Freya Oxton-Grant
If you are taking the opportunity to rethink your goals and get strategies set in place for how your building product business can continue to move forward and grow, then this is the perfect article for you.
Here we will present 10 ways to enhance and add to your marketing strategy. Consider it a pick-and-mix for which aspects of digital marketing your business could really get on board with that will allow you to crush the competition.
Read on to find out more…
#1 Create Engaging Content & Resources FOR Your Buyers
Reaching high fit prospects through engaging, niche content, that perfectly targets them and their pain points, is the first step to developing a construction content marketing strategy that converts.
Through this strategy, you can become a trusted advisor in your industry by providing valuable resources and articles that benefit your ideal specifier.
You can read more about how to do this in our recent blog: Building Products Content Marketing Essentials For 2021.
The benefits of content marketing are limitless, but we will narrow those down to three key ones:
- Content can benefit specifiers in all stages of their buyer’s journey
- It provides long-term value to your site by driving traffic and aiding SEO over time
- The content supports your brand by offering thought-leadership
# 2 Try Paid Advertising
With the majority of architects and specifiers using online search to discover new building products and materials, paid search marketing can get you at the top of search rankings.
Although at Insynth, we wouldn’t suggest paid advertising as a sustainable and long term strategy, it can be useful to supplement your content marketing and SEO activities that will help to get you up the search results organically.
The main benefits of paid advertising, whether on Google, Facebook or LinkedIn, is the opportunity to generate brand awareness, click-through, and surpass competitors for your specific niche's keywords i.e. "durable window glass for hospitals."
#3 Engage Architects with an Online Digital CPD
Digital CPD’s have boomed recently, due to the rise in architects working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Developing a CPD for your building product business is a great idea as it allows you to benefit architects by providing them product information they might not have known before whilst also showcasing your own product’s USP’s.
CPD’s can be delivered one of three ways – live in-person, through an online webinar, or as an on-demand recording.
Using a platform like Teachable is a great way to deliver an effective and easy to use on-demand digital CPD as it hosts your video clips and allows people to enrol themselves and work through them.
A digital CPD allows you to automate the process while also being able to monitor sign-ups so you can keep the conversation going, increase your chances of specification, and supercharge your construction marketing.
Read why CPD’s now matter more than ever, here.
#4 Utilise Video Marketing
Video content is much more digestible than written content so why not utilise this increased ability to engage with prospective customers by getting in front of the camera.
Recording yourself or your team delivering product information, demonstrations or installation methods through video will guarantee high levels of engagement for your construction business.
The other key benefit of video marketing is that it also is proven to lead to a 157% increase in organic traffic for businesses who title their videos as a response to highly searched queries.
In such a visual and aesthetic-driven industry (architecture and building design), video can play a big role in showcasing your case studies and projects in a detailed but easy-to-watch way..
#5 Sign Up for Construction Lead Generation Platforms
Many building product manufacturers have found success through signing up for online product listing websites such as NBS and SpecifiedBy or construction lead databases such as Barbour ABI and Glenigan.
These platforms allow you to publicise information about your brand and products that give prospects everything they need to find, select and specify your products. You should spend as much time promoting your products on their websites as you do on your own.
The benefits of these sites are that they can open you up to a wider pool of architects and specifiers who might not have heard of you before and generate your construction business a steady stream of new leads.
However, don’t forget, it’s up to your sales team to use this data and information and follow up with new project leads!
#6 Guarantee Good Fit Leads with Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
For those of you who are unfamiliar with ABM, it’s essentially a marketing tactic where your business highlights some key accounts you wish to engage and specifically targets them.
By personalising your construction marketing approach to a specific architectural firm or large contracting company, you can achieve stronger engagement with less effort.
When you invest time and resources engaging with exactly who you want to target, you can build relationships with gatekeepers at that company to get your foot in the door. This will elevate your chances of being specified in future projects they work on.
#7 Nurture Relationships with Consistent Email Marketing
Email marketing is a super targeted and effective way to deliver key messages to current and future prospects to stay top of mind with decision-makers in your industry.
A monthly newsletter of your case studies can demonstrate your bespoke offerings and solutions, or a selection of recent blog posts can answer key questions from prospects resolving their pain points.
Even better, an email discussing recent regulation changes in your sector will establish your authority in the space and an eBook explaining more can be a strong lead magnet for future customers.
It’s all about getting that content that you are creating (in idea #1) and sharing it with the specifiers in your database – so they actually get to see it!
#8 Optimise Your Website for Search and Conversions
Creating a high-quality website that works as your lead generating engine is a mainstay of any digital marketing strategy. After all, all your marketing communications should lead back to your website.
The first step is to ensure your prospects can easily find information and contact you when they visit your website. It’s also important to make technical downloads, CAD and BIM files, and brochures easily accessible too.
The second step to creating a lead-generating website is optimising its technical and on-page SEO. By doing this your business will then have a greater opportunity to rank on the first page of Google for keywords linked to your building products.
Focussing on this will increase your reach and produce a healthy flow of leads, making your website basically an extra salesperson that works for you.
#9 Invest in a Tech Stack that Works
A tech stack is a term used to describe the tools, services, software, operating systems and programs used by a company to build work systems.
It's known as a stack because each component builds on top of one another, thus stacking up.
Creating the best tech stack you can means you can benefit from increased communication, using tools such as Slack, and increased productivity, with task management, such as Click Up or Monday, which are task management tools.
The marketing and sales software for your tech stack we recommend is HubSpot. It is a best-in-class technology that offers an all-in-one marketing, sales and service platform so that you can create and monitor your entire sales pipeline.
The benefits of a tech stack are extraordinary for your construction marketing strategy. There's no point investing in marketing activities if you can't easily manage, track, and report on them - which is why getting your tech stack right is so important.
#10 Automate Your Lead Nurturing
Architects and contractors don’t make decisions overnight. Like any other buyer, they need to be nurtured with marketing materials that build their understanding of your brand, products, benefits, and experience.
Some marketers believe the magic number is 7 touches – how many times you need to engage a buyer before they trust you. Then that trust needs to be backed up with rational and emotional reasons to buy from you.
Marketing automation delivers ongoing and consistent messages, usually through emails, that move buyers from prospects to leads to customers, in an efficient and well-structured way. But you must do it right – no one wants cold emails or spam!
If you can get it right, automated lead nurturing can make all the difference for your building product business.
Not only will you save time and money but you will also benefit from higher conversion rates as your prospects will be engaged, nurtured, and supported as they take each step through your sales funnel.
Bonus Idea: Outsource Your Marketing To An Industry Specialist Agency
Improving your marketing strategy can seem like a big task but if you can get someone on board to help you with planning, strategy, design, content creation, and website development they can help share the burden.
Hiring a digital marketing agency that is a specialist in the building products industry means you can take advantage of years of industry-specific marketing experience to help you propel your business to the top of the construction space.
With the digital transformation of the construction industry ramping up, developing a digital marketing strategy will enable your business to focus on the goals you want to achieve so you can remain competitive.
At Insynth we are happy to guide and support your transition to a digital-first sales and marketing approach so you can scale your construction marketing efforts and go full-force into future growth.
Conclusion
There's a lot to consider and do, but times are changing, and buyer behaviour is changing with it.
Developing a construction marketing strategy and breaking it down into actionable tasks is what we do best. Tapping into 30 years of experience delivering exceptional results in the building product sector and growing businesses is what we love.
Just give us a call, or book a meeting, and we will take care of all of it for you.
About Insynth
At Insynth we deliver a predictable flow of leads, customers, and specifications for building product brands through our inbound marketing approach, proven to reach a technically demanding audience.
We use the latest marketing techniques such as construction inbound marketing, to equip building product companies to grow sustainability in this era of digital transformation.
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major in construction marketing. We have a proven formula of bringing a variety of functionalities together including CRM Implementation, Web Design, Sales Automation, SEO, and Email Marketing to achieve your ultimate aim: Growing your business and gaining new specifiers and customers.