Building Materials Channel Marketing: How to Successfully Sell to and Through Residential and Commercial Builders, Architects, Distributors, Big Boxes, Dealers and Contractors
No other industry is as dependent on the channel of distribution for it's success than the building materials industry. Many people new to the industry and ad agencies don't realize this and struggle to develop effective sales and marketing programs. There are no trade magazines or organizations for the building material marketer. They either have to rely on general marketing sources or their channel customer's organizations such as the NAHB or the AIA. I wrote this book to fill the need to both educate anyone new as well as to challenge the more experienced to take a fresh look at how they go to market. There are chapters How the Residential and Commercial Channels The Importance of Influencers; Who has the Most Knowledge and Power?; The Biggest Mistakes Building Material Marketers Make; How to Sell Builders, Big Boxes, Lumber Dealers, Showroom Dealers, Contractors, Distributors, Architects, Design Build and Facility Managers; Marketing Budgets; The Problem with Trade Shows and How to do Them Right; The Problem with Agencies; and On Being Green.
Mark Mitchell clearly has a deep and practical knowledge of the building materials industry and I learned a great deal from reading this targeted book. I like his no nonsense style and simple advice on the importance of the message in the marketing. Reading this book gave our marketing department a lot to think about and some new viewpoints to consider.