Global economic headwinds, geopolitical tensions, rising inflationary pressure and escalation in cost of doing business. These are some of the key issues that will continue to affect the Malaysian property market in the months ahead.
Despite the challenging business environment, there seems to be a lot of optimism about the property market. Transaction momentum has been building up. Confidence levels have also been improving.
So, the million-dollar question for Property CEOs and their management team today is, Do we proceed with the launch of our new development now or do we wait till later?
Over my last 2 decades of experience specializing in the field of property marketing, with several downturns in between, I strongly attest that in good and bad times, the fundamentals of great marketing never change.
I have identified that there are 4 Divergent Principles that need to work together and in alignment to drive market success in both good and challenging times. The Divergent Principles consist of 4 fundamental and dynamic elements – “Actionable Insights”, “Winning Strategy”, “Strategic Pricing” and “Effective Execution”. When they work in alignment, these 4 principles help new property projects scale to achieve market success.
So, before you start spending your marketing dollars to roll out the launch of your new development, it is important to look at your 4 Divergent Principles to see how they stack up and to ensure that they are completely aligned for market success.
Principle no. 1
Insights should be the starting point of all your marketing planning
Overbuilding that doesn’t address market needs can lead to an overhang situation. That’s why before you start planning a new property project, you need to look hard at your “Insights” principle. It’s here where you look into datasets such as supply and demand trends as well as historical price trends in the market and understand how these statistics relate to information such as intelligence on your company, customer behaviour and competition. This will form your “Actionable Insights” that become the foundation for your new project’s success.
So how do you employ the “Insights” principle to your advantage? Here are three questions that a good insights-gathering process will answer in order to position your project for success:
- Who are your customers?
- What are your customers’ current motivation to buy?
- How has your competitive landscape changed?
It’s only after you are armed with the answers to these questions that you’re ready to look at the “Strategy” Principle.
Principle no. 2
Strategy can turn a losing battle into a winning one
Strategy is the highest level of a plan that can help you win. It is about being different, standing out from the crowd and giving people a reason to choose your project over other brands.
If you look at any property segment today, you’ll find it full of projects that are more or less the same. They all have similar features, with minor differences. It’s increasingly hard to tell how one project is different from another.
Companies today struggle to differentiate themselves because of the combined effect of being too similar in their offerings, poorly differentiated in their branding, and being indistinct in their communication. For your property brand to stand out, your company’s brand image, product offerings and value proposition must be clearly defined.
The easiest way to think about differentiation is to think about it as giving your prospects a reason to choose you over others. You should always define the unique value proposition (USP) for your new property project and how it helps solve your customers’ pain points. Then connect the dots between your customers’ needs and your product or service.
Using the knowledge in the first principle, you can create and maintain an informed strategy around your market, your offerings, and what types of value propositions will resonate with your target market. Whether it is Malaysia’s First Condo with Triple Protection System or a luxury condominium project providing Penthouse-inspired Living at Mont Kiara, you must take a stand in order to get your project noticed.
In Part 2 of this two-part article series, we will dive into Principle no. 3 (Strategic Pricing) and Principle no. 4 (Effective Execution) of the Divergent Principles on how to secure market success for your new property project.
About Ng Ching Yee (CY Ng)
CY Ng, an award-winning marketer, with over 25 years of distinguished experience in property marketing, has honed her expertise in strategic marketing, product marketing and demand generation, specializing in strategy and differentiation. This enables her to assist developers in maximizing sales and revenue growth, delivering customized solutions that are uniquely tailored to their specific needs and goals. CY Ng is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Divergent Strategy. Connect with CY on LinkedIn.
