Market Proof Marketing

Online Sales Coach Melissa Fort joins the podcast to trace her 20-year career journey through the new home industry, from launching one of the earliest online sales programs at Lennar in 2005 through the 2008 financial crisis, multiple cross-country relocations, and eventually into marketing leadership roles. The conversation blends nostalgic industry history with hard-won lessons about resilience...

Jackie , Julie , and Beth discuss the power of staying curious with your data and why obsessing over your competition might be steering you in the wrong direction. They also dig into when marketing follow-up crosses the line from serendipitous to straight-up creepy, what a two-year-old spec home can teach us about listening to buyer feedback, and the growing tension between AI adoption and consume...

Kevin is joined by Julie to debate which AI tool will own the consumer mindshare race, why following an incentive through the buyer's journey matters more than the promotion itself, and the question every marketer should be asking their leaders this week. They also dig into a fresh wave of zero-click search data, what the ProBuilder Top 200 reveals about where builders are betting their innovation...

Erin Willis , Chief Insights Officer at Sekisui House , joins the podcast to share her journey through the home building industry and challenges the sector to move beyond generic decision-making toward consumer-focusd, data-driven strategies that treat home buyers as whole humans instead of transactions. Targeting everyone means reaching no one Builders default to generic out of fear of missing bu...

Julie is joined by Caroline and special guest Melissa for a crossover conversation about why marketing and online sales teams can’t afford to operate in silos. They dig into the assumptions marketers make about what buyers care about and how AI is quietly turning OSC call transcripts into one of the most underrated marketing research tools available. They also break down why UTM codes are not opti...

Kevin is joined by Julie and Beth to talk about what marketers can learn from Disney, why a successful event deserves a lot more than most teams give it, and why "leads are up" might be the most dangerous sentence in your dashboard. They also dig into the CoStar acquisition of Zonda and what it could mean for new home listings, why Google is quietly retiring standalone display campaigns, and a fri...

Kevin is joined by Julie and Jackie to talk about overpacked calendars, a return to glasses (and what that has to do with reading your data), and why the prettiest content in your ad account isn’t always the one converting customers. They also debate whether home builders are in the demand creation business or the desire creation business, unpack the Compass and MRED Zillow standoff playing out in...

Julie is joined by Jackie and Caroline to share real-world stories about the pitfalls of new market launches and how everyone looks at the marketers first when things start to go south for sales. They also dig into the latest news around Google Ads and a broad SEO shift that prioritizes brand recognition and trust over traditional keyword rankings. Story Time: Julie - You have to create what the c...

Rachel Peters joins the podcast to share her career journey from a college intern at Hershey Entertainment and Resorts to her current role at Realtor.com New Construction. The conversation covers lessons from working in large marketing organizations, the value of diverse internship experiences, her time at Keystone Custom Homes, and her perspective on what home builders consistently get wrong with...

Kevin is joined by Beth , Caroline , and a special guest to discuss the importance of leveraging internal teams for great content ideas and the benefits of using AI tools for content automation, while ensuring that human expertise is still used. They also get into defending your foundation, tools, and strategies in a noisy market with less-than-hopeful headlines. Story Time: Beth - Trust your foun...

Kevin is joined by Julie and Beth to discuss why giving people less might actually get you further, why the way you've always looked at your data could be quietly costing you, and what separates the builders who move fast from the ones who are still waiting for that "perfect" buyer.  There is also a discussion about if the market is actually struggling, or if it just feels that way, and a conversa...

Julie Jarnagin is joined by Jackie Lipinski and Caroline Collard to talk about why some of the oldest ideas in marketing are still winning, why some marketers are hesitant to use newer tools, and what happens when a home builder decides to stop playing it safe. Story Time: Caroline - Creating demand for the Flying Squirrels Jackie - Saving minutes, not hours, with AI Julie - Summit Excitement Anno...

Kevin is joined by Julie and Caroline to discuss an online sales specialist juggling cookies and conversion rates, increasing ad spend as a reflex, and throwing resources at problems without first figuring out what the problem actually is. There is also a friendly debate around AI content strategy that ultimately lands somewhere simple: be clear, direct and useful, and the rest will follow. Story...

Julie Jarnagin joins Jackie Lipinski and Beth Russell to talk about practical challenges marketers face with communication and data storytelling, and the importance of getting out from behind the desk to understand the home buying experience from the customer’s perspective. Hear why strong marketers should combine data, empathy, and real-world insight into consistent messaging and compelling stori...

In what may be the biggest guest episode of the year, Rand Fishkin , Co-founder and CEO of SparkToro , joins the podcast to talk about AI's role in search results and the importance of navigating the complexities and misinformation within digital marketing - especially around AI tools. Rand brings the research and the reality check on how AI is reshaping search, exposing why its recommendations ca...

Host Kevin Oakley is joined by Beth Russell and Caroline Collard to talk about birthday pancakes for dinner, balancing structure and flexibility in marketing strategies, and how prioritizing the top of the funnel doesn’t ensure better results. They also discuss a new pricing tool for builders and its use for data-informed decision making throughout the home sales process, and how to combat “conten...

Julie Jarnagin sits down with Beth Russell and Caroline Collard to discuss why homebuyers could be completely ignoring your ads, and why being findable now trumps being rankable (the strategies that worked two years ago aren't cutting it anymore). They also dig into what today's buyers genuinely want in a new home, the growing wave of long-distance relocations, and the early (and murky) buzz aroun...

Host Kevin Oakley joins Julie Jarnagin and Beth Russell to discuss the various forces that are changing how buyers find homes. This episode breaks down why buyers are worried about missing listings, how Compass’s new partnership could reshape the market, and what changing search behavior means for real estate marketing. Story Time: Julie - You steer towards what you’re looking at Beth - Photos are...

Julie Jarnagin joins Caroline Collard and Jackie Lipinski to unpack the marketing moves that matter and discuss trust-building content. This episode dives into smart homebuilder strategy: why “unsexy” homes can still win with the right storytelling, how YouTube and influencers may shape AI-driven search results, what shifting homebuyer age data means for targeting, and why overusing obvious AI wri...

Kendall Thacker, VP of Product at Legacy South, joins host Kevin Oakley and Beth Russell to discuss his experience with a pre-sale event from the strategy behind it to the lessons learned.  Legacy South Pre-Sale Event Strategy Kendall explained that the event was created to address declining Q4 sales by generating urgency and a sense of scarcity among buyers while showcasing their homes.  Model Ho...

Julie Jarnagin  joins  Caroline Collard  and  Jackie Lipinski  to dive into the nitty gritty details that separate effective marketing from flashy trends and flimsy strategies.  From unintended brand messaging in the biggest ads of the year to understanding the halo effect on your brand performance, this episode is full of the kind of compounding analytical attention to detail that actually conver...

Host  Kevin Oakley  joins  Jackie Lipinski  and  Beth Russell  to discuss the coming shift from search sessions to decision sessions, the value of attention, the growing importance of giving your audience a clear next step, and the personal pain of clearing your browser cache.  If you need a clear next step for your spring marketing plan, listen in for real signals amidst the noise of today’s AI o...

Kevin Oakley welcomes Haley Naebig, Director of Sales at NoviHome, who shares her ins and outs for 2026. The 2026 Ins and Outs List (Home Builder Edition) Haley shares her take on what needs to stay and what needs to go in the housing industry this year. A Customer Experience Horror Story We get into Haley's real-life experience with the builder of her current home, and it's not pretty. From warra...

Host  Kevin Oakley  joins  Julie Jarnagin  and  Caroline Collard  for a thought-provoking discussion of marketing by design, the importance of diverging perspectives, and a deep-dive into data that dispels the AI attribution hype.  Special Announcements Kevin will be interviewing Rand Fishkin this February - Please send in your questions about SEO, consumer behavior, and more to  show@doyouconvert...

Julie Jarnagin ,  Beth Russell , and  Caroline Collard  unpack why intentional marketing matters more than ever for homebuilders.  From rethinking how buyers experience model home events to finding smarter ways to guide people toward a decision, this episode focuses on knowing your goal and designing the path to get there. If you've been feeling the rut of defaulting to familiar tactics, this epis...