Kathy Forrester recently was promoted at The Randall Family of Cos. to the position of executive vice president in charge of marketing and strategic initiatives. Since she joined the company five years ago, Forrester has built the size and capacity of the marketing department and absorbed functions that previously were outsourced.
In 2017, she directed a companywide rebranding effort and provided support for four brokerage acquisitions. She responded recently to a series of questions posed by the Providence Business News.
PBN: What is the primary role of marketing for a real estate company?
FORRESTER: The real estate industry has evolved. Real estate firms have essentially become marketing companies. Our primary business is to either market and sell our client’s properties or work with buyers to help them purchase property offered by another real estate marketing firm (i.e. another real estate brokerage).
While our licensed experienced sales associates are the invaluable boots on the ground interacting on an interpersonal level with buyers, sellers and their own professional network, a brokerage’s marketing team provides the structural foundation of the company’s marketing program. This foundation includes the all-important development of the company’s mission, vision and brand. It also includes the management of brand standards and consistency in internal and external messaging.
The overarching marketing program includes advertising, public relations, digital and social marketing, development of agent support materials and resources (collateral materials such as brochures, beauty sheets, post cards, digital templates, etc.), special events, and philanthropic/community-support initiatives.
Our team also provides internal communications and develops/delivers marketing tools and resources that help our real estate agents work smarter, not harder.
PBN: What is your background in the field?
FORRESTER: I’ve been working in a marketing management capacity for over 30 years. After college, with dual degrees in advertising and visual communications, my early experiences were in advertising-agency account management. I’ve worked on ad accounts from Grape Nuts Cereal in New York to the southeastern U.S. Pizza Hut account to a portfolio of five-star international resorts, while an account supervisor for the country’s largest ad agency specializing in travel and tourism.
One of the high points in my career was working within the Walt Disney World organization as a marketing manager. At Disney, I was responsible for all in-state Florida advertising. Later in my career, after a move to the Greater Boston area, I operated my own marketing and design firm, commuted by plane to Nantucket every day and even worked as a marketing manager for a leading international underwater-robotics company.
I like to say that marketing is marketing. The basic fundamentals of marketing remain, regardless of the product or the service. Over a long, rewarding career, I’ve learned the importance of staying technically current, nimble and responsive to market fluctuations.
PBN: What programs or changes have you implemented since joining Randall Family of Cos. in 2014 as director of marketing?
FORRESTER: We’ve experienced many changes within The Randall Family of Cos. marketing department over the past four years, most notably the growth of the department from a modest, hardworking, two-person team to a group of eight highly experienced professionals within their own disciplines.
One of my management priorities has been to leverage the skill sets of the staff talent we have and to provide redundant backup, so we can provide personalized support over a very large spectrum of agent requests.
Other changes include reducing a reliance on outsourcing to external vendors. We have systematically developed ways to utilize our in-house talent and expertise to provide marketing services within the organization. An excellent example of this is our proprietary Prosperity Magazine. Prosperity is a publication highly targeted to an affluent market and includes lifestyle content, market data and 100 of Cape Cod’s high-end properties on the market. The magazine is planned, created and produced almost entirely in-house.
PBN: What specific technologies have been introduced in your time?
FORRESTER: While our agents’ professional experience and personal network is the foundation for their success, use of the latest real estate tools and technology can truly differentiate them from the competition. We’ve worked hard to deliver our ProAdvantage platform, an innovative suite of tools and resources to our agents. These resources rival any offerings of any national firm.
This platform includes our proprietary, built-from-the-ground-up, agent online productivity dashboard The Navigator; our automated property-marketing program; and resources [such as] our interactive Pilot CRM [customer relationship management and presentation] program, which is integrated with the MLS [Multiple Listing Service] and our company-provided agent websites.
Having a full-time marketing technology manager, digital strategist and social media specialist certainly supports this objective. Each one of these professionals are equally adept at training, allowing us to bring agents up to speed quickly on new technology.
PBN: Because real estate is so competitive, marketing could really make a company rise above others. How do you develop a brand name in this environment?
FORRESTER: By methodical and strategic design. Through a disciplined approach to SWOT analysis [strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats], we are constantly assessing the position of our companies in their marketplaces. We look at the best ways to leverage strengths and opportunities and to overcome threats and weaknesses.
Further, we recognize the importance of highly localized knowledge and expertise when it comes to building a strong regional real estate brand. Our CEO, Doug Randall, for example, started the company over 40 years ago. The company has been built upon a level of trust and reliability over decades. That means something in our local market. It’s human nature that people like to work with local brands that they can trust. We recognize that.
Finally, in my humble opinion, brand consistency is vital. Trying to be all things to all people is a business strategy wrought with pitfalls. During my career, I’ve personally found that being a brand purist is a common trait among successful marketing professionals.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
