2nd of the series
In the absence of any serious academic research, the sector in terms of brand presence & cutting edge competitiveness has been lacking, to say the least. Since the first generation of real estate developers in India come from the grassroot level and had started from the scratch, many of the them have a disconnect with the new-age actual young buyers and discerning fund managers, for whom yardsticks of measuring the realtors’ presence, credibility and reputation goes beyond the traditional media format. However, the heartening fact is that the second generation realtors are fast gearing up to the realities of the emerging business, niche media exposure and real marketing ROI (Return on Investment).
It is in this background that www.track2realty.com was conceptualized and our growth chart within a year has proved we are on the right track. Even though we took a conscious decision of establishing our credentials as a news platform first, and not to get into property transactions, we get mails & phone calls on a regular basis where reputation of the builder and scalability of his projects are asked for. Many international property consultants and fund managers refer to us when it comes to understanding the Indian real estate market at a macro level and profile of a particular developer or given project at the micro level.
While we could foresee the future of impactful presence on digital format where global reach & online reputation management is the buzz word, the precise reason that we resisted our regular print edition is the fact that instead of competing with the existing publications we wanted to supplement them with our feature service, something that we managed to do quite successfully with a win-win situation in a short span of time.
Credibility has been our benchmark and one of the reasons we could establish ourselves as a credible media entity is that we have always resisted the marketing temptations. Immediately after the launch of www.track2realty.com when we did a couple of expose about the wrong practices in the sector, a developer friend asked—What is your business model when you are hitting the same sector which is supposed to feed you? Our upfront take has been that we are not against the sector; rather our campaign is against certain wrong practices in the sector which will only benefit the overall realty and establish its credibility.
As and when there has been a genuine cause we have stood for the cause as well, even championing it in the form of a campaign. But, of course, we don’t entertain unethical trade practices, nor do we organize award nights to felicitate those who have been exposed for bringing disrepute to the realty business. Therefore, what we do always gets a receptive audience within the industry and the media by and large; whether it is the seminar, roundtable or the periodic survey. Hopefully we will take up a few more campaigns in 2012 as part of our media advocacy & activism for the sector. Our progression to the next level would also be based on certain ethics and in a transparent manner where we are determined to partner only with creditable groups and associations.
