Industry chief marketing officers David Marine, Wendy Forsythe, and Sandra Howard share how to use technology thoughtfully and reliably.
Marketing is about more than creating an eye-catching logo, creating a viral social media campaign, or creating an inspirational ad. According to three of the industry’s top chief marketing officers, their job is to be masters of creativity and cunning strategy, where every dollar and every minute spent must lead to measurable outcomes, whether it’s increased agent productivity, improved recruitment and retention, or more consumers choosing their brokerage over their competitors.
David Mullin |Credit: X
“When we talk about online campaigns, low-level recruiting efforts, trying to influence franchise sales for franchise businesses and see growth metrics, to me, the metrics side of things is what really shows what’s working.” [and] “Where can we invest more time to see what’s performing at a high level and what’s not?” David Mullin, chief marketing officer of Compass International Holdings Franchise Brands, told an audience at Inman Connect New York on Wednesday.
Mullin said he always has metrics at hand to validate his work on Compass International Holdings’ franchise brands, including Coldwell Banker, Century 21, ERA and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. Each campaign and social media post has a measurable impact on your company’s bottom line.
“Every dollar we spend on media generates $10 in revenue,” he said. “So when you walk into any room and someone asks, ‘Why are you spending money on this?’ you have a picture-perfect reason.”
Wendy Forsyth |Credit: LinkedIn
Wendy Forsythe, CMO of Marine eXp Realty, and Sandra Howard, CMO of Keller Williams, said artificial intelligence is key to increasing the company’s creativity and return on investment from its efforts.
Forsyth and Howard said AI is most effective when used as a springboard for creative ideas or as a tool to reclaim time from simpler parts of marketing. However, they said marketing processes should not be left solely to AI.
“From an efficiency perspective, I think AI is the first step. AI can put us in some kind of trouble. [on] But that won’t get you to the end, right? ” Forsyth said. “We have a similar philosophy for agencies. We would never encourage agents to replace voice with AI.”
Howard highlighted the enterprise partnership between KW and Canva, noting that agents’ day-to-day marketing efforts have been streamlined, allowing them to focus on what’s important: helping clients navigate the buying and selling of a home.
sandra howard
“We know this is a partnership that many people are familiar with, but one of our main pillars is education and training, so implementing and leveraging Canva will save us time,” she said. “[That] It equates to spending more time nurturing your customers, being human and interactive, and spending more time doing what you do best and love doing the most. Because I don’t think anyone actually enters this industry to become a marketer. ”
Marin said his team uses every Monday to discuss AI, highlighting best use cases and most effectively sharing those insights with CIH affiliates.
“We say, ‘This is how we use it at Century 21, but we can apply it another way at Coldwell Banker,’” he said. “And from there, we found some great use cases that not only help us maintain our brand standards, but also help our agents.”
The three CMOs said they are excited to discover new ways to leverage AI in 2026, giving them and their affiliates more time to focus on creating exhilarating in-person experiences, such as planning firm-wide conferences and hosting intimate masterminds with leading agents and brokerages.
“While we will continue to use AI to bring efficiencies to brands, we will also infuse the opportunity from those cost savings into the real-life agent experience,” Forsyth said.
“When you work with entrepreneurs who are waking up every day, reinventing the way they approach business, and bringing on new team members, if you can provide the alignment and framework to immerse all of that together, you get to that magic touchpoint. That’s the magic.”
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