Welcome to San Francisco
Posted by AGI Capital on January 29, 2008 02:46 PM | Permalink
With the U.S. dollar in free-fall, foreign investors have been flocking to hunt bargains in this country, including in real estate. And the Bay Area is of course an attractive market for second home owners.
But while the retailers at Apple or Levi's have the resources to effectively sell to tourists and foreigners, global marketing can be a big challenge for the smaller businesses in real estate.
Over the weekend, SF Chronicle's James Temple explored what some local real estate companies are doing. He talked with Alexis about one of our most interesting marketing initiatives -- our interactive advertising for international sales.
Wrote Temple,
AGI Capital, which most recently co-developed the 246-unit SoMa Grand project on Mission Street, is working with a technology marketing firm to seek overseas buyers. Alexis Wong, the company's president and chief executive officer, said it is using the Internet "as a tool to educate and also influence buyers' decisions to invest foreign monies into Bay Area real estate." Preferably in buildings they've built.
You can see our international marketing program in full swing at www.newinsf.com, where we've put up a new Web site to capture the attention of newly arrived buyers and inspire them to take a closer look at SoMa Grand.
The program is off to a great start. Thus far, the key has been the highly targeted nature of online ad buying and the high comparative cost of generating sales lead through traditional channels. The numbers eventually make sense.
On the Web, the perfect customer is out there. You just need to cast the net widely enough.
Here's the rest of the article.