Ainhoa Rodriguez-Muguruza
Often depicted as a sprint, marketing can often feel more like a marathon. It requires work, hard work that, however, if done right, always pays back. Building product brands often feel frustrated about their marketing strategy, feeling like they are trying a thousand tactics without getting any results. But there is another way (or rather, ten other ways!) to do marketing for your building product brand.
In this blog, we go over what a good construction marketing strategy looks like and whether your own strategy needs a change. Change does not need to be sudden, and we recommend you ten different construction marketing strategies that you can start implementing today to start seeing results that will allow your building product brand to grow.
What A Good Construction Marketing Strategy Looks Like
It is important that, when implementing, you have a clear understanding of how those construction marketing strategies work, so you can better establish the goals that you want to achieve through those practices. Yet, bear in mind that there is no magic formula and, whilst you would gladly welcome immediate results, marketing is a long-term commitment, helping you, step-by-step, deliver a great experience for your brand and your customers.
Your Construction Marketing Strategy Should be High-Quality
A good construction marketing strategy will be overarching and omnichannel, making sure that you are reaching your audience at different levels. Yet, quantity should not be valued over quality, and you should ensure that the activities that are carried out within your marketing strategy only produce high-quality assets that are relevant, timely, and informative. When doing marketing, always think about the value that your brand is bringing to your customers.
Your Construction Marketing Strategy Should be Consistent
The reliability of your brand is as strong as the consistency of your marketing strategy. Having a defined strategy will allow you to carry out marketing activities in a timely fashion, without overwhelming your customers or leaving them in the dark. A common mistake is thinking that repetition enables consistency but that can lead to your audience getting bored. Stay relevant and innovative whilst providing your audience with content they are genuinely interested in.
Your Construction Marketing Strategy Should be Targeted
Not all specifiers look for the same construction solutions and it is essential to gain a deep understanding of the core challenges your specifiers might be facing when designing your construction marketing plan. Your construction marketing plan should have a clearly defined main character. Truth is, specifiers do not necessarily care about you, they care about how your product can make their lives easier.
Your Construction Marketing Strategy Needs a Refresh If…
Most building product brands already have the perfect ingredients to implement a successful marketing strategy but, unfortunately, the key is in the execution. And, more often than not, execution involves employing methodologies in continuous development that need to be constantly monitored, adjusted, or even discarded, once they are put to test and assessed. A successful approach takes time, effort, resources, and expertise, but it can also transform your brand.
… You Do Not Have a Marketing Goal
Even if goals can feel restrictive, your strategy should always have some kind of target or KPI. Your marketing activities should not be led by inertia but, rather, pursue a particular aim. This goal does not need to focus on closed revenue, but it can refer to subscribers, phone enquiries, or brochure downloads. A strategy with no purpose will fail to be helpful and, sometimes, can be detrimental to the reputation of your building product brand.
… You Are Just Trying to Sell
Surprisingly often, sales and marketing activities get mistaken. When doing marketing, your activities should focus on educating, providing service and, ultimately, bringing your customers closer to a product or service that is meant to help them overcome their challenges. No one likes being sold and, most importantly, feeling like they are only considered transactional individuals. Make your customer relevant by providing them with relevant information and excellent customer service.
… You Are Not Optimising Your SEO
Great marketing content can become virtually invisible if it is not backed by solid SEO research. If you have no awareness of the keywords that you should be targeting to better reach your audience, you risk not being able to speak to them. It is not only about the message, but also about how that message is delivered.
10 Construction Marketing Strategies You Can Start Implementing Today
#1 Inbound Marketing
Unlike traditional outbound marketing practices, inbound marketing does not rely on cold calling or print ads. Rather than reaching out, inbound marketing focus on attracting your audience to you. This marketing philosophy entails a more customer-centric approach, where the customer takes action only when they feel ready. Inbound marketing is respectful with timings, making sure customers get the right message, at the right time.
#2 Content Marketing
It might sound easy but, bear in mind that your audience is not looking for any content, but for thought-provoking and educational conversations that resonate with them. Content creation is only effective when combined with carefully researched keywords, optimised communication channels and bullet-proof copywriting. However, if done right, it can allow for your building product brand to position itself as a trusted advisor and an expert within the sector.
#3 Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective and sophisticated methods of communication and should be an essential factor in your construction marketing strategy. The most common mistake companies make when emailing their audience is blasting a general email that does not resonate with their needs or challenges. With that in mind, the first thing you'll need is to segment your database so you can better target the different persona within your audience.
#4 Educational Marketing
Whilst no one likes being given a lecture, providing your audience with clear information about your construction solutions is a fantastic way to engage with your customers and transmit a message in a clear way. Educative content has the overall goal to communicate basic information about a product or service your company offers and, they are meant to be introductory, free of industry jargon, and, most importantly, short! Think about it like a 101 to your product!
#5 Account Based Marketing
For an ABM campaign to be successful, you must focus your effort on identifying the accounts you aim to market for. Even if it seems counterintuitive, narrowing down and marketing to key accounts has been reported to be one of the best construction marketing strategies when trying to engage specific architectural firms or large contracting companies. Whether you win a deal with them or not, it can help you build stronger relations with companies that might consider your construction services or building products in the future.
#6 Conversational Marketing
Personalisation is becoming more and more popular, with customers responding positively to 1:1 marketing conversations that are leveraged in a non-intrusive way and using tools that make them feel listened to within their own comforts, such as live chat, Facebook Messenger, or Slack. Having the chance of speaking with another human being that can advise them has become of great importance, bringing authentic and direct communication back to marketing.
#7 Social Media Marketing
59% of construction leaders investing in social media have, as their main goal, building brand awareness and, following this aim, 70% of the businesses using social media have achieved greater visibility. Social platforms like Twitter have been known for helping construction companies reach close to 50,000 users in a year, increasing your online presence. 4 out of every 5 LinkedIn members are decision-makers and, as a result, it is still the go-to platform for construction companies.
#8 Video Marketing
Often, the idea of producing video content is disregarded by building product manufacturers, thinking it will be too complex. And, it sometimes is, but does not always need to be! A video is a powerful tool, and it can help you engage with your audience at another level. With Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn (yes, indeed!) boosting the reach of video content, there has never been a better time to start marketing through video.
#9 Search Engine Marketing
Whilst we speak more about SEO, Search Engine Optimisation is only one type of Search Engine Marketing or SEM. This phrase englobes all practices that aim to guarantee the visibility of your website on search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO focuses on organic search results and, in contrast, PPC, the other type of SEM, applies to sponsored results. Separately, both practices have proven to be successful, although they bring the best results when applied together.
#10 PR-Driven Marketing
If you are not familiar with the term, the phrase PR englobes a set of practices through which you can increase the number of times you feature on the digital side of industry publications. Doing PR right will have a positive impact on the awareness of your brand. Each time your brand features on the site of an architecture magazine or journal, your building product company will improve its authority and achieve credibility.
#BONUS Experiential Marketing
Becoming increasingly popular after the COVID-19 pandemic, experiential marketing refers to marketing through experiences, be they physical or virtual, through tools such as VR. This type of marketing allows building product brands not only to speak about their solutions but to showcase them and enable their customers to experience them.
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.