VIEWPOINT
THINK YOU CAN’T AFFORD MARKETING? CAN YOU AFFORD
TO NEGLECT IT? Clare Ward, managing director of construction PR & marketing agency, Clare PR, on why marketing is so important.
IF YOU’RE RUNNING a builder’s merchant business that has been firefighting on all sides over the past couple of years, adding marketing into the mix might seem like simply feeding the fire. Supply chain challenges, staffing issues, price volatility, transport availability…there have been a lot of blazes to keep under control and marketing may have required resource and investment you couldn’t spare.
But in uncertain times, it’s more essential than ever to communicate effectively with your customers.
Dangers of a vacuum A marketing vacuum is not an empty space; it’s a dark place that allows uncertainty to grow. Without clear, regular and controlled communication, customers may make assumptions, your positive messages will not be heard and you are creating an environment where your competitors can dominate the conversation.
The builder’s merchant sector is an industry that benefits from customer loyalty, ingrained customer habits and the convenience of established accounts and local geography. But these are challenging times for contractors grappling with tight deadlines, squeezed margins, price volatility and labour shortages, so shopping around has escalated to a developing culture. The good news is that marketing can be kick started at any time and, aligned to your commercial strategy and business strengths, is an effective tool to support sales and keep you front of mind with new and existing customers.
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Play to your strengths Marketing is most effective with a planned and co-ordinated approach, which involves establishing what you want to achieve, identifying what matters most to your customers and deciding how you can differentiate from competitors. It’s important to take a warts- and-all view of what you’re doing well and where you need to improve as a business; the only thing worse than saying nothing at all to customers is to over promise. Wherever you decide to begin, ensure you can substantiate what you’re saying and add value to your customers, whether that’s with pricing, expertise, lead times, or service. But don’t let the need to deliver on your promises deter you from raising your head above the parapet; to compete you need to be in the game and good marketing is all about getting you noticed for all the right reasons.
Marketing resource One of the most cited reasons for avoiding marketing is that companies don’t have the time or resource to do it. If that sounds familiar, remember, you don’t have to do it all in-house. As a PR and marketing agency that has specialised in the construction sector for more than 30 years, we’ve worked with a wide array of companies; from those with full marketing departments to those with a small team and a hands-on MD taking responsibility for marketing. There will always have to be some time investment to agree plans and approve content, but hiring a marketing agency or a freelance marketing professional
What you say and how you say it should not be driven by what’s imortant to you, but by what’s important to your customer.
it’s both relevant and compelling. For example, if you have good stock levels of a product that has been hard to get hold of, your key message is not about the price you can offer, but about the reliability of supply and short lead time you can provide. And if those stock levels are likely to be depleted quickly, there is no point in placing an ad that will appear in a month’s time; a social media post and an email to customers is much more immediate.
can provide you with the resource and expertise you need to deliver activity and maximise both outputs and outcomes.
The right channels Another obstacle that often prevents companies from benefitting from marketing is that they are unsure which marketing tactics will be right for their company and can feel a little overwhelmed by the task at hand. So the second thing to remember is that you don’t have to eat the elephant all at once! Marketing is not an all or nothing activity; you can start small and build from there, or focus on the tactics with which you feel most at home. The third thing to remember, however, is that what you say and how you say it should not be driven by what’s important to you, but by what’s important to your customer. Think about how they are most likely to engage with what you are communicating, and make sure
Decide what’s right You can’t communicate everything at once, so setting achievable goals aligned to the time and budget you have available is critical. Here are our top five tips to help you choose what’s right for your business • In store displays – posters, flyers and newsletters are a great way to communicate with customers in store and can help you build loyalty and cross sell or up sell • Social media – building followers can take time but good content will help, so include images and video. It’s also important to remember that social media is a conversation, not a sales platform, so keep a balance between plugging products and sharing interesting and fun content • PR – local, trade and online press will be interested in news and comment • Website – search engine optimisation (SEO) is a good investment to help new customers find you • Blogs – refreshing your website content also helps make your company more discoverable online and you can share them on social media too. BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net January 2022
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