Case Study —

Double-Digit Lead Gains for a U.S. PropTech Giant in a Downturn

Overhauled the U.S./Canada demand generation strategy for real estate technology and consumer platforms Top Producer and REALTOR.com (Move Inc.) during the Great Recession, resulting in 37–53% month-over-month lead growth and 130,000+ annual inbound inquiries per year.

Expertise —

Agile Team Management

Agile Culture Risk-Taking

Content Marketing

Copywriting
Persuasive Messaging

Integrated Direct Response Strategy

Email/database Marketing
Content Marketing
Digital Marketing
Web Marketing
Traditional Advertising

Website

Direct Response Strategy
Testing & Optimization

Demand Generation

Lead Generation
Lead Conversion

Stakeholder Collaboration

Cross-functional Alignment (product/sales/marketing/client care)
Internal Communications

Agile Team Management

Agile Culture Risk-Taking

Content Marketing

Copywriting
Persuasive Messaging

Integrated Direct Response Strategy

Email/database Marketing
Content Marketing
Digital Marketing
Web Marketing
Traditional Advertising

Website

Direct Response Strategy
Testing & Optimization

Demand Generation

Lead Generation
Lead Conversion

Stakeholder Collaboration

Cross-functional Alignment (product/sales/marketing/client care)
Internal Communications

The Opportunity —

Top Producer and REALTOR.com (Move Inc.) faced a sharp decline in sales across the U.S. and Canada during the Great Recession. With budgets tightening and industry confidence at historic lows, both companies urgently needed a marketing strategy that could restore monthly lead volume and improve product sales and adoption for core platforms such as Top Producer CRM, and new product launches including the new REALTOR.com and Top Producer iPhone apps, and a redesigned REALTOR.com website experience.

The Approach —

Working with highly skilled in-house marketing teams in Greater Vancouver and California, I refocused marketing to drive lead generation and conversion across every channel to meet urgent sales and product adoption goals. Email, web portals, landing pages, digital and print ads and tradeshow materials were rebuilt using direct response, conversion, and analytics-driven strategy, design, and content. A client database of nearly 1 million records was leveraged for high-impact cross-promotion and upsell opportunities.

Strategic Initiatives —

Agile Team & Culture

Strengthened a collaborative, agile marketing culture built on teamwork, performance and speed.

Direct Response & Conversion Optimization

Focused marketing channels, including emails, web portals, landing pages, newsletters and digital advertising on lead generation and conversion. Applied conversion- and analytics-centred design, persuasive content and continuous testing to maximize leads and product sales.

High-Velocity Database Marketing

Dramatically accelerated campaign cadence to deliver 130+ lead generation and marketing campaigns to the company’s database of 1 million U.S. REALTORS, segmented and structured for conversion.

Content at Scale

Personally produced a significant share of the company’s marketing assets, with 35,000+ words of published content annually. Ensured messaging had the persuasive depth to support agent decision-making in a difficult economic period.

Stakeholder Collaboration

Aligned marketing, customer care, and sales teams to refine campaign concepts, strengthen planning, and ensure cross-departmental readiness for lead and inquiry volume generated by marketing.

Impact —

This strategic shift and cross-functional collaboration delivered significant business impact, driving 37–53% month-over-month lead growth, generating 130,000+ online and phone leads annually, and attracting 1 million consumer visits to Top Producer’s website. Collectively, the team consistently achieved product sales targets despite a challenging recession.

2009-2010 —

1M

Annual Website Visits

37–53%

MoM Lead Growth

130K

Annual Leads