Effective Branding Strategies for Building Product Manufacturers
Effective Branding Strategies for Building Product Manufacturers
Securing specifications on construction projects is essential for short-term sales targets and long-term growth, for building product manufacturers. But why does a specifier choose your product over your competitors’ product? Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t just having the best product. Obviously your product has to be fit for the purpose intended, functional, compliant with Building Regulations, and aesthetically pleasing. But what if your product and your competitors’ product all satisfied this criteria.
Why then does a specifier choose a certain product, if they all have the required functional criteria? It is down to their relationship with your brand. Do they trust it? Do they like it? And this is determined and influenced with a branding strategy. Effective branding is key to standing out in the construction sector and being consistently specified by architects, contractors, and sub-contractors. A strong brand not only communicates the value of your products but also establishes trust, credibility, and a long-lasting presence in the minds of your target audience. Here are some practical branding strategies that can make a real difference for building product manufacturers.
Understand your audience
The first step to any effective branding strategy is understanding your target audience. It sounds like an obvious point, but we have seen the same email or marketing communication sent to a range of job roles – architects, main contractors, and sub-contractors, all of whom have different priorities and pain points.
Architects look for design flexibility, sustainability, and technical specifications. They need to know that your product meets building regulations and aesthetic requirements.
Main Contractors are more focused on reliability, ease of installation, and cost-effectiveness. They need a brand they can trust to deliver on time and support the project’s budget.
Sub-contractors value practicality, ease of use, and post-purchase support. They need straightforward product information and installation guides.
So by targeting all of these with the same message, you are targeting no one. You should use different messages to each audience type to address their concerns, to resonate better with your audience and build better relationships.
Here at Time54, we worked with Benx – a leading façade manufacturer and supplier. They are a well-established business and has been around for over 20 years, however they were looking to refine their marketing communications to strengthen their brand.
Part of this included looking at their messaging to their audience. Due to the complex nature of façade systems, Benx targets a range of specifiers. From architects and design professionals at early design stages, through to main contractors, sub-contractors, fire consultants and end users throughout the purchasing and installation phases of specification.
Each role has its own pain points and requirements for project success, and as a result requires different messaging. We worked with Benx to develop a range of messaging by creating user personas. By doing this, it ensured their communications were relevant for whichever audience role they were targeting. And not only that, they were consistent. So for example social media posts, blog content, emailshots and video content, all communicated the same points in a similar tone of voice.
The result was clarity in their communications, which in turn helps to create a stronger brand identity.
Focus on product differentiation
Construction is a crowded market and being seen as just another building product manufacturer can be a significant obstacle.
Your brand needs to clearly differentiate your products from competitors.
What makes your product unique? Is it your sustainability credentials, ease of use, technical innovation, or service? Highlight your unique selling points (USPs) through your branding efforts.
Showcase how your product solves a common problem faced by architects or contractors.
Emphasise any certifications, environmental benefits, or performance advantages that your product offers.
Use case studies and real-world examples to demonstrate how your product outperforms others in specific scenarios.
Your brand should constantly reinforce the idea that your product isn’t just another option - it’s the best solution for a specifier’s needs.
Build a clear, consistent brand identity
Consistency is crucial for building a strong brand in the construction sector.
Your visual identity - logo, colour palette, and typography, should be clear and consistent across all touchpoints, from your website and product packaging to email newsletters and social media.
Ensure that your brand’s visual elements reflect the values you want to convey, such as reliability, innovation, or sustainability. A clean and professional design can signal trustworthiness, while an innovative look might appeal to those seeking cutting-edge products.
Use digital marketing for brand awareness
While traditional marketing methods like trade shows and printed brochures are still important in the construction industry, digital marketing is essential for building and maintaining brand awareness.
Content is crucial and helps you to establish authority through thought leadership. Two types of content that resonate with specifiers are thought leadership articles – where you write an educational piece about important topics in the sector e.g. sustainability; and case studies – which show how you help your clients in a real life application, helping other specifiers to resonate more.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is hugely important and essentially you are building your website up to be the best resource available in the industry. Technical guides, blog posts, case study features, all help to establish your website as authoritative in the eyes of the search engines, which will then give you greater visibility as it will be found through more searches.
Social media is important to build brand awareness, particularly platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram. The old cliché ‘people buy from people’ is the reason you should be posting on LinkedIn to build relationships and your brand awareness.
Email marketing is a great way to target specific job roles by sharing emails with case studies and thought leadership articles. Specifiers, like any other humans, regularly check their inboxes, and a consistent email campaign will ensure you bring value and build your brand equity.
For building product manufacturers, effective branding can lead to increased specifications, stronger relationships with key stakeholders, and long-term success in the market.
By understanding your audience, maintaining consistency, differentiating your products, and establishing authority, you can build a brand that stands out and drives real results.
Branding isn’t just about your logo or catchy slogan – it is about how your business is perceived by your audience and the relationships you build with them.
At a given point in time, only 5% of your audience is in the market ready to make a purchase. This means 95% of your audience isn’t ready to buy. But by targeting this 95% with clear, useful, educational and relatable content you are positioning yourselves as experts, and building your brand with your audience.
Effectively you are keeping your brand front of mind with your audience. So when they are ready to buy, they come straight to you rather than your competitors.”
Chris Ashton, Director of Time54
Time54 can help you with effective branding strategies
Time54 is a specialist marketing agency that works exclusively with building product manufacturers within the construction industry.
We can build your brand awareness and authority through strategic and tactical marketing that leads to specification inclusion.
Time54 works with and has helped many building and interiors companies raise their awareness in the marketplace and increase their specification inclusion on numerous projects.
We are a specialist building and interiors marketing agency and help brands to:
- Increase specification.
- Influence architects.
- Build authority.
If you are interested in how we can help your business target architects and grow through specification led marketing, use the calendar below to organise a 60 minute conversation to discuss your goals and how we can help.
Latest Blog Posts.
