Amber Frankhuizen is interested in marketing.

Real estate developers are good at building everything from apartment towers that transform downtown San Diego into single-family homes. But when it comes to making a name for yourself and establishing a brand identity, that’s another matter entirely.

Amber Frankhuizen means filling the gap.

With a background in marketing and real estate, Frankhuizen is the founder and CEO of AFMKTG – an organization she started in 2018 after serving as vice president of sales and marketing for real estate developer Zephyr of Encinitas.
Working for Zephyr was “like getting a PhD in development,” says Frankhuizen. But as much as she learned, Frankhuizen said, “My interest is in innovation and marketing, not sales.”

AFMKTG has a variety of clients from shipbuilders to cosmetic dentists, but real estate companies are the core of the business.

“One of the reasons we work so well with developers is honestly because of my history,” Frankhuizen said. “Having worked in development for many years, I know what developers are about and what they want.”

Mentor

Frankhuizen earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from San Diego State University.

Frankhuizen, who grew up in Folsom, said she got an interest in real estate through her grandfather and mother, both of whom were involved in home sales. “I knew I wanted to be in business,” Frankhuizen said.

When someone asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said, “I always said I wanted to be happy; But the truth is, I always wanted to be a boss.

She looked to marketing to marry her love of real estate with her love of art.

“I felt so lost in college and didn’t have a lot of direction.”

She found her way with the help of a mentor and became a mentor herself at SDSU, bringing in two to three interns each semester.

“I’m on a mission to change the way people think about mentoring programs,” says Frankhuizen. “No coffee making or dry cleaning or running errands.”

Renaming

Frankhuizen started her career at a Carlsbad workplace with one employee — herself — and one client.

“We now have a team of five in San Diego and contractors all over the US that we work with,” Frankhuizen said.

Among its San Diego clients is Citimark, a developer that has built more than 1,550 homes and 23 condominiums in the past 22 years.
AFMKTG came up with a new look and logo for Citymark.

“Our brand was taking a nosedive,” said Russ Haley, vice president of Citimark.

Since Citimark was created in 2000, the company has not changed its look and logo.

“We were able to take a step back to remember what our company stands for and what our core drivers are,” Haley said. “We’ve been able to come up with an exciting brand and that’s across all of our media, including a new and exciting website and social media campaign.”

“He was at the forefront of that holistic approach, literally holding our hands as a team,” Haley said. “The Amber Agency is more than real estate. She can draw from a variety of industries and ensure that we deploy an excellent marketing campaign.

Citimark’s color scheme is green, purple and blue – colors that were popular when the company was founded.

“Brands are sensitive not only to consumers, but also to the people who work for those companies,” Frankhuizen said. “They want to feel and communicate that Citymark is a city, that they’re forward-looking, that they’re modern.”

The company’s new color palette includes copper and brown – colors intended to evoke a sense of warmth.

Frankhuizen used a triangle to spell out the company’s name in its logo – a symbol of change.

“Citimark will make a difference in San Diego by pioneering urban development,” she said.

“A brand is not just a logo,” Frankhuizen said. “It’s a collection of ideas. It is the identity of the company. It is their core values.”

Support

Long-term, Frankhuizen said she wants to keep her company small, but expects to double her staff within a year.

“I want to stay relatively boutique,” Frankhuizen said. “I want to be really hands-on with our customers.”

Starting her own company as a woman was a bit of a challenge.

“Honestly, it was hard for me to navigate being a woman in a very male-dominated industry, especially being a young person like real estate development,” Frankhuizen said.
“Honestly, I have to say that there are so many amazing women’s businesses in San Diego that I found so supportive and that I jumped right into starting my business. I have joined many different composers and many organizations.

Her advice to other women looking to start their own business is to “find mentors.”

“There’s nothing wrong with asking for help or not knowing what to do, but if you have a lot of hubris and moving forward, pretending you know what you’re doing is a surefire way to crash and burn out,” says Frankhuizen. “And doing something as scary as building a business is with a supportive community around you and I think that’s the best thing I’ve done in starting my own business.”

AFMKTG
Founded: 2018
Founder/CEO: Amber Frankhuizen
Headquarters: East Village
Business: Branding and Marketing
Employees: 5
Website: www.afmktg.com
Contact us: hello@afmktg.com
Social Impact: Amber Frankhuizen is an active mentor for San Diego State University students and alumni.
Known for: AFMKTG founder Amber Frankhuizen has been responsible for the sale, marketing or branding of nearly $1 billion in real estate assets over the past decade.