Market Proof Marketing

Jackie, Julie, and Caroline talk about how the smartest marketing often comes from slowing down long enough to notice it, why "defending what we do" is quietly eating up marketers' time, and how the same incentive can flop or fly depending on how you frame the math.

They also cover Google's new AI content labels, the risk of leaning too hard on AI for blog content, and how to communicate to buyers that a brand-new home might actually be the best deal on the market right now.

• Julie: Your best content is hiding in plain sight
• Caroline: Sell the lifestyle before the listing
• Jackie: Stop defending, start communicating

• Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – 90% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket.

• Google rolls out AI content labels in asset studio
• Google May Be Penalizing AI-Generated Content As Thin Content
• The best deal in housing might be a brand-new home—how builders are winning over first-time buyers

Kevin is joined by Julie and Caroline to celebrate Episode 450 (only 50 to go until the grand finale…), perform Market Proof Marketing’s first dramatic live reading, and dig into why the flashy, top-down fixes so many builders reach for are rarely the ones that actually move the needle.

They also break down the Q2 Online Sales Benchmark data, talk through the risks of AI-generated content strategies, and unpack what happened when OpenAI's newest model got a little too curious for its own good.

• Julie: Getting ahead of the aftermath
• Caroline: Zoom in, zoom out
• Kevin: Fix the root, not the symptom

• Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – 90% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket.

• Q2 Online Sales Benchmarks
• OpenAI and Hugging Face partner to address security incident during model evaluation
• Google Local Services Ads Transitioning To Google Ads Platform
• It Works Until It Doesn't: AI Content Strategies That Backfire

Julie, Jackie, and Caroline talk about the anxiety of not knowing what you signed up for, why marketers keep drowning in the "junk drawer" of tools and tactics, and how to sell the communities everyone else has written off.

They also discuss why builder websites are burying their best photos and whether Google's new social signals in Search Console are actually helping you or just helping Google.

• Julie: What to do when a community has less-than-ideal neighbors?
• Jackie: Not my fault, but it is my problem
• Caroline: What Snuba taught me

• Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – Over 80% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket.

• Most Builder Websites Hide Their Best Asset
• Google Is Using Social Media Signals To Mask AI Search Click Loss
• AI SEO: Writing That’s Specific May Get Cited More

Beth Russell and Karla Tuten take over the podcast to talk about their personal experiences buying and nearly buying/renovating homes, using their own emotional and often illogical decision-making to illustrate what builders and marketers consistently miss about the customer journey. The conversation moves from house-hunting logistics into a broader argument about brand messaging, urging builders to sell the feeling of a life lived in a home rather than its spec sheet.

Both admit that once they found "the one," specs like square footage, interest rate, and lot size stopped mattering. 

Karla contrasts the "black and white" certainty of new construction (known systems, no bidding wars, warranties) against the chaos of resale (unknown home age, competing offers, escalation clauses, surprise maintenance costs).

Many marketers are good at getting attention but fail to translate that into the emotional resonance that actually moves someone to buy - and that gap is where builders lose customers.

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, adaptability, and the value of gaining broad exposure across many builders rather than staying siloed within one company.

The 2008-2011 downturn taught hard lessons about how quickly fortunes reverse; those who lived through it built resilience that served them in later market shifts.

Working across 100+ builders at Do You Convert (vs. staying at one company) has built pattern-recognition and problem-solving skills that function like an industry "MBA."

Push through the tough, absorption-heavy first three years; patience, geographic openness, and long-term relationships pay off, with opportunities compounding around year five or six.

• Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – Over 70% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket.
• Do You Convert is hiring! View all open positions.

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 consumer trust.

• Julie: Sometimes the answer is a can of paint
• Beth: When follow-up feels like being stalked
• Jackie: Curiosity is a marketer's secret weapon

• Market Proof Marketing Academy – Virtual Event – Sign up for the interest list for next year.
• Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – Over 70% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket.
• Do You Convert is hiring! View all open positions.

• Assuming Why the Competition is Winning is Killing Your Results 
• AI search adoption rises as consumer trust declines: Study
• OpenAI moves to automate ad creative

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 dollars, and why "we need more awareness" might be the wrong instinct when buyers are already worried about missing your listings.

• Julie: Follow the incentive the whole way
• Kevin: What’s keeping your leadership up at night?

• Market Proof Marketing Academy - Virtual - July 7-9, 2026 - Only 2 spots remaining!
• DYC Online Sales and Marketing Summit - Austin, Texas - October 1-2, 2026 - Tickets are 70% sold out, don’t wait to get yours.

• Google Zero-Click Searches Hit 68% in Early 2026, Says Study 
• Betting the House: Insights from the 2026 Top 200 

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.

Builders default to generic out of fear of missing buyers, but intentional design for a specific target actually expands the market by pulling people out of resale, rentals, and indecision. Only 36% of Americans feel at home in their home - that's the opportunity being left behind.

Erin also dives into how buyers aren’t making spreadsheet decisions, the status of the post-close relationship and how Sekisui House is operating a “happiest home” mission with their customers.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinboggswillis/

https://www.nature.org/en-us/

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 optional, what Realtor.com’s new AI-powered home search means for builders, and whether Google’s new Prospect Mode is worth a test or a hard pass.

• Caroline: Square footage? Never heard of her
• Melissa: Let AI tell you what your buyers actually want
• Julie: Fix the leak before you turn on the faucet

• Online Sales and Marketing Summit - Austin, Texas - October 1-2, 2026 - Tickets are over 60% sold out, get yours today!

• If You’re Not Using UTM Codes, Your GA4 Data Is Inaccurate
• Realtor.com Launches Real Assist AI, a Completely Reimagined Way to Find a Home
• New Google Ads Prospecting Mode Targets Brand-Unaware Users

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 friendly debate over whether Meta’s upcoming subscription tiers are worth a single dollar of anyone’s monthly budget.

• Beth - A magical marketing lesson
• Julie - Take the win, no matter how you got it
• Kevin - The doorman fallacy

• Online Sales and Marketing Summit - Austin, Texas - October 1-2, 2026 - Over 50% of tickets are gone, secure your spot today.
• Google Adds AI Mode To Search Box: 3 Things You Need To Know - Virtual Event - June 16, 2026 - Registration required, limited spots available.

• CoStar nears $800 million deal to buy Zonda in housing data push, sources say
• Google Is Retiring Standalone Display Campaigns In Favor Of Demand Gen
• Meta launches Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp subscriptions, with more to come, including AI plans