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Kota Kinabalu: The free access 1st Sabah Virtual Property Expo focusing on Sabah real estate is well received by the public from online feedback on their ability to connect with property developers, bankers and a legal advisor from the comfort of their homes.

Online chat box real-time interactions, besides availability of contact numbers for WhatsApp or telephone engagement with sales consultants of property projects, bankers and a legal advisor, are performance indicators to measure digital marketing and personalisation effectiveness in digital marketing navigation experienced by the public during the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

Public feedback on the ease of use, perceived usefulness, efficiency, digital service quality, digital information quality, digital system quality, attitude towards use, and actual use are encouraging. Webinars help walk attendees through virtual property and cover wide-ranging topics of interest to home buyers and property investors.

In line with the economic recovery plan to boost the property market, this event sought to support home buyers to purchase their first home, invest or upgrade their existing homes, besides other property offers.

A banker stressed, “This is the best time to own a property as there are many opportunities in the market, which include the reintroduction of Home Ownership Campaign paired with low interest rates.”

Organised by Azmianz Allianz Sdn Bhd, it was held over two days on August 7-8, showcasing a marketing technology acceptance model for digital marketing strategy and capability development for the local real estate industry and supporting services from banks to a legal firm to ramp up public awareness.

Azmianz Allianz Sdn Bhd would undertake strategic partnership programmes to fully digitalise the sales and marketing of all property projects displayed at the event.

The inaugural online event was supported by Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) and media partners Daily Express and Overseas Chinese Daily News which offer clientele partners unprecedented access to regular and untapped audiences as well as to empower consumers in making informed decisions in their property purchases, promote digitalisation of the real estate ecosystem and boost economic activity in the property sector.

Chartered Surveyor Wong Chaw Kok presented his webinar on digital marketing virtually on August 7 followed by other presenters on interesting topics up to August 8.

Wong, who is also the Managing Director of Azmi & Co, called on industry players to “embrace the change to match customers’ digital progress”, besides going paperless and going hybrid in 2021 and beyond.

Why is digital marketing important for real estate? Wong elaborated on five points: Digitalisation is the future, brand building, cost efficiency and effectiveness, immersive marketing channel, and quality customer engagement.

On brand building to be visible, build trust and recognition, besides market reach, Wong stressed that, “people buy from the people they trust”.

Interactive digital content is accessible anytime anyway for quality customer engagement which provides real time insights and analytics from easier connectivity with the target audience.

Some issues of socio-legal challenges in property financing and marketing, imbalanced and slumping sales, ever-increasing property prices and affordability are major challenges that can be addressed from public engagements from such events.

Online exhibitors or real estate companies benefit from obtaining real-time customer information for creating and communicating value to customers more effectively through their company brand promise.

The virtual event mirrors that of a physical expo with property seekers are able to navigate the virtual booths and explore the best projects available. They were able to interact with participating developers and agents on-demand and walk-through desired projects in real-time.

The local property market is currently in the early stages of a promising growth that is attracting considerable foreign investment and foreign contractors in its real estate and property development sectors.

Many worldwide property purchasers are currently looking at Malaysia as a lucrative property market, and digital marketing presence is one of the effective means to communicate Sabah property offers and opportunities to such investors, migrant occupants or retirees.

It is hoped that such events will help transform the local property development sector into a smart and sustainable property development sector by facilitating the adoption of digital technologies as one of the priority marketing trends, enhancing capabilities, and uplifting the state of the property development sector.

Since Malaysia aspires to become one of the largest contributors to property development in the Asia-Pacific region, it is imperative to have a more modern, smart and sustainable digital technology-based marketing practice to move towards a more globalised market.

This way, more investments in the property market can be attracted, the sales can be balanced, and a positive image of the industry can be portrayed to potential customers.

The 1st Sabah Virtual Property Expo saw the participation of real estate exhibitors such as Hap Seng Properties Development, Asianpac Holdings Bhd, K.K.I.P Sdn Bhd, Golden Wave Sdn Bhd, Khazanah Jaya Sdn Bhd, Legacy Group Development, Mega City Avenue Sdn Bhd, MG Property, North Borneo Land Avenue, Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia, S P Setia Bhd, Shellstown Development Sdn Bhd, Sinaland Sdn Bhd, Suria Group and the VTS Group, supported by commercial banks like AmBank (M) Bhd, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad, Bank Rakyat, Bank Simpanan Nasional, CIMB Bank Berhad and Malayan Banking Berhad. Other supporting participants were property consultants, legal firm Serena Liew & Associates and My Living Hope (MM2H) Sdn Bhd.

A survey has shown that 76 per cent of consumers use property portals while 64 per cent use social media platforms and 42 per cent prefer blogs / online articles.

Covid-19 has rapidly evolved the way consumers are exploring properties and many are increasingly using virtual tours and digital tools to continue transactions.

This 1st Sabah Virtual Property Expo represents local efforts to digitise the property industry to empower consumers without compromising their health and safety.

Such virtual expo offers to make property transactions borderless and the necessary services for potential buyers to find a home, under one roof – from exploring projects with an immersive experience with bankers to fast-tracking their home loan.