RE2020 and EPRHow do you turn regulatory constraints into a communication opportunity?

RE2020, EPR, new building standards, energy-saving certificates, the 2022 Pinel law, the tertiary decree, Eurocodes… we could have filled a page with the long list of regulatory, normative and structural changes shaping the news in the housing and construction sectors at this year's end! Instead, we chose to review the communication challenges that come with them and to give you essential keys for turning these regulatory constraints into an opportunity for you and your markets.

Regulatory constraints are in fact formidable opportunities to speak up and reach out to your audiences with maximum effectiveness.

An unavoidable reality

On 1 January 2022, RE2020 and the EPR scheme will (at last!) come into force, bringing with them their share of constraints and technical challenges for every player in the construction industry.

As a communication agency specialising in the building sector, our experience has proved it: these regulatory constraints are in fact formidable opportunities to speak up and reach out to your customers (current and potential) with maximum effectiveness. Specifiers, project owners, developers, housebuilders, distributors or tradespeople: whatever your audiences, every occasion is a good one to build a bond with them. The argument holds for every new standard, law or decree: if the subject affects your audiences, then it is a golden opportunity to talk to them.

The equation is simple: if these new regulations bring changes that disrupt working methods and generate technical challenges for the entire industry, it is your chance to position yourself as a provider of solutions for your customers and prospects.

By communicating on these subjects in a positive, operational and well-argued way, you are no longer one of those on the receiving end, but one of those taking action — and you become a driving, proactive force in your markets. An argument that makes all the difference to your brand's image.

Wondering whether you are legitimate in speaking up on these subjects because you are not the party most directly affected in your markets? If RE2020 and the EPR scheme are, in one way or another, a challenge for your audiences, you are legitimate in positioning yourself as a partner on the subject. More than a manufacturing supplier, you then become a partner who brings genuine solutions and makes customers' daily lives easier.

Talk about it, yes — but how?

RE2020 and the EPR scheme are everywhere (nearly 300,000 occurrences of the term “RE2020” appeared on Google this autumn). The main question is therefore no longer necessarily whether to talk about it, but above all how to do so in order to stand out and create genuine value through your message.

The first parameter in answering that question lies in your positioning and the areas in which you want to grow your reputation: to speak in an original way about an unavoidable, well-worn subject, you first need to know who you want to talk to and with what message. Do you want to address a given specification segment in your industry to demonstrate your credentials as an expert brand, or do you want to address the “long tail” of tradespeople to qualify your database more effectively and drive footfall to builders' merchants? Depending on your audience, how precisely it is defined and the message you want to convey, your communications on the new regulatory constraints will change drastically.

Positioning yourself as a partner

On subjects as political as the EPR scheme and RE2020, and at a time when accusations of greenwashing are (rightly) legion, the biggest mistake would be to speak up on these subjects with nothing to say, bringing no value to the debate. To avoid this pitfall, Convergence's strategy is clear: encouraging you to position yourself as a partner to your audiences and to make your communication a genuine lever for strengthening their closeness to your brand. For that, a single question should drive you: what do my audiences need in order to adapt effectively to RE2020 and the EPR scheme (or to any other regulatory development)? How can I be genuinely useful to them? With your marketing and sales teams, you most likely already have (at least part of) the answer to that question (and you may well have already put tools in place to help them navigate the transition). The objective now is therefore to apply that momentum to your communication. What can you tell your audiences that they do not already know and that will help them? Do they need clear arguments to convince their own clients? Do they want an ultra-precise, RE2020-oriented selection guide for their next quotations? Do they long to be inspired, to see beyond the technical turmoil?

Case study: discover how Hilti supported engineering consultancies through the introduction of the new Eurocode 2-4

Putting the right tools in place and activating them on the right channels

To turn regulatory constraints into a communication opportunity, we have seen that you need to:

1. Define a clear audience and message to focus your communication effectively
2. Position yourself as a partner to your audiences by putting your communication at the service of their needs

You now need to choose and set in motion the right tools to get your message across. Even though, in communication, there are as many good tools as there are audiences, a few essentials nonetheless stand out when you want to talk about RE2020 or the EPR scheme:

• The newsletter: back from the 2000s to our great delight, the 2021-vintage newsletter is an essential tool for building bonds with your audiences. Forget the basic email blast with its falsely cheerful tone that barely conceals its advertising purpose, and champion a genuine editorial line that establishes you as an expert, relevant voice.
• Articles: long or short, expert or basic, articles are an effective way to bring your website, blog and social media to life. Here again, avoid at all costs rehashing content that has been seen a hundred times, and take the time to answer, in a well-argued and interesting way, the questions your audiences are actually asking. Interviews with opinion leaders, selection guides, infographics: the formats allowed in an article should not be restricted to plain text!
• Long formats: brochures, magazines, guides, white papers, case studies and project guides are essential for developing calm, deeply argued communications. Here you move beyond the hook-based approach to concentrate on the full development of your arguments (expertise, service, solutions, etc.).
• Webinars: sitting down at the table with other experts to shed fresh light on a subject is, today more than ever, an ultra-effective way of drawing your market's key players towards you while positioning yourself as a reference.
• Social media: when speaking up on regulatory subjects, social media are both a channel for showcasing your proactiveness (and highlighting the various pieces of content you produce on the subject) and a space in which to speak out, without being afraid to be precise and incisive (no generic posts). The objective? Embody the brand and hook your audiences by demonstrating, in a very short format, your relevance on the subject.
• Multimedia formats: videos, infographics, podcasts: depending on your budget and the scale you want to give your communications, these formats are essential for existing on social media and developing a stronger identity there.

Finally, you must also absolutely think of your internal audiences! Your sales teams need not only technical mastery of the subjects, but also a clear vision of your positioning. Whether you want to highlight the technical relevance of your solutions or your long-standing commitment to sustainable development, you absolutely must dedicate communication tools to them. Because we know your budget is not infinitely elastic, we are also here to help you kill two birds with one stone and produce effective content that will speak to your employees too. A project, a challenge or an idea? Let's talk about it!