Marian de Guzman, Head of Marketing at Grovy Developers, believes real estate marketing now depends less on noise and more on credibility, broker trust and disciplined communication.
July 08, 2026 | Marian de Guzman | UAE | Real Estate
Marian de Guzman has spent the past 18 months watching the Dubai property market test the instincts of every marketing team operating in it. As Head of Marketing at Grovy Developers, she has had to make deliberate choices about what to hold onto, what to rebuild, and what to walk away from entirely. Her solutions are less about trends and more about discipline, and they challenge some of the most persistent habits in developer marketing today.
For de Guzman, the turbulence of the past 18 months has fundamentally changed how her team approaches timing and tone. "When there is uncertainty elsewhere, Dubai's stability story becomes our greatest asset; however, it needs to be managed credibly, not opportunistically," she says. The shift has been from aspiration alone to aspiration backed by evidence. "Buyers want assurance that their money will continue to be well protected in a credible jurisdiction. We have delivered this assurance by marrying the emotional portion of the sale with tangible proof: volumes of transactions, regulatory framework, and incentives tied to residency," she adds. Earned media has become central to that effort. "Press and editorial positioning allow us to tell the brand's story with a level of credibility that no amount of paid advertising can produce," she notes.
If we invest in the brokers and communicate respectfully, they will deliver appropriate customers to us
De Guzman is direct about how the modern buyer has changed the rules of upper funnel marketing. "The modern consumer comes to the table armed with much more information than we give them credit for," she says. Rather than leading with projects, Grovy leads with people, prioritising the Founder and CEO journey and brand legacy before any project conversation. Longer-form editorial, industry commentary, and thought leadership placements have, in her view, built more authority than any marketing material could match.
De Guzman is unsparing about tactics that have lost their relevance. "The use of generic hurry methods, such as countdown timers, fake scarcity language and blanket 'last units' messages, has become irrelevant to today's buyers," she says. Her sharpest observation is reserved for the broker relationship. "Our most important clients are our channel partners," she notes. "If we invest in the brokers and communicate constantly and respectfully, they will deliver appropriate customers to us. Pursuing end-user customers through excessive digital noise while failing to leverage the intermediary network are some of the most expensive and persistent errors in our segment," she concludes.
The views expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the editorial position of Real Estate Market Times.
