invest in are often linked to their own identity, social status, lifestyle, etc. By moving from a specific experience to a broader level, we can better understand what a home means to current customers. Once integrated into the environment of personal and professional life, the product itself looks so inconspicuous, and real estate products take on new meaning and provide new market opportunities.
Understanding customers’ expectations for experience is the prerequisite for creating experience value for customers, because customer satisfaction comes from the comparison between experience perception and experience expectations. Only products and services that meet customer experience expectations can create customer satisfaction. ; And experiences that exceed customer expectations will create customer loyalty and ultimately achieve long-term sustainable profits for the company. Designing customer experience and building an experience platform are the most important connection points between analyzing the customer experience world and delivering the experience.
(2) Marketing in experience
Marketing in experience is the process of experience implementation. In this process, customers directly participate in the experience, and the experience platform must be implemented in contact with customers. Therefore, it is necessary to control the experience site and guide customers to effectively carry out activities according to the theme clues of experience design, so as to maximize customer experience expectations. Real estate developers can regularly organize and carry out activities to involve home buyers and owners. It is best to choose a location in a product real-life area. Through participation in activities, home buyers can truly feel the environment and culture of the community, and it can also enhance the relationship between neighbors. emotions, which is very effective in promoting home buyers’ consumption. Now more and more developers are aware of this. Activities such as bonfire festivals, owner tours, and food festivals are constantly being held among developers. Facts have proved that these are indeed very effective in promoting house sales.
(3) Post-experience marketing
Post-experience marketing is communication and feedback. The purpose of experience is to deepen home buyers’ understanding of products and services and promote sales, but it is also to further understand the psychological needs of home buyers. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to obtain feedback from home buyers during their experience, understand their expectations, and at the same time strengthen communication with home buyers. On the one hand, we can reanalyze the expectations of home buyers who are dissatisfied in order to redesign the experience and continuously improve the experience to make it more in line with the needs of home buyers; on the other hand, we can exceed the expectations of home buyers and achieve full satisfaction of home buyers. , build customer loyalty of the enterprise and maintain the long-term growth and profitability of the enterprise. Vanke Real Estate has a lot to learn from in this regard. Filling out questionnaires after the experience, telephone return visits from sales representatives, and regular reports on project construction progress are all good ways to understand the experience of home buyers.
4. Misunderstandings about experiential marketing of real estate in my country
Due to insufficient understanding of the concepts, frameworks, strategies and changes in consumer behavior of experiential marketing, real estate developers in my country have little understanding of experiential marketing in practice. There are some misunderstandings in the understanding and application of experiential marketing.
(1) Experiential marketing is to let customers stay in a model house for a few days.
How many days can we get good customer satisfaction by letting customers stay in a model house for a few days? Not really. Because the model houses used for experience are often built in buildings under construction that have not yet been fully completed, and cannot fully provide a full set of living facilities, such as water supply and drainage, unfinished outdoor gardens, etc., which are difficult to meet the actual use functions. This makes it difficult for customers to get a real living experience. If you experience it in an existing building, due to the pre-sale nature of real estate, it would not make much sense to display it at that time. Therefore, a good experience should start when the customer visits a friend's new home and starts with the perception of the garden.
(2) Eyeball economy represents omnipotence
Experiential marketing should benefit consumers and owners and should not interfere with normal life and work order.
Back then, Shenzhen refused to allow Spider-Man to climb the Diwang Building and SEG Plaza. The reason was that office buildings were used for office work and should not be subject to unnecessary interference. Many commercial shows only attract attention by entertaining the audience, but ignore whether it will affect the psychology of the audience and customers. It is difficult for consumers to have enough confidence in the project itself, and it will inevitably fail.
(3) Queuing up all night is experiential marketing
There are many real estate developers queuing up all night before the opening of the market. Among them, many consumers have to stay up all night in order to choose a satisfactory room number. queue. Developers or agents really hope that there will be such a situation where the real estate is hot-selling and the supply exceeds the demand, so as to encourage customers to sign a house purchase contract as soon as possible, but this often widens the psychological distance between them and customers. In fact, there is no shortage economy at present, especially in the real estate market. Queuing to choose a house is not a good way to experience it.
(4) The sales office is too comfortable
Proper decoration of the sales office is necessary, but excessive extravagance is a waste. In fact, what customers are most concerned about is still the actual quality of the property. Their perception of the sales office is only at the perceptual level of the environment and services. It is meaningless to overly pursue aspects that customers cannot feel.
(5) The hotter the publicity, the better
Even successful publicity often excessively raises the expectations of the owners, often causing a gap after the owners move in. In the end, they often feel dissatisfied with the property. Project perception creates a bad impression. The Internet is a very public and virtual space, and many unpredictable factors may occur on the Internet. Some emotional catharsis can even have a destructive impact on the project.
1. The concept and composition of the value chain
To survive and develop, an enterprise must serve its shareholders and other interest groups, including employees, customers, suppliers, as well as the region and related parties. Industries, etc. create value. If we open the "black box" of "enterprise", we can decompose the process of enterprise value creation into a series of different but interrelated economic activities, or call them "value-added activities", the sum of which constitutes the "enterprise". value chain”. Any enterprise is the aggregation of various activities carried out in the design, production, sales, delivery and after-sales service of its products. Every business and management activity is a link in this value chain. A firm's value chain and the way it performs individual activities reflect the firm's history, strategy, the way it implements its strategy, and the prevailing economic conditions of the activity itself.
The value chain can be divided into two parts: basic value-added activities and auxiliary value-added activities. The basic value-added activities of an enterprise are the "production and operation links" in a general sense, such as material supply, finished product development, production operation, finished product storage and transportation, marketing and after-sales service. These activities are directly related to the processing and transfer of commodity entities. Ancillary value-added activities of enterprises, including organization building, personnel management, technology development and procurement management. Technology and procurement here are both broad, including both productive technology and non-productive development management, such as decision-making technology, information technology, and planning technology; procurement management includes both production of raw materials and other resource inputs. Management, for example, hiring relevant consulting companies to provide advertising planning, market forecasting, legal consulting, information system design and long-term strategic planning for the enterprise.
Each link in the value chain is interrelated and affects each other. The quality of operation and management of one link can affect the costs and benefits of other links. For example, if you spend a little more cost to purchase high-quality raw materials, you can reduce the number of processes in the production process, produce fewer defective products, and shorten the processing time. Although each link in the value chain is related to other links, the extent to which one link can affect the value activities of other links has a great relationship with its position in the value chain. According to the flow process of product entities in each link of the value chain, the value activities of enterprises can be divided into two categories: "upstream links" and "downstream links". Among the basic value activities of an enterprise, material supply, product development, and production operations can be called "upstream links"; finished product storage and transportation, marketing, and after-sales services can be called "downstream links."
The center of economic activities in the upstream link is the product, which is closely related to the technical characteristics of the product; the center of the downstream link is the customer, and success or failure mainly depends on the characteristics of the customer.
Whether it is a production or service industry, the basic activities of an enterprise can be represented by the value chain. However, the specific composition of value in different industries is not exactly the same. The importance of the same link in various industries Sex is different too. For example, in the agricultural products industry, because the products themselves are relatively simple, competition is mainly characterized by price competition. Generally, there is less need for advertising and marketing, and the requirements for after-sales service are not particularly strong. Correspondingly, the downstream links of the value chain have a significant impact on enterprise operations. The impact of the overall effect is relatively minor; in many industrial machinery industries and other industries with high technical requirements, after-sales service is often the key to success or failure in competition.
2. Value chain and the competitive advantage of enterprises
The basic point of the "value chain" theory is that among the many "value activities" of an enterprise, not every link is Create value. The value created by an enterprise actually comes from certain specific value activities in the enterprise's value chain; these business activities that truly create value are the "strategic links" of the enterprise's value chain. The advantage of an enterprise in competition, especially the advantage that can be maintained for a long time, is ultimately the advantage of the enterprise in certain strategic value links of the value chain. The monopoly advantage of the industry comes from the monopoly advantage of certain specific links in the industry. If you grasp these key links, you will also grasp the entire value chain. These strategic links that determine the success or failure of an enterprise's operations and benefits can be product development, process design, marketing, information technology, or cognitive management, etc., depending on the industry. In the high-end fashion industry, this strategic link is generally design capabilities; in the cigarette industry, this strategic link is mainly advertising and public relations strategies (that is, how to deal with the smoking cessation efforts of various government and consumer organizations); In the restaurant industry, this strategic link is mainly the choice of restaurant location.
Although as mentioned above, different industries have different value chains, and the same link plays a different role in each industry. However, for large-scale enterprises, such as multinational companies, they can go up the value chain through The key link is the diffusion and transplantation of core capabilities in related industries, thereby improving the competitive advantage of enterprises, especially multinational companies. Multinational corporations have global cross-industry marketing economies of scope in their international marketing activities. This kind of economies of scope effect is obtained by multinational companies through the optimal breadth (scope) use of common factors and resources. Such common elements can be common production equipment, management experience, marketing skills and research and development capabilities. Since the existence of common elements can be found in almost every link of the value chain, when the key links in the value chain of two industries, that is, the core capabilities, require the same common elements, multinational companies will put themselves in one The core capabilities in an industry spread to another related industry, transforming the economies of scope effect into economies of scope advantages. Therefore, the advanced knowledge, experience and skills acquired by multinational companies in marketing communication activities in one industry can be transferred to other related industries without significant additional investment. For example, the Philip Morris Company in the United States is a well-known tobacco manufacturer, creating global cigarette brands such as Marlboro. After the company entered the food industry, it brought its excellent advertising, marketing promotion and other marketing communication skills, making it Brands like Miller Beer also quickly became leading brands in the United States and spread to the world.
When multinational companies conduct global marketing, the advantages of economies of scope can be transferred to newly entered national markets at the same time. According to the specific market environment of the country, multinational companies have planned to introduce products from related industries one after another, forming economies of scope in terms of market research, promotional techniques, and exclusive channels. In particular, the synergistic effect of promotional activities is very important for establishing a multinational company. The company's overall local image is of strategic importance. For example, Philips has introduced a variety of products in lighting, microelectronics, computer hardware, home appliances and other related industries in many countries, including China, and uses the same advertising slogan "Let's do better", making the company's image Very distinct.
Despite its poor operating conditions for many years, research shows that Philips's popularity in the Chinese market is much higher than that of strong competitors such as General Electric. Other multinational companies in the daily consumer goods industry have introduced household detergents, consumer paper products, personal care products and food and health products to the markets of various countries. These are examples of multinational companies gaining economies of scope.
Obviously, to maintain a company's monopoly advantage over a certain product, the key is to maintain the monopoly advantage in strategic links in the value chain of this product. It does not need to maintain a monopoly advantage in all value activities. . Strategic links must be tightly controlled within the enterprise, while many non-strategic activities can be outsourced through contracts, and the market should be used as much as possible to reduce costs and increase flexibility. Monopoly on strategic links can take many forms, including monopolizing key raw materials, monopolizing key talents, monopolizing key sales channels, key markets, etc. For example, in many industries that compete based on special skills, such as the advertising industry, performance industry, and sports industry, this monopoly advantage usually comes from the monopoly of a number of key talents; in many industries that compete based on product features, this monopoly advantage often comes from It comes from the monopoly on key technologies or raw material formulas. For example, the formula of Coca-Cola and the special seasoning formula of McDonald's "Big Mac" hamburger are all top-secret trade secrets. In the high-tech product industry, this monopoly advantage usually comes from the monopoly on several key production technologies, such as the monopoly on computer chip production technology, which has created the global chip giant IN-TEL. Microsoft (Microsoft) has unparalleled innovation capabilities in the field of computer software. Since its establishment, Guangzhou P&G has taken "world-class products, beautify your life" as its business philosophy and established the image of "P&G, high-quality products". In order to maintain its high-quality product concept, the company uses more than 100 professional and technical personnel around the world and spends 8%-10% of its sales (approximately 500 million to 700 million yuan) every year to develop specialized products. According to research, P&G believes that only by continuously developing product functions and improving technological content can we occupy the market. The concept of high-quality products is not equivalent to national or industry standards.
In order to develop a high-quality product concept, P&G spends 1%-3% of sales every year on various aspects of market research. In P&G's words, high-quality products must be products that consumers contract, and both the core and peripheral functions of the product must be satisfied. /p>
Experiential Marketing in Real Estate Enterprises
With the experience economy era, the strategic advantages of traditional real estate industry, such as natural resources, economies of scale, capital and technological advantages, with the increased competition is narrowing rather than as a natural advantage; enterprises in product, pricing, channels and promotion, marketing services, operating at the level of competition, due to the operation of the market norms of transparency and information, and made to imitate and learn from each other at an increasing rate, I would like to establish long-term competitive advantage has become increasingly impossible; At the same time, buyers great material wealth of modern society, are no longer simply satisfied with the purchase of products, goods or services brought about by the psychological benefits have begun to occupy an increasingly important location, the original Marketing can not be a good model to meet consumer demand. Three changes in the role of the composite, making developers use the innovative marketing of psychological and spiritual means, in order to compete in the future to open real estate situation, and eventually brought in to increase emphasis on the value of the product itself, the various communication activities, and enhance
e the customer experience needs, so that customers receive the material and spiritual concept of the dual meet marketing - Experiential marketing, to appear in the real estate industry.
First, the evolution of the values ??of the impact of the real estate marketing
In many cases, customers may have turned a deaf ear to product advertising overwhelming. Because there are too many ads, and many advertising commitments to honor the integrity of a number of emerging issues, with the changes in values, the confidence of customers for the advertisers are increasingly reduced. In fact, customer care is reflected in the details of the real experience, a good brand in the details for customers to get real comfortable experience times in fact, a hundred times better than advertising.
Real estate developers have a clear understanding of the need to: modern marketing has entered the "Experience Era", the real estate industry, the environment, characteristics has changed, consumers also enjoy a greater degree of change, which requires enterprises to adopt an appropriate marketing. In the end what kind of marketing is appropriate for their own? I believe that real estate developers must change the way of creating value, and consumers to create value, so that consumers become co-creators of experience.
Consumer value is the core of marketing attention to what customers va
lue is the fundamental question of winning. Traditional textbook lists four kinds of consumer value, namely, functional value, emotional value, social value and personal value. At present, the company has "experience" to the "experience economy" brought about by the new value. "Consumer experience" has become the first five kinds of consumer value, namely, the pursuit of consumer purchases and the value of the experience.