Posts Categorized: Construction Marketing

What is greenwash and why will it affect your construction business?

Post updated in November 2015.

Since this post was first written in 2012, CAPS [the Committee of Advertising Practice] have published new information on ‘Green claims in Advertising‘ which is well worth getting familiar with.

The UK market place is now flooded with products and services shouting about their ‘green’ credentials. There are now over 73% more ‘green’ marketed products in the UK market place today, than at the end of 2009.Read More

Award: best use of digital marketing by exhibitors at Ecobuild

This year we’re running a competition to celebrate the best examples of digital marketing at Ecobuild 2012.

Exhibitors will be judged based on their use of digital marketing in the run up to the show, activities and promotion at the show and their overall integration with PR and other forms of marketing.

Award criteria

This award will recognise innovation, integration and digital marketing successes at Ecobuild. The Pauley Creative team are judging entries based on the following criteria:

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5 reasons why BIM isn’t working

Last night saw an impressive gathering of senior industry figures congregated at One Birdcage Walk for the invite only CIMCIG chairman’s event at the equally impressive HQ of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers [IMechE]. On the menu, BIM and the barriers to adoption. Chairman Ian Exall, CIMCIG (and Aqualisa) gave a brief but concise introduction to the panel and suggested that the audience participate at will.

Speakers:

  • Paul Morrell, Government CCA
  • Mike Sheehan, Director of Sustainability, WSP
  • Alan Crane, President CIOB
  • Chris Gilmour, Design and Marketing Director, BAM Construct UK
  • Karl Redmond, Construction Sector Network, Leeds Metropolitan University

Opening gambits from the panel came thick and fast:

Paul Morrell (my interpretation of what he said): Supply chain collaboration is key to successful adoption. Contractors need to work with consultants and consultants to learn about 3d modeling from product manufacturers. There needn’t be stringent standards that everyone adopts however there needs to be enough universal standards that allow confidence in adoption so as not to give rise to fear of investment in the wrong place.

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Marketing implications of Google’s latest feature ‘search, plus your world’

Last week Google launched their latest feature called ‘search, plus your world’ or search+ for short. This change sees a deeper integration of Google search with its social network Google+, thereby turning search into a more social experience. They want to improve the search experience by making results more relevant and personal to users when they are signed into their Google.com accounts. Read More

A collection of infographics for the construction industry

Infographics have become a very popular method of presenting data and information in a visual, creative and fun way. They are vastly shared on social media and the best infographics convey complex information in a quick, and easy to digest, manner.  We have done some research and collected 12 construction-related infographics that you might find useful. If you have come across any others that should be on this list then please let us know in the comments section. Enjoy!

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How a UK architect practice uses social media to increase brand awareness

This is the second post in our interview series with different members of the construction industry. Dave joins us from SNOW architects to talk about how his practice use social media to communicate with their audience, raise awareness of the business and generate leads.

I ‘virtually’ met Dave through Twitter over a year ago and then finally saw him in person at our digital marketing seminar in October. He has built up a large online following and often shares interesting articles on industry news and developments as well as blogging about how architects can use the latest technologies for their projects. Now, I will let him take the stage, so to say, and tell you a bit more about the company and how social media has helped him.

Introduction to SNOW architects

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Infographic: Social media analysis of the top 15 UK construction companies

Following on from our 2010 and 2011 analysis of how the top 15 UK construction companies are using social media, we have created an infographic to illustrate the difference a year can make. To see the detailed 2011 analysis, read our blog post ‘how are the top 15 UK construction companies using social media.’ Feel free to share the infographic on your blog, just remember to please link it back to this post. Thanks!

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A review of 15 construction companies using social media in 2011

Read our 2015 update of this post here.

In June 2010 we carried out an analysis of how the top 15 construction companies in the UK were using social media to connect with their audience online. The analysis clearly indicated how many of these multi-million companies were simply ignoring social media by either not having a social presence at all or, if they had an account, it was used as a tool to simply broadcast company news. Whilst this is at least a start, social media channels can be used as a conversational tool to connect with members of the supply chain and your target audience, conducting research or just interacting with other people within the construction industry and having interesting discussions. Nearly 17 months have now passed and I have decided to revisit this analysis and investigate whether there have been any positive changes.

**Update: We have created an infographic comparing the 2010 and 2011 findings, to see it please visit http://bit.ly/top15infographic

The Construction Index publishes an annual list ranking UK construction companies according to turnover so I have picked the top 15 construction companies of 2011 for my analysis. Looking at the two lists, there have been a few companies who have moved up whilst others have dropped below the top 15. The notable fallers are Amey UK, Bovis Lend lease and Sir Robert McAlphine who will not be included in this updated social media analysis. Instead they have been replaced by Enterprise, Keller and Costain who have moved up into the top 15.

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What defines a market leader in building products?

Any business has a specific target market(s). ‘Markets’ can be defined and grouped in different ways such as by geographical location, demographics, customer type or a combination of several elements. This concept is relatively easy to understand but the tricky question lies in defining a market leader. The word ‘market leader’ seems to have different meanings for different people. Most importantly though what does it mean for your customers? They are the ones who are buying your products so you need to know how they define it, not just how you define it.  According to an online business dictionary it means:

A brand, product, or firm that has the largest percentage of total sales revenue (the market share) of a market. A market leader often dominates its competitors in customer loyalty, distribution coverage, image, perceived value, price, profit, and promotional spending.

This definition includes a variety of elements and some market leaders dominate in all categories whilst others might only dominate in a few of them. When specifiers and architects are choosing building products, what is most important for them and how do they a define market leader? Do they focus on the company with the largest sales volume and profits, the widest distribution network, the best proven product performance?Read More

CIMCIG survey to find out how marketing budget is spent by construction companies

How do you decide your marketing spend and then justify it to the Finance Director? Even when starting with a bottom-up process it is useful to have a comparison with other similar companies. But this information is just not available in an up to date form.

CIMCIG (Chartered Institute of Marketing Construction Marketing Group) are compiling an anonymous survey of marketing spend in the construction sector for Manufacturers, Contractors, Professional Services and Suppliers (Wholesaler, Distributor, Merchant).Read More