Market Proof Marketing

A weekly new home marketing podcast for home builders and developers. Each week Kevin Oakley from Do You Convert will break down the headlines, share best-practices and stories from the front line, and perform a deep dive on a relevant marketing topic. We're here to help you - not sell you! No fluff - just honest perspectives on where to invest your time, money, and energy to get the highest volume of quality new home leads to your sales teams. Take action on these ideas, and you can market proof your marketing efforts for your home building company.

Market Proof Marketing is a business podcast hosted by Kevin Oakley: Marketing Mind at Do You Convert, with 100 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Kevin Oakley: Marketing Mind at Do You Convert hosts Market Proof Marketing, a business show with 100 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Market Proof Marketing

  Ep 453: Ask Forgiveness, Not Permission

  Aug 20, 202637 min

  Kevin is joined by Julie and Caroline , and it starts with a question no marketer wants to answer on the record: have you ever broken the law for marketing? The confessions come quickly (and anonymously, if you'd like to submit your own). The team also digs into why late-summer budget conversations shouldn't feel panicked, why reallocating spend usually beats adding to it, and how a $5 cost-per-click on a niche banner ad is nearly always a red flag. Story Time: Julie: Have you ever broken the law for marketing? Caroline: Reallocate before you spend more Kevin: Holy AI Announcements: Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – 95% sold out! In the News: Claude’s new Scarlet Letter watermark is invisible—for now Google confirms testing new buttons on home page to drive users to AI-powered search features The Chart Isn't The Patient

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  Market Proof Marketing

  Ep 452: Building Trust Through Value

  Aug 13, 202635 min

  Ryan Hillgartner , Director of Sales and Marketing at Tim O'Brien Homes, joins the podcast to discuss his nearly 10-year journey with the high-performance home builder and how the company has built consistent sales success through disciplined pricing, strong sales training, and a growing data and analytics function. The conversation explores why Tim O'Brien avoids incentive-driven sales tactics, invests in integrated tech platforms, and treats each community's performance individually rather than chasing company-wide fixes. Consistency over chasing more traffic Tim O'Brien Homes has kept stable, strong sales performance (20%+ appointment close rates) for years without dramatically increasing marketing spend or traffic, showing that alignment between value and sales process matters more than volume. Tech and data as a differentiator From adopting HighArc early to building an internal data and analytics team that integrates other systems, Tim O'Brien has invested in connected data infrastructure well ahead of many builders their size. Foundational trust enables autonomy Ryan's leadership philosophy centers on supporting experienced sales managers rather than imposing change for change's sake, built on a track record of hitting sales goals. Follow Ryan on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanhillgartner/

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  Market Proof Marketing

  Ep 451: The Cheat Code Isn't the Answer

  Aug 6, 202638 min

  Jackie , Julie , and Caroline talk about how the smartest marketing often comes from slowing down long enough to notice it, why "defending what we do" is quietly eating up marketers' time, and how the same incentive can flop or fly depending on how you frame the math. They also cover Google's new AI content labels, the risk of leaning too hard on AI for blog content, and how to communicate to buyers that a brand-new home might actually be the best deal on the market right now. Story Time: Julie: Your best content is hiding in plain sight Caroline: Sell the lifestyle before the listing Jackie: Stop defending, start communicating Announcements: Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – 90% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket. In the News: Google rolls out AI content labels in asset studio Google May Be Penalizing AI-Generated Content As Thin Content The best deal in housing might be a brand-new home—how builders are winning over first-time buyers

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  Market Proof Marketing

  Ep 450: Appointments Don’t Lie

  Jul 30, 202645 min

  Kevin is joined by Julie and Caroline to celebrate Episode 450 (only 50 to go until the grand finale…), perform Market Proof Marketing’s first dramatic live reading, and dig into why the flashy, top-down fixes so many builders reach for are rarely the ones that actually move the needle. They also break down the Q2 Online Sales Benchmark data, talk through the risks of AI-generated content strategies, and unpack what happened when OpenAI's newest model got a little too curious for its own good. Story Time: Julie: Getting ahead of the aftermath Caroline: Zoom in, zoom out Kevin: Fix the root, not the symptom Announcements: Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – 90% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket. In the News: Q2 Online Sales Benchmarks OpenAI and Hugging Face partner to address security incident during model evaluation Google Local Services Ads Transitioning To Google Ads Platform It Works Until It Doesn't: AI Content Strategies That Backfire

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  Market Proof Marketing

  Ep 449: Get Specific or Get Skipped

  Jul 23, 202629 min

  Julie , Jackie , and Caroline talk about the anxiety of not knowing what you signed up for, why marketers keep drowning in the "junk drawer" of tools and tactics, and how to sell the communities everyone else has written off. They also discuss why builder websites are burying their best photos and whether Google's new social signals in Search Console are actually helping you or just helping Google. Story Time: Julie: What to do when a community has less-than-ideal neighbors? Jackie: Not my fault, but it is my problem Caroline: What Snuba taught me Announcements: Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – Over 80% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket. In the News: Most Builder Websites Hide Their Best Asset Google Is Using Social Media Signals To Mask AI Search Click Loss AI SEO: Writing That’s Specific May Get Cited More

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