Henry Jones
The way construction product’s businesses are getting specified is changing, this is partly due to the changing nature of the workforce.
If you’re aged between 25 and 40 you’re classed as a millennial and this age group makes up 35% of the UK workforce.
Millennials are digital natives, who grew up using the internet and technology. But why is this relevant to construction products businesses?
Well, 73% of millennial workers are involved in decisions to purchase products or services for their companies and millennial B2B buyers cited internet search and vendors’ websites as their top two means of researching products and services.
Does your construction products website cater to the needs of these modern specifiers?
If you think it needs some improvement, then read on to find out how to get your construction products website can get your business specified.
Whose Your Best Salesperson?
Is it Dave, Julie, or your company mascot?
What if I told you it should be your website?
Your website is working 24/7. It doesn’t take breaks, it performs consistently and it can deal with hundreds of customers at once.
The website can provide the exact resources and information that a sales prospect needs exactly when they’re looking for it.
The resources and content are the stepping stones you must place throughout your website to help your leads move through the buyer’s journey.
The buyer’s journey represents the stages a lead transitions through on their way to purchasing your construction products business.
You must consider the needs of a specifier at every step of this journey and have your website set up to provide them with a valuable experience no matter which stage they’re at. In the same way, a salesperson would address the specific needs of each customer they talk to.
Build It And They Will Come
Whilst Kevin Costner was talking about a baseball field, the sentiment behind this great line can be translated to your construction products website. The ‘it’ you need to build for your website is content. Specifically, content that solves the problems of your potential customers. This is the inbound philosophy, it’s all about putting the right information in front of the right people at the right time.
So that’s the ‘it’ but what about the ‘they’? Well to get prospects to visit your website you need to drive traffic to your website. The more website traffic you can create, the more opportunities are also created.
This can be done by tailoring your content using search engine optimisation (SEO). This is where you write content that contains specific keywords and phrases that people are searching for when looking for information on the topics associated with your business. The aim is to show up on the first search engine results page (SERP). However, it’s a competitive market and over 25% of people click the first Google search result.
You can find out more about harnessing the power of SEO here.
Content Marketing
Most websites have a blog or news section but most websites are also guilty of just using it to publish internal company news, such as being nominated for an award or winning a project tender. Whilst this might be fantastic news for your team unfortunately, people outside your business simply aren’t interested in this.
So what should the blog section be used for? Well, this is where you publish the content I talked about earlier. Resources and information that is helpful and interesting to your target market.
That means, industry news, market insights and educational pieces. They’re looking for knowledge that will make their job easier. It also has the added effect of increasing your authority as an expert in your field. If you can prove you know what you’re talking about and build trust with prospects then you’ll prove to them you’re reliable and increase your chances of being specified.
Blog posts need to be fresh and updated to communicate the latest information. They must be easy to digest, educational and inspiring to specifiers.
High-Value Resources On Your Building Product Website
Blogging is typically associated with the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey. It drives traffic and builds credibility for your construction products website and your brand.
But it’s not going to get you specified.
Once you’ve won the trust of a prospect you need to convert them into a lead. This would be someone who has shown a higher level of interest in your products or services and is also further along the buyer’s journey. You can get an indication of this via the content they engage with. You want them to take action, you can do this by offering more valuable content such as:
- eBooks
- Whitepapers
- BIM Files
- Pricing Calculators
- How to guides
- Technical Specifications
Create calls to action (CTA’s) that encourage browsers to click to download this content. Send them to landing pages designed exclusively for each piece of content. Capture some contact information and track it in your contact management system (CRM). From here your leads can be nurtured using newsletters, offers or personal emails from your sales team that help them to overcome any objections they may have to specify your product.
Conclusion
Earlier I asked who your best salesperson is, and whilst this was slightly tongue-in-cheek as the role of sales, or business development is a vital part of your business, I hope you’ve been able to see how your construction products website can help your business to get specified.
Using your website as a content hub and a go-to for any specifier looking for information you can, by leveraging SEO, drive traffic to your website. Remember to provide resources across the buyer’s journey so you’re continually delighting and providing value to website browsers, prospects, and leads.
Signpost, using CTA’s, exactly where this content can be found, make it free, downloadable and easy to access. If it’s high-value content then trade it for their contact details so you can nurture their interest before passing them on to sales.
Your construction products website shouldn’t be a passive brochure, but an active part of your sales and marketing strategy that plays a part in getting specifications.
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.