Tips for Aligning your marketing for overseas buyers
International sales channels and buyers have become very important to Australian off-the-plan projects sales and as a result, apartment and home styling in visuals and image renders have to be aligned with the expectations of this extensive market.
With the trend set to continue, more and more developers are now working with our marketing team on renders which cater to the tastes and expectations of these overseas property investors.
So here are key marketing tips and insights into elements you need to consider for the effective visual marketing of your next off-the-plan project.
Although there are several overseas buyers showing strong interest in the Australian property market, Chinese investors account for the largest percentage. In fact, figures show that almost $34.7 billion in Australian residential real estate in 2013-2014 – including newly developed property worth $25.8 billion – was bought by Chinese property investors.
It’s a considerable climb from 2013, when Chinese investment was around the $7 Billion mark – a figure that still out-stripped most of the other overseas buyers, as per the chart below.
Tip 1 – Opulent Environment
Asian investors want to buy into opulence and luxury. The images need to communicate that through expensive furniture pieces and finishes. When the finishes are optimised towards this market, gloss finishes are definitely preferable, with marble-look benchtops, high-gloss cabinetry and gloss timber flooring being very important to the Chinese buyers.
Tip 2 – High-Contrast Lighting
It is quite noticeable in Australian marketing of images with very mild light and soft shadows, reminiscent of Northern European skies.
However, this is not what the Asian buyers used to seeing. Their colours there are quite saturated and images aimed at this market must reflect the same – there is genuine potential for a greater subliminal acceptance and appeal.
To optimise a targeted appeal to these overseas buyers, deep blue skies, bright colours in the flowers and deep green grass are just some of the lighting options that should be considered in the rendered images.
Tip 3 – High-Contrast Finishes Styled with Subtle Highlights
Mirroring some of the comments above – the actual furniture and interior styling is typically quite monochromatic and subdued, with black and white tones dominating and only very subtle highlights to accent – either in copper, bronze or gold colours.
This achieves quite a sophisticated look to the interiors and seems to be extremely popular in the recent developments aimed at overseas buyers.
Tip 4 – The principles of Feng Shui apply to the interiors and house placements, so too, there is an application of the principles to the renders produced for internationally-marketed property projects.
According to Feng Shui – The dominant element for the east direction is wood, and east is the direction of fame and energy because of the Sun. By placing wooden furnishings and flooring oriented in the Eastern direction, the belief is that this may increase power and energy. If there is an opportunity to do this within the 3D space, this may further improve the attraction of the images produced.
Principles such as positioning of items are also important to consider for Feng Shui – like beds in bedrooms being placed in the area further from the door/diagonally from the door, but not in line with it. In other words, you want to be able to see the door while you are in bed, but not be aligned with the door.
Tip 5 – Appropriate Scenery
In line with the first element of luxurious surroundings, people and cars utilised in 3D renders should be selected to reflect this as well. Maserati, Lamborghini and Bentley are some of the car brands that typically represent opulence and high-class. Although in Australia such images may be seen as tacky for some visuals, in Asia those cars represent prestigious levels of success and are very desirable.
In Summary
The thoughts above should really be identified and applied at the conceptual stage of the development.
Smart developers understand the target market and the likely sales channels that are going to be used to market the project and we can definitely help identify this with you.
Having this clear understanding in place will then influence the finishes and specifications, as well as provides a clear direction for images and visualisation at the marketing stage of the project.
Let us know if there are any further questions around this topic and we look forward to being of service.