Goulburn First National Real Estate sold on IDA boosting business profile
“In the digital world, you don’t know what you don’t know. The audit has empowered and enabled us to control our own digital destiny and improve our profile in the eyes of our clients.”
About Goulburn First National
Goulburn First National Real Estate are experts in real estate. A family run business, they specialise in all aspects of residential real estate. Their team of specialists ensure each client knows they are the number one priority, whether enquiring for a rental or consulting on investment property management.
Goulburn First National Real Estate’s website is critical to their business. Not only is it how their clients find their listings for rentals or purchases, it’s how the business elevates their business profile in the digital world. The real estate company employs an external agency to manage their social media, and manages the rest of their digital ecosystem themselves.
“A website is critical in an increasingly digital world. It’s the first place our clients interact with us.”
Challenge / Goal
The reason Goulburn First National Real Estate obtained an Independent Digital Audit was so they could better understand their digital ecosystem, and what control they had over its performance. Head of Operations Lisa Holgate said;
“If I break it down, real estate is quite a traditional industry and it’s been easy to continue with traditional methods. But technology is a disrupter, and the growth in technology has been rapid.”
“You don’t know what you don’t know – and so we engaged Independent Digital Audit to find out exactly what was working and what we could be doing better to improve our business profile in our digital landscape. Having an independent voice was crucial for us to evaluate as we could trust there was no agenda in the analysis.”
“I can easily see the value in the content that was provided back – the dashboard, the extracts, it’s all there to be implemented. The skills required to do such an audit means we could never have done that. Even if we were to get a consultant in, it’s not going to be the same independence and objectivity that gave such a holistic review of how our digital presence looks.”
Key Findings / Results
Lisa was expecting to understand what the business needed to do to improve, but was not expecting that they would save a significant business outlay as a result of the findings.
“Prior to going into the audit we were resigned to needing a whole new website. Instead we chose to spend the money on the audit to then guide our decision making around our overarching and integrated marketing plan. Through that process we’ve landed that we are better off implementing the findings from the audit and reassessing in 12 months time. So we’ve delayed a significant outlay thanks to the audit and improved our knowledge ongoing. Not only that, but if we would have embarked on a new website and we would have only landed with that. We would not have the knowledge and the power to understand how to optimise things further.”
Lisa was surprised at how many things the business was able to control in their digital ecosystem, and how the audit was able to articulate exactly what needed to be done for them to exponentially improve their digital profile.
“There were so many things we didn’t even know about – learning about all the ways we have control over our digital success and being given the exact steps to achieve that success has been a game-changer. The audit has helped us improve our communication with our agency – we have a better understanding of what they do, and we all know knowledge is power. Thanks to the audit, we now feel we have input over what is happening in our digital marketing.”
Lisa says the value of the audit comes back in spades, and will easily pay for itself once the recommendations have been implemented.
“I can easily see the value in the content that was provided back – the dashboard, the extracts, it’s all there to be implemented. The skills required to do such an audit means we could never have done that. Even if we were to get a consultant in, it’s not going to be the same independence and objectivity that gave such a holistic review of how our digital presence looks.”
“Should we develop a new website in the future, there’s no doubt we would engage IDA to conduct another audit. It’s essential we’re continuing to review what is going on with an objective party.”
