Smarter Building Materials Marketing

If you’re in the building materials space, and you want to win, then you have to help your audience win. In our industry helping the customer to win is an ever changing problem. So we decided to bring on a guest who has interviewed over 150 pro's, contractors, and influencers in the building construction space to share how the smartest manufacturers are making their audience the hero.

If your landing pages, emails or website aren’t converting at the rate you want, a lot of time the copy and messaging is to blame. We know how hard it can be to troubleshoot your own copy or even to get started writing when the blank page is staring back at you. To help jumpstart your copywriting efforts, we’re talking through 7 proven copywriting hacks, why they work and how you should incorporat...

Being specified is a top priority for many manufacturers. There are so many layers to what makes or breaks the decision to include materials in the spec, and then there’s the added complexity of value engineering which can put everything in question all over again. On this episode, we bring on a specification expert to talk about what he sees as the main reasons manufacturers are being left out of...

Over the past several months, Amazon has been strategically making moves to break into the multifamily construction industry, and there are three key reasons what they’re doing is working so well. On today’s episode, Zach and Beth talk through the driving factors behind Amazon’s success and how manufacturers can take and apply those same methods to their products.

Finding your audience online is just the first step to a successful digital strategy. Today, we’re joined by one of the leading customer-data researchers in the building materials industry to talk about their latest look at what the channel is doing online, where they’re spending their time and most importantly, what they want from manufacturers. Listen to hear where you can make the biggest impac...

No manufacturer wants to be seen as just a commodity. Being lumped in with dozens of other products like yours is a race to the bottom, but building a brand that’s sought after and respected takes a strategic understanding of both your brand and your audience—not to mention perfect execution. Today, we’re talking to a manufacturer who is in one of the most highly commoditized product categories in...

There are significant changes happening on some of the most used platforms online. Listen to hear about the biggest changes to Google, Facebook and LinkedIn, how you can make those changes work to your advantage and what they mean for the building materials industry and the future of the building materials distribution channel.

In order to win in your industry, you need to be able to sell to builders and contractors effectively, in a way that resonates with them. If you try to market to a professional audience the same way you market to distributors or homeowners, you won’t be able to connect with them in a way that drives leads and sales. In this episode, we talk to a builder about how to get pros to switch to a new pro...

Having a “green” building product doesn’t mean what it once did, but there’s a wave of new demand in this building products category that most companies don’t know about. In this episode, we interview an expert who shares how manufacturers can use the right language and positioning to grow sales with green products.

There is a lot of conversation being had about modular offsite prefab and what this means for building products. Today we bring on a manufacturer who is spearheading this initiative for his business. He shares some insights as to why this happening and how to stay ahead of the shifts in front of us. Learn how you can begin to make this a bigger part of your business, and grow your sales in the pro...

With digital marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in the metrics - the number of website visitors or number of leads generated. Instead, building material manufacturers need to switch their focus from metrics to relationships. In this week's episode we talk about conversation marketing, what it is, and why manufacturers should utilize this tactic to drive sales.

For most manufacturers, using external sales reps is necessary, but comes with a list of common frustrations. Today, we’re talking to a manufacturer who has implemented some simple strategies to keep their external reps engaged and build their relationship and trust. Having a sales team that’s bought-in to you, your product and your company’s success is crucial … but easier said than done. Listen...

What if you could showcase your product to your audience in the place they spend the most time online? Facebook and Instagram ads allow you to do exactly that. On this episode, we talk about the untapped potential of Facebook and Instagram ads for the Building Materials industry and give you examples of how to leverage the potential of the ad platform to grow awareness and drive leads.

Does content marketing really work? If you give too much away, won’t your customers just do it themselves instead of working with you? Today, we’re talking with one manufacturer who’s doing content marketing so well he’s actually developed a fan base of customers so loyal, he can recommend competitor’s products and they still come back to buy from him. Listen now to learn the incredible results yo...

Manufacturers are always fighting for sales, but the real battleground to win more market share for the longterm is in customer insights. Walmart is investing heavily … and losing money… in order to gain customer insights because they know competing with massive online retailers like Amazon is the only way to win. Listen to hear what Walmart is doing and how building materials manufacturers can ta...

In this episode Beth and Zach talk about how building materials companies can use podcasting to reach their audience—both internal and external. We talk to one manufacturer who’s had such success with their employees, they’re launching a public podcast to connect with their audience as well.

Using marketing automation is one of the most effective ways to increase open rate, click through rate and convert leads to sales. But getting something this labor-intensive up and running can be challenging. Zach and Beth talk you through how to get started, what you need to know, how to avoid common mistakes and more on today’s episode. PLUS, listen to find out about how to get an even deeper di...

Home Depot is successfully targeting and winning some of the biggest pros in the space. Hear from their top sales man how they launched their pro-focused sector, what they see for the building materials industry this year and beyond, and how digital is changing the way they service pros.

Beth and Zach sit down with Chris Noone from SiteOne, and he shares how they have created an incredible customer experience that has helped them separate in themselves in the marketplace.

The growth of influencer marketing has skyrocketed over the last few years.   Twitter actually released a stat saying that 40% of consumers have made a purchase because of an online influencer.   The reason for this is trust ... Your audience buys from those they trust. Influencers are seen by many as more trustworthy than brands, because people believe they truly understanding who they really are...

Getting builders to replace an existing product with yours can be one of the hardest sales to make. The problem is that most building materials companies don't know how and why builders choose what makes it into their homes. Listen in as we interview Tom Benedict, the VP of Purchasing at Wayne Homes, a top builder in the US with more than 20 years of purchasing experience give insights on what man...

Tradeshow season is here, and you’ve been planning for this for months. Get the most foot traffic and the best ROI on your trade show investment by using digital to support your efforts before during and after the show. Listen as Zach and Beth talk about how to use email social and what you need to know about search to get the best results and see the most traffic in your booth.

If you haven't gone down the path of launching eCommerce yet, you've probably considered it. Many building materials companies think that eCommerce won't work for their business because they focus on the commercial market. What they don't know is that there are over 200% more B2B eCommerce transactions than B2C. Even though Amazon turns 25 this year, eCommerce is still continuing to grow and is ju...

The building materials landscape is changing faster than ever, and this includes how to be effective online. Whether you're trying to grow awareness, drive leads, or close more sales, there is huge opportunity to capitalize on growth in 2019.  Zach and Beth share 7 predictions that can help improve your overall marketing and sales efforts.  Make sure you don't start your year off behind the compet...

Effectively growing a sales team can be challenging, but staying ahead of the shifts in building products, while growing sales year after year is quite a feat. Ben Myers from Kwikset comes on the podcast to share some key strategies he’s learned in his more than 15 years of selling. Learn how he inspires his team, grows sales in his region year over year and how you can implement his proven tactic...