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Sometimes construction Marketing can be nauseating. Nearly 8 out of 10 marketers within construction don’t agree that marketing is of a high standard, but surprisingly only 1 out of 10 think this is because of a lack of talent.
And this doesn't stack up!
If you do the math on this one it simply must mean that some of these senior marketers are either;
1 generating poor marketing or
2 the department that they are leading is doing this and they can’t see this or refuse to see it?
And because of this, it’s easy to hide behind the age-old excuses that we marketers like to throw around to make ourselves feel better about some of the shiteness they produce (not all, far from it, there are some AMAZING marketers, but I can count all 6 of them on one hand).
It’s easy to point the finger and say it’s down to; limited resources, the budget, not having enough time. It’s the way it’s always been.
Truth is you can provide any excuses you can think of, there will always be at least one you can pick at and pull that thread until your pants fall down.
In construction, it's too easy to just choose the sprinkles of marketing, ignoring the big juicy cake that should be sat underneath (I’m talking about the quick fixes, the just do it’s, the just get it out there’s, the day-to-day marketers where communications are their only friend - You can’t have the sprinkles without baking the cake first). What does this lead to?
A tummy full of sprinkles - fun at first, but the fulfilment doesn't last long and you'll be left feeling hungry.
We’re here to call shenanigans!
No more excuses, they’ve been around long enough for the educated marketer to understand that there is always a way, regardless of the limitations.
Here are the 6 most frustrating construction marketing challenges and how to fix them.
1 Limited in-house marketing resources
For many construction companies, marketing is often an afterthought, and it can be challenging to allocate resources towards a department that's not necessarily seen as essential to the construction process. As a result, construction marketers often find themselves facing limited in-house marketing resources.
Technology companies can struggle with this as large investments are made in getting the tech right and not getting the tech in front of the right people.
This can result in a lack of creativity, insufficient staff to execute campaigns, and a struggle to keep up with industry trends. To overcome these challenges, it's essential to work with people that know what they are doing, both internally and externally with a marketing agency that specialises in construction marketing *cough*.
By partnering with a specialist agency, construction companies can tap into a wealth of expertise and resources that would otherwise be out of reach. This allows construction marketers to focus on core competencies while still achieving their marketing goals.
2 Available budget
Budget is always a sticking point when it comes to marketing, and the construction industry is no exception. Many construction companies struggle to allocate sufficient funds towards marketing, often resulting in half-baked campaigns that don't deliver the desired results, which damages the perception of what good marketing can actually do.
To address this issue, it's important to work within your means and apportion your time, resources and what little budget you have accordingly. It’s also important to limit expectations here. Free can work, it just takes a heck of a lot longer to establish yourself as worth taking notice of. What can really help is mapping out your time and having a clear focus - what does the business want to achieve and focus o doing this as nothing else really matters. You need to be judged on these outcomes and not the outcomes of sporadic, time-sapping tasks.
3 Difficulty reaching the target audience
Construction is so diverse that reaching your audience can always be tricky, the expansive and diverse nature of the industry as well as a complex supply chain means there is usually more than one target audience - for example, if you are a construction technology company you need to make sure you're talking to the end users as well as the decision-makers and those that will deploy the tech. Triple targeting!
To overcome this challenge you need to focus on two key disciplines: brand building and sales activation. Brand building allows us to create a compelling brand identity that resonates with the target audience (think of this as getting to be known so that conversations with potential clients are much easier as they are familiar with your company), while sales activation helps to target specific markets and drive conversions (think of this as your action driving communications - short-lived but vital to keep the money coming in).
For example, you can create a campaign that targets architects, using social media ads and targeted content to drive leads and sales. In addition, you can create a campaign that is focused on brand building using events, exhibitions and brand assets to build up mental availability linking these assets to what you do.
In simple terms:
Sales Activation is winning a game
Brand building is winning the league
If you get these two in sync; in the right places, at the right time, brand awareness will skyrocket and sales become much easier. By focusing on these two disciplines, you can create campaigns that are tailored to the specific needs of the target audience as well as enhance your status within the industry, helping your company achieve greater ROI over a longer period of time.
4 Standing out from competitors
In construction it’s quite easy to stand out, you just need to trust the creative process enough to actually do it. Most don’t and sit within the comfort and dull and boring (it’s safer this way).
In the highly competitive construction industry, standing out from competitors is essential for success. However, many construction companies struggle to differentiate themselves from the competition, resulting in a lack of brand recognition and missed opportunities- every company within your sector just blends into the other, including your own meaning client search for the product or service rather than your brand.
Word of warning. Providing creative freedom either internally or externally can be very dangerous though (you know what these krazy kidz are like), but if this creativity is based upon solid marketing foundations, a diagnosed plan of action with strategic intent and real achievable outcomes then it can set you apart from your competition.
These simple steps make sure creativity has meaning and it isn't just ‘different’:
Diagnose where you are at the moment by reviewing the company internally and the market externally.
Stick your colours to the mast by defining your strategic direction and setting achievable goals.
Execute tactically using all these marketing disciplines; product, price, place and promotion.
On this basis, be creative with this new-found knowledge.
5 Effectively managing product information
For organisations working in the built environment, this is a biggie!
For construction companies working in the built environment, managing product information can be a significant challenge. With a wide range of products, specifications, and standards to consider, it can be difficult to ensure that product information is accurate, up-to-date, and effectively distributed. This can result in confusion among customers and lost sales opportunities.
By effectively managing product information, construction companies can ensure that customers have the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions. This can result in increased sales and customer satisfaction, as well as greater efficiency in the supply chain as you are removing the friction of decision-making by generating the information that is needed when it is needed.
Marketing should be within all product discussions, using customer feedback to generate the information that is needed for clients to stay within the law (legislation is changing at a rapid rate) and do their job efficiently as no one wants to be held up scrapping around for info that should be easy to find. Looking to the future, helping to deliver a product roadmap, based on client needs, not hearsay keeps your organisation ahead of the game.
6 Marketing in construction is of a low standard
Yes, yes it is. That’s why we want to help you improve this standard.
Building on tried and tested models and theories (we use our builD Process to do this), developing bespoke marketing plans that achieve results and sprinkling a lot of creativity on top is how we buildDifferent and eradicate the above barriers.
Many construction companies view marketing as a necessary evil rather than a core business function, resulting in campaigns that lack creativity and fail to resonate with the target audience, but we believe that marketing in the construction industry can and should be better. We specialise in bringing creativity and innovation to the construction technology sector...
For example, we might create a social media campaign that leverages humour and pop culture references to create a memorable impression with the target audience. Alternatively, we might create a video campaign that showcases a construction company's expertise and unique selling points.
Summary
By elevating the standard of marketing in the construction industry, we can help construction technology companies achieve greater success and recognition. Through our specialised services and expertise, we aim to be a partner in the successful growth of our clients, helping them to achieve their marketing and business goals.
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