INDEX · 01 · OVERVIEW
The Ford Field & River Club
Real Estate · Luxury residential community · Richmond Hill, GA
ENGAGEMENT18 months · luxury real-estate marketingFORMERLYThe Ford Plantation

$47M inattributed sales.

The Ford Field & River Club (formerly The Ford Plantation) is a 1,800-acre luxury residential community in Richmond Hill, Georgia, built around a Pete Dye championship course, the historic Ford family mansion, and a private yacht club. Digital1010 ran an 18-month marketing engagement that elevated the digital presence to match $2M+ property values and documented $47M in attributed sales.Luxury real-estate decisions take 11 to 18 months, not 11 to 18 days. The work was positioning the community around lifestyle and legacy rather than property features, then building a long-horizon nurture system that earns the eventual visit. The community waiting list is now six months deep.
01 · Qualified inquiries
+312%
23/month → 95/month · 18 months
SOURCE · Ford Field & River Club CRM
02 · Cost per qualified lead
−75%
$1,247 → $312 · sustained
SOURCE · Paid-media reporting
03 · Sales attributed
$47M
Across 18-month program · digital-led
SOURCE · Attribution modeling
04 · Sales cycle
−7mo
18 months → 11 months · qualified
SOURCE · Pipeline analysis
INDEX · 02 · CHALLENGE
Why luxury real-estate marketing is its own discipline

The buyer cycle is measured in quarters, not days.

The community sits on 1,800 acres with 285 custom homesites ranging $200K to $1.2M, a Pete Dye championship course, the historic Ford mansion, and a private yacht club. The digital presence wasn't converting the qualified buyers who should have been walking the property. The fix wasn't another real-estate campaign. It was a different category of work.

  • 01
    Lifestyle positioning, not property features. Luxury buyers don't respond to lot sizes. They respond to the community their family joins.
    The existing marketing led with acreage, golf, and amenities. High-net-worth buyers make these decisions on social texture and multigenerational legacy. We rebuilt the brand voice around the community itself: resident profiles, seasonal life, the quietly exclusive rhythm of the place.
  • 02
    Long-horizon nurture, not short-cycle conversion. A $2M decision is an 11-to-18-month conversation, not a lead-form sprint.
    Most real-estate tooling is built for primary-residence timelines. These prospects research for a year before they visit. We built a 12-month email nurture that introduces community history, residents, and exclusive event invitations before any sales contact. The sales team talks to people who already know the place.
  • 03
    Quality over quantity on every qualified-lead metric. A lead that can't write the check is an expensive distraction.
    We scored every inbound against net-worth qualification from day one. Cost per QUALIFIED lead dropped from $1,247 to $312. The sales team's time went into prospects who could actually close, which compressed the sales cycle from 18 months to 11.
  • 04
    Attribution across an 18-month cycle. If you can't tie a closed deal to the first digital touchpoint 14 months earlier, you can't optimize anything.
    Real-estate attribution usually stops at form submission. We wired the tracking through contract close, so every $2M home tied back to the article, the ad, or the email that started the conversation. That's how we knew 73% of new residents named digital as the primary influence.
INDEX · 03 · THE 18-MONTH PLAN
How the engagement rolled out

Foundation first. Content engine next. Paid + nurture last.

Most agencies turn paid media on in month one. For a buyer cycle this long, that wastes the first year of spend. We built the site and the content asset first, ran organic through the middle, then layered paid once there was a nurture flow for the prospect to land in.
PHASE 01 · MONTHS 1-3
Site rebuild + photography.

Luxury-focused user experience, full seasonal photography across the property, virtual-tour integration. Foundation laid before paid media turned on.

Foundation
PHASE 02 · MONTHS 4-9
Content + SEO.

48 lifestyle articles, 24 resident spotlight features, seasonal photography campaigns. Site architecture rebuilt around luxury-lifestyle keywords so the community could rank for intent, not just name.

Content engine
PHASE 03 · MONTHS 10-18
Paid media + nurture.

Paid acquisition live across Google, Meta, and luxury lifestyle publications. 12-month email nurture sequence automated. Attribution wired so every inquiry tied back to its first digital touchpoint.

Acquisition + attribution
INDEX · 04 · TESTIMONIAL
Word from the client
Digital1010 is a great thought partner for us. They help us find and engage qualified prospective members while protecting and upholding everything that makes the club so special.
Marc RayGeneral Manager · The Ford Field & River Club
INDEX · 04B · TESTIMONIAL

“Digital1010 helps us reach who we need to reach. They continually refined our process and content in real time to draw tighter and tighter concentric circles. We've become hyper accurate in our targeting.”

Danielle Hopper · Director of Sales & Marketing · The Ford Field & River Club
INDEX · 05 · SERVICE HIGHLIGHTS
What's in scope

Eight concrete workstreams on the engagement line.

Each item below is a distinct workstream inside the 18-month engagement. Not an overview slide. The real line items on the invoice.
  • 01Lifestyle-first brand positioning built around community legacy, not property features
  • 02Quarterly digital + print lifestyle magazine showcasing residents, events, seasonal life
  • 03Site architecture rebuilt around luxury lifestyle keywords, not generic real-estate terms
  • 04Targeted paid media across Google, Facebook, and luxury lifestyle publications
  • 05Lookalike audiences modeled on existing high-value residents
  • 0612-month email nurture sequence before any sales contact
  • 07Professional photography across all four seasons, virtual tour integration
  • 08Marketing attribution wired to measure the 11-to-18-month buyer cycle
INDEX · 06 · RESULTS & RECOGNITION
Where the engagement landed

Lead volume. Lead quality. Closed revenue.

A luxury real-estate engagement of this shape has to prove out across three layers, not one. More leads matters only if they're the right leads. Right leads matter only if they close. These numbers stack.

Qualified inquiries: 23/mo → 95/mo.

312% increase over the 18-month engagement. Lead quality score improved 67% measured against net-worth qualification. Cost per qualified lead fell from $1,247 to $312.

$47M in sales directly attributed.

Average sales cycle dropped from 18 months to 11 months. 73% of new residents cited digital touchpoints as the primary influence on their decision.

Organic traffic +445%.

Time on site climbed from 2:14 to 6:32. Email list grew from 340 qualified prospects to 2,847. Press coverage in Architectural Digest, Southern Living, and Golf Magazine.

Community waiting list: 6+ months.

Social following grew from 1,200 to 12,400. The brand became a recognized category leader in private-community real estate, which is the compounding asset beyond the quarter's lead numbers.

The claim

Luxury runson patience.

The community waiting list is six months deep. That's the compounding asset of positioning for legacy instead of for lead volume. We're still the marketing partner. The system keeps drawing tighter concentric circles around the right buyer.