A popular refrain from marketers is how do they get a footing with specification sites. The good news is that there’s a starting point where you can make an investment in spec sites with an eye on improving your return on investment.
Let’s take a look at 4 ways to get started with spec sites.
Design your strategy
Know how your spec site strategy looks with your overall marketing mix. Determine what role they’ll play in your ROI strategy. Will your investment be tracked based on BIM downloads or used for new product launch awareness.
As you develop your strategy, it’s important to get buy-in across the organization. There’s an incredible amount of data backing up the value of investing in spec sites. It takes a commitment to both budget and time in order to gain market share.
Identify your target audience
Know your target audience up front. Who are you trying to reach with your product? Architects? Engineers? Interior Designers? Technical specifiers?
We recently held a webinar where we discussed common pitfalls to marketing to architects. We shared that one pitfall is thinking that architects are all alike. Besides placing your products on the right site, also be aware of the career stage for your audience and use this as the basis for your message and targeting.
Review your profile & products
Like planning for the right target audience, you’ll have to establish how you want your brand represented on spec sites. Start by defining your product sets and how they tie in with what the specifiers are searching/looking for on the spec site.
Determine if you want to list your whole portfolio or select products. Which of your products merit the investment. Stay with your planned strategy to help you identify the products that should be specified and how you will track your ROI.
Analyze performance & ROI
After you establish your strategy, audience and product profiles, you’ll be better prepared to determine your approach to the performance criteria. Determine what ROI is to your company. How many specs do you need to be included for your investment to pay off? One? 100? Do the math.
Note that your process should remain fluid. Act on what you learn. Be flexible. Be nimble. Let the data work for you. Investing in spec sites is extremely efficient. We know the volatility of the industry, so let that guide you through the process.
There’s more. Read how to maximize your spec sites investment
Once you have your strategy, audiences identified and a plan for analysis/ROI, it’s time to move towards creating your specification processes.
I invite you to read additional blogs that will provide you with the complete picture for investing in spec sites.
- Read how specification sites work and how you can maximize your investments to make them work for you.
- Read the 4 ways to get more from spec sites. Learn how to identify opportunities to improve your performance on specification sites.
Contact me to learn moreor to talk through the specification process.