Each week as I comb through my newsletters and reflect on the conversations we had in the office, I think about what I want to convey through these weekly posts and how I want them to be read. This week, I’ve been thinking more about why I write them. This may or may not be influenced by my current audiobook of choice, “Find Your Why”. But anyway, the reason I write this is because I want to share my enthusiasm and love of real estate/ home building and marketing with you and get you as excited about this stuff as I am. Geeking out on data and the influences the world around you have on your decision making process is something I could spend the rest of my life talking about.
Every Friday I get an opportunity to talk shop and hopefully get you to see how awesome home builder marketing really is. The only downside is that it’s kinda like talking into the void because I don’t get to hear back from you. But that’s why we have Homefiniti and Beyond which is coming back for season three next Friday!!!!
CDP 4 EVA
As for this week’s news, I’m focusing in on an acronym that has been swirling around my feeds for months and is deeply entwined with data privacy…..the CDP. CDP stands for Customer Data Platform and it is to marketing what a CRM is to sales. Essentially it’s a gathering spot for your data that helps to provide clear insight into a customer’s journey online.
CDP’s will be a must have item as we lose third party tracking abilities. Use of a CDP will be the best way to truly understand how effective your marketing dollars are in producing leads that ultimately turn into sales.
Once I learned what a CDP was, I couldn’t contain my excitement about the possibilities that having one held. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. Just this week Hubspot announced some changes to their platform that incorporate many features of a CDP. They didn’t go whole hog and outright create a CDP but they walked a fine line.
What’s the difference between a CDP and a CRM anyway? The easiest way to draw the line is that a CRM helps to track offline interactions with potential customers while a CDP tracks the online interactions. Wouldn’t it be nice to see not just that 3 leads came from Facebook and 2 from Google, but that one of them actually came from both and their name is Jane Smith? I mean can you imagine? This is exciting you all and this is what a CDP will do! The CRM will let you continue the conversation with Jane and enter in info that you found out when she came to the sales center and toured your model. 🤯 CDP’s are just the coolest and the most!
At the end of the day, making use of the first party data that you have access to is going to set your marketing efforts apart from the competition. Gather as much of it as you can, encourage your sales team to use the heck out of your CRM and share that information with your marketing team. Knowledge is power and you’ve got a ton of it at your fingertips already. Just wait until you start using a CDP to aggregate it all.
SUPPLY CHAIN SUPPORT
Who isn’t talking about the clogged LA port? Like literally everyone in the country knows about this backup and is suffering as a result in some way, shape, or form. Not the least of which are home builders who have suffered from an onslaught of supply chain issues from sky high lumber prices, to appliance shortages and everything in between. There was good news this week out of the White House, Biden’s stepping in to help alleviate the LA port back up and get things moving again. Not that this alone will solve home builders supply issues, but it will certainly help.
If you’re as excited about CDP’s and data as I am or if you’re wondering how Facebook and Google ads performed for home builders in the 3rd quarter of 2021 or if you have some questions about where to put your budget for 2022, tune in next Friday at 1pm to the season premiere of Homefiniti & Beyond on the ONeil Interactive Facebook page for a livestream with Megan and me.
