Marketing Plan for 3-D Virtual Scanning

Executive Summary

3-D virtual tours have been around for barely two decades, and during this period, many people have switched from traditional 2-D methods of viewing objects to 3-D virtual tours that are more engaging and detailed. Additionally, virtual tours are a convenient way for an individual to explore a physical space as if they were there personally. With extra capabilities like full Virtual Reality and dynamic In-Tour captions, 3-D virtual tours take marketing services to a whole new level. Using 3-D technology offers the capacity for an immersive walk-through experience that has the potential to help drive new business opportunities as well as connect more efficiently with increasingly digital clients. The onset of Covid-19 has made it necessary to avoid crowds, socially distance from others, and at times, remaining indoors during lockdowns makes things like looking for a house particularly difficult. For realtors, the environment and social upheaval created by Covid-19 have made it increasingly challenging to interact with potential clients and to showcase their listings, marketing, and provide detailed walk-throughs of properties to get more leads and sell listings faster.

Company Description

With fast-evolving visual marketing technologies and tools, the real estate industry is more competitive than it has ever been. 3-D Virtual Tours Inc. is an online (digital) family-owned realtor agency that is geared toward leveraging the latest technological tools to stand out. We appreciate that DIY video and 2D photography no longer impress a new generation of property buyers who anticipate engaging digital online experiences, which truly offer an understanding of the property. 3-D Virtual Tours Inc.’s online platform will offer virtual walk-throughs that make potential clients feel like they are on the actual property.

To get our catalog, we spent nearly every weekend for months going from house to house based on flyers we were able to print out from sites like Redfin, Zillow, and realtor.com. To develop 3-D walk-through models of real estate properties (including interiors) properties we visited, we used 3D sensors. These sensors measure the space between the point of objects and the device. Once scanned, the virtual space is studied from different angles, interior design options are formulated, and measurements are produced (based on a given ratio).

Our 3D modeling software enables users to use computer graphics to visualize real estate sites in real-time using computer-generated plans. Visitors to our platform can take any house plan and scan that using our software. The 3D image can then be printed. This service will be provided at a subscription fee of $10 to $30 per log-in per month.

Our digital platform will offer visitors a step-by-step experience, which will allow them to explore and browse spaces. Visitors will have the ability to look in all directions to feel like they are there. Video and text capabilities will be integrated to enhance the experience. Throughout the visitor’s virtual tour, they will have the capacity to select areas to highlight using color-coded dots; this will facilitate a more detailed viewing of specific areas. Our company’s basic virtual tour will include the following:

• In-Tour Tags – Embed media and annotations in the tour to highlight important features of a property.
• Guided Tours – Automatically produce audiovisual tours that highlight the features of a property.
• Measurements – Capacity to measure all aspects of a space, for example, windows, walls, room(s) dimensions, and more.
• HD Photos – 4K print quality photos automatically produced.
• Floor Plans – Produce schematic floor plans of any property.
• Scanning/photographing of different listings (or properties).
• Tour rendering.
• A virtual tour of different properties.
• Giving prospects a tour of properties available for sale or lease.
• Detailed information points for each property.

Once a visitor zooms in and likes a particular property of interest, information about it is available. This is why 3-D Virtual Tours Inc. offers an extremely robust web platform. The platform allows prospective tenants and buyers to get a thorough description and to preview each property online through virtual tours, online audio tours, and multiple photos. If interested, potential clients can then get in touch with the agency for extra information and a chance to physically view the property.

Strategic Focus and Plan

3-D Virtual Tours Inc.’s main focus is audiences are remote decision-makers. Our offering gives them the tools and opportunity to give them the feeling of being physically there, without actually being there. By giving complete information regarding a property in an online, immersive format, we intend to shorten the deal cycle by giving potential clients everything they need. We intend to capitalize on the new market environment brought about by the ongoing pandemic: People seeking to buy or rent properties are increasingly taking their search online due to the social and movement introduced to contain Covid-19.

Additionally, before the pandemic, it was estimated that 92% of home buyers search the internet for a property before they contact an agent. The most effective marketing programs sell property online based on the dream of living in a property; this approach usually translates to an emotional hook that entices the client for more.

1. Mission Statement: To bring technology to the real estate market, making it easier to match potential homeowners with the home of their dreams in less time than traditional listings.
2. Goals: From paper to 3D. From idea to prototype. From vision to reality. 3-D Virtual Tours Inc.’s goal is to be a market leader by leveraging 3D printing technology to provide cutting edge service, enhance marketing, and boost revenues.
3. Core Competency and Sustainable Competitive Advantage.

Core competencies are special capabilities and skills of the company that provide some competitive advantage within the marketplace. They mainly comprise those capabilities and skills that make it possible for a company to deliver superior value to customers. One of our key core competencies is innovation expertise: We strongly believe that two differentiating factors that define a true entrepreneur are innovation and creativity. The vital skill to “create,” therefore creating an idea and converting it into a feasible growth-oriented business. For 3-D Virtual Tours Inc., providing 3-D virtual tours and the associated services will play an important role in informing our corporate strategy from solely a marketing perspective into effective marketing plans and approaches that contribute to the achievement of our business goal (becoming an industry leader in marketing property online using 3-D technology).

We appreciate that technical core competencies identify the skills and knowledge needed in specific areas of marketing; they coincide with new development in a particular industry. Core competence is a distinctive skill that offers some kind of competitive advantage. For 3-D Virtual Tours Inc., 3D scanning makes it possible for our customers to gain information that would otherwise be costly and sometimes difficult to access without a scan. 3-D scanning will offer us a competitive advantage over other real estate agencies through enhancing productivity through the digitization of product design information as well as customization of that information for the unique needs of our diverse clients.

Situation Analysis

SWOT analysis

The key purpose of SWOT analysis is to ascertain the approaches that a company can use to counter threats, exploit external opportunities, protect and build on strengths, and eliminate its weaknesses.

Strengths

• Focused and aggressive marketing campaign with clear strategies and goals.
• We have carried out thorough market research and are in good standing to understand the needs of our target customers.
• Cost-effective strategy and business model.
• Direct communication with the customer.
• The easy and simple exchange of information
• Low operating cost
• No physical company is set up.
• Niche service

Weaknesses

• Fluctuating revenues due to uncertainties in the real estate industry caused by the pandemic.
• Business structure is only compatible with the current business model; therefore, preventive expansion into other business fields.
• Model limits the type of client; that is, the client must be computer savvy.
• Establishing a strong online reputation may be challenging and take time.

Opportunities

• Internet users are steadily increasing, so there is growth potential.
• Social media awareness is on the rise, making it easier to market the business.
• Chance to beat the competition by introducing better services.
• Changing trends in the real estate industry.
• Wide business growth.
• New technologies.
• High availability (24 hours and seven days a week).

Threats

• Volatile market: Technology changes very fast, so it is difficult to project prospects for the business. Today’s software could easily become obsolete in a few years.
• Competitors.
• Changes in law, regulations, and the environment could affect the company in the future.
• Privacy concerns: Some users may be afraid of giving personal details due to fear of online fraud.
• Industry uncertainties and turbulence: Events such as the ongoing pandemic have severe consequences on the real estate market (for example, economic depression leads to reduced purchasing power for most people).

Industry Analysis

In a changing business environment, real estate agents who leverage new technology to quickly and economically deliver immersive offline and online experiences are best able to involve tech-savvy individuals. Lately, new technologies have made it cost-effective and easy to produce engaging, next-generation experiences for any property (Kannan, 2017). Additionally, new technologies facilitate the creation of sophisticated, immersive online experiences to showcase a property at any price point, with no advanced technical training.

Today, with the support of 3D laser scanning, real estate agents can stage space with virtual furniture to showcase it to possible buyers. The technology is enabling real estate agents to customize properties for each customer by making it possible for them to virtually alter various aspects like colors, wall décor, flooring, and furniture. Therefore, 3D laser scanning can bring the real estate industry to life since customers can virtually see their dream property before buying or renting it.

The 3D scanners also help establish an emotional link with the prospective customer because the real estate agent can successfully hit their desire of purchasing exactly what they want. From a brand perspective, this technology can help real estate agencies to build loyal and long-lasting connections with their customers by constantly helping them get what they want.

Results from two different studies have indicated that property listings with virtual tours are incorporated, sell for a higher fee, and can spend lesser time on the market compared to properties listed using traditional marketing approaches. The results from one of the studies indicated that real estate agents sold up to 31% quicker and closed at a 4-9% higher sale price. Therefore, 3-D virtual tours have become a fundamental aspect of property marketing tactics. The interactive experiences they provide are used to showcase both constructed spaces as well as properties that are in the design stage or still under construction.

Competitor Analysis

With virtual platforms being inundated with content and in a very competitive industry, realtors need to possess that competitive edge. Currently, virtual tours are the most impactful and powerful type of content used within the property market. Virtual tours provide viewers with an accurate depiction of a property and offer an immersive and striking viewing experience. Not every agent offers 3-D virtual tours; therefore, to stay ahead of the pack, it is recommended that this approach be used to showcase the latest technology and real estate trends when conducting a business transaction in this industry.

Customer Analysis

Today there are more remote and millennial property renters and buyers than ever, and it has been observed that they have less time to physically go property hunting. Virtual reality makes it possible for them to experience realistic property tours, enabling property seekers to quickly tour many properties without the hustle of crisscrossing town or traveling long distances. Virtual reality is fast becoming the method of choice for most people seeking properties because it shorts the buying cycle and can be done remotely.

Market-Product Focus

Marketing and Product Objectives

The real estate business is inter-connected with urbanization and industrial growth. With the increased traction towards modern technology and infrastructure, people are drifting towards more modern spaces to march today’s needs and preferences (for example, style and design are significant aspects for today’s customers). Demand for contemporary spaces and structures is on the rise. 3-D virtual tours provide the ideal tool to meet customers’ preferences in an efficient, cost-effective, and interactive way.

Target Markets

Millennial buyers now consist of about 35% of all new home customers on the market (up from 32% in 2014). This means increased demand for more interactive, mobile-ready, and engaging content from real estate agents. About 90% of customers across demographics increasingly engage mobile and web tools to zero in on their list of properties to consider (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). This has driven innovation in real estate marketing. Virtual, immersive technologies that were experimental a few years back are fast becoming a normal part of listing exhibitions.

Points of Difference

Product differentiation is an integral concept of marketing and usually serves as the foundation of a marketing strategy. For 3-D Virtual Tours Inc., the main points of differentiation include the mode of doing business; we are not a brick and motor company like most of the other real estate agencies in the market. We aim to tap into the vast opportunities in the virtual world. Another point of differentiation is the use of 3-D scanning to showcase our listing; this is a relatively new technology; therefore, we are striving to be at the forefront of the shift from traditional marketing approaches and tools in the real estate industry to contemporary approaches to meet the needs and requirements of today’s clientele.

Positioning

Positioning entails finding a distinct place within the consumer’s memory for the correct reasons the business wants to pass on and, in that way, maximizing the revenue potential for the business. To achieve this, the business needs to identify its competition, its target group, and in what manner the brand is similar to competition and how it differs. 3-D Virtual Tours Inc. intends to offer high-quality virtual experiences to clients in the most elaborate way possible. Additionally, we intend to expand our listing catalog to meet the needs of different groups in society based on parameters like cost and status (that is, single-user units, family units, and so on).

Marketing Program

Product Strategy

Our product is an online-based real estate platform that is accessible to all via the internet.

Price Strategy

Price discovery is viewed as the level of information and transparency available on a particular market. We appreciate that a higher number of market transactions and participants allow information concerning certain goods to influence the price faster and flow faster. Some of the factors we will consider in pricing include price-relevant information, including asset-specific and macro-economic variables, like changes in taxation legislation and unemployment rates.

The real estate market involves long processes from project beginning to final sales and project conclusion. The price discovery procedure is complex and includes numerous assumptions, from setting an initial list price to the final sales fees adjusted for discounts and other non-monetary benefits.

Promotion Strategy

People tend to respond based on their emotions and feelings. The eye-catching dimensions and details of virtual tours capture the customer’s imaginations and ease the process of marketing. If customers already feel like it is their dream property, then we feel that we will be closer to making another deal. Rather than following up while potential clients are still contemplating a property, we intend to use retargeting to give extra information about it or on more property options they may like. Retargeting our advertisements by installing a pixel on our online platform is useful for showing Facebook or Google ads to customers who have visited your platform.

Place (Distribution) Strategy

The customers will get better benefits from the client-oriented pricing approaches since such an approach starts from the potential psychological approval rate of the customers. Besides, the competitor’s approach is also a good reference, so it should constantly pay attention to follow various measures of the competitors to meet the principle of difference in consumer demand in terms of design, construction, scale, planning, marketing, and facilities, to attain the development objectives and allow the company to attain maximum efficiency in the processes and means of transacting business.

Financial Data and Projections

Past Sales Revenues

It is a new company, so there are no records of past sales revenues.

Five-Year Projections

Revenues are projected to grow at rates that are responsive to dynamic forces in the economy. Generally, the assumption is the local economy will be affected by national and state trends, with some deviation expected due to specific characteristics of regional business and labor markets as well as local regulations.

Organizational Structure

Corporate governance for family businesses should focus on creating clarity of roles, an effective board, and a rational organizational structure. The board of directors contributes to human capital (experience, know-how, knowledge, skills, status) and social capital (networks, associates, trust relationships) to the firm. In addition to providing controlling and oversight stakeholder interests, boards of directors add value to the firm through their strategic input.

References

Kannan, P.K. & Li, A. (2017). Digital marketing: A framework, review, and research agenda. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 34(1), 22-45.

Lamberton, C., & Stephen, A. (2016). A thematic exploration of digital, social media, and mobile marketing: Research evolution from 2000 to 2015 and an agenda for future inquiry. Journal of Marketing: AMA/MSI Special Issue, 80(6), 146-172.

Niveditta, B. & Padmavathy, G. (2017). Digital, social media, and Facebook marketing: A brief overview of its development and application. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 3(11), 476-482.