Building A More Relevant Brand

After all the effort spent on building a strategic plan, 90% of companies still fail to launch. In this article, we define clear ways to achieve your goals and make sure that the important time spent on planning doesn’t go to waste.

After attending the AIA Conference on Architecture 2018, I put together my key takeaways from the show floor. All in all, manufacturers need to take more steps to invest in innovation and conceptual ideas. The brands that do this are standing out amongst the crowd. Also, education is huge but it’s all about providing real knowledge, not product benefits. Make architects understand why these products help them with their projects. Keep reading to find out more.

While walking the AIA 2018 show floor, our Senior Account Executive Emily Johnson appreciated the unique use of product to draw architects in brand booths. Despite the gorgeous aesthetics and interactive activities, the lack of organization around the all-important CEU offering was a major drawback for attendees and the manufacturers who worked hard to draw a less than favorable crowd.

They say age is just a number. But when it comes to an aging workforce, numbers matter.

Architects don’t want to be sold to, they want to be involved in a meaningful conversation.

“What gets measured gets done.” That simple statement is a guiding principle for us — both at our agency and with our clients.

Part 4 in the Killer Customer Experience Series

Your customer is on a kind of scavenger hunt.

Define and profile key customers. Part 2 in a series.

2017 International Roofing Expo (IRE) took place in Las Vegas, NV from March 1 to 3.

In project management, risk is the likelihood of something not going according to plan.

Part 1: Lessons from the House of Mouse

We had the opportunity to attend the Hanley Wood “Builder Connections” conference in Dallas recently. It’s a great concept.

Manufacturers and suppliers need to wake up to how tech is changing LBM.

Home builders, like most business people, have straightforward motives.

The way your customers interact with your brand through the purchase process will continue to shift.

Expanding your company’s social graph is critical to being able to reach both consumers and trades.

Expertise in the building materials channel is what ensures you get results.

First, remember that planning is a process, not a project.

There are approximately 100 million existing U.S. homes, and about one million new homes are added each year.

The digital age continues to disrupt communication more than any other facet of business.

Enabling a consultative sales process through structure, data and technology.

When sales and marketing teams work collaboratively towards common goals there can be a quantifiable benefit to performance metrics.

Very few building material companies have a strong, structured approach to selling architects.

Done right, marketing connects you to customers and leads to sales.

We have a simple approach to marketing: Marketing dollars are investments, and should be spent accordingly.

Last month in our creative meeting, we had a heated discussion on the merits of crowdsourcing design.

Graphic design surrounds us. It’s everywhere we look.

One can spend all day arguing whether to implement a social media strategy.

I had the opportunity last month to be a featured speaker at the International Door Association (IDA) Show, which focuses on the garage door industry.

How can you win the spec in today’s highly competitive commercial architectural community?

Your sales force can be one of your biggest expenses.

Don’t forget the dreaded strategic planning process.

For many products, selling through architects is a necessity.

Many companies see distributors as an expense to be minimized — a necessary evil — instead of an asset to grow.

Many companies that sell to dealers as part of their distribution channel take a short-sighted approach.

For decades, most dealers have relied on two ways to sell builders.

What marketer doesn’t want a bigger budget?