During September 2015 to January 2016, I worked as a Marketing Coordinator/Analyst for the real-estate broker WLM Financial. Based in Inglewood, CA, the company focused on providing first-time home buyers with financial advice and loans needed to purchase their home.

Using my knowledge of GIS and demographics, I identified the locations of their target markets. I proposed ten cities in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area that they can look to expand marketing operations into. On the broker side of business operations, I looked at home sales data, mortgage data, and property prices to locate other states that WLM Financial can look to apply for broker licenses.

After getting to know their operations, targets and goals better, I created a marketing and a branding plan for the company.

In terms of brand building, I used their current website and Facebook page as points of interest and set goals to be reached by July 2016 and July 2017. I created a social media schedule for them to post select content and to generate more reach and views to reach a greater local audience. The original goal for July 2016, which is 700 likes on their Facebook page has already been reached as of today. During my time there, I also helped triple their unique daily reach from 1000 to 3000.

In terms of marketing, I identified a need for the company to start creating a reliable database and to start collecting appropriate information from their clients in order to understand the effectiveness of their marketing and the types of clients that tend to be successful in their loan applications. I created a plan for their database and a clear list of information to be collected. Database logs and templates were created from that plan. I also created a disclaimer template to be used in contracts to inform clients that their information is collected but the privacy of such information is maintained. Lastly, I understand the need for a system of checks and balances to ensure the security of the database so I created a plan detailing database authorizations.

With the implementation of these plans, WLM Financial has been more effective in reaching their clients and creating a professional and friendly company image for the local community. As of February 2016, the targets for July 2016, detailed in the branding plan, has been reached.