Director of digital strategy for a leading UK estate agency chain Essay

Director of digital strategy for a leading UK estate agency chain - Essay Example This report highlights the tangible characteristics of viral, affiliate and search engine marketing strategies, ultimately selecting one viable marketing strategy to enhance sales volumes and brand visibility of the estate agency chain. In 2007, web-based advertising of properties increased 70 percent from 2004 (Key Note Media 2010). This means that it is becoming common practice for estate agents to utilise the Internet as a means of expanding their brand presence and effectively promoting a variety of properties in this industry. Coupled with this dramatic increase, a recent survey indicated that 57.7 percent of consumers would actively search the Internet as an option when desiring to move into a new home (Key Note Media 2010). Furthermore, in 2010, the volume of consumers sustaining Internet access in the United Kingdom was listed at over 44 million (Digital Age 2012). This represents approximately 70 percent of the entire United Kingdom population (ONS 2012). Because of this dynamic and high volume usage of Internet technologies by many demographics, viral marketing represents a significant opportunity for improving the market position of this leading estate agency. Viral marketing is defined as an amalgamation of marketing tactics that utilise existing social networks and related Internet technologies to achieve specific marketing objectives or increase brand awareness (Boone and Kurtz 2007). It is a strategy that attempts to promote growth in word-of-mouth by passing on a well-developed marketing message that proliferates itself much like a virus to encourage social circulation of a marketing message or organization (NCTU 2011). Viral marketing provides opportunities to create thrill in consumer markets, or buzz, that facilitates positive gossip in desired market groups about the viral content observed or otherwise engaged with on the Internet. Viral marketing efforts generally utilise video clips, images, integrated marketing