How to create a strong brand identity that specifiers will use
How to create a strong brand identity that specifiers will use
Why should you create a strong brand identity?
Helps you to stand out in a competitive market
First and foremost, one of the biggest reasons to create a strong identity is to stand out in a competitive market. Differentiating your business has never been so important.
New businesses are entering the construction sector all of the time. This means increased competition levels for the projects and tenders available.
So by creating a strong brand identity, it sets you apart from your competitors. It gives specifiers a reason to buy from you rather than your competitors.
95% of specifiers aren’t actively looking for your product. So standing out in the market with clear and consistent marketing activities will mean your brand is top of mind when customers are ready to buy.
Get your products specified and avoid being switched out
If you are successful in getting your product included in early design details, then great. But, unfortunately the specification process evolves as the building takes shape and develops.
And this means product selection changes as product equivalents are sourced by contractors and sub-contractors.
Creating a strong brand within the construction sector will increase your chances of getting your products specified and staying specified throughout the tender process.
Products can be switched out due to a number of reasons – cost (one of the main factors), technical competence, product availability, and relationships with other product suppliers.
How do you create a strong brand identity?
Consistent marketing activities
Some of the most successful building product manufacturers within the construction sector in getting their products or services specified, are relentlessly consistent.
If your brand is well known among architects, contractors, engineers, and other specification professionals, you have more of a chance of being specified. But why is that?
Purchasing is done with emotions and justified with logic. So, for example, if you manufacture roof lights 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 because they have read the brand’s thought leadership articles, they have seen and engaged with their social media posts, they have read emails from them, and they have found the brand high up in a Google search.
All these elements combine to build trust. And trust will help you to build relationships and ultimately increase your sales.
Communicate with all decision-makers
Each profession or role that has an influence on a building specification has their own buying journey and individual requirements for project success.
Ensuring you communicate to all relevant specification roles increases your chances of getting your products specified.
It is important to realise here that trying to communicate to all roles and responsibilities with the same message and same strategy will result in failure.
Architects, main contractors and sub-contractors all have different pain points and project requirements, which you need to reflect in your communications.
It is important at this stage to realise that even though targeting each role at different stages of specification may require a range of different marketing tactics, the ultimate goal is to build trust and authority with your marketing.
Final thoughts
Creating a strong brand identity should be the goal for every building product manufacturer. It is the difference in whether a specifier chooses your product or your competitors’ products, if performance and technical properties are similar.
By communicating with all decision makers within the specification process, in a clear and consistent manner, will help to build trust and authority within the sector and will help to get your products specified and less likely to be switched out.
Time54 can help you target specifiers
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 30 minute conversation to discuss your goals and how we can help.
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