CLIENT CASE STUDY
Windermere was one of my first clients when I joined Madak. I led the execution of three major campaigns: an advertising campaign focused on attracting potential home buyers from Seattle and Bellevue, a community engagement campaign, and an intensive agent recruitment campaign.
Welcome to Camano Island
Welcome to Camano Island was designed to showcase the beauty of Stanwood and Camano Island, engage with new audiences, and attract out-of-area buyers. I took over the campaign about six months after the campaign had launched, so my priority was to expand, optimize, and strengthen the campaign with updated creative and stronger advertisements.
OPTIMIZED MESSAGING
In the beginning, the campaign's call-to-action seemed unclear. Even though the landing page invited users to download a map or take a tour, the campaign mainly focused on describing the area.
When I took over, I wanted to make it clear that we had a reason to introduce people to Stanwood and Camano Island's beauty: to encourage them to visit so they could fall in love with the area and buy a home or a vacation property. I worked with our digital ads specialist to update the written and creative content included in the Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads to better emphasize the ultimate goal of connecting with a Realtor® and finding a property.
CREATIVE CONTENT
The creative content initially developed for Welcome to Camano Island was captured in the summertime and highlighted it as a dreamy beach community. The previous strategist created profiles for a dozen neighborhoods with photoshoots hosted by real homeowners. I led another four neighborhood photoshoots and wrote profiles for the website, maps, and listing guides.
In addition, I advocated for refreshed creative that would be more seasonally appropriate for digital ads. To frame Camano Island as a suitable home year-round and to provide relevant creative content for digital ads, I provided direction and scripted a fall video and photoshoot.
AUTOMATED EMAIL MARKETING
The campaign landing page was already set up for users to schedule a tour of the island with an agent or download a map for a self-guided tour. I set out to improve conversions with more effective follow-up using automated emails.
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For users who requested a tour, I only created one automated email to collect their feedback on the experience and share a few new listings. In addition, I created messaging suggestions for the assigned agent to conduct personalized follow-up.
For users who downloaded a map, I set up a multi-step email series. Two days after their download request, an email would share additional tips on the area and upcoming open houses. Two weeks later, a second email would request their feedback. After another two weeks, a third email would invite the user to connect with an agent to turn them into a valid sales lead.
EARNED MEDIA & BLOGS
To increase awareness of all that Camano Island has to offer, I also wrote a few blogs and pitched stories to regional media.
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Each piece was designed to highlight what makes Camano Island special: convenience, natural beauty, and plenty to do. One article I wrote about the island's top five short-term rentals was designed to encourage people to visit and was featured by Seattle Refined.
We Are Stanwood Camano
This campaign started as a community rally cry from the Windermere slogan "We Are Winderemere" and included community events, charitable giving, and community service. Our overall strategy included local media efforts, an improved social media strategy with templates, and a monthly newsletter. I also led the marketing efforts and mapped out procedures for more than a dozen events.
EVENT HIGHLIGHT: ANNUAL REAL ESTATE FORECAST
Windermere's Chief Economist Matthew Gardner is available for event bookings. Madak advised a strategy for an annual real estate forecast beginning in 2019, and I led the strategy for the 2020 Real Estate Forecast. With stronger ads and email marketing, we increased attendance by 15% over 2019.
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Building off the success of the event and wanting to cement Windermere's position as the leading real estate agency in the area, I encouraged my client to begin sharing their monthly stats. I wrote monthly emails on behalf of the office's owner, published the reports to the blog, and shared with local media. It's a great resource for homeowners in the area, demonstrates Windermere's expert knowledge, and gives Windermere a chance to highlight their impressive market control.
Agent Recruitment & Retention
The Windermere Stanwood and Camano Island offices each control the majority of their local markets. To maintain market control, we developed a strategy to recruit top talent with a discovery kit, messaging recommendations for the office owners, organic and paid social media content, and events.
When I started, I was entrusted with several legacy clients and then became the lead for our premium clients. I was promoted to senior marketing strategist after one year at Madak to acknowledge this level of client responsibility and the leadership role I took on internally, especially when our team transitioned to full-time remote operations.
FOUNDATIONS
After we identified recruitment as a top priority, I mapped out our strategy including digital ads to attract leads, events to engage leads face-to-face, and a messaging guide and timeline to lead potential agents through the pipeline. I also coordinated a photoshoot at the office to ensure we would have the creative content we needed for a successful campaign.
OUTREACH
Part of the strategy I devised included a discovery kit that would show potential agents the benefits of becoming a Windermere broker. This kit was designed to be used during a one-on-one meeting between the leads and the office owner. I also designed handouts that provided a more general overview that could be given out earlier in the timeline.
RETENTION
To keep agents happy and support their success at Windermere, Madak devised several marketing packages available to agents. When I started, I helped optimize the processes to collect information from the agents so we could more efficiently deliver agent branding packages and digital marketing support for each listing including landing pages and ads.