In the disrupted world of real estate, bricks- and-mortar and online must work together - data is the key

Sydney, 13 August 2019: Rockend is one of Australia’s leading property management software companies. Many of us will at some point touch one of Rockend’s solutions as we interact with real estate agents as buyers, sellers, strata managers or members, or tenants. 

The company has been at the forefront of real estate management systems for 40 years: over half of all Australian rental properties and forty per cent of strata lots are managed on Rockend software. 

The real estate industry faces disruption from a number of quarters - digital newcomers challenging the status quo (some successfully, some not), macroeconomic and fiscal policy (and their after-shocks), and regulatory oversight. And disruption can be a very positive opportunity: the company was itself acquired by global real estate software company MRI Software in late-July, to expand across complementary market segments.

Yet the industry is often mired in routine paperwork, constraining how real estate agents engage with their customers. This is the space where Rockend helps estate agents manage their businesses, property portfolios, client relationships and accounts more effectively.

As Catherine Vissiere, Head of Marketing at Rockend, describes it, “We’re about helping real estate agents do less of the routine ‘rinse-and-repeat’ work that many remain shackled to, and more of the added-value selling, marketing and relationship management they joined the industry to do. 

“Real estate agents, property managers especially, are eager to create new value for their customers, yet often struggle to do so. Our vision is to support those in the real estate industry to reset their value proposition. Technology is at the heart of this. In this disruptive market, using technology to drive engagement, manage outcomes and measure program performance is something more real estate agents are coming to terms with.”

Rockend’s focus is on growth and market penetration, supported by a digital marketing and business development strategy. These objectives will continue now that the company is owned by MRI. The Rockend brand will remain, new products will be brought into Australia to offer users here, and Rockend-developed products will be marketed overseas.

The company uses Digivizer’s analytics platform to manage the performance of its digital marketing programs, and works with Digivizer’s services team on content development and paid media management.

The two companies collaborate to create,  publish, manage and monitor content that aligns this strategy for growth and leadership with the needs of the real estate agents who are Rockend’s target audience. Measurement of the performance of this program across digital and social media is central to its success.

“Our focus is on growing our community - customers we call Property Rockstars, migrating them from our older solutions to our new cloud-based solution, and identifying and attracting new users to that solution,” explains Catherine Vissiere.

“We’re also building the Rockend brand to continue as a leader in the real estate sector, off the back of our 40-year heritage creating value in the relationship we have with our customers. This strategy is  based on compelling content aligned to their needs, preferences and requirements. With the acquisition of Rockend by MRI Software, our brand and market presence are about to undergo a significant change.”

In the first 12 months of using Digivizer, Rockend has grown its organic social following by 39% overall across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Rockend’s share of voice on social against competitors in June 2019 was at 75%, with its nearest competitor at 14%. The Property RockStar community has over 1,500 property managers who share content and support with each other, with engagement up by 65% in the two months to July 2019. And video views have increased 13 times to over 624,000 views.

What’s more, the company can compare performance across all these platforms, and compare organic performance with paid: paid leads have more than tripled, with a 74% reduction in cost-per-lead, and a click-through-rate that is more than double Google benchmarks.

“We want to own new debates in an increasingly complex and competitive space, and share these discussions in context with our customers,” says Catherine Vissiere. “They increasingly rely on us for expertise and insights. We need to understand who they are, where they are, and form meaningful and sustainable relationships with them.”

The plan is built on a balanced mix of organic and paid media activity. Integral to both is identifying and working with advocates, communicating product updates, understanding and acting on feedback, and being clear about the content required to delight users and customers.

“One advantage with Digivizer is being able to connect our Google spend (which Digivizer manages) and Digivizer, meaning we can manage and track channel performance in paid search alongside  social, in real-time,” says Catherine Vissiere. “We’ve seen click-through rates on Google Ads at over 7% - well above double the industry average for real estate, and our CPM on Facebook is also currently 13% below the industry average, and continues to fall.”

Across all its community management, new business development and brand building programs, Rockend uses data to manage its digital marketing program.

Catherine Vissiere: “This data allows us to plan and manage engagement  from the first contact with Rockend through to post-sales relationship development. The insights feed into our strategy development: we’re creating content based on data, not instinct or assumptions. We get more from our digital investment, and it’s supporting our business and our brand.”

ENDS

Note to editors: this media release was updated with new program performance data on 21 August 2019.

About Digivizer

Digivizer helps businesses understand and get more from their digital investment across social and search.  Digivizer’s platform helps businesses measure and understand the performance of their digital marketing programs across owned, earned and paid media, in a single view, in real-time.

Digivizer is an ad partner and development partner to the major social and search platforms including Facebook (incorporating Instagram), Twitter, LinkedIn and Google (incorporating YouTube).

Contacts

Digivizer is at:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Digivizer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Digivizer
LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/company/digivizer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Digivizer
Web: www.digivizer.com

For more information:
Alan Smith, Head of Strategic Business Communications, Digivizer. Phone: +61 404 432 700.
Email: alan.smith@digivizer.com. Twitter: @alansmithoz