Smarter Building Materials Marketing

When you compete on millimeters and price, it becomes a race to the bottom. This week’s guest shares how emphasizing value and building strategic partnerships with customers can help you move beyond price and cultivate lasting relationships. Cassie Milam, the Co-Owner and Director of Marketing for The Detering Company, talks with Beth about how to focus on value services in a commodity category.

We break down the three best ways marketing and sales teams can converge to see the greatest ROI, plus key insights from AIA 2023. This week, Steve Coffey, Venveo’s Director of Growth, is co-hosting with Zach.

Contractors are one of the most popularly targeted audiences by building material manufacturers. This week’s guest talks about how you can build better relationships with contractors in order to boost business. Kevin Forestell is the CEO and Co-Founder of DOZR. He talks with Beth and Zach about how to build better relationships with contractors.

Just because your product is custom designed and made doesn’t mean it has to have a long timeline. This week’s guests talk about how they’ve been able to increase efficiencies in the customization process in order to reduce lead times. Craig Jolly, Operations Manager, and Thomas Nelson, Marketing Manager, both work at 9Wood, a custom wood ceiling company. They talk with Beth about how 9Wood has br...

Are you asleep at the online strategy wheel? This week’s guest thinks some building materials manufacturers are and explains how they can connect emotionally with niche audiences using different online platforms. Brent Ridley is an HVAC technician and owner of a plumbing, heating and air conditioning company outside of Georgia. He talks with Zach about his unique social media story.

Builders get the brunt of home buyer frustration, even when it’s not their fault. This week’s guest addresses the reasons behind this frustration and explains how building material manufacturers can help reduce that frustration on all sides.    Adam Steiner is the owner of Birnam Design Co., a full-service residential home design firm, as well as the host of the Builder vs. Buyer podcast. He talks...

Social media platforms today can feel like the wild west with algorithms and strategies changing every few days. This week, Beth brings back Venveo’s very own social media expert, Ashley Stevenson, to talk about social media platform changes: what’s happening right now and what may be changing in the future.

Do you deprioritize homeowners as a target audience? Many manufacturers think that homeowners aren’t worth going after, but this guest disagrees. Hear why ignoring homeowners is a missed opportunity. Dennis Comstock is the founder of Builder Brigade. He talks with Beth about what homeowners need to know in their home-building process and why manufacturers should care.

Zach likes to say, “Where there’s pain, there’s margin.” This week’s guest agrees. He talks to Zach about the importance of innovating based on your audience's pain points and why you need to keep a feedback loop open. Tom Ragen is the CEO of Color Communications. He talks with Zach about how to market to architects and how his company leverages color in a very fragmented market.

Have you ever considered disrupting your own company? This week’s guest talks all about disruption — what technologies are going to disrupt the building materials industry, how manufacturers can prepare and how to attract new talent. Omar Fagundo is Vice President of RailCo, an aluminum railing company, and Founder of Object.io, an interactive 3D product experience. He talks with Beth and Steve (...

10-Minute Tactics is a new series that provides you with bite-size marketing and sales strategies that you can put into action and get results. This week, Zach and Beth talk about construction service solutions — specifically, how manufacturers can not only provide a product, but product services around that product in order to make them stickier, harder to replicate, harder to remove from your pa...

Technology is becoming more and more essential in the building materials industry, but that’s not the only thing to look out for. In this episode, our guest talks about five macro trends that manufacturers need to consider over the next three to five years. Steve Yates is the Executive Vice President of Enterprise & Industry Partner Channels at Buildxact. He’s also the chairman of Cliftonvale, a w...

Once again, the volatility of lumber prices is a hot topic. But basic pricing isn’t all you need to know about lumber. This week’s guests discuss how futures and risk management play a big role in lumber pricing and those who buy it. Both our guests today are from Sherwood Lumber — Steve Loebner is VP of Commodities and Risk Management and Josh Goodman is SVP of Forest Products, Sales and Supply...

Pricing is arguably one of the biggest levers a manufacturer can pull to create or pull back demand. This week’s guest talks to Zach about how to develop a successful pricing strategy. Porter Thomsen is the Director of Innovation and Insight at American Woodmark. He talks with Zach about the importance of pricing and creating a pricing strategy and identity that works with your building materials...

Manufacturers know they need to get an architect’s attention in order to get in a spec, but what’s the best way to do it? This week’s guest talks about how to build relationships with architects, and he knows what he’s talking about as an architect himself. Vardhan Mehta is co-founder and CEO at Acelab. He talks with Beth about how building materials manufacturers can build better relationships w...

Are you guilty of lumping architects and interior designers together in your marketing plans? Today's guest explains why you should be separating those two groups and how you can get designers' attention. Joy Lynskey is the founder of Jewel Toned Interiors (JTI), an interior design company located in South Florida. She talks with Beth and Zach about the background of JTI, the current role of inter...

Prefab construction is becoming more and more popular in the industry. But many dealers and manufacturers are scared of the risk prefab seems to bring. In this episode, we talk to a dealer who made the move into prefab and is seeing great success. Scott Myer is Chief Operating Officer at Integrity Building Products, a prefab building products company. He talks with Beth all about prefab constructi...

Fresh off the plane home from the 2023 International Builders' Show, Zach, Beth and Steve talk about their initial thoughts and feedback of the event overall. They also name their biggest winners — and losers.

ChatGPT is the latest buzzword in the marketing world, and many building materials manufacturers are unsure of what it means for them. In this episode, we give an overview of what ChatGPT is and what it means for the building materials industry.   Beth, Zach and Steve Coffey, Venveo's Director of Growth, talk about ChatGPT. Zach gives an overview of what ChatGPT is, and then Steve performs a rapid...

Do you know the best way to create a relationship with your audience? In this episode, Zach and Beth talk to their guest about the changes happening in the market, specifically in relation to builders, contractors and other audiences that manufacturers target. Heather Bowman, Director of Marketing at Key-Link Fencing & Railing and Superior Plastic Products, both fencing and railing companies, is b...

In the 200th episode of the Smarter Building Materials Marketing podcast, Zach and Beth break down three strategies that are as true today as they were in the first episode.

Differentiating your product to builders doesn’t mean you have to engage in a price race to the bottom. In this episode, our guest explains how you can build relationships with builders through true differentiation — without sacrificing your margin. Russ Eisenberg is the VP of Business Development for Gold Heat, a custom manufacturer of electric radiant underfloor heating. He talks to Beth about h...

It’s that time of the year! In this week’s episode, Zach and Beth take a trip down memory lane to recap their key takeaways from five of the most popular episodes of 2022.

Converting contractors — or any audience segment — doesn’t have to be as hard as you think — or so says today’s guest. In this jam-packed episode, our guest explains the importance of imagery, how to convert contractors to customers, how to market to multiple audiences and more. Luke Hansen is the Founder & CEO of CompanyCam, an app that helps contractors build trust with their crews and customers...

How can manufacturers sell more successfully to their customers and gain new ones? There are all kinds of ways to find customers, but today’s guest talks with us about the best ways to connect with customers, online and in person, in new markets. Alex Cook is the Director of Operations of Lifetime Windows and Siding. He’s been in building materials marketing and sales for more than nine years now,...