The "Return on Investment"

R.O.I. is the Net Yield blog. This is where we provide you with our thoughts, comments and views on the property market, the issues that are affecting it and how you can improve returns on the investment you make in marketing, publicity and PR.

Our latest thoughts:

Blockchain in property (and the trough of disillusionment)

I’m not sure if I’d describe it as cynicism but I am increasingly aware that, occasionally, agents, surveyors, developers and investors are giving the metaphorical rolling of their eyes when the conversation turns to PropTech.

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PR and communications lessons from MIPIM PropTech 2018

I was fortunate to attend MIPIM PropTech EU recently and while there were a number of themes that emerged from the conference in Paris, two things in particular struck me as relevant to both traditional property businesses and PropTech firms when it comes to publicising their products or services.

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Why Proptech businesses need a different approach to media relations

You know that something strange is happening when a journalist, who writes exclusively about real estate for a global title, tells you they are tired of receiving news releases about Proptech!

While it was said with good humour, a smile on their face and more than a hint of irony, this is exactly what happened to me in the London Pavillion at Mipim 2018.
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Mipim. Looking back. Looking forward

You know that something strange is happening when a journalist, who writes exclusively about real estate for a global title, tells you they are tired of receiving news releases about Proptech!

While it was said with good humour, a smile on their face and more than a hint of irony, this is exactly what happened to me in the London Pavillion at Mipim 2018.
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Diversity in property - not such a problem in Proptech. Or is it?

This year’s Mipim, held in Cannes in mid-March, was under the media spotlight - for the wrong reasons. As pointed out in The Guardian, and other daily news papers, "the property industry is desperately trying to shake the shadow of the Presidents Club”.

Before, and during, Mipim there was much talk of ‘undercover journalists’ circulating ‘the world's leading property market’ in the hope of exposing any untoward or unacceptable behaviour.
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WorkTech 17 - connecting people, not furniture

“We are connecting people - not furniture." In this single phrase, Gerrard Taylor of Orangebox summed up the overriding theme of ‘Worktech 17’ - a hugely stimulating two-day conference held at Here East in mid-November.

At the same time he also encapsulated, in just six words, the ongoing transformation of the workplace; from a fixed and inflexible environment to one driven by the mobility of technology and the staff that use it.
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Is WeWork taking it to the next level in the uk?

Bloomberg’s real estate and property investment reporter, Jack Sidders, had a bit of a scoop recently (October 27th), when he reported that WeWork, the global provider of coworking space and workplace services, was in exclusive talks to buy Devonshire Square "a 12-building campus in the City of London financial district from Blackstone Group” in a transaction aledgedly worth over £600 million.

If the deal comes to pass, it could be a game-changer for the property market in the UK. Such a transaction would take WeWork, its services and customer experience occupiers have come to expect, to another level. Put simply, the transaction would see the WeWork concept of 'Space as a Service' rolled out on a big scale.
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The good, the bad and the ugly - all on display at Expo Real

I was one of over 41,500 participants at Expo Real 2017 in Munich at the beginning of the month, a growing annual event that rivals MIPIM, and even if it can’t compete with the location, it does compare favourably on numbers and intensity.

The Expo Real organisers have reported that there were over 2,000 exhibitors at the event, including businesses, cities and regions from 35 countries - a rise of 13 percent compared to 2016. Apart from native Germans, there were more British attendees than any other nationality, confirming the growing importance of the event to real estate professionals in the UK.
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Facebook's "Dynamic ads for real estate"

Social media colossus Facebook is taking steps into real estate marketing and has announced its first advertisng product aimed specifically at brokerage and agency firms.

Its "Dynamic Ads for Real Estate" will allow businesses to automatically promote property listings on Facebook and Instagram.
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