A Digital Dispositions Primer
by: Brecht Palombo
Tranzon Auction Properties; Lexington, Mass.
Newspapers across the U.S. are struggling to survive steep declines in advertising revenue and readership. While print declines, the popularity and mainstream use of social and other digital media is exploding. This shift dramatically increases the complexity of reaching bidders and driving liquidation values. The large volume of options presents as many pitfalls as opportunities. Ultimately, disposition professionals who observe an intelligent set of digital media best-practices will help to reduce administrative costs associated with asset sales while achieving superior results.
Consider these statistics from April/May 2009:[1]
- U.S. workers averaged nearly 90 hours at their computers.
- At home, we spent an additional 38 and one-half hours at our machines.
- 89.2 percent of U.S. workers accessed Google during business hours.
- 43.92 percent of U.S. workers visited Facebook at work, totaling more than three hours per month.
Social media sites are booming in the last 12 months: YouTube's traffic increased 24.5 percent, Linkedin's rose nearly 110 percent and Facebook's surged by 249 percent.[2] If you think these sites are just for college kids-think again. Facebook's fastest growing demographic is women over age 55[3]-the same demographic that dominates the ranks of the National Association of Realtors. If we agree that the world is increasingly living online, then to be effective, we must implement strategies to reach them. Digital media as it relates to the asset sales process can be summarized in four components: promotion, lead capture, lead nurture and bid facilitation.
Online promotion begins with having a proper destination for interested parties to land, but getting them there is another matter. The ways in which one can spend money to market an asset online are innumerable. Here are a few of the following avenues:
- SEO or organic search;
- PPC or pay-per-click (banner or text);
- third-party e-mail newsletter advertising (e.g., NREIOnline.com);
- broadcast e-mails to a proprietary or rented list;
- classified listings and listing aggregation sites (e.g., nationalauctionlist.com);
- industry forums or group postings (e.g., LinkedIn.com groups); or
- digital press releases.
An up-front investment in time pairing venues with asset types is essential. The array of options can be daunting, and the spectrum is fraught with snake oil. A well-planned campaign provides extraordinary results, while a haphazard, uninformed approach produces little response, wastes marketing and has low resultant values.
Arguably, the best way to reach a qualified audience is opt-in e-mail. Opt-in e-mail recipients seek specific information and request appropriate contact. Opt-in lists can be homegrown or rented. The end-goal of promotion efforts should be lead capture, ideally in the form of "opt-ins."
Lead capture serves multiple purposes when the campaign involves a legal process. Lead capture quantifies interest and documents the process for interested parties. It also serves as insurance against having to make additional marketing investments should the buyer fail to perform or the sale is postponed. Generally, lead capture is achieved via a quid pro quo where visitors receive access to information in exchange for personal data (i.e., an e-mail address).
Lead nurture is the process of moving captured leads toward bidding through regular meaningful communications. Inspection dates, deadlines, asset additions or subtractions, and language or term changes are reasons to communicate with prospects. Ideally, these touches are designed to drive the prospect back to the site. Regular communication retains bidder interest and increases their comfort level, translating to freer bidding.
Electronically facilitating bids is not new. Live auction sales are regularly augmented by webcasts. Timed online-only auctions, made popular by eBay, have been with us since 1995. The primary concerns in selecting a platform are that it be approachable, usable, stable and secure.
My partner, a veteran of politics, likens a sales campaign to a political one. If that is true, then we need look no further than our president's recent campaign for a technological directive. Politics aside, the results derived from the technology his campaign leveraged cannot be ignored. Approaching our campaigns in this same way promises a broader audience, with less expense, achieving higher values. Failing to embrace the available technology will produce diminished returns over time.
As we advance through the digital age, remember that there is no substitute for human contact. The leverage and benefits we gain from technology should be used to create more meaningful one-to-one communications.
1. According to nielsen-online.com business and home sample reports as of May 26, 2009.
2. Traffic statistics have been compiled from compete.com.
3. According to insidefacebook.com.