iProperty Singapore takes on repositioning; focuses on PR and digital advertising

Newly appointed general manager Sean Tan (pictured) said the property website will form an in-house editorial team to provide news content related to property development, home decorations and interior design. It is also looking to work with bloggers to promote the site.

“Content is king, and so we will provide content from users’ perspective,” he told Campaign Asia-Pacific. “We want to bring different user experiences to netizens. We will recommend content to them such as the top five location searches or food by location with the data we have.”

Tan was named the general manager in July, joining from lifestyle portal inSing.com. As sales and marketing director there, he was instrumental in repositioning that site into a premium branding platform for advertisers.

He has also worked for Yahoo! Southeast Asia as lead sales manager, handling regional accounts such as Nokia, Samsung and Apple.

Banking on Tan's digital knowledge, iProperty will focus on media relations and digital/social media advertising in its new marketing strategy.

This marketing strategy is to leverage on social media, Tan said, that is more cost-efficient than putting a large portion of its marketing budget on the usual marketing channels such as outdoor, while reaching out to more people.

The site recently named Rice Communications as its communications agency in Singapore, tasked with managing its corporate communications and media relations in the market on a retainer basis.

“For digital, we are doing banners via partnership with automotive and lifestyle portals and focusing on social media activities including engaging and growing our Facebook fan base," Tan said. "We are targeting at local audience, of which 70 per cent are male.”

iProperty.com has also appointed ZenithOptimedia for its SEO and SEM strategy, following a closed pitch in June involving three other unnamed international and local agencies. The account is effective from next month for a year.

This is the first time the property website has appointed a key media agency. Previously, its SEO and SEM strategy was handled by regional agency E-Channel, based in Australia.

iProperty.com is looking at extending its relationship with ZenithOptimedia for media duties, as it  plans to embark on other marketing strategies several months from now once the new brand position has been established.

The company's creative agency is Brandthink Asia.

“I believe client-agency relationships need to have certain synergy, and I want the agency I am working with to sit in Singapore,” Tan said. “It is about communications and growing together.”

The property portal also plans to diversify and grow all revenue streams going forward, especially display ad, sponsorship and collaboration opportunities, for the property developer sector.

Its three main revenue streams are agent subscriptions, software tools (PropTools and Agentools) and media display sales.