I think Tony Danaher of FD was insightful when he outlined the insular, almost sectarian nature of the property industry of the 90's. An industry that was of no interest to the national media or to the government apart from HMRC.
Things have changed significantly since then but there is a concern that as an industry many players still run their businesses as personal fiefdoms with little regard to "customer relations". Marketing comes well down on their list of priorities and little regard is paid to their image.
Are we heading for a market place where those who adopt modern communication methods and satisfy the instant need for information and opinion are at a distinct advantage to their competitors who are happy to sit on their hands? Only time will tell.
Interestingly the recent Property Week supplement on Marketing for the New Decade has some enlightened opinion on the future of communication from a broad panel but in a publication littered with Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube logo's should we be surprised that only two of the panel can be found on Twitter? Should we be concerned that FD considered to be "one of the UK’s leading financial and corporate communications consultancies" has a latest news section on their website that hasn't been updated since October 2009?
Clearly there are a host of new communication channels available to us now but the old principals of consistency and authenticity still apply.
