As a target driven industry, housebuilding is undoubtedly a sector that relies heavily on marketing solutions that are dynamic, deliverable and different. Managing Director, Carolyn Jackson-Potter, looks at how the future of property marketing is changing.

“The burgeoning trend is for marketing to be smarter-faster-better. Managing Directors and Chief Executives have to navigate an increasingly complex landscape to find the right fit when looking for a marketing solution. This challenge means that many decision makers are either unaware or unsure of the marketing options that are becoming increasingly viable business solutions. One such term that has firmly made its mark on the industry is ‘In-housing.’

Although many other industries have adopted the practice in recent years, in-housing still isn’t fully understood across the construction sector, but there’s no denying its potential to become an effective and efficient operational marketing model.

While the term itself may be straightforward there are different models, from in-house teams in regional offices to embedding a marketing agency team quite literally within the head office.

When done right, it allows clients to become more involved in the marketing communications process and more effective in their day jobs. In-housing frees them up to do what they need to do, while remaining plugged-in to the development of communications and campaigns.

The benefits of having an in-house marketing team regularly exceeds expectations, but it must be done properly. Processes must be established early on; streamlining people and technology is critical, as is solution design, in order to map processes already embedded in the marketing and sales teams.

In-housing is all about dialogue, taking a long-term view and having a cohesive strategy in order to reap the efficiency and effectiveness rewards.

The implementation of placing a creative studio team in-house means that the main quick-win expectation is that of efficiency – both time and cost. Undoubtedly, over time, in-housing can help reduce marketing budgets without reducing quality and quantity of output. But there are bigger picture benefits too. In-housing can actually help the brand to be future proof.

Today, marketing teams are expected to engage in real-time, with first-party data, at scale. In order to be fit for the future, companies need to adapt to changes driven by the increase in technology, while recognising the need to make the lives of their marketing teams simpler. Traditional, external-only models aren’t always able to access this at this deeper level in order to achieve these objectives. In-house teams do”.

Carolyn Jackson-Potter – Managing Director 

January 2020