The Situation:

Being a leading real estate developer in Calgary, and an early pioneer in internet marketing, Carma wanted to stay ahead of the curve with respect to internet marketing. In 2007 their websites were starting to look dated and there were still some operating divisions that needed websites. Despite their pioneering nature, traditional marketing was still the main stay of their marketing practice. They needed help in guiding the corporation towards more accountable internet marketing practices.

The Challenge:

Carma had well over a dozen websites and was in the process of developing more for new divisions and communities.  Each division and community had its own management and marketing teams. We needed a way to influence and guide the process without a top down directive driving the process.

The Approach:

A series of pilot projects and proofs of concept leading to a variety of large and incremental changes over a multi-year period. The approach has been to coach, consult and support organic change from within.

The Results:

The process continues to unfold, but Carma Developers are achieving their objectives by staying ahead of their industry's internet marketing curve. They have developed four major new websites and updated several more, shifted a significant portion of their advertising budget into online media and are embracing more accountable on-line marketing best practices. New developments now take internet marketing into account as early as the "drawing board" stage. The corporation is embracing the practices at an accelerated pace.

Our Role:

Since Carma is such a large corporation, requiring enterprise class solutions, our role has primarily been strategic. We have been guiding and influencing rather than doing, laying the foundation for larger more specialized consulting firms to develop the websites. We have however, played an operational role in on-line advertising and performance tracking, closing the loop on strategy with on-going campaign management services.

Program Deliverables

Design:

• Consultation and strategic planning
• Case studies and pilot projects
• Develop financial models
• Facilitate brand development
• Creative briefs and key sales messaging
• Competitive review and keyword research

Build:

• Develop website specifications
• Wireframes and usecases
• RFP documents and vendor selection
• Support project leadership
• Writing, SEO and tracking services

Grow:

• Search marketing campaign strategy
• Develop campaigns for several communities and sites
• On-going campaign management
• Analytics and custom reporting 
• Report and complete performance optimization of campaigns and websites