Fractional marketing leadership
Brand, placemaking and marketing leadership for commercial and residential development
Your marketing department, or the senior leader your team needs.
Elizabeth Lord
Langworthy Lord · Greenville, SC
Fractional marketing leadership
Your marketing department, or the senior leader your team needs.
Where developments lose momentum
Brand work begins when the building is nearly done, so the launch is rushed and opening day arrives without momentum.
Without a clear name, position and story, centers and communities end up competing on price alone.
Designers, sign shops, printers, media and agencies pull in different directions while budgets and deadlines slip.
Leasing, sales and agent teams need consistent materials, signage and one story they can all tell.
Investors, partners, neighbors and the press each need to understand why the project matters.
Workloads rise and fall with project phases, and a senior marketing executive is hard to justify between launches.
Two ways I work
I create nearly everything myself: brand, design, writing, websites, social, PR, investor materials, placemaking, events and partnerships. No agency to hire, brief or manage.
I guide your team and speak for marketing on projects larger, or faster, than they have capacity for, working alongside the architects, site managers, investors and agencies already involved.
The same experience either way. The role changes with what you need.
If you don’t have a marketing team
I create the work myself, so there is no agency to hire, brief or manage.
New projects and corporate refresh
Copywriting, layout, photo selection
Development and updates
Strategy, analytics, execution
Meetings and special projects
Amenities, events, signage design, branding, office design
Corporate, community, nonprofit
Planning and purchasing
Presentations and print
Newsletters, corporate articles, communications
Press releases, crisis communications, community stakeholder meetings
Revenue and community involvement
Scripting, direction, editing
The one exception is video and drone filming: I script, direct and edit, and a videographer films.
If you already have a team
A senior guide and spokesperson for marketing, so your people can keep doing what they do best.
I represent marketing with architects, site managers, investors and community stakeholders, so decisions are made with the brand in mind.
I set direction and standards, guide designers, photographers and coordinators, and work hand in hand with the agencies you already trust.
For a larger scope or a shorter timeline than your team can absorb, I step in at the level the project needs, then step back.
Marketing liaison to architects, site managers and investors, working closely with the center’s advertising agency.
Led a graphic designer, photographer and marketing assistant behind one brand.
Where the CEO chose no agency, I took full control of the marketing.
How I meet the need
About
Brand and marketing experience
Birkdale Village · Waterdance Resort (planned) · The Wharf · Blackstream | Christie’s
I build the brand into the community: the amenities, signage, events and gathering places that make a development feel like somewhere.
I find and structure the partnerships that add revenue or stretch the marketing budget.
I connect with the people who will live in or visit the place, before and after opening.
Recent accomplishments
in marketing value from strategic partnerships, including Vendor Village, a program involving more than 100 agents.
office locations opened with full brand rollout.
editions of Guided Luxury Magazine written and edited, a real estate relocation guide.
global branding agencies worked with, Addison Whitney and Brand Symbol: brand development experience.
Track record
Contender America, Blackstream | Christie’s, Contender Homes, Saluda Construction, Contender Hospitality
Brand and launch work for developers, including Beachfield. Naming for Toyota, Carnival, Pfizer, McDonald’s and Firestone.
National shopping-center portfolio. Led The Wharf from concept through opening.
Mixed-use and residential developments, including Birkdale Village and Berewick.
Promotions, events, media and community partnerships for a large regional retail center.
What your development needs
Portfolio
Seven areas, each with an example for commercial and residential projects.
Portfolio · Placemaking
Grand openings, seasonal events and sponsorships that bring shoppers and tenants back.
Parades, gatherings and traditions that turn a neighborhood into a community.
Portfolio · Branding
Identity, banners and wayfinding for shopping centers and mixed-use districts like Birkdale Village.
Names, standards and positioning for neighborhoods and homebuilders, from concept to market-ready.
Portfolio · Websites
Leasing-ready and investor-ready sites for retail, mixed-use and hospitality destinations.
Community and builder sites, from a Daufuskie Island seaside village to a new homebuilding division.
Portfolio · Graphic design
Outdoor boards, ads and leasing collateral, like the Reedy River Retail campaign.
Brand playbooks, brochures and sales materials for homebuilders and brokerages.
Articles, signage, office layouts, pitch decks, investor and stakeholder correspondence, and videos.
Portfolio · Public relations
Retail launch coverage, like The Wharf in Chain Store Age (April 2006).
Resort and community launches, like Waterdance Resort in the Mobile Register (May 2005).
Portfolio · Partnerships
Cause and community partners that bring people to a center, like Birkdale Village’s holiday campaign with Habitat for Humanity Youth United.
Partnership programs agents and vendors join, creating $1M+ in marketing value, including Vendor Village with 100+ agents.
Portfolio · Writing
Features on walkable design, public spaces and water, written for Brier Creek (2009 edition).
Community and homebuyer storytelling, from a seaside village welcome to a book on the power of small moments.
Working together
I start by mapping the touchpoints where tenants, buyers, investors and neighbors meet your brand, then build the plan, team and standards around them.
An ongoing part-time marketing leader, without a full-time hire.
A defined scope with a clear end: a launch, rebrand, website or investor story.
Steady monthly support and advisory as the project grows.
Leadership during a transition, until a permanent hire is in place.
I would love to hear what you are building and how I can help.
Elizabeth Lord