The Kleber Critique: No Tricks… Authentic Advertising Is the Magic
Over the last decade, there has been a major shift among businesses to be more authentic – to be more real, more human and more relatable. This involves less talking at people, and is more about having a conversation with them. Advertising is no longer about pushing...
AIA Show: 3 Tips on How to Best Connect with Architects
In a recent post from the industry influencer in his Whizard Strategy blog, Mark Mitchell observes that the AIA Show historically has been very “ineffective” for building materials manufacturers who exhibit at the show. Far be it from me to argue. Yet, in picking up...
The Kleber Critique: Zillow’s Ad Campaign Brings Men Back into the Home
"Whatever home means to you, we'll help you find it." This powerful tagline to Zillow's new ad campaign illustrates the deeper meaning of the word “home.” Home isn’t only a structure; it is the people inside the house that make it unique and give it meaning. In...
Best Practices for Reaching End Users for Building Products
Much has been written about the differences between DIY and DIFM homeowners. DIY, or Do-It-Yourself homeowners, purchase their own tools, shop online or at big box building product stores, and handle their own remodeling and repair projects. If they don’t know how to...
Contractor Marketing: Roll Up Your Sleeves
Contractors - the backbone of building material manufacturers. For all the gloss and glamour of architects and showrooms, there's the contractor... in the trenches doing the work and wrangling the installer. But within this segment, several challenges - more...
Quicken Loans’ Rocket Mortgage Ad Crashes and Burns in 60 Seconds
You can blame it on Hollywood’s March 2015 release of the movie, "The Big Short," which served as a reminder of the housing bubble collapse built on greed and faulty loans. And because the housing crisis is still running raw in our veins, the "Rocket Mortgage" ad...
Home Products IQ Accelerates
With a slowing Chinese economy, an unpredictable presidential campaign and our stock market off to one of its worst starts in history -- the Consumer Electronics Show, the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show and the International Builders Show all burst onto the scene...
Authenticity Must Ring True When Marketing Building Products
Customers are more hesitant to put their faith in brands. It begs the question: how can customers trust brands when the relationship is one-sided? The answer is: they can’t. As such, authentic brands have emerged as the envy of corporate leaders worldwide. If your...
30 seconds to pitch your building product. Can you do it?
Many companies can, quite easily, describe their brand and what it stands for. These descriptions can become too long to be effective. Is it possible to describe your brand in less than a minute? What about 30 seconds? In a post discussing the importance...
5 Tips for Pitching to Trade Publications
Trade publications are perhaps one of the most important PR tools for home and building professionals. Because they reach a very focused target audience, many of our media efforts involve working with trade publications relevant to our industry. But just because...
BackGrounders:
Get Social
