Sasel Research has developed a research proposal for Epic Developers to investigate the needs and wants when buying inner-city luxury apartments. The information that we collect will determine the advertising strategies that will be employed. Background information must be considered before research design and data collection methods are implemented. We have collected a variety of secondary information including Australian Bureau of Statistics and focusing on recent surveys and reports they have published. This information paved the way to developing our further research methods.
We have decided that a questionnaire and focus groups would be the most appropriate method of research when considering our target audiences. The information gathered will allow Epic Developers to create a successful advertising campaign. Limitations within our research have also been addressed and further research has been outlined in our proposal. Sasel Marketing Research has developed a primary research project that utilises a communications approach. We will be directly questioning respondents to obtain data by using a questionnaire.
In order to give our recommendations on the best way to promote a new complex, we need to successfully obtain the necessary data. To acquire this data we need to come into direct contact with potential apartment buyers and existing apartment owners to find their perceptions and motivations that drive their behaviours. The communication method has been chosen, as it is fast, versatile, generally inexpensive and allows more control over the data-gathering activities. Our objectives can be met sufficiently through the communication method of collecting primary data.
The aim and objective of this research project is to determine the factors that interest of potential apartment buyers of units with out a view so as to create an advertisement that will effective advertise the apartment. These findings will assist the organization in their selection of the elements of the ad. So as to communicate more effectively to their target audience. This research project will take into account the different elements of purchasing a new apartment, in the city, which has no views.
And will look into the areas that the apartment has to offer, our unique selling point, For example, amenities, like cinemas, restaurants, and shopping malls that are situated close to the apartments. Such as, must we advertise a romantic lifestyle, a busy lifestyle, or an apartment with convenience? Considering the competition from real estates in the city with views and those with no views, we have to determine who are our primary and secondary target audience and what are the factors that has their preference.
This will help us understand our target audience better and assist the organization in creating the ad more targeted to the audience. As well as understanding what factors would attract the target audience to the apartments, the research also aims to know where our target audience are, their demographics and their choice and perceptions of the different locations of executive apartments. There is a vast amount of secondary data so it will be best to put it into five defined categories.
As urban redevelopment and urban renewal tend to be on the increase in Perth, so does the percent of people seeking dwellings that fit into the category of apartments and townhouses. There has been a general drift among first home owners from buying a separate house on the urban fringe to higher density inner city housing. In 1997 1998, 17% of first homebuyers had purchased medium to high density accommodation, up 3% since 1988 (Survey of income and Housing, 1998). The median age of first homebuyers is 31. 5. This rate has been increasing drastically over the past ten years due to the changing formation of family patterns.
People are delaying marriage and having children and staying in education longer. As a consequence young couples are the most likely to be first home buyers out of all income unit types (ABS, 1999). The ABS also states almost a third of households who owned their home outright were couples with no children. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (1999), flats and apartments are the second most common type of dwelling in Australia, with 12% of all dwellings falling in to this category. With the numerous apartment and townhouse developments taking place in Pert this rate is sure to increase.
A survey undertaken by the ABS shows that approximately 22. 25 of all households in Perth intend on moving in the next three years and 56. 7% of these within the next year. That is 156,600 households that are moving in the next year. Upon completion of the ABS survey it was found that the most common reasons for the preferred location of future dwellings were familiarity of area (76. 6%), attractive neighbourhood (64. 8%), wanting a better lifestyle (60. 9%), quiet location (58. 3%) and proximity to attractive geographical features (57. 2%).
When people have selected the area they then look for the right house to suit them. Appearance and layout will influence 73. 8% of them, better residence will affect 57. 1%, and home safety features will affect 42. 5% of potential buyers (ABS, 1998). People choose to be more energy sufficient and safety conscious. When choosing a dwelling 27. 4% look for natural gas, 26% want solar hot water and 23. 7% look for insulation Property developers seem to be concerned with one aspect that can influence potential clients into buying an apartment in a particular estate and that is a view.
Other developments in the past in the present that fit the criteria given include East Perth, Subiaco, Northbridge, Central Perth, west Perth and to a lesser extent South Perth. When viewing current and past advertising campaigns it can be seen that it can be divided in to two categories: with a view and without a view. Property Developers that offer a view in their apartments always use this attribute to sell the apartment in their advertising. Many property developers such as Limnios Property Group make this obvious. The majority of the Limnios properties in East Perth offer a view of the river or the city.
Limnios Property Group use lines such as East Perths finest apartments are as spectacular as the view and sweeping views of the city, the Swan River and the Darling range in order to sell. This unique selling point is usually accompanied with a spectacular photo of the view that can be seen from the apartment. Another new development in East Perth is the Aurora Queens Gardens. Its advertising incorporates such statements as refreshing views that change with the seasons. The harmony of the trees, flowers and water-lily ponds that welcome visitors and stimulate the senses.
Developments that are not based in East Perth also offer views of the city of simply of garden views that surround the estate. South Perth is a prime example. Although this area tends to be more expensive, its advertising is still along the same line. Mair and Co. sells their property by focusing on the uninterrupted City and river views. A good example of the city views is Kingsview Apartments. Although again they are expensive they focus on the views in their advertising. In their advertisement in the West Australian they have very little writing but two quite large pictures of the views from Mount Street in Perth, where the apartments are.
Developers that offer no views in their property focus on other important attributes such as inner-city living, lifestyle, stylish features, security, elegance, close to amenities, a lower price and that they my offer a small piece of a view. Inner city living is what has become stylish in this era and it is trendy to live in East Perth, Subiaco, and Northbridge. The Boas Gardens in Northbridge boast that Boas gardens estate is the latest in these inner city style village precincts, while Limnios states that they offer designer style from$420 000. They all show contemporary style and timeless elegance.
All the apartments have a new age appeal to them in the structure and finishings. Most of the apartments for sale on Wittenoom Street in East Perth do not offer a view as they are set away from the Swan River behind another row of apartments. Such developers as Asset and time Conti Sheffield seem to promote what features the apartment has. These include air conditioning, granite kitchens, European appliances, video intercom security parking sundecks, garden courtyards etc. Other developments tend to promote in their advertising the lifestyle that these trendy suburbs offer.
It is close to amenities, cafes and restaurants, BBQ areas, sports and recreational facilities, public transport, and the cultural and entertainment options of the city. According to the ABS, local facilities accessed by household members over a three week period include shops/shopping centres (97. 8%), sporting, park and recreational facilities (51. 2%), restaurants, cafes and hotels (47. 9%), and medical, health and welfare services (45. 6%). Being close to local facilities is important to all people living in Perth and this is a major factor for property developers.
Primary Audience They would be affluent couple without children and young professional (single) between the ages of 25 to 35 years old. Secondary Audience They would be older affluent couple whose children have already grown up and left home. These couples would fall between the ages of 36 to 55 years old. Primary Audience They would have at least tertiary level education or higher. Secondary Audience They would not be so highly educated but have at least high school education. Primary Audience They would most likely be holding good jobs and earning between $3000-$6000 per month.
Secondary Audience They would most likely be retirees or planning to be retiring soon, and their allowances/income would come from their children or from their own savings/investments. Primary Audience Most of the targeted primary audience would likely to be currently staying in rented apartments who wish to have their own property instead of continuing renting. Secondary Audience Most of the targeted secondary audience would most likely have their own house, but planning to change to a smaller apartment, as they do not require such big house when their children had already left home.
Primary Audience The targeted primary audience would be majority extroverts who are the fight overt with an aggressive nature; they would react accordingly to their inner feeling and believe strongly in their thinking and benefits. They tend to be more image- conscious and they are comfortable with being themselves. Secondary Audience The targeted secondary audience would be majority introverts who are also known as the fight covert with a passive nature; they rely on outer groups or reference groups for advised and comments.
They tend to be more conservative in their thinking and most likely not risk takers anymore due to their age. Primary Audience The targeted primary audience would be people who enjoy fun, entertainment, and dining out. Living a luxurious life would be their top priority. Secondary Audience The targeted secondary audience would most likely be people who had already retired or planning to retire soon. Living a simple and easy life tend to be their top priority, thus having facilities within their vicinity would be ideal. Primary Audience The targeted primary audience would be people who belong to the upper middle class.
These people are more highly educated thus more careers minded, nd due to the higher income they are earning, therefore they tend to emphasize more on a luxurious home with self-sufficient facilities. Secondary Audience Although the targeted secondary audience would be people who are retirees or most probably planning for their retirements and no longer so career minded, but due to their status and assets they owned they should also belong to the upper middle class. 6. RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION METHOD The main aim of this research is to discover what the target market thinks is most important when buying an apartment.
By acquiring this information the results can then be used to help create a marketing plan. Both in-depth information and general opinions are needed to achieve this. For this reason, we have chosen to execute both a questionnaire and focus groups. The questionnaire will be conducted with people already living in similar apartments. The main aim of the questionnaire is to discover why they chose that particular apartment block. People that have moved in, in the last 2 years would be preferable as these people still have a good idea of why they moved there. They must also own the apartment.
People that are renting would not have as strong an opinion as people that own the apartments. As the apartments have no view it is important to find what the respondents find most important in an apartment block besides the view. Eg. Apartment features, close to amenities, location etc. It is also important to discover what facilities they find the most important. The facilities that attracted them to the apartments, but also the facilities they actually use. The location of apartments is another extremely important aspect and we must determine why they chose that location and to rate which locations they like the most.
The questionnaire will be carried out as an intercept. A phone interview would be more convenient but to achieve this we must acquire the details of people living in several apartment blocks and this may cause problems. Firstly, the apartment owners will not be too keen to give out this information and the respondents may feel their privacy has been violated. For these reasons approaching them anonymously would be wiser. The focus groups will concentrate on similar aspects of the apartments as the questionnaire, but it will look at these features at more depth.
The respondents will be taken from our database, but must fall into the following categories: The primary and/or secondary target markets: young couples or older couples both without children. Potential apartment buyers: looking to buy an apartment within the next year and have a clear understanding of what they are looking for, or; Apartment owners: people who have bought their apartment within the last year. People falling into these categories will have the best understanding of what they want or what they originally looked for in an apartment.
It is essential that they fall into the designated target markets so we know what the people in these target groups want. It is most important to understand exactly what people think of the apartment features other than the view. What features the respondents think are important must not be prompted, as this may influence their answers. The consultants will then probe them to find out why those features are so important. The location of the apartments is also a very crucial topic in the focus groups as the location can be used as a selling point.
We must comprehend exactly what the espondents think of the suburbs that feature apartments, i. e. East Perth, Subiaco, Northbridge, Central Perth, West Perth and South Perth. There are a number of factors that may limit our research project. These factors must be considered when drawing final conclusions. Sampling plays a major role in the collection of relevant data. It has the ability to strongly limit our research project. It is important to gather enough relevant data to make our research as accurate as possible. The research being conducted requires detailed specific knowledge about the target markets.
Generally it is considered the larger the sample size being used, the more accurate the results. Focus groups, such as the ones in our research, however do not require huge numbers of people thus small focus groups are accurate samples. The questionnaire however requires a large sample base yet is designed for a small specific group of people. Hence this research method is quite limiting. If however a large relevant sample is researched this will cause little effect to the results. The largest, relevant sample size would be suited to gain accurate results via this method of research.
If a large unrepresentative sample is researched it will be as meaningless as a small unrepresentative sample. The primary, dominating factor to remember here is cost. Although a large sample may be wanted for the questionnaire the budget constraints may not allow for it. So too with the number of focus groups wanted for accurate research. Our research is very limited to small specific target markets. Hence for future references it would be of little value. It is well suited however for our specific problem. Sampling error may also limit our research.
The results obtained from our sample may differ in some degree from the results that would be obtained from the entire population. Thus an advertising campaign may not reach its target markets. Error within our samples, such as correct sample size or type, must be assessed before final conclusions are drawn. When our research and data collection is completed, an advertising campaign may be formed based on our market research. Our research will allow for a comprehensive campaign to be formed, targeting specific markets with accurate knowledge of what is desired and appealing in apartment s today.
After the selecting the direction for advertising and the design of the advertisement, further research is to be executed to track and ensure advertisings effectiveness. The first stage of the tracking is pre-testing of the selected advertisements. After which testing during the advertising will be followed by post testing. Pre and posts measure consumers attitudes to and images of a set of brands before you advertise and then again a few months after your campaign. Measurements provide results such as: Advertising awareness (both spontaneous and prompted) Brand predisposition (likelihood to purchase) Recall of claims made by the advertising Pre testingthis will be done with a focus group A focus group will be done on the advertisement of choice.
Effectiveness of the ad and the recall of the brand and claims will be measured. Groups, which consist of 10 15 existing and potential apartment owners, will be gathered to be asked various questions. This will ensure that the choices of ads are successful for the campaign. During the campaignquestionnaire/surveys The questionnaire will be done through the telephone to allocated suburbs. The suburbs chosen will be the ones close to the city, for example, East Perth, Nedlands, Northbridge, South Perth, and Cottlesloe.
These are the areas where our potential buyers are situated. The telephone survey will be done during and after office hours to ensure their availability and this will also give them a chance to view the ads during the day. Another location for the survey is the selling ground and the showrooms of the apartments. Viewers of the apartments will be asked how did they get to know of the apartments and where did they view the advertisement. This will give us a substantial amount of understanding of the success of the advertisement and the placement of the ads.
Post testingsales figures and questionnaires To measure the success of the campaign after the sales of the apartments, we will measure the effectiveness by looking at the sales figures. This will give us an estimated idea of the effectiveness of the ads. But to confirm the results, a questionnaire will be posted to the buyers to evaluate the results. A questionnaire will also be done via a telephone interview to the participants that were called upon before. This will give us an estimate of what is the awareness of these people.