Understanding Audiences

There’s a big difference between knowing and defining your audience and truly understanding them. Take the role of an architect or specifier. Yes, they’re responsible for specifying or selecting the building materials products in a build. And if that product isn’t spec’d as part of their drawings, it’s likely not getting selected. But how does that product get selected in the first place? What are the considerations, questions, past experiences and internal and external factors that go into their decision-making process? What comes across their minds and across their desks that ultimately leads them to saying yes? That’s when having a true understanding of your customers makes a real difference in getting selected. By digging deep into your customer’s mindset, challenges and needs, you’re able to connect with them on a greater level, providing them with more than a product; with a solution. Having this understanding also allows you, as building materials brands, to uncover insights that not only drive better direction for when to connect with your audiences, but more importantly, make those connections meaningful – transforming your brand into the resource they need in that moment.

Using customer insights to break through.

There are a lot of building materials brands competing to be on that blueprint. To be that architect’s or contractor’s first choice. How do building materials brands break through the noise and get noticed or, even better, selected? It starts by being able to reach your customer at the exact moment they make their purchase decision.

Imagine a world where you’re able to reach your customer at that exact moment. When they’re in the throes of debating between your building product and your closest competitor. What if we said that that world actually exists? That today’s leading building materials brands really can pinpoint that exact moment? They have the data and insights to know when their customers are making decisions, what their needs are, what questions they’re asking and – most importantly – how best to interact with them in that moment to get selected. The key is utilizing the power of those insights. Capturing the data along with the human insights to truly understand what your audience is feeling and thinking – and knowing how to give them what they need, when they need it. Our process, Humanology, is an immense part of how we help building materials brands. It’s the practice of blending creativity rooted in human insights with data that informs and technology that amplifies to generate ever-improving results. 

Tried and true tactics to effectively understand your customers.

Lucky for building materials brands looking to obtain a deeper understanding of their customers, get selected and ultimately drive growth, there’s a world of opportunity for them to tap into. Here are some areas to start with:

> Sales & Service Teams

Your marketing sales and service teams are untapped gold when it comes to customer insights. This is one resource many brands take for granted, but your sales and service teams are a wealth of knowledge. They are the team members who talk to customers each and every day, answering their questions and fielding their concerns. Creating ongoing opportunities for listening and cross-sharing information can often be a major win-win for companies looking to create better connections while solving customer challenges in the process.

> Persona Development

More than a profile, a persona digs into a specific audience member to understand their unique characteristics. It uncovers critical considerations such as their pain points, their motivations, their goals, digital behaviours and beyond. Having a strong customer persona is an important asset for any building materials brand, as it helps to ensure your messaging is appropriately targeted and can uncover insights you might be overlooking.

> Customer Journey Mapping

Customer journey mapping is a representation of your customer’s experience with your product or service. From triggers through to purchase, this process helps to pull together research and insights to map out what your audience is thinking and doing at each stage of their journey, and the tools and resources that will help them most in their role. In order to develop this level of understanding, it’s important to be able to have direct conversations with audience members and a strong representation to base your research on.

> Crowdsourcing

Another incredible yet highly underutilized approach that helps brands better connect with audiences is crowdsourcing. As social media platforms continue to evolve and expand, building materials brands now have the ability to tap into communities that are made up of their ideal target audience. These are customers who can provide direct feedback and perspectives to help guide your efforts. Polls, surveys and other social tools are incredibly easy yet highly valuable ways to test ideas and gain insights straight from your audience in real time.

> Search & Social Listening

Additionally, as an ongoing effort, search and social listening are some of the easiest and most effective ways to stay in touch with your audience. From their concerns to their successes, social listening can gather them all. This not only helps identify “trends” that may be forming, but it can also help determine questions they’re asking and the language they’re using. Insights generated from social listening are not only valuable in social communications, but also in your marketing efforts with content development, customer service training, sales enablement and beyond.

> Bottom line: Be curious.

Though all of these approaches are valuable in growing and strengthening your marketing efforts, it’s important to remember to lead with curiosity. Empower your teams, from sales and customer service to marketing and beyond, to ask questions and dig deeper in their day-to-day interactions. The more questions asked and the more curious they become, the more insights created and the better everyone will understand who you’re marketing to. Remember, getting your building materials products selected isn’t just about knowing who your customers are. It’s understanding what drives them so you can seize that moment.