The real estate industry is at an inflection point.
The advertising tactics that worked in 2010 don’t work anymore. Even the strategies that felt cutting-edge in 2025 are already losing effectiveness. AI has reshaped search. Paid social is crowded. Attribution is murky. And consumers are more skeptical — and distracted — than ever.
So what actually works in real estate marketing in 2026?
In our latest episode of Let’s DOOH This, I sat down with Lauren Henss, VP of Marketing at First Team Real Estate, and Jeff Kennedy, Founder & CEO of Maverix Advisory Group to talk about what modern marketing really looks like inside high-growth brokerages.
This wasn’t a surface-level conversation about tactics.
It was a deep dive into positioning, revenue accountability, digital transformation, and why marketing must evolve from a support function into a strategic growth driver.
One of the most powerful moments in our discussion came when Lauren said:
“Being known might get you on the list — but being understood actually gets you chosen.”
That single sentence captures the entire shift happening in real estate marketing.
Legacy brands rely on longevity and reputation. Modern brands build meaning, identity, and emotional connection. Today’s buyers, sellers, and agents don’t choose a brokerage simply because it’s familiar — they choose it because it resonates.
And that resonance doesn’t happen by accident.
It happens when marketing:
Lauren shared how First Team has structured marketing as a performance engine with acquisition costs, multi-touch attribution, recruitment goals, and billion-dollar growth targets tied directly to marketing KPIs.
That’s the future.
Marketing is no longer about flyers, listings, and processing requests.
It’s about:
We also explored how Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) plays a role in this transformation by creating premium, real-world brand moments that complement digital channels and build recall in ways walled gardens simply can’t.
If you’re a brokerage leader, marketing executive, or growth-minded brand builder, this episode is a must-listen.
Because in the next chapter of real estate, marketing doesn’t support growth.
It is growth.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Let’s DOOH This here: