This is a blog post on a marketing agency's website, advocating for the use of marketing agencies within the construction technology industry. So it’s hardly going to tell you that you shouldn’t bother with them, is it?
What we can do is promise that it will be impartial, quick, painless, insightful and in the end have such an impact on your prefrontal cortex that there will either be a tear in your eye or you'll make that call, email, text or send flowers by way of appreciation.
So where do we start with trying to explain how critical marketing agencies are in the construction world?
Probably with the marketing part.
Part 1: The Construction Marketing Part
Always Be Listening
The construction industry is so diverse that without any proper business planning you could be wasting your money, targeting the wrong people or even worse not getting noticed at all. Although you may have experts within your organisation that know and understand the industry, this may just be one part of it and it’s important to have a well-rounded view of the whole industry.
With a Marketing Agency, you can rely on them to always be scanning the market, it's a prerequisite for being an agency. As part of an agency's role, they should be on top of the latest news, legislation, technical developments and trends and should be able to keep you in the loop. There is no need for them to play their cards close to their chest as it isn’t in their best interest.
You can capitalise on this knowledge by utilising it within both a business and a marketing sense.
Business; general awareness and intel.
Marketing; new, fresh ideas and perspectives.
Your Experts
It can be so difficult to find good marketing people either already within the construction industry or trying to entice them into it. Indeed a 2022 report discovered that a massive 76% don’t agree that marketing in construction is of a high standard, that’s 3 out of 4 marketers. More astounding than this is the fact that only 11% think their team is failing to deliver.
These are shocking stats as they just don’t add up; - 3 out of 4 marketers think construction marketing is shite. - 1 out of 10 thinks their teams' marketing is sound. SOMEONE IS TELLING PORKIES!!!!!
There are many excuses for the lack of internal abilities here: resources, time and budget being just three of them, but with an agency, you don't have these excuses as we are the experts at what we do and any excuse like this won't fly with clients.
These excuses are what make construction marketing agencies so important. Being able to focus solely on advanced marketing capabilities and deploy these for clients eliminates the excuse of resource limitations and not having enough time or budget.
Been there done that
The old phrase ‘Those who can, do; those who can't, teach’ is kinda apt here, but we’re going to shift it around a little and state, those who can, do (and have been there and done that within the industry), those who can’t, will either learn or fail - not as catchy I know, but the premise is there.
We’ve been where you are right now, construction industry, client side, so we know you’re pain points, we know what is required from a marketing agency in construction to deliver successful marketing plans and we go above and beyond this.
This knowledge, undeterred from the daily trappings of being part of an organisation means that an agency can see things much more subjectively, which not only helps clients but the whole of construction through reports, seminars, presentations and other value shares that aren't tied to a for-profit enterprise.
Creativity can be hard
It can be hard to bring creativity into any organisation let alone one in an industry that is steeped in (some would say stuck in) traditional methods of working and is very risk averse. Layered onto this tradition is the perception that creativity, being different, and standing out, is risky and can damage reputations.
In the current climate (June 23) when job security is dangerously low due to cost cuttings, who wants to take these risks? Agencies would see this differently, without the internal ties to a singular organisation there is the freedom to be more expressive and creative. This creativity is seen as less risky than sticking to the norm and blending in where you find the rest of the also-rans. Take your pick there are plenty.
Outside of the industry, it is very rare that you see an internal marketing team produce creative campaigns alone, the main bulk of the work is usually handed over to an agency that can deal with the workload and can focus only on this campaign and not get bogged down with internal politics or suppressed by the fear of wasting budget, job security or quite simply screwing up.
Part 2: The Construction Agency Part
Impartial view
This is probably the most important factor (which is why we put it in part 2, crammed into the middle where it’s easy to skim past, oops)!
Having an impartial view of the construction industry, the products developed by organisations and critically how an individual organisation is perceived is kinda magic. It’s almost impossible to have an impartial view of an organisation you work for. As soon as you sign on the dotted line, your perception changes, you know the company better, the brand resonates with you a little more and you can be deceived into thinking that this is happening to everyone at the same time that it's happening to you, especially those you feel should give a shit. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case and everyone else is going about their daily business not caring what your company does or even who the hell you are. Argh!
Utilising an agency means you keep this impartiality, you keep the eyes on the outside looking inwards and can view the organisation, its products/services and in this case marketing plan and output subjectively - worth its weight in gold!
Ramp it up when needed
Unlike with an employee who will either cost mega bucks if they are good at what they do, or will need a lot of hand-holding if you intend to dip into the bargain bucket, you don't have these issues with an agency. Nor do you have the trappings of NI, tax, pensions and the likes (see next point)!
Ready to go, ramp it up, scale it back down, whenever it’s needed.
Note: A blinding agency will make sure they go above and beyond, even in fallow periods (probs when you need them the most).
The price is the price (hopefully)
For a single employee on a Marketing Assistant wage (say £18k) you are not paying out just £18k, in fact by the end of the year the outgoing is approx double this (£33k), not to mention the additional time and support this person will need if they are new to the industry to get to grips with technology and the industry itself where things move mighty fast. There is also no guarantee they will stick around long enough for you to enjoy the benefits of having an additional body within the organisation.
With an agency, they are there for the long term to assist others. And if they’re a damn good, ethical agency, the price will be the price. You know exactly what the outgoings will be over a sustained period of time plus the outcomes should be even clearer if objectives and timescales are set (which is advisable).
No full-time commitment
If you spend time, money and resource training someone, you better make sure it works out as it can be a costly mistake that can take a long time to fix if it doesn't. With agencies that offer no full-time commitments, you get the benefit of scaling up very quickly and reliably.
Learn from other sectors and industries
As you’re fully focused on getting your tech in the hands of the right people, developing the next version of a product/service and making sure you have the capabilities and funding available, you may become insular with your thinking (which isn’t a bad thing from a product development perspective - you know your product better than anyone) but form a marketing perspective it can be very dangerous.
Working with an agency you have the benefit of them being your eyes and ears away from the everyday, bringing fresh new learnings into the industry and your organisation as well as additional expertise that should complement your internal structure.
Part 3: The Construction ONLY Part
Good Marketers are hard to find
The industry is crying out for talent in every sector, on-the-tools and off them. A good marketer is hard to find, a good marketer that knows and understands the construction technology industry is a rare beast (and we have a team of those beasties).
Knowing the industry inside-out
With knowing and understanding how the industry works; from working with tech start-ups to being on the client's side, experiencing first-hand what it’s like to;
1 Work with an agency within the industry,
2 Be in the thick of the supply chain and its intricacies and finally,
3 What works and what doesn’t work when dealing with such a diverse industry,
An agency can bring a wealth of expertise into a business in one go. No training, no time out to learn, no excuses!
Everyone wins
It’s in an agency's best interest to make all of its clients more profitable and subsequently make the industry more successful. This in turn leads to more opportunities as the market expands and there are more organisations working within the industry. Keeping a marketing team completely internal doesn't have this multiplier effect, it only benefits one organisation which is never good for an entire industry to grow.
And this multiplier effect isn't just about profit, it means more skilled people want to be part of the industry, improving the potential to move the industry forward, quicker.
Party @ 4: Summary
You may say we are biased but in our experience all of the above are true. The construction industry is in need of some TLC right now with so many challenges being thrown at us. With a strong robust marketing plan, supported by an agency that understands the market, the conditions within it, can provide an impartial view and isn’t just a crowd-pleaser but also offer the flexibility to ramp it up when needed, ConTech organisation can benefit from utilising the skills and abilities of a marketing agency in the long term and not just the short.
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