Build your pipeline with 5 key marketing tactics
Build your pipeline with 5 key marketing tactics
Tactic 1 – building your pipeline starts with a plan
If you have a clear direction with a defined set of goals, you are much more likely to succeed in building your pipeline.
Be specific in who you want to target and how you can help them. This way you are creating a pool of potential customers who are a good fit for you.
A good tactic to implement is creating buyer personas - detailed archetypes of your ideal clients. These personas provide great insights into your audience's preferences, needs, and behaviours, enabling you to enhance your specification marketing process for maximum impact.
And with your personas in place, you can now create a plan or strategy in how you can help them and build your pipeline.
Tactic 2 – choose your channels
Rather than taking a scatter-gun approach to your marketing channels, research where your audience is and what channels they use.
Are they receptive to emails? Do they actively use social media? Is Google the first place they turn to for product recommendations?
There are different levels and responsibilities within architect and specifier functions, and as a result you will find there are a range of different demographics and behaviour patterns.
As a result, you need to find out specific architects and specifiers who you can help and would use your product. Then work out which channels they use and are receptive to, then concentrate on these marketing channels.
Tactic 3 – consistency is crucial
There are thousands of marketing messages out there in the construction sector every day fighting for attention.
If you’re posting over social media every now and again, writing new blog posts every few months, or sending out emails whenever you have time, all to build your pipeline, this isn’t going to work.
Your pipeline won’t be strong and you may find your business going through feast and famine cycles, where your pipeline is inconsistent.
Trust is a major barrier to a sale. The best way to build trust with your audience and building your pipeline is by being consistent with how often you communicate with them, while also making sure your message (e.g. tone, language, benefits) is consistent too.
Tactic 4 – target your audience’s emotions rather than their logic side
Purchasing is done with emotions and justified with logic. And this is true with regards to specification.
For example, if you produce bespoke lighting products and an architect has the choice between your product and your competitors, if both yours and your competitors’ products are essentially the same aesthetically and technically, conforming to the required UK Building Regulations, how will the architect choose between the two products?
They will generally choose the brand they have a relationship with. But if they don’t have a direct relationship they will opt for the brand they have more trust with.
This could be they have read the brand’s thought leadership articles; they have seen and engaged with their social media posts; they have read email shots from them; and they have found the brand high up in a Google search.
So building your pipeline by targeting your audience’s emotions will give you an advantage over your competitors and other building product manufacturers.
Tactic 5 – don’t focus on price
Price matters in construction and it isn’t uncommon for product selection to be decided on the cheapest product available. But don’t make it the main reason why a customer chooses you. It doesn’t do you any favours and doesn’t promote loyalty.
So when you are building your pipeline of prospective customers, focus on the value you bring to their project. Tell your audience how you can help solve their problems, whether through your products or services, and this will help position you in the market much better.
Your plan to give a new customer low pricing on the basis that they’ll become a long-term customer just won’t work. What you’re actually doing is setting low expectations with your new customer, and more often than not they will be disengaged with their level of service or product quality.
And not just that, but constant price undercutting will erode profit margins.
Time54 can help you build your pipeline and grow your business
If you run a building product manufacturing business or are a marketing manager within a product manufacturer, and looking to build a more consistent pipeline, talk to Time54.
We are an agency who specialises in helping building product manufacturers build their pipeline, increase awareness, develop relationships with specifiers, ultimately increasing sales and building businesses.
As a first port of call, book a power hour with us where we will deep dive into your business – factors like why customers buy from you, what makes you unique or distinctive within the market, what are your strengths, and other questions.
Once we have this information, we can build a 12-18 month schedule which contains strategic and tactical marketing activities for you to build your pipeline.
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