Smarter Building Materials Marketing

In this episode, Zach talks to Amy Post, who is the National Marketing Manager for the Pro Division at ODL about digital transformation and how to make that leap to build an incredible online experience. Undertaking a digital transformation can be a daunting task. Maybe you've been in print, with a lot of traditional marketing materials in place, but you want to make that shift to online and...

In uncertain economic conditions, it’s hard to know how to make a big business move. Many companies are navigating new ways to sell during, since tried and true face-to-face approaches aren’t available. Now imagine the challenge of launching a new product during a pandemic. In this episode, Zach and Beth to Ryan Galick, Marketing Director at Fuzion Flooring, who is doing exactly that. They’re char...

In this episode, Zach and Beth talk to Sebastian DeGregorio, Business Strategy Manager at Allura, about what they're doing to market and sell during and post-COVID and how they're supporting the channel. Even during COVID, manufacturers want to know how to get closer to their customers and learn the real problems that they need help solving. The opportunities to meet face-to-face are les...

In this episode, Zach talks to Rich Pond, Chief Marketing Officer at Prescient, about how they’re driving business by focusing on the value proposition and how they communicate it in a way that actually moves the needle for sales. Your brand is becoming more and more important in today's marketplace. There are so many different ways to find products, so creating a brand that's not only m...

One of the ways that you can get closer to your customer, is by using technology that helps them do their job more effectively. A lot of manufacturers find that to be a daunting process and don't know where to get started. In this episode, Zach talks to Jay Shilstone, product owner for COMMANDqc at Command Alkon, about how they’re not only educating and helping their audience, but how their t...

In this episode, Zach talks to Steve Booz, VP of Marketing at Royal Building Products about how to get started with your digital journey, what does it take to get off the ground, and what does success look like. Digital transformation isn’t an overnight process, it’s a journey. Here’s one manufacturer who is ready to share insights on what's worked, what hasn't, things to think about and...

In this episode, Zach talks to Justin Dewey, Sales Center Manager at American Olean and Marazzi Tile about how to structure your social media accounts on a local standpoint, the content you should be creating and how to get your reps involved to actually close a loop and grow your sales. Everyone talks about how we need to be “doing” social media as part of their marketing, but if your social medi...

In this episode, Zach talks to TJ Norris, who is the Director of Sales and Marketing for PCI Construction Products about how they are white labeling their product and selling at mass quantities to dealers and helping them be more effective in the business that they're trying to grow. The Amazon Effect is oftentimes thought about as a need to sell direct to the customer. How do we get as close...

In this episode, Zach talks to Ryan Chandley, VP of Sales for Thomas Concrete, about how they’re using social media to not only drive brand awareness but also separate themselves from the competition. Social media can be an incredible tool to build awareness. It drives business. It helps you reach out to new prospects, grow company culture or even can help you in recruiting. Here’s how one manufac...

In this episode, Zach talks to Jim Edgeworth, Director of Sales and Marketing at Bilco about their tactics and strategies, as well as what messaging actually works to cut through the noise to reach the contractor. To avoid racing to the bottom on price, you want to sell your brand, not your product. But what happens when your brand is so well-established that your company name becomes synonymous w...

In this episode, Zach talks to Kristina Damschen Spina, VP of Marketing at Indow, about how her marketing team has been built around data and efficiency to create autonomy and achieve their KPIs. In marketing, we want strategies that will bring results quickly. We care about the tools and techniques that are winning today, but we miss focusing on the best way to work with a team to drive results i...

In this episode, Zach talks to Josh Neuberger, Director of Marketing at Uzin Utz North America, about social media and how you can actually create one-to-one connections to help you drive sales and grow awareness. Whether you’re a small business or an international manufacturer, you hear a lot about social media and how to get customers to follow you, like your content and engage with what you’re...

In this episode, Zach talks to Mike Antonelli, business partner at Nickel City Hardwood, about how they pivoted their business to communicate with potential customers more effectively using technology, even during COVID-19, and how they're leveraging digital to keep their pipeline full.

In this episode, Zach and talk to Tim Sandlund, Digital Marketing Manager at Derby Building Products and Founder of StartBuildingSomething.com, about his experience launching AR and VR tools in building materials, where he thinks the best channels for success are and how to measure that success to determine what’s working. With the rise of visualizers, configurators and other online tools, should...

In this episode, Zach talks to John Burns, CEO at John Burns Real Estate Consulting, about how COVID has changed the outlook for homebuilders in America and what building materials manufacturers can do to pivot their sales and marketing strategies and thrive in uncertain times.  

How do your message and sales strategy need to change right now to take advantage of the current market we're in? This is a critical question every company in the building product space is asking as we navigate how to do business during COVID-19.

In this episode, Zach talks about the winning pivot for building materials manufacturers in the midst of COVID. We’ll be sharing with you some things that we're seeing in the marketplace today, and how you can be using the data available now to continue to navigate today's situation and help your organization grow in the future.

This week, Zach speaks directly to the listeners about how we can get through the current economic and personal challenges together. It’s not business as usual, so we felt it was important to take a pause from our usual programming. Whether you usually listen to us at work, in the car, or on the jobsite, your working conditions are probably very different this week. We felt it was important to ack...

In this episode, Zach and Beth talk to Nathan McCarley, Director of Pro Dealer Sales at Empire Molding and Millwork, about how to actually grow your brand and create demand without doing things the way that they've always been done. Relationship building with dealers and distributors is critical in the building materials space, but digital marketing — and especially social media — has changed...

In this episode, Zach and Beth talk to Armen Alajian, partner at ARTO, about how building products brands can evolve, and why your brand’s biggest superpower may be hiding in plain sight. Companies spend too much time thinking about their product when what they really need to be focusing on is their brand. Here’s how one entrepreneur stumbled onto his brand’s hidden superpower.

In this episode, Zach talks to Gregg Lewis, Executive Vice President of Promotion Strategy and Communications for the National Ready Mix Concrete Association, about the best way to sell to architects, and why it’s both easier and harder than you think. What if you could get an inside look at how architects want to learn about your product? Today’s episode does exactly that. Hear about how one arch...

In this episode, Zach and Beth talk to Michael Sather, Director of New Market Development at Solatube, about how manufacturers sales teams and distributors to create fervent demand for their product with architects. How to get your foot in the door with architects is one of the questions we hear over and over again. To get architects to not only try your product, but to demand it for every specifi...

In this episode, Zach and Beth talk to Lisa Prestifilippo, National Accounts Manager at Metal Sales Manufacturing Corporation, about the different types of people that buy on online platforms and what you can get from these sites to drive innovation and product development. The audience that buys on Amazon is different than the audience that buys on HomeDepot.com and is different than the audience...

In this episode, Zach and Beth talk to Josh Hendrickson, Director of Sales at Wilson Lumber Company, about how actually living the values your company espouses can be the very best sales pitch you’ll ever have. “People over profits” is a phrase we hear more and more from many areas of business. But when you really put your money behind your team and your values, it can be a huge point of different...

In this episode, Zach and Beth talk to Regis Verliefde, CEO at Warmup, about how his company’s mantra of “fail often and fast” has driven incredible growth and success. As business owners, and even as human beings, we love to celebrate our successes, but today’s guest is here to talk about why failing is just as important — and maybe even more so — when it comes to driving growth.