The HousingWire award spotlight series highlights the individuals and organizations that have been recognized through our Editors’ Choice Awards. Nominations for HousingWire’s 2024 Marketing Leaders are open until April 30, 2024. Click here to nominate someone from your organization today.
While they have endured a rocky, rates-driven cycle, marketers in mortgage and real estate continue to play a pivotal role in lead generation, customer acquisition and retention differentiation that has helped to keep many organizations stay afloat.
With the goal of highlighting the critical role that marketers play, HousingWire’s Marketing Leaders award spotlights the industry’s highest-achieving marketing execs who are driving their businesses to adopt more innovative, data-driven, and customer-centric approaches to stay competitive in today’s landscape. Marketers like Shannon Baldwin, VP, Marketing at Milestones, who was recognized as a 2023 Marketing Leader for her outsized imprints on the marketing teams she has helped lead and the strategies she’s implemented over the course of her career.
HousingWire reached out to Baldwin to learn about how she stays ahead of the curve as a marketer and what she’s excited about in 2024.
HousingWire: As a marketer, how do you stay ahead of trends and ensure your marketing strategies remain innovative and impactful?
Shannon Baldwin: Staying ahead in marketing requires a multifaceted approach that combines a commitment to learning, strategic use of data, building a strong network, and maintaining a customer-focused mindset. Dedicating time each week to reading industry publications, attending thought-leadership webinars, and analyzing data from a variety of sources, i.e. customer feedback, social media engagement, website analytics and market research, helps me spot emerging trends and gain insights into what resonates with our audience.
Regularly reviewing the effectiveness of our marketing initiatives and measuring ROI is key in identifying areas for improvement. By being adaptable and willing to pivot our strategies based on performance and feedback, we maintain our edge.
Also, building a strong network with peers in the industry and collaborating with other departments within my organization fosters innovative thinking. Networking events, conferences, and collaborative projects are excellent opportunities for me to exchange ideas and discover new approaches.
Staying focused on the customer experience ensures our marketing remains relevant and impactful. By understanding our customers’ evolving needs and values, we can tailor our messaging and channels to meet them where they are, enhancing engagement and loyalty.
HousingWire: Milestones was recognized as a 2024 Tech100 Mortgage honoree. As VP of Marketing, how do you help differentiate Milestones’ offerings from the abundance of other tech solutions available to industry professionals?
Shannon Baldwin: At Milestones, our core mission is to help mortgage professionals get closer to consumers by delivering ongoing value throughout the entire journey of buying, moving, owning and selling — not just the few months spent transacting. From the consumer’s perspective, homeownership can often be overwhelming. Getting a home is exciting, but taking care of one is usually a series of unexpected and costly expenses. The professionals who have the expertise to guide them tend to disappear shortly after they finance the home, leaving the consumer lost.
This focus gives us a unique position in the market, as we’re not just another tech solution; we’re creating a new category aimed at bridging the gap between consumers and mortgage professionals by leveraging homeowner portals. These personalized, white-labeled portals are designed to help homeowners manage their largest asset and build wealth, while helping lenders build long-term, profitable relationships, deliver great service at scale, and foster repeat and referral business.
It’s incredibly satisfying to see the realization dawn on mortgage lenders that we offer something truly valuable. We advocate for the mortgage industry to reallocate their marketing spend towards nurturing existing customer relationships to increase repeat and referral business, rather than solely focusing on acquiring new customers. Adopting the ultimate homeowner engagement solution to connect more meaningfully with prospects and borrowers, will ultimately help uncover new opportunities to boost revenue.
HousingWire: Are you able to share any upcoming projects for 2024 that you’re excited about?
Shannon Baldwin: I’m particularly excited to lead an upcoming brand and website relaunch for Milestones. This initiative will enhance the brand’s identity and website to better showcase the strength of the Milestones homeowner engagement platform and the source of its ongoing motivation to help industry professionals build profitable, long-term relationships with homeowners.
Through enhanced storytelling, our rebrand initiatives will help convey to the industry at large how Milestones supports every industry professional connected to homeowners, including those in mortgage, real estate, title, home services, insurance, inspection, home warranty and homebuilders.