In a move that is the first of its kind in Egypt, Invest-Gate has organized the Real Estate Digital (RED) Masterclass, in light of its keenness to help realty professionals and agents embrace timely change and have a strategic digital plan in place to bridge their online and offline business.

Held virtually on October 14-15 from 1-3 pm Cairo time, the certified program aimed at equipping market players with comprehensive digital marketing strategies and modules to ensure participants come out well versed in the digital realm with all the latest know-how.

“RED Masterclass offers a proven method to drive more sales in your property business. Market experts in the digital business development field share best practice disciplines, tools, and frameworks to successfully convert real estate digital marketing campaigns into real, convertible leads,” said Invest-Gate’s Managing Partner Mohamed Fouad.

The first online panel, titled “Real Estate Digital Marketing,” saw a well-thought-out presentation by Real Estate Digital Marketing Consultant Nour El Deen Reda, who delved deep into the RED model to define ways to set campaign strategies and carry out situational analysis for lead generation.

As for the second webinar, called “Real Estate Digital Business Development,” it was crowned by Former Marketing Section Head and Instructor at Nile University Nour El Gammal and Senior Digital Marketing Specialist Menna Magdy Hassan for exploring the misconceptions on digital marketing (myths versus reality), while also shedding light on ways to create well-crafted digital plans, develop customer personas, and make use of online platforms.

The two-day virtual event was highly interactive with more than 100 real estate agents, developers, others in the industry participating, and making dialogues on how digital tools are transforming the Egyptian real estate sector.

This was evident in the responses and inquiries gathered from attendees that were eager to learn more about the RED model. Commenting on this, Reda, who is also digital marketing director/managing partner at Brand Bourne UK, emphasized how it plays a vital role in digitizing the local property landscape.

“The RED model determines methods of developing campaign strategies, along with analyzing the company’s position. This helps both real estate developers and brokerage firms attract numerous potential clients, while also unlocking additional revenues,” said Real Estate Digital Marketing Consultant Nour El Deen Reda.

Once utilizing this digital real estate model, market players can set key performance indicator (KPI) determinants as benchmarks against which progress in saved time or money can be measured for forecasting, measuring, and planning business. This, in parallel, will lend a hand to regularizing the relationship between marketing and sales departments, he further added.

When one of the trainees inquired about the foremost misconceptions associated with digital marketing in the real estate sector, Nile University’s El Gammal underlined that online marketing is a lot more than just having a social media page to showcase products, highlighting the importance of customer personas and brand identity when laying out digital plans.

“Real estate businesses to establish a unique voice on social media and e-platforms that accurately portrays the company’s brand identity. This is besides constantly engaging with online customers to secure qualified leads that are in line with the target clientele,” said Former Marketing Section Head and Instructor at Nile University Nour El Gammal. 

In the same vein, Hassan went on to describe how location, culture, and class all contribute to the reception of the business’ product, reflecting the necessity of efficient budget allocation.

“Cost per Lead (CPL) measurement is one of the most important pillars of e-marketing, and thus, the cost for each potential customer must be evaluated continuously based on the number of in-person visits and sales operations,” said Senior Digital Marketing Specialist Menna Magdy Hassan. 

Another participant also asked to what extent do buyers resort to electronic searches before making a purchase decision, and in this regard, Reda indicated that the property realm is, in general, seeing about 65% of clients relying heavily on e-platforms when shopping for properties, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Accordingly, the success principles to set well-crafted strategic plans to supercharge property businesses and reach the highest number of potential clients are: studying consumer behavior, identifying the age structure in the housing estate, and analyzing timely reports on market performance to understand dynamics and trends, the real estate digital marketing consultant noted.

With the COVID-19 crisis being the primary topic of concern for realty players, one question raised by an industry-related attendee was about the feasibility and usefulness of virtual real estate exhibitions to property developers and agents. In response, El Gammal confirmed that online events became imperative in the wake of the pandemic and beyond.

Hassan agreed with the latter speaker and, therefore, pointed to the importance of determining the appropriate time for these exhibitions to bear fruit.

During the Q&A session, it was found that many companies are currently seeking to revisit their digital marketing plans, as a number of trainees were concerned to know ways to make use of e-marketing to export Egyptian real estate abroad. And herein lies the role of the digital real estate model, or RED, in making this a success, Reda affirmed.

However, the behavior of foreign buyers, in terms of needs and tastes, must be well studied for the proper application of this model in Egypt, he underscored, referring to the New Administrative Capital (NAC) as well as the North Coast’s New Alamein and Red Sea’s El Galala as prosperous investment grabs in the country nowadays.

Invest-Gate’s RED Masterclass was sponsored by ALDAU Development as the masterclass sponsor, along with Nile University Business School as the learning partner. Beyond that, media partners include Daily News Egypt, Al Borsa Newspaper, Osoul Misr Magazine, and Al Masdar Newspaper.