Smarter Building Materials Marketing

This week’s episode comes to you from the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry (AWCI) trade show floor. We wanted to hear from contractors and manufacturers who are dealing with the challenges of today’s industry — so we chatted with someone who’s both and has seen all of it.  Dan Wies from Wies Drywall is an experienced contractor who talked with Zach about his family’s business and how t...

The harsh reality of the labor shortage is that professionals are overwhelmed and overworked. Product manufacturers have a growing opportunity to help builders and installers, many of whom are learning to install products on the fly. It’s a challenge that all of us in the industry, especially manufacturers, have to overcome. On this episode, we bring on Nate Henderson, Founder and CEO of BILT Inco...

There are plenty of ways to get in touch with your customers and potential partners, but staying in front of them (and ahead of your competition) can be challenging. The guest on this week’s episode walks us through how manufacturers can map out a smart strategy to reach their customers. This episode’s topic is a big one in building materials, and our guest Travis Hilldore was happy to tackle it w...

We talk quite a bit about the online experience for your customers, but what if you want to ensure a pleasant in-store purchase of your product? This episode is all about creating a positive and frictionless customer journey, and you’ll want to take notes on each step. Vinnie Circosta is the Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Raskin Industries, and he shared a few tips on how this successful f...

Construction industry issues like labor and supply shortages have been a serious burden on today’s builders. This week’s episode features an experienced residential and commercial builder who fills us in on how manufacturers and the rest of the industry can offer support so everyone stays in business.  Caleb Williams is a North Carolina builder who’s worked in both residential and commercial const...

Is it time to reevaluate your business strategy this year? The ever-changing construction industry has required today’s manufacturers to stay agile, and in this week’s episode, we talked with one manufacturer who revealed the big decisions they made to adapt, grow and stay ahead in building materials. Jeremiah Hershberger is Product Manager for Key-Link Fencing & Railing, and he talked earnestly a...

Consumers everywhere feel the impact of inflation in their daily lives. So this episode is about how manufacturers can support growth in their business amidst a turbulent — but very exciting — time in today’s building industry.  We talk with building materials research expert Grant Farnsworth about the trends we’ve seen over the last two years, along with what manufacturers can do to sustain their...

Our guests on this week’s episode are spearheading an important solution: the construction industry’s labor shortage problem. It's a fascinating episode about partnerships, skilled trades and the future of labor in the construction industry. This week, Spencer Brown, Director of Sales for Pfister Faucets, and Kevin Johnson, President of CHS Plumbing, talked with Zach and Beth about what manufactur...

One of the most common questions Venveo gets from manufacturers is “Should we translate our website into Spanish?" The answer is always a resounding, “Yes!” But for some manufacturers that might feel like a daunting task, so we break down this process more with an expert in this week’s episode.  It’s important to do the work to make your building materials website more accessible to Spanish-speaki...

We haven’t covered one of the construction industry’s biggest events in a couple of years, so we were thrilled to report live from this year’s NAHB International Builders’ Show. Beth and Steve attended IBS 2022 in Orlando, and we checked in with them on what’s buzzworthy at this year’s event. Part of our passion at Venveo is to report on trends and concerns in the building industry, and we’re so e...

Educating your customers and giving them more opportunities to learn is such a valuable resource and service in the building materials industry today. Some manufacturers do this well — but some don’t. We talk with an education expert about how more BPMs in the industry can get it right. To stay ahead of competition, today’s building materials manufacturers need a way to make themselves valuable an...

Every year, Venveo partners with The Farnsworth Group to survey pros, builders, architects and DIYers on how they research, specify and purchase building materials products. This week, we’re sharing insights from the pro panel we held during the 2022 Building Products Customer Guide event. Anytime we get to talk with other building materials industry pros and experts, it’s a fun time. Here are a f...

The sales process in building materials can involve a few hurdles. Product certifications, though, might get your product in front of architects you’ve only dreamed of and prevent value engineering your product out of the project later on. But is a certification worth it? Let’s find out. This week, we’re learning from sustainability expert Walter Lourie on how to use building materials certificati...

A crucial key to making your brand an industry leader is by differentiating it from competitors. Identifying your audiences’ wants and needs is a great start, but understanding how to reach them should be first and foremost. The moment your brand becomes top-of-mind for customers, you’re on your way to big success. This week, Zach and Beth talk with Gerry Messina, a building products marketing exe...

There are experts in the building materials industry who are certain that we're about to see a huge growth trend in offsite and modular construction — the kind of growth that can truly disrupt the industry and how we build its future. This week, Zach talks to Tim Seims, from John Burns Real Estate Consulting, about modular and offsite construction and the impact that we expect it to have on the bu...

From lumber prices to eCommerce to TikTok trends, Beth and Zach talked about what matters most to the building materials industry. Here are our five most popular podcast episodes — and a couple of bonuses for you to check out. We had the honor of talking to a number of industry experts this year, and packed a ton of great content into the last twelve months. Beth and Zach revisit our most listened...

By offering free education, insights and community, manufacturers can build trust with their customers and prospects. That kind of trust gives businesses a serious competitive advantage, but not everyone does it right. Marcy Tyler is Director of Building Science for Tremco Commercial Sealants & Waterproofing, and she’s positioned the company as a recognized expert in the building materials industr...

The manufacturer and dealer relationship has been strained in the last couple of years. But if you listen to this week’s episode, you’ll wind up with a checklist for tackling this issue head-on: how to improve relationships with dealers, build a digital presence that supports those relationships and sell more effectively.   This week’s podcast features two special guests: Joshua Rich, the presiden...

One of the most talked about social media platforms today is TikTok. It’s where a ton of online trends start, and in this episode, we bring back Venveo’s own Ashley Stevenson to help us understand which building materials brands should be on the platform and how they can be successful. In a recent episode of the show, we talked about the ROI of social media in building materials, and it quickly be...

If you didn’t already know, the Smarter Building Materials Marketing podcast is produced by Venveo, the digital marketing agency that our host Zach Williams founded almost 15 years ago. This week’s episode is about changes at Venveo and in the industry, and our excitement about what’s ahead. Venveo has worked with building materials manufacturers and suppliers for more than a decade, and during th...

The new year is a great time to start looking at your company’s brand and the story you’re telling online. Does your building materials brand stand out from the competition? In this episode, we look at how not one, but two, great building materials brands are setting up their own long-term legacy.  This week’s guest, Heather Bowman, is the Director of Marketing at Key-Link Fencing & Railing and Su...

Manufacturers depend on their marketing departments for everything from sell sheets to social media. For a lot of manufacturers, all of that weight falls on just one set of shoulders. Are you a marketing department of one? Here are three of the absolute essentials you’ll need if you’re riding solo. Small departments can get things done when they’re resourced well and have support from the rest of...

Content is a hot topic here at Venveo, but this week’s show gets specific about five types of content you need to put on the calendar next year. If you stick around until the end you’ll get a bonus tip from Beth. The content building materials manufacturers create can make a big impact on their brand in 2022. Are you ready to level up your marketing?

Did you know that we spend more time checking our email on our phones than we do our desktops? And any time Apple — who has the lion’s share of mobile users — makes a change to how they collect data or handle privacy around email, it's going to have an impact on those of us who are marketers. And Apple's done it again. What do the iOS 15 changes mean if you’re a building materials marketer? To mak...

Data is one of the first things that gets neglected in a busy business. Not everything is a numbers game, but if you’re a manufacturer and aren’t capturing data on your sales and marketing efforts, you’re missing out.  Data is an important component of your marketing strategy as a manufacturer, so we talked Dan Donohue, Director of Sales and Marketing at Craftmaster Hardware, about how manufacture...