Rich Newsome
Continuing with our series on construction marketing strategy, this post sets out to assess the current state of marketing within the building products and construction industry, and what you can do to ensure a successful and prosperous 2020… and beyond.
You’ll find many posts out there that talk about marketing in 2020, and you’ll no doubt be bombarded with buzzwords like KYC, Digital Marketing Transformation and insights-driven marketing.
These words all have their place in the marketing sphere, but they don’t necessarily resonate with the challenges that the building products and construction industry face. So, we’ll set out to assess the current state of marketing within your industry, allowing you to progress further and smash your goals.
The Buyer’s Journey Has Changed
In times gone by, the buyer’s journey was based around getting information from outside sources. These included reps, magazines, journals and trade shows.
Can anyone remember when RIBA used to do a library service that would be regularly updated? As a manufacturer, you’d give them some brochures, pay X amount of money and put them in the right places so that they’d be seen.
And Along Came Google…
All the information that specifiers need is right in front of them; at their fingertips, in their pockets.
Back in 2014, founder and CEO at Specifiedby, Darren Lester, highlighted that 99% of specifiers do their building product research online.
In the years following this, further research carried out by Specifiedby identified much the same, highlighting that contractors, specifiers and architects are all consumers. They’re influenced by social, economic, technological and environmental forces in the same way as everybody else, which means that companies in the building products and construction industry must adapt.
Read More:
- Construction Marketing Strategy: Identifying The Gap
- Construction Marketing Strategies: Why Inbound Works For Building Products
- Construction Marketing Strategy: How Much Should You Invest In Growth?
- Construction Marketing Strategy: What is TAM?
What Do Construction Marketers Need To Do?
The change in this buyer behaviour means that a product manufacturer who wants to get in front of decision makers about a new project needs to get their online resources developed and optimised.
Align your CRM system together in a single platform.
Automate processes to deliver a 24/7 customer experience.
And that’s the role of marketing in 2020:
To take control of the vendor, specifier and purchaser along [probably] around 75-80% of the buyer’s journey before it gets handed off to sales to close the deal.
What Changes Do Building Product Manufacturers Need To Make?
Firstly, the industry needs to realise that this is happening and stop fighting it. To quote Leigh Simpson,
“It’s like King Canute trying to hold back the tide... It’ll never work”.
Long gone are the days of sales reps being handed a box of brochures and being told to ‘get out there and speak to some people’.
But, sadly, we’re still seeing those methods. We still hear sales managers complaining that reps are struggling to get meetings.
So, what do they do?
They get them to ring more people.
And that’s not smart. We recommend you step back and look at why your reps are struggling to get those appointments.
A Common Misconception From The Building Products Industry
“We’ve got a website; that’s enough.”
There’s a difference between a website that acts as a twenty-four-hour salesperson and a brochure site. The latter serves very little purpose, other than to vaguely demonstrate products with little-to-no visual impact or branding, whilst making zero attempt at online visibility.
Want to hide a dead body? Put it on page two of Google!
Where Could You Make Changes?
Firstly, look at the structure of your sales team. Do you really need ten regional salespeople, for example?
If you made just one of those roles redundant, you’d be saving in excess of £70,000 a year, when you factor in cars, fuel, salary and bonus.
Think about where those savings could be invested. Consider hiring two, good quality marketing professionals who’ll utilise your budget in an effective way by optimising and improving your online presence.
The bottom line: Shift 10-20% of your sales budget and put it into marketing.
Re-structure and re-balance the relationship between sales and marketing. It’s not about spending more money; it’s about spending it in the right place.
What Strategies Do You Need To Get Right?
Making structural changes can be a daunting task, and it can be difficult to know where to start. When it comes to digital marketing, we recommend that you address some key areas to get you off to a strong start.
Firstly, content is king. We can’t stress the importance of content enough. Written content in the form of blogs is what Google eats and digests. It’s what’ll get you found online.
Video content is what people engage with most, so consider how product demonstrations, testimonials and factory tours would resonate with your audience.
So, get your content right in the first instance.
Also, talk to the NBS to find out what specifiers want. BIM models, DWGs, specification clauses, case studies, testimonials and data sheets are all tools to help specifiers… specify.
Get those things in place, get it on your website and get your website optimised.
If you’d like any extra information on how you can bring about positive changes in 2020, get in touch with one of our experts today.
About Insynth
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major on construction marketing, we bring together construction marketing strategy, digital strategy, website design, SEO, content marketing, email marketing, sales automation, marketing automation and HubSpot CRM implementation to produce successful campaigns and great results for our clients.