This week on The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast, Ty Brewer of HistoryMaker Homes joins Greg and Kevin to discuss how unifying home builder digital marketing and technology teams improves business.
Home builder digital marketing and technology teams often operate in two very separate departments because of the value they place on different incentives. Ty explains,
“I think that on the technology side, a lot of time people are drawn to the widgets, they’re drawn to the tools, and they’re not really attracted to the people side of the equation. And just as much on the marketing side, you have people who are drawn to the people but don’t really live and breathe the tools or technology. And so, because they come from separate ends of the spectrum, usually you don’t find that meeting in the middle like you should.”
Collaboration between digital marketing and technology teams can be vastly improved when digital marketers learn to understand the language and motivations of the technology team. Ty says,
“Because that’s what IT people really do care about is the facts. If you’re a marketer and you’re trying to get your technology team on board, remember, you’ve got to speak their language of love and the things they like are new toys and they like data.”
One of the many advantages that result from digital marketing and technology team partnership is the desire to assist each other in achieving a common goal. Ty says,
“But another great thing about having the marketing and IT groups tied so closely together is that they can now see the data and the results of what they did. They can see that if we’re doing A/B testing, they’re just as interested in this as the technology people are. And so when they say we’re doing A/B testing, well, the technology team is interested in helping them out because they’re on the same team. So, when it comes to creating a new Power BI report or creating a new data source overlay, they’re just as involved and they’re just as tied together to the outcomes because they’re the same department. Everybody wants each other to succeed.”
Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how home builders benefit when digital marketing and technology teams work together.
About the Guest:
Ty Brewer is chief digital officer for the HistoryMaker family of businesses. He oversees marketing, market analytics, and the core technology groups that support all areas of the business, including HistoryMaker Homes, ONM Living single-family rentals, and Jabez Development. Before joining HistoryMaker in 2019, Brewer was the CIO for Greystar, a fully integrated real estate company offering expertise in investment management, development, and management of rental housing properties globally. Before joining Greystar in 2015, Brewer was senior vice president of strategic marketing and president of the cloud computing division at RealPage. Prior to joining RealPage in 2010, Ty was chief information officer for Riverstone Residential, helping them grow into the largest multifamily management company in the US. Prior to that, he spent 13 years in commercial real estate for two publicly traded REITs. Ty holds a bachelor of arts degree from Texas Tech University.