I saw this post entitled “Top 10 Modern Marketing Resolutions For 2014” shared on Linkedin by Neil Brown of Modern Marketing Partners and wanted to share it here. It is a top ten list of new years resolutions for marketing construction products in the new year. I was excited to see that the first item on the list was :
1. We Will Get Visual
As attention spans decrease, and the oversaturation of information continues, visual (and micro) content will become even more important. Infographics, videos, pictures. The popularity of sites like Instagram, Vine, or Snapchat is a clear indication of a preference shift towards visual. Visual content will dominate in 2014. Consider these statistics (Wishpond):
90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, which is processed 60,000 times faster in the bran than text.
Videos on landing pages increase average page conversion rates by 86%.
Businesses who market with infographics grow in traffic an average of 12% more than those who don’t.
As my focus is 100% on the use of visual solutions to help sell building products, number one is my favorite. Which is yours?
View some case studies of how Jason Yana Studios can help create videos, animations and 3d renderings to provide you with the visuals you need to hit the ground running in 2014
Looking at what differentiates the truly iconic and great building products from the rest you will notice a trend towards offering expert advice, solutions and systems in an eye level conversation, instead of simply shouting and selling materials and products.
Just Care About your Customers
The companies which are able to design complete systems which solve problems tend to be standouts in their respective category. It is my assertion that the days of churning out a product line of widgets, printing out a few pages of thoughtless install instructions and specifications and sending customers on their way are coming to an end.
For Example . . .
Let’s say you were going to build out your closet with some custom organization, shelves and drawers and the like. You could grab a pencil, sketch out your design, take down measurements and head off to the big box home store where you would wander the aisles finding wood for the shelves, screws, wall anchors, tools,etc. You could take all that home and just figure it out on your own without any help at all.
Would your results be better if you were able to use a free tool online to hash out the design ahead of time? You would likely want to browse around for design ideas using yet more free online resources. Perhaps you could find one place online, or at a store where you could get these ideas, use a free design tool and get every part, piece and widget you would need all in one place and get great expert advice from someone who lives and breathes closets all day long? This is what building product manufacturers should be doing – packing products into systems and providing solutions coupled with great advice.
Be a Friend Who Can Help
The best building product reps, and sales people are problem solvers, service providers and teachers. In most industries, it is becoming the norm to engage customers with blogs, white papers, videos and other communication tools all aimed at providing valuable information far above and beyond simple installation instructions.
Taking a more helpful approach to building product marketing by anticipating the needs of your customers and filling those needs with useful tools, drawings, diagrams and videos can set you apart in the marketplace.
Real People, Real Problems, No Shouting
I think we are all learning to talk to our customers on a more personal level and at a shared level. What I mean by that is we are not standing on a pedestal and shouting down at them, nor are we placing them on a pedestal and begging them for our business. If we stay at eye level with them, realized that they are real people with real problems and just be there to help, we will all be better off.
Regards and I hope you find beauty today, even when it is not pretty.
-JY
About the Author :
Jason Yana has 2 decades of experience in architectural technology, 3d graphics and construction marketing. This unique combination provides highly-effective visual representations of building products that fuel marketing and support efforts.
His award-winning body of work informs, inspires and educates building product customers.
“Thank your for writing such a great installation instruction sheet, I loved it so much I printed it out and set it on my nightstand so I can read it every night before I go to sleep” – said nobody . . . Ever.
If you are in the building product or building material business, chances are you have installation instructions. You hate them, your customers hate them, but you have to have them.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to turn this normally painful situation into an opportunity to set your brand / product apart in the marketplace?
Ever find yourself sitting on the floor at 3 am on Christmas morning putting together a toy and cursing the person who wrote the instructions? That’s how your customers feel about you, let’s fix it!
A 3d animated video can demonstrate exactly how your product is installed and explain the features and benefits of your product, all in just a few minutes.
Why you Hate Them
Every word you put down on a ordered list of step by step instructions must be mulled over, pushed, prodded and cajoled until it has the least chance of being misunderstood. If you say too little, they will call you with questions – or worse they will install it incorrectly and someone in a very bad mood will call you about black mold.
Why your Customers Hate Them
Instructions are boring, impersonal and often confusing. It is extremely difficult to explain spatial relationships with text or a few diagrams. Sometimes there are conditional situations, contextual differences that must also be addressed in instructions. If this, then that, etc. etc. Moreover, reading them takes time, and time always seems to be at a premium. Everyone is always so busy that it is likely they won’t actually read the instructions anyway.
Offer an Alternative
Sure, you’ll have to have the dreaded install instructions, but here is an alternative, the 3d animated installation video. Create a professional video which opens with a few features and benefits about the product and then takes the viewer step by step through the installation process. The act of demonstrating an installation procedure visually, coupled with voiceover audio, engages more of the senses, connects in a more intimate way and reduces problems due to language barriers.
Turn a Burden into an Opportunity
When your customers are reading your installation instructions, it is an opportunity. You have their eyes and they will either leave the experience feeling better or worse about your brand. A dynamic video will leave a positive impression, eliminate confusion, reduce technical calls and can also serve as a sales tool. These videos are also very useful at trade show booths, continuing education presentations and internal training.
Dealing with how to install a building product should not be an after-thought. How a product goes together can sometimes be the single deciding factor in product selection for DIY and professional installers. Architects and specifiers also like to see well thought out installation information to feel comfortable about how well thought out and designed a product is.
Composite Decking and Railing by Duralife
Duralife is a high strength, high quality composite decking material which comes in two flavors. One using face screws and the other using an innovative hidden fastening system. Duralife also has a nice railing system. We created three animated install videos which highlight the main features and benefits of the systems, while demonstrating the step-by-step installation process.
The videos are useful for marketing purposes on the company web site, for internal training purposes, installer training purposes and are great to share on social media as well as on a big screen at a trade show. Sales staff can be armed with these videos pre-loaded on ipads to make dynamic presentations anywhere.
“I sure wish my building products looked ugly in my marketing materials”
said nobody . . . . ever
It’s my blog and I will talk about vacuum cleaners if I want to
Building product marketers, stop what you are working on right now and think about the last vacuum cleaner you personally used. For some of you it might be never, and if this is you – let’s pretend for a second that you do your part at home for the sake of argument.
Vacuum Cleaners are Ugly
A vacuum cleaner is not inherently a beautiful thing. It’s mostly a functional thing that we pull out of the closet, take advantage of it’s utility and then throw back in the closet. This is great news for anyone who makes vacuum cleaners because they are completely exempt from having to worry about aesthetics, right?
Dyson Changes the Game
I’m pretty sure that in the pre-Dyson era, vacuum cleaner manufacturers did not try very hard to make their products look very nice. I think we can all learn a lesson from how game-changing Dyson was at taking a new look at an old functional object and breathing new life into it.
Admit it, you just want it
Sure the cyclone thing works better, I think, and it doesn’t lose suction or whatever – but the real game changer is the thing just looked cool. It looks like something you want to have, you want to be part of the club. You see it, you want it and then you use all the other information they give you about suction and all that to talk yourself into buying it.
The Customer Experience of Shopping for a Vacuum
So, browsing online for a vacuum cleaner is your homework. See how the pride of design shows through in the visual marketing. Every time you see the product displayed you can see the pride taken in design. Videos, Animations, 360 spins, interactive demonstrations are the norm. In the screenshot below, you can see that a box appears on their web site which contains and intro video, a 360 spin view of the product and other specs and information. There is no reason why we cannot do this for building products.
Building Product Marketing Should be Equally Visual
We can take lessons from the vacuum industry here. Do you want to be a game-changer? If so, make your products stand out in the crowd. There are many factors in branding and marketing which you do not control. The visual representations of your products online and offline is something you DO control. Let the pride you have in your products shine through everywhere.
Regards and I hope you find beauty today, even if you are not Sir James Dyson.
-JY
About the Author :
Jason Yana has 2 decades of experience in architectural technology, 3d graphics and construction marketing. This unique combination provides highly-effective visual representations of building products that fuel marketing and support efforts.
His award-winning body of work informs, inspires and educates building product customers.
