My guests in this is Ash Farrugia, founder of ActivePipe, a technology platform that has revolutionised how agents use email marketing to generate leads.

ActivePipe was one of the first Australian proptechs to be accepted into the Reach program in the US paving the way for Aussie realtech businesses and helping establish our reputation for great property technology.

Ash and I did this interview on Tuesday March 24 - just as the entire country, indeed the world, was going into shutdown over the Covid19 virus. We had both had extremely strange and quite stressful days - and I think you can hear that in our voices. It felt a bit weird to be talking about success and the future of proptech when everything around us was contracting. So while we did try to keep calm and carry on, we also tried to adapt to the circumstances by looking at the importance of digital marketing in the current environment.

(02:11): The ActivePipe elevator pitch and the size of the lead leakage problem.

(02:54): How ActivePipe helps agents build customer journeys and how it is a lot more than just EDMs

(04:37): The importance of consumer profiling and how ActivePipe creates lead scoring through content engagement.

(05:52): A bit of background to ActivePipe and how Ash got the idea from being ignored by agents.

(08:36):How marketing is changing – especially in the age of Covid-19

(11:09): The challenge of offering private inspections and at scale and the role good marketing can play in this.

(12:13): The role of emails and the trust that comes with sharing an email address.

(13:41): Ash discusses the best ways to use ActivePipe during these times of isolation and working from home.

(15:10): The important role of authentic content and how it is always relevant – with or without a world pandemic.

(18:28): Ash talks about competition and provides some advice to startups about understanding the problem you’re trying to solve.

(21:30): Ash talks about ActivePipe’s experiences in the NAR Reach program in 2018, expanding to the US and the challenges they had to overcome.

(23:08): One of the criticisms of ActivePipe is that it empowers agents to ‘spam’ their database. Ash responds.

(25:31): Typically at this point in the interview we ask our guess to predict the next five years. Ash gives his five days to five months predictions.

(28:41): The future for ActivePipe.