Websites take condo marketing to new level
New approach eliminates the need for hard-sell
Purchasers can go online and calculate costs
Excerpt from an article by Shelly Sanders Greer - Toronto Star
Websites for condo developments have become critical marketing tools that are changing the way suites are being sold.
Instead of traditional online ads, offering minimum information to lure potential purchasers to sales offices, many sites now provide an interactive experience mimicking the feel of the upcoming community.
Christene DeGasperis, marketing manager for Aspen Ridge, explains that this new approach eliminates the need for a hard-sell in the sales office.
At Aspen Ridge’s new website for the condo project VU, three-dimensional technology was used to depict buildings and to show where suites will be located.
Tas Design Build is also taking advantage of new technology to develop a highly interactive website for M5V Condominiums.
“The M5V site takes consumers to a new level,” says Mazyar Mortazavi, a principle at Tas Design Build.
“There is information on developing a bathroom or a kitchen and then questions are asked to help the consumer make decisions to design the space for their needs. Purchasers are actually creating a custom condominium.
“Just because you live in a condo doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a say in the design.”
M5V will provide a three-tiered buying process. People can buy a condo designed by Tas Design Build, or choose architectural finishes for the kitchen and bathrooms, or purchase a shell and design the suite from scratch.
“At another of our developments, DIA, purchasers can go online and calculate costs before they even come into the sales office.In the future, developers see websites becoming even more important. Barry Fenton is president and CEO, Lanterra Developments, which won an award from the Greater Toronto Housing Association in 2004 for the best website for The Toy Factory Lofts. He feels web pages offer more value than traditional advertising.
Sulpizi agrees, and says the use of web blogs, which ask for comments from web users, will be a big part of future websites.”In the very near future, blogs will be part of the cycle of a project,” he says.
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