Rich Newsome
If we can take anything from the past few months, it’s how reliant we have become on technology. For most of us, working from home has prompted us to discover new and interesting ways of working.
How many of you have discovered the ‘virtual background’ on Zoom?
Remote working aside, however, we have noticed that many organisations within building products and construction are turning to technology as a way of running certain business operations more efficiently.
With trade shows being cancelled and sales reps not out on the road, our online presence has had to step up – turning our website into an ‘extra salesperson’ in many ways.
Building a technology stack can be a daunting task – particularly with so many options out there. This blog hopes to give you some advice on how you can get the most out of your tech stack, and which tried and tested tools work best.
Read on to find out more.
What is a technology stack?
A [marketing] technology stack is a group of technologies that a marketer uses to execute, analyse and improve their marketing across the customer lifecycle. Its main focus is to improve collaboration, measure the impact of marketing activities and reach customers in new ways.
When done right, an effective tech stack will allow you to step up your marketing game, saving you time and potentially increasing your ROI.
Examples of when a tech stack is important:
Tech stacks are useful for a range of marketing activities. Key examples are:
- Social media scheduling
- Email marketing
- Building landing pages
- Video Communications
- Automations
- On-site communications
- CRM
- Sales alignment
We’ll now explore each example in further detail.
Your social media technology
A key reason why building products professionals don’t consistently post on social media is because of a lack of time. However, a consistent approach to social media is a great way to stay relevant and present with your target audience.
With that in mind, you will benefit from software that allows you to schedule social media posts ahead of time – ensuring you maintain that required consistency.
Social media scheduling is also great for experimenting what time of the day is best to post updates; you may find that posting at 7pm on a Friday (once you’ve finished work) will get a different level of engagement compared to other times of the day.
Key technology for social media scheduling: Hootesuite, Hubspot, Sprout Social.
Your email marketing technology
If you attended our seminar a few weeks back, you’ll have learnt that email continues to be an excellent way to market your products and solutions. This still remains to be the case as we slowly begin our long road to normality.
Effective email marketing software will allow you to:
- Build attractive emails (without being a web designer)
- Reach out to a large group of contacts
- Effectively apply the rules of segmentation to ensure that your message gets received by the intended buyer persona
Email technology can also be a great sales tool. Software such as HubSpot allows you to set up sequences – enabling you to send out automated emails to prospects based on their level of engagement.
Building Landing Pages
For those of you not graced with your own in-house web developer, it can be a nightmare trying to make visual changes to your website. An attractive landing page is a great tool for lead conversion – and the right software will help you to build an aesthetically pleasing landing page without the expertise of a web developer.
A high-conversion landing page will contain a form, CTA, informative text and engaging images.
Video Communications
I think we can all agree that Zoom has been a pivotal tool during this lockdown period – not only from a professional perspective but from a personal perspective, too.
We’ve no doubt that you’ve been using Zoom to communicate with members of your team, but have you considered using it to carry out virtual CPDs?
Gone are the days where you traipse through town to an architectural practice with a selection of cheap sandwiches to deliver your sales pitch/CPD. By converting it to a virtual format and hosting it on your website (making sure it’s gated with a landing page and form), you’re providing instant education to anyone carrying out product research. This will build trust and authority, and save you money on M&S sandwiches!
Website Automations
If you’re a one-man-band responsible for the marketing within your building products company, its important that you offload some of the most laborious tasks to the delights of automation.
Automation provides an automatic response whenever a website visitor completes a desired action. For example, if a website visitor downloaded your latest eBook, an automated email response to say “thanks” is a great touch.
Similarly, if you’ve recently launched a new product, you may wish to automatically set up tasks for your sales team when a website visitor views the webpage more than twice.
On-Site Communications
For those of us who have seen an increase in website traffic in recent months, a great tool to incorporate into your website is an automated ‘chatbot’ that visitors can use to reach out to you. Messaging systems like this are great for improved customer support and engagement.
CRM Software
Effective CRM software will record customer contact information and store these details, giving you a complete record of individuals and companies, so you can better understand your relationship over time.
It gives you an accurate view on the website behaviours undertaken on your website – which in turn gives sales reps an idea of the customer’s pain points and what they need to solve their problems.
The Problem With Too Many Technologies
The examples above are only a few of the different technologies available to you. In truth, there are many types of software that helps you to build your marketing tech stack.
Feeling overwhelmed? That’s not surprising. Working with lots of different technologies will inevitably cause more harm than good. It’s incredibly difficult to keep on top of all things at once. Is anyone else picturing a circus performer spinning plates?
Using too many technologies will cause your process to be fragmented and confusing – not to mention giving you a lack of attribution – making it difficult to track customer behaviour.
Additionally, if people within your teams are using different software, you may be opening yourself up to mixed messaging and a lack of sales and marketing alignment.
That’s why, at Insynth, we recommend a tech stack that serves a multitude of purposes. As HubSpot partners, we advocate the use of HubSpot as an efficient, yet effective way to house your tech stack – allowing you to achieve all of the above, and much more.
Conclusion
Establishing your tech stack is the first step in streamlining your processes for this new environment we find ourselves in.
At Insynth, we have worked with many building products companies – implementing HubSpot software to make positive changes to their team’s operations.
To talk more about the technological options available to you, don’t hesitate to get in touch with an expert 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.