It is very important for the real estate agents to adopt newer ways to stay ahead of the competition and provide potential home buyers with easy access to information regarding listed homes on the market.

 

With the competition increasing in the real estate industry, Keller Williams Realty, based in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, found the rise in the use of text messaging and mobile Web sites to be a new opportunity for it to reach home buyers in a new and innovative way.

 

Keller Williams is going to launch a mobile marketing program that will automatically respond to the text message queries by potential home buyers and will provide them additional details about the home and a link to a mobile Web site created specifically for the available property.

 

Initially, the technology will be available only in the Washington, D.C., Metro area and will be potentially expanded throughout the nation. Proteus (News - Alert) (http://www.proteus.com), a mobile products company based in Arlington, Va., has developed the technology its Swift mobile Internet publishing platform will use to create the Keller Williams' mobile Web pages.

 

Shane McCullar, managing broker, Keller Williams Realty, said that this program will be equally beneficial to both the home buyer and the home seller, adding that it provides immediate information as soon as a buyer is interested in a property.

 

This mobile marketing campaign is immediately available and is compatible with any phone that can send and receive text messages and/or access WAP sites. Seeing a property in print, online or onsite, an individual is prompted to send a property-specific keyword to a mobile short code for more information.

 

After sending the message, Proteus' auto-responder technology that is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week, instantly sends property data to the potential home buyer. Apart from the property information, the text message also contains a link to a WAP site created specifically for that property providing additional details, photos, realtor information and lead capture tools. The contact information of the interested party can also be provided to Keller Williams realtors, so that they can follow up with the party.

 

Guy Vidra (News - Alert), president of Proteus, commented that this is an exciting use of the Proteus mobile platform that could be termed as the deepest mobile integration with a real estate company ever, hoping that the clients of Keller Williams will benefit from the immediacy, convenience and marketing value of this program.

 

Keller Williams Realty Inc. is the fourth-largest real estate franchise operation in North America. It was founded in 1983, and has more than 650 offices and over 77,000 associates in the United States and Canada. To know more about Keller Williams, please visit www.kw.com.

 

Proteus is a provider of mobile marketing products and solutions, working on a number of services from SMS messaging campaigns to mobile Internet sites to entertainment content storefronts. The company develops products to help companies create innovative marketing programs, connect with consumers, drive additional revenue and build their brands. For more information about Proteus, please visit www.proteus.com.

 

Arvind Arora is a TMCnet contributing editor.