This week on The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast, Alison Girard of Brookfield Residential joins Greg and Kevin to discuss how to determine the success of home builder digital marketing strategies.
Home builder digital marketing is constantly evolving and keeping pace can be a challenge. Alison says,
“As we continue to progress what we show our customers digitally, real-time availability on the site, pricing transparency, it opens up so much. The more we share is exciting, but then the more is requested of us and how we can keep up? So, that’s a big challenge I feel too with a digital space. Everyone wants to do so much with us digitally and can we offer them everything they want? We continue to try to keep up.”
As home builders experiment with various digital marketing strategies and channels, the most important question is, is the return worth the time and money spent? Alison says,
“…that’s what we look for too. Is the juice worth the squeeze? Is your time worth the output?”
The home building industry can be more resistant to change than other industries when it comes to digital marketing, so marketers might need to press harder to get buy-in to try new approaches. Alison explains,
“As you all know, home building moves at a slower pace and change is slower. Right? I think the best foray into that for many groups is that you’re forced into that situation that that’s what you’re going to do so you have to try it out. Because, for that marketer, sometimes it’s too risky in an organization, right, to say, you know, we’ve always done this, let’s do a totally different. You know, there’s some mistakes that are mistakes and then there’s some decisions that have huge other ramifications. So, I think I would say press it and you can show the data and show successes. I think it can be a tougher sell at times. But as marketers, I mean, that’s our job. We keep pushing, pushing, pushing, and trying to take everyone with us there.”
Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how to make sure your digital marketing tools are adding value to your home builder.
About the Guest:
A dynamic and instinctual leader, Alison Girard is an expert marketer, placemaker and innovator. With over 25 years of experience in the development and homebuilding industry, her knowledge spans urban infill, suburban and large-scale communities, including well-known Playa Vista, the 460-acre “Silicon Beach” urban community on LA’s Westside, The Groves Whittier, the 75-acre redevelopment of a historic state school/correctional facility and popular The Landing at Tustin Legacy. Alison is known as leader and a doer who seamlessly brings together thoughtful home and community design, data-driven marketing and engaging customer experiences. She pioneers and implements innovative plans that drive the business and customer journey forward while strengthening the company’s core mission.
Alison values success not only through company growth but also through the people she works with. As a leader with a growth mindset and team empowerment at the core of her management style, Alison thrives through team collaboration. And her true superpower lies in her ability to be inspiring and nimble in the most unique and challenging situations.
Currently Director of Marketing at Brookfield Residential for over 10 years, Alison is responsible for neighborhood and masterplan community strategy, marketing and merchandising for Southern California and Arizona. She plays an integral role in the development of new residential neighborhoods, community design and company innovation initiatives.
Before joining Brookfield Residential, Alison was Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Standard Pacific Homes Los Angeles Division. She was recruited to launch the branding, marketing, advertising and sales efforts for the new Urban Development division, building entry-level to luxury condominiums.
Prior to moving to the homebuilder side, Alison spent several years at real estate advertising agencies working with homebuilders, master plan developers and resorts with clients including Talega, The Irvine Company, John Laing Homes, Pacific Bay Homes and many others.
An active member of the Greater Sales and Marketing Council, Alison is also a past board member and a past co-chair of the SoCal/MAME Awards. She received her B.A. in Communication Studies from UCLA and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and twin teenage sons. She loves art, baseball, podcasts, Pilates and exploring LA.