What 2020 Taught Me About How To Be A Better Marketer
By: Ananth Rao
Tags: Marketing, Digital Marketing, Real Estate, 2021

To say that 2020 was unprecedented is an understatement. When we started this year, we had no idea what was in store. As a marketing practitioner, the conventional rules of marketing (and life!) did not apply anymore. In addition to the four “P’s of marketing (Product, Price, Place & Promotion), I needed to consider a fifth dimension to the marketing mix — Pandemic.

This was the year we attended meetings in pajamas, bonded with family and friends over Zoom, lined up outside the grocery store for toilet paper and Clorox, ordered completely unnecessary things on Amazon, learned the nuances of curbside pick-up, baked like nobody’s business, adopted furry companions, navigated distance learning (and Minecraft!), and used words such as “asymptomatic,” “nonessential” and “quarantine” like it was the most natural thing to do.

It was also the year of extreme economic uncertainties, millions of jobs lost, and entire industries wiped out. At EYA, we were lucky. The new home sales market was primarily insulated thanks to low-interest rates, limited housing inventory, and a desire for more space. We had a successful 2020 with three new community openings. While the market conditions were ripe in hindsight, we still needed to deliver. Here are my top 6 lessons as a marketer:

1. Embrace the chaos and uncertainty

What started as a typical year suddenly turned chaotic in mid-March. It felt like someone just flipped a switch and everything came to a grinding halt. We were looking at the prospect of opening a new community in about sixty days in the middle of a pandemic with a brand new sales team, an untested virtual opening process, new sales tools, new processes, and a new way of selling. Fast forward to November, we had three new community virtual openings with over 1,100 people attending these events — an all-time high for new community openings, transitioned our sales team to a virtual hybrid sales model, and ended up with the fastest-selling community in the company’s history. We saw a transformative way to do business necessitated by chaos.

We could do this because we learned to embrace the chaos and not fight it. We took a start-up like, sink or swim approach, went to the edge, and survived. Personally, it was an exhilarating experience, but not something I would recommend frequently.

2. “All one can do is the next right thing”

I was watching Frozen 2 the other day with my nine year old and something about what Grand Pabbie said stuck with me — “All one can do is the next right thing”. In a year as uncertain as 2020, that is excellent advice. Taking one step, and then the next one — just one step — is progress. That pretty much sums up what we did when we found ourselves in sticky situations. We tossed out the playbook and focused on just the next right thing.

For example, as we were pondering options to launch a new community, we were unsure if the market would be interested in a virtual event. So we surveyed our prospect list, and an overwhelming majority responded positively. That brought clarity, and we knew we were on the right track. As we started planning the virtual event, several other questions popped up — should we hold the event on a weekday or weekend? What time? What do attendees want to hear? Each time these questions came to mind, we asked, and the market answered. It was magical. We stopped making assumptions and reacted better to the market. We stumbled on a successful virtual event playbook, mostly by responding and taking one step at a time. Sometimes, It’s OK just to react.

3. Be flexible and nimble. Pivot. Be like water.

When market conditions are fluid and dynamic, there is an opportunity to create something new. We learned that lesson quickly when we pivoted in March from a sales-center-focused virtual reality experience that utilized a shared headset (that nobody wanted to use in a post-COVID world!) to a web-based tool that allowed prospects to experience our homes remotely. While these rapid changes caused a lot of heartburn, it helped us create tools that solved for a market transitioning to a virtual environment. Here’s an example of a quick video that we created over a weekend, thanks to our team’s flexibility.

4. Focus on what you control.

The constant, ever-changing news cycle, the somber realities of COVID, the protests, the elections, the anxieties and fears about families and friends, and the general assault on our collective senses was astounding this year. It’s like nothing I’ve experienced in my lifetime. It was hard to stay focused in such an environment.

I was able to stay focused by directing my energies only on what I controlled — my sphere of influence and treating everything else as noise. Deep work was a great distraction. Cutting through the chaos to focus on something I could control gave me a sense of calm. I broke down bigger goals into bite-sized, numeric, short-term goals that became mini-games. It helped me overcome the rollercoaster of emotions I felt this year. Keeping my eyes on the small wins gave me a sense of control and helped me stay balanced.

5. Be kind to yourself. Figure out a way to manage the stress.

Burnout was a real thing this year. According to a Deloitte Workplace Survey, 77% of professionals experienced burnout at their current job. Work, school, and home melded into one physical space for most of us this year. The sudden shift to remote work, uncertain economic environment, changing market conditions, and the unrelenting pressure to make things happen took a toll on mental health.

The biggest challenge I faced this year was to pause and listen to myself. If there’s one thing I would do differently, it is to figure out how to calm the limbic system (the fight or flight lizard brain) and engage the evolved brain. That is my biggest takeaway from 2020. I realize this is not so much an option but a necessity to develop creative solutions and innovate. Neuroscience has shown that several behaviors could help engage the evolved brain — run, meditate, play the violin, listen to music, journal.

6. Surround yourself with the right people and ideas, and keep your eyes open.

2020 was the year where we had to learn to navigate without a GPS. While there were no turn-by-turn directions, we had a compass that guided us to our True North — move forward. I was lucky to have great people surrounding me (virtually!) who were also trying to find a way forward and aligned in the direction we wanted to go. Most notably, Kevin Oakley, Andrew Peek, and Becca Thomas at DoYouConvert, who not only believed in the crazy goals we were setting but helped traverse through critical periods. Also, a big shout out to Rafael Toledo at TrueVista Virtual Reality, Matt Brown at Black Oak Visuals, the team at Focus360, Archibim, the team at Grafik, and IMPACT who believed in what we were trying to achieve and supported us in the best possible way they could. We also kept our eyes open and picked up many great ideas within and outside the industry (DoYouConvert’s virtual events, DeYoung Properties’ virtual opening processes, Abrazo Homes videos, CB Homes Idaho website) that kept us inspired.

As I look into the future with hope, I’m strangely thankful to 2020 for these enduring lessons. What are your 2020 takeaways? Share in the comments below.