Changes in the Building Materials Market
In the last few years, there has been a large shift towards inbound marketing in the building materials industry and an increasing importance in establishing consumer relations to turn them into sales.
There is also a recent change in the way the sales force is used in the industry. The sales team no longer just picks up the phone and calls people, they use marketing strategies like emails, newsletters, blog posts, and more to pull in consumers, contractors, architects, and builders. It is also important for the sales team to understand their customers and know what motivates them.
In the building materials industry, digital marketing isn’t just a nice website or Instagram post, it’s about turning your online presence into your best salesperson. YBG marketing understands these changes and can help brands succeed by building and maintaining relationships with your business’s target audience.
Building Materials Marketing
In the building materials industry, it is essential to understand the difference between your audiences and how to build your brand voice to effectively reach them.
Whether marketing to architects, engineers, interior designers, builders, or end-users it is important that your brand has a cohesive message across all platforms.
Once you have established your brand’s message, it is important to market it using these main components of a digital marketing strategy:
Social Media Marketing
Anyone can have a social media presence, but how you use it is what can set you apart from competition. It is important to maintain the social aspect of online platforms and build relationships with your customers. The more relatable and authentic your brand is online, the more people will want to interact with you as a business.
It is also important to know what platforms your customers use so you don’t waste your time or money reaching the wrong people. Designers and architects are more likely to spend time browsing through visually-driven platforms like Instagram or Pinterest while contractors have built strong communities on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Website
In the building materials industry, your digital marketing efforts will likely center around driving your target audience to your website. When they reach your site, you want them to be able to easily find answers to their questions and learn about your products including how to buy them.
For potential customers still high in the sales funnel, it’s a nice feature to be able to download content like guides to allow them to gather information until they’re ready to make a purchase. It is important to note that not everyone who visits your site is in the purchasing stage and to cater to their needs as well.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
One of the best strategies you can use to win a customers business is to be the top search result when they google a question. You must know your target customers’ behavior patterns, and when they have a question, one of the first places they turn to is the internet.
Creating content and a website that is optimized for search engines shouldn’t be complicated. You can start by creating content that includes targeted and industry-relevant key terms that your customers will search for. You must also make sure your website follows all SEO-best practices.
Content Marketing
This strategy is a way to connect your customers with answers to their problems through content. These answers can be provided in different forms such as blogs, guides, case studies, social media posts and even infographics.
The key to content marketing is to offer valuable solutions and not just promote your product. Customers want to be educated, not just sold to.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great strategy to reach past, present and potential customers without them coming to your website.
Don’t just send out continuous product updates, and use emails to deliver valuable content to solve problems and position you as a resource for client concerns. Building these relationships will increase future purchases from your business.
Lead Generation
Your website should be one of the largest lead engines in your marketing strategy. It can be helpful to offer visitors free content like downloadable plans or a consultation to narrow down potential customers or collect contact information for future email marketing strategies.
All of these strategies work together to drive potential clients to your website in hopes of turning them into long-term visitors. Traffic isn’t your main goal, conversions are. To convert a visitor, you must inspire their next project through product visualization or a blog post on your website. The pull of this inspiration can lead someone towards taking the next step to buying your product.
There’s no easy fix when it comes to marketing in the building materials industry, but having the right message and the right digital strategies to reach your target audience will get you on the right track.