Approaching building specifiers is a real challenge! Where do you start? Which levers should you activate? As is often the case, it is above all a question of method… Here are 3 keys to better understanding, influencing and engaging this very particular audience.
The brand must evolve from a product manufacturer into a partner that supports, solves problems and makes daily life easier.
1. The essential prerequisite: a strategic vision
No miracles here: you will need to define a clear strategy and the associated KPIs! Let's not keep this between "marketers" and "communicators": it must be co-built with the driving forces of your company: the sales department, account managers — and why not a few specifiers who are already partners? This will make it possible to define an efficient strategy, in line with the resources available and the capacity for deployment in the field. It is also an opportunity to compare views on usage, behaviour and the different types of customer journeys. Beyond that, you will need to think about the famous "proof-based message" essential to this approach: what should be showcased? Why? How can products and services be skilfully combined? How can I enrich my customer insight? What content strategy should be developed?
2. Simplicity and regularity
Goodbye to grand gestures and expensive "one shot" campaigns with very low ROI. The lifecycle of a specifier is by definition long and demanding: it is not unusual for their customer journey to span several months or even years. Let's keep the objectives in mind: "evangelising" around the brand and its products, reassuring, "converting" and then building loyalty with a long-term vision. There is no secret here: you will need to be there for these audiences throughout the year, speaking to them in a simple, engaging, regular and, as far as possible, disinterested way.
Here are a few format ideas worth developing, which the agency recommends to its partners, such as ISOVER, HILTI and ATLANTIC: newsletters, customer magazines, webinars, roadshows, white papers, social selling, press and influencer relations…
What marketing and editorial approach will draw specifiers' attention to an innovation?
« Take the example of RESP’YR, the bio-based external wall insulation solution developed by two manufacturers, Zolpan and Pavatex (Soprema Group). For its launch, we developed a communication strategy enabling architects, social housing providers and property developers to discover this innovation. Throughout their lifecycle, they were alerted to the arrival of this innovation on the market, its relevance and its benefits for the home, its occupants and the environment. But not only that! Thanks to dedicated documentation, specifiers were able to benefit from a tool for building their expertise in bio-based materials, sustainable and ecological construction, and regulation. Real added value for them, and a way of capturing their attention while legitimising the two brands' position. In concrete terms, you need to know how to present, explain, showcase and stage technical information — to show what it brings that is new to the market. The proof-based message is decisive! »
Véronique Giraudeau, project manager at Convergence
3. Proximity and support
One of the criteria for the strategy's success will be the brand's ability to establish local roots: in other words, to get physically close to the audience and meet them regularly. That is how a large part of "customer insight" is built: in the field. The manufacturer will then have to demonstrate its capacity for support. To do this, the first link in the chain — embodied by your sales force — must have all the tools needed to carry the message: brochures, videos, roller banners, samples, merchandise, ... And why not organise local micro-events, which specifiers often greatly appreciate!
Ultimately, the specifier / brand relationship becomes disinterested, simple, enduring and rooted in a long-term vision. And a communications agency specialising in construction could well help you achieve that goal… ;-)
