Sansiri

Leading Thai property developer Sansiri has turned to the extraordinarily popular social-networking sites Facebook and Twitter to strengthen its marketing allure.

The company has “jumped on to the bandwagon of social networking” in the hope of increasing its marketing tools and becoming a “virtual friend” to its customers by remaining in touch on the social networks.

Sansiri’s assistant vice president for marketing Samatcha Promsiri said the company believed social networking was a vital marketing tool to maintain a good relationship with its customers and to roll-out its campaigns and promotions in real time.

It has set up Facebook.com/sansiri in the role of a customer-relationship management department and has created its own community comprised of existing customers. It is able to communicate with its community directly and receive quick responses.

Samatcha said the beauty of Facebook.com was its verification of users so the company knew who were and were not its existing customers. New target customers were created among friends attached to the networks of the company’s existing customers.

“For example, we put photos of our activities onto Facebook.com and our fans come and tag their photos as well as sending and sharing them with members of their network. Our customer-relationship management activities can promptly spread to a mass of people, as viral marketing. The things we do expand our customer relationship management to give it a wider presence in the online world,” he said.

Moreover, Sansiri aims to use Facebook.com as a bridge to bring its social-networking community back to its main online market community – www.sansiri.com – where detailed information on all its products and services, as well as latest promotions, are available.

Sansiri is also using Twitter.com as a viral marketing tool to deliver real-time marketing messages to potential customers.

Samatcha said that with a limit of 140 characters, Twitter.com/sansiri also aimed to attract people to the company’s main website.

“At Twitter, we can send messages with a harder marketing purpose than those on Facebook, where we must maintain the attitude of friendship, talking with people in friendly tones in a conversational fashion, rather than delivering hard-sell,” he said.

Sansiri learned a quick lesson when it launched its Facebook site with a hard-sell message seeking to directly attach its community. It failed, and the company later realised it was probably seen as broaching an unfriendly relationship.

”We learnt from direct experience that in a social network, people are not willing to accept direct-marketing messages. Instead, they like to communicate in friendly tones, like they are talking with their friends. Therefore, we have to be their friends,” Samatcha said.

He said social networking allowed Sansiri to communicate directly with both existing and prospective customers, and to get their responses and feedback very quickly, with the least cost and resources. Sansiri has a staff of just two people dedicated to its social marketing and gives the effort a very small budget.

Samatcha said that successfully developing social-network marketing was not about spending money, but about understanding human relationships.

As well as its social networking, Sansiri is spending about Bt600 million per year on online marketing. However, this is only 3 per cent of its total marketing budget of Bt1.8 billion per year.

Samatcha said the company’s next step was a plan to expand its online marketing on to Youtube.com. It plans to launch video clips related to Sansiri’s projects, such as recommended restaurants around Sansiri’s development locations, as well as other places of interest.

”For the moment, we will focus on these three channels of social networking,” Samatcha said. “We think there are many things we can develop on these platforms to optimise their ability to create value for both us and our customers.”

Sansiri

Property firm Sansiri has introduced its latest single-detached-house project, Burasiri at Ngarmwongwan-Prachachuen, with 301 units priced between Bt5.99 million and Bt12.19 million

The theme used in designing the project is Asian Accent, reminiscent of Eastern architecture, said senior marketing manager Samatcha Promsiri.

Located on 70 rai, the project will have an Asian tropical garden 200 metres across at its centre.

The project is close to an expressway and several shopping centres, including The Mall, Central Chaeng Wattana and Carrefour.

Burasiri at Ngarmwongwan-Prachachuen offers four types of houses: Buramaya, Buraladda, Burayada and Burakanda.

Buramaya has 202 square metres of floor space on 65-96 square wah. It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, one roommate and two parking spaces, with prices between Bt7.77 million and Bt12.19 million.

Buraladda has 196 square metres of floor space on 57-81 square wah, with starting prices between Bt6.87 million and Bt10.52 million per unit. This type has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and two parking spaces.

Burayada houses have 198 square metres of floor space on 57-84 square wah, with prices between Bt6.14 million and Bt8.32 million per unit. This type also has three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Burakanda is smallest type, with floor space of 160 square metres on 55-82 square wah, at prices between Bt5.99 million and Bt8.62 million per unit. This type also has three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

The interior-design themes follow the Asian Accent concept, especially Modern Chinese style, which combines wood and cotton.

A sample house displays a variety of interior design styles so home-buyers can select the style they want.

A Simply Retro design mixes and matches modern style with 1970s retro furniture, while White Oriental makes the most of the different textures of wood and cotton.

Modern Resort is a design style also featuring wood and cotton, but in earth tones rather than white, and a Modern Luxury concept uses contemporary furniture matched with stainless steel and glass.

The project will have a grand opening on November 1, with a promotion campaign to tempt buyers. Already, about 10 per cent of the project’s 301 units have been presold.

SOURCE: The Nation

Sansiri development

Thai developer Sansiri has announced 3Q sales of Bt5bn with year-to-date sales exceeding more than Bt14bn.

With up to four new projects in development and a brand-building road show this month, the firm anticipates achieving total sales of Bt20bn by year´s end.

Third quarter figures were especially robust, with sales of over Bt5bn, said Settha Thaweesin managing director of Sansiri. He added that to date, sales comprised condominiums in Bangkok’s central business district, single homes, town houses, and international property investments.

The Sansiri Best Buy show last week is also expected to net more than Bt1bn, while plans are underway in 4Q to launch up to four new developments worth between Bt3bn and Bt4bn.

“Of the Bt14bn sales figure, 48 percent is comprised of revenue from condominium sales, while the remaining 52 percent represents consistent consumer demand since last year for single homes,” said Settha. “August figures were especially strong, with Bt1bn sales from 145 single home units – a new record for the company. Consumer confidence is growing and there are also signs that an economic recovery is on the way.”

He added that since the beginning of last year, Sansiri´s marketing activities had also helped to strengthen the company brand across all residential sectors. These included the recent partnering with Siam Commercial Bank to launch the SCB Sansiri Platinum credit card which grants special privileges to Sansiri customers – a first in Thailand´s real estate industry.

The Sansiri Group also has a backlog of pre-sales receipts for various residential projects in excess of Bt18.4bn that will gradually be recognised over the 3 years. Up to Bt16.3bn or 91 percent of this figure will be converted this year – an important source of revenue for the future, said Settha.

Projects being launch this quarter include two detached single home developments and two condominium developments. In addition, the company will host road shows at Siam Paragon, Central Chidlom, and Central Bangna.

“The real estate industry has already begun to recover and this is because consumers have greater confidence in the political situation, which is showing more stability. Sansiri is now focused on expanding its offerings and developing its comprehensive services for our customer base,” said Settha.

SOURCE: Property Report.com