Minute with a Marketer: ForSaleByOwner's Lisa Edwards Shares How to Stay Competitive
This month, we’re featuring Lisa Edwards, head of marketing at ForSaleByOwner. The Tribune Publishing Company-owned brand is the nation’s leading “by owner” real estate site, providing consumers with all the resources needed to sell and buy homes on their own.
Lisa shares where marketing is headed, how companies can stay competitive in a constantly evolving landscape, and more.
Q. Please share a bit about your role and your company.
A. I head marketing for ForSaleByOwner. We’re a tech company creating a better way for consumers to sell and buy homes by empowering them to make smarter, more-informed decisions on what’s often the biggest investment of their lives.
Q. How can businesses stay competitive in today’s marketplace?
A. There’s an art and science to avoid “being ubered.” Companies need to stay closely connected to their customers by leveraging real-time data and having ongoing, meaningful conversations to identify challenges. Rigorous testing to shape the future and the willingness to nimbly alter direction when needed is critical. Beyond that, rethinking hiring and retaining talent are equally important as it’s our teams that make things happen.
Q. Where is marketing headed?
A. Marketing has never been more complex. As the demand and sharing economies become more prevalent, real-time, dynamic personalization across devices will be the price of admission. Marketers can help companies win by leveraging predictive analytics to influence cultural conversation, product mix, and pricing, and to ultimately identify new areas to monetize.
Q. What are your marketing goals for the rest of this year?
A. Our biggest opportunity resides within driving consideration. For us, that means a few things:
- A highly transparent and authentic content strategy fueled with first- and third-party data that not only aids in acquisition but helps our customers successfully sell and buy homes.
- Dynamic personalization across all channels and devices.
- Full-funnel attribution to help manage investment.
Q. Is there one thing you are most proud to have accomplished in the past 12 months?
A. 2015 was a great year across many fronts. Much of that can be attributed to Rise raising the bar in terms of capitalizing on opportunities within display and paid search channels to drive more revenue at a more efficient rate.
Q. What was the best piece of business advice you ever received?
A. Simplicity is everything.