Zoopla boss says agents need more tools than just a portal

Technology can be thanked for the change in how agents go about their business in the last five years. Portals are no longer the main way to market a property.

This is as it should be.

Digital marketing has empowered agents to take matters into their own hands to a far greater extent.

Different audiences will also respond in varying ways to the myriad of communications channels now out there and often a message needs to be seen or heard across multiple platforms to resonate.

There is a whole range of digital marketing strategies agents are increasingly exploring and deploying to their benefit, from paid Instagram promotion to reaching out to local bloggers to leverage the clout of a key influencer, to simply making sure their website is seamless to use and ranked highly by Google’s algorithm.

The role of portals, with agents as their core clients, should be to offer a service that complements and amplifies agents’ marketing strategies, with a strong focus on always seeking out and driving forward the most innovative digital marketing techniques.

In May, Zoopla surveyed 2,000 people who have either sold their property in the last 18 months or who were currently looking to move or sell over the next year and a half.

An overwhelming proportion of these house-hunters (70%) said they used a combination of estate agency websites and property portals when searching for their next home.

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