While the world of real estate has gone through countless changes across its centuries-long history, perhaps nothing has been quite as transformational to the real estate market at large as the rise of social media. Gone are the days of billboards, bus bench advertisements, and yellow page listings of yesteryear; now, real estate marketing is predominantly concentrated online and on social media as the industry adapts in hopes of grabbing onto this increasingly online consumer audience.
Online marketing evidently appeals to a wide variety of age groups, with the large majority of both baby boomer and millennial buyers alike – 90 percent and 99 percent, respectively – reportedly starting their home search online, with nearly two out of three millennials ultimately deciding to purchase their new home via the internet. This trend is only expected to continue moving forward as the older generations begin disengaging from property purchases as a whole and millennials and Gen Zers move further and further into the home-buying age.
Though real estate brokerages and agents seem to have caught on quickly to this new era of online appeal, development groups seem to lag behind, languishing in the tried-and-true formulaic tactics of decades past that is becoming progressively outdated with every passing day. Rather than market these freshly-built properties to their rightful audience, the new generation of homebuyers, the development community at large, has stagnated within its comfort zones. This doesn’t bode well for the plethora of developers who keep their approach stuck in the past; the modern business world is not kind to those who fail to adapt to new standards, perhaps best shown by how Amazon’s swift evolution of online retail quickly shuttered the doors of competition who refused to assimilate into the realm of e-commerce, even if said companies had decades or centuries of skin in the game.
Not so for Shoma Group, the innovative Miami-based development firm that’s evolved along with the times to become a multi-million-dollar behemoth under the prescient leadership of founder and CEO Masoud Shojaee and his wife, former CEO and current Shoma Group President Stephanie Shojaee. Committed to keeping Shoma Group on the cutting-edge and at the forefront of appealing to the new home-buying generation, Shoma Group’s sharp marketing strategies have turned the development firm into a bona fide trendsetter in the development community at large; where Shoma Group leads, others follow in turn.
Much of this can be attributed to Masoud’s unparalleled and fearless vision, as the Iranian-born development tycoon has never let trepidation hold him back from exploring uncharted territory and possibilities in the world of real estate. Under his take-no-prisoners approach, Masoud helped take the areas of Doral and Hialeah from undeveloped blank space into two flourishing communities, earning him the title the “The King of Doral.” When Masoud’s fashion-forward wife, Stephanie, joined the company in 2013, Shoma Group’s bold approaches were only taken to the next level, as Stephanie’s incredible marketing mind and forward-thinking strategies helped boost the company’s annual profits by 30 percent.
The Shojaees’ fellow developers agree – Shoma Group has “made development cool again.” Between witty email blasts, of-the-moment social media posts, and its dominant online presence, Shoma Group’s marketing division has certainly succeeded in its task of engaging people to follow its pages and the brand itself – especially as an appealing online presence becomes increasingly important to Gen Z and millennial consumers across the world.
While these decidedly modern marketing tactics are a far cry from the antiquated strategies of the rest of the development world, the Shojaees’ visionary marketing decisions have taken Shoma Group where no contemporary developer has gone before, changing the way next-generation consumers perceive real estate development forever. For more on Shoma Group, visit their website for the latest updates and for a front-row look at the developer’s savvy marketing approach.