Congratulations! You got the job!
...Now what?
Taking on a marketing management role is no easy feat. Aside from "learning the ropes” such as your team, systems, and processes you need to be able to assess, understand, and take the reigns on your company’s current marketing efforts.
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So, where do you start? Of the many priorities you’re about to take on in your new position, which ones should be fast-tracked to the top of your list? How can you set yourself up for success right out of the marketing management gates?
We have the answers.
Here are the top seven marketing management moves you need to make first.
1. Get to Know Your Company
As with any new role, the very first thing you’ll want to do is spend some time getting to know your company, their home builder brand, and their current marketing efforts to date. You need to find out as much as you can in terms of what's currently being done, including things like:
- Direct Mail
- Events
- Digital
- Radio & TV advertising
- Sponsorship
- Referral Programs
- Pay-Per-Click campaigns, etc.
You won’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been. So it's important to get a handle on where your marketing efforts are currently being concentrated so you can develop a strategy to move forward.
2. Get to Know Your Buyers
Just as important as getting to know your home builder brand is getting to know your buyers. Who are you trying to sell homes to and how has your company attempted to target them? A good home builder marketing strategy should have clear and established buyer personas.
Learn as much as you can about these personas in terms of their problems, interests, demographics, psychographics, and other traits so you can begin to visualize how you’re going to approach your future marketing strategies.
3. Crunch Some Numbers
Don’t make any snap decisions before assessing where your company’s marketing is at in terms of actual numbers. Ask the following questions first:
- What are you doing now? How well is it performing? Can you PROVE it?
- What are the numbers/data in terms of:
- Cost per lead: (Total Marketing Spend / Total New Leads = Cost Per Lead)
- Overall Return on Investment (ROI) for recent campaigns: (# Of Leads x Net Profit / Total Marketing Spend = ROI)
- Can you draw any correlations between recently completed campaigns and spikes in showhome and/or website traffic?
Take stock of what you're doing now and assess how it's performing because knowing what has failed in the past, and why, will help you avoid making the same mistakes in the future. BUT, in order to improve, you need to be able to track and measure your results. If you can’t track and measure then it’s time to take your marketing program in a new direction.
4. Assess Your Website
As a savvy new home marketer, you already know 90% of buyers do their research online before ever setting foot into a show home. For that reason, you also know that your website is your digital sales office. It has to work well, look great, and be optimized for success. So now that you have a solid understanding of your brand, your buyers and your numbers, it’s time to do a little website analysis:
- Are you optimized for mobile? 57% of all internet traffic now comes from smartphones. For many homebuilders that number is even higher. The takeaway? If you’re not optimized for mobile, you’re not selling homes.
- Are there calls-to-action (CTAs) readily available (and at every opportunity)? To gain permission to market to prospects, you need to make it easy for them to opt-in. CTA’s should be clearly visible and easily accessible on every page and every piece of content.
- How are you measuring, tracking and analyzing your website and marketing analytics to determine what’s working and what isn’t? Consider using all-in-one marketing software platform such as Hubspot so you can easily track the quantity and quality of your traffic, conversions, and more.
5. Test for Efficiency
Your marketing team’s efficiency is key to your success - and it’s your job as marketing manager to maximize the efforts of your new team with a minimum amount of time, effort, and expense. How do you do that? Here a few suggestions:
- What does your current project management system look like? Marketing management needs to be able to hold their team accountable for timely execution and delivery; this is only possible with the right tools. Making sure your team is able to share and edit information freely and easily eliminates back-and-forth, confusion, and wasted time.
- What does your current customer relationship management (CRM) strategy look like? How are your contacts, customers and leads being organized and prioritized? High-performing CRM software is essential for keeping track of this information as well as categorizing follow-ups and leads for sales, automating customer emails, creating alerts and much more.
6. Critique Your Content
Content is king when it comes to attracting and converting leads - and you need to produce informative, well-written and targeted content regularly if you hope to draw buyer personas into your marketing funnel. In today’s competitive home builder market, simply having a blog isn’t enough. If you’re not already producing content geared towards your targeted audience at this moment, that’s your first step. Here’s what you need to determine next:
- Are you promoting across multiple channels? In order to attract buyer personas with your content, you need to approach them where they are - online. That’s why it’s imperative you promote your content across multiple channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
- How are posts being produced and updated for freshness? You need to determine who will be promoting your content and how often. Do you know when the ideal times are to post? Do you have a system in place to boost, promote, and update content?
This is where marketing management needs to look closely at the current digital marketing budget - where is the current spend going? You’ll also need to decide if you plan to tackle your digital marketing strategy in-house or hire a specialized home builder marketing agency to work alongside your team for killer results.
7. Get a Pulse on the Competition
As a busy marketing manager, it’s understandable time is at a premium. However, you do need to make an effort to learn more about your competitors’ marketing strategies:
- Which campaigns and strategies are successful? Which ones are flops?
- How does this compare with what you're currently doing and how can you improve?
- What are they doing offline?
- What are their current PR strategies?
Keep in mind here, you can also look to other markets to help you beat the competition. Even marketing management initiatives in other industries may offer ideas as to how to take the lead on your own. Read everything, everywhere, as much you can.
While we understand taking on a new marketing management role can seem daunting at first, if you keep the above in mind, you’ll be off to a great start. Remember, too, there are outside resources such as home builder marketing agencies (like us), who specialize in working alongside marketing managers (just like you) to deliver amazing results. Don’t hesitate to get in touch should you have questions about how we can help you achieve your marketing goals. Most of all, congratulations on your new role!
