Owen, Author at Owen Philipson

Don’t boast in marketing – a word to avoid

August 20, 2016 by Owen Leave a Comment

Here’s why I think you should avoid the word boast in marketing. The meaning of words do shift constantly. One of the senses that the word ‘boast’ has taken on is of the possession of a feature that is a source of pride. In construction marketing, it often appears in the context of product features, the design elements of a building or external project.

In marketing, one of our objectives is to convey the best aspects of our product or service. Naturally, these are things that we are proud of.

However, the primary meaning of the word boast is to communicate with an excessive degree of pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities. For me the word has the negative connotations of a boxer at a press conference, a con-man or an untrustworthy politician. Do we really want to boast in marketing?

Using boasts instead of simply ‘has’ goes against the principles of construction writing as well as content marketing. Boasting about something has negative connotations and is a turn-off for your reader, in my opinion.

Sainsbury’s is one of the biggest retail brands in the UK. There’s really no need to boast about the number of transactions – the figures speak for themselves!

Sainsbury’s, which boasts more than 24 millions transactions per week across it’s 1,200 stores, is one of the best known names in retailing.

1Rebel is a boutique gym in The City of London. The interior has been designed to feel like a nightclub. Professional DJs create the workout music, for example. There are many carefully thought-out elements giving a customer experience unlike any other gym. While researching a product that had been installed in the fit-out, I came across the following:

1Rebel boasts a spacious changing facilities ‘fully stocked with top-end grooming and skincare products, sports-luxe retail zones and a post-grind workout courtesy of Roots & Bulbs cold-pressed juice bar.

Although this gym is proud that it has set itself apart, there should be no need to ‘boast’ about it. The images show something special and different, and I’m sure actually being there in person, it would speak for itself.

On the other hand, maybe boasting is a quality that is synonymous with obsessive workouts and building a muscular body! In which case, this would be an appropriate word choice.

Here’s a final example. In construction, ‘boasts’ tends to be included to strengthen a piece of text.

manufacturers of both play and sports equipment, boasting a dynamic design and sales’ team plus exemplary customer service

A boastful salesperson sounds like the worst kind, in my opinion! The negative associations are of bragging, crowing or gloating.

As an alternative, just write in plain English and use the word ‘has’. When describing a product, explain in some detail about why the features are beneficial and specifically how they will help the designer or end user. These facts should carry enough weight without having to boast.

Phrase to avoid: ‘state of the art’

August 15, 2016 by Owen Leave a Comment

‘State of the art’ is a phrase that exaggerates and does not add value or build trust with a target audience of technical construction buyers. Rather than looking for ‘state of the art’ synonyms, it’s better to avoid the phrase entirely and explain in plain terms why the product or project is great.

State-of-the-art – overused phrase that won’t add value for your target audience. Explain WHY the thing is great #constructionweaselwords

— Owen Philipson (@EditorOwen) October 15, 2015

Whenever I come across ‘state of the art’ when copywriting or editing product information, I will remove it, even if the product is technologically advanced.

If you declare without proof that your own products are advanced, it isn’t very believable
If someone else gives you this sort of a testimonial, it’s much more powerful

Just give specifiers the facts in your copy

Specifiers have a job to do, which usually involves weighing up the pros and cons of the products materials, features and benefits. State these clearly and help to make their job easier.

In the past I have included ‘state of the art’ when referring to projects such as laboratories, testing centres or manufacturing sites that are using technology or carrying out processes that have not been done before.

History: avoiding the phrase ‘state of the art’

Proof that ‘state of the art’ is a gross exaggeration can be found in its origins. It was first recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1910.

The earliest use of the term “state of the art” documented by the Oxford English Dictionary dates back to 1910, from an engineering manual by Henry Harrison Suplee (1856-post 1943), an engineering graduate (University of Pennsylvania, 1876), titled Gas Turbine: progress in the design and construction of turbines operated by gases of combustion. The relevant passage reads: “In the present state of the art this is all that can be done”. The term, “art”, itself refers to the useful arts, skills and methods relating to practical subjects such as manufacture and craftsmanship, rather than in the sense of the performing arts and the fine arts.[wikipedia]

So it’s original meaning was not to even convey technology that is ahead of the industry at that time.

And bizarrely, in American patent law, it actually means something that is ordinary and unpatentable:

“In patent law,” he writes, ” ‘state of the art’ does not connote even superiority, let alone the superlative quality the ad writers would have us ascribe to the term.” LA Times, 1988

For years now, it has been considered an exaggeration, as Executive magazine stated in 1985, “it has no punch left and actually sounds like a lie” Vol. 27, p. 56.

A 1994 essay listed it among “the same old tired clichés ” that should be avoided in advertising. (Mark Zweig, “Better Writing”)

In recent years, though, the phrase has continued to be excessively and mindlessly misused, to In 2010 it was the 21st most overused marketing cliche, in a study conducted on press releases.

Just edited out my second ‘state-of-the-art’ in 3 hours. Blowing the trumpet doesn’t sell to specifiers. #B2B #construction #copywriting

— Owen Philipson (@EditorOwen) October 15, 2015

‘State of the art’ synonyms

Below are synonyms to the phrase ‘state of the art’. For me, most of these are not satisfactory – all of them are used to emphasise or exaggerate the importance of a thing, which is to be avoided.

Cutting edge – to be avoided, for the same reasons as state of the art
Leading edge – worse than cutting edge
Bleeding edge – even more of an exaggerated buzzword
Avant garde – pretty conceptual and subjective
The latest – less of an exaggeration, but soon, your product won’t be the latest any more
Technologically advanced
Modern

Marketing phrases to avoid: “a wide range of”

August 7, 2016 by Owen Leave a Comment

Over the years, writing and editing construction product content, I have cut out the phrase “a wide range of” countless times.

We offer a wide range of high quality [insert your product type here].

I find myself returning to the following advice: if a phrase is overused – avoid it.

If you are able to simplify or shorten your writing, while still making sense, then cut the word or phrase out. In most cases, saying that you offer a wide range of products does not add meaning. Simply referring to the product type in the plural will do the job.

Manufacturers seem keen to express that they make many different types of a particular product. Sometimes, this isn’t even true!

Sometimes a narrow range of products is OK!

For technical products, often, a relatively small range of things that do specific jobs is ⁽¹⁾ offered. For example, there’s no need to say ‘we offer a wide range of earth-retaining products’ if you offer geotextiles, geogrids, retaining walls and soil nails.

Spell things out in plain language. Be specific about the different product types that you offer. Make the information easy for specifiers to access.

Explain what the wide range of products actually is

Products with an aesthetic qualities like street furniture or paving are often offered in many different styles.

In these cases, the company does in fact offer ‘a wide range’. However, people aren’t drawn in when you say ‘we do everything’, or ‘we have every styles to suit any application‘.

Put yourself in their shoes – when specifying, they normally have a fairly specific requirement that they are trying to fulfil. You need to direct them towards the product in your range that is best suited to their requirements.

It is much more helpful to the specifier to summarise or provide an overview of the breadth of types available.

Three of George Orwell’s 6 questions / 6 rules are relevant here:

Could I put it more shortly?
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(1)
“is offered”? – isn’t that a typo? Actually, it isn’t – more on that in a future post.

Marketing words to avoid: timeless

August 1, 2016 by Owen Leave a Comment

Merriam-Webster defines the word ‘timeless’ as “staying beautiful or fashionable as time passes”.

Another, more literal definition could be “lasting forever”.

Timeless is a word to avoid – it tends to make me wince when I’m editing construction product descriptions. It’s often seen describing design-led benches or street furniture, or products made from natural stone.

The first of the definitions above is subjective and the second just won’t be true of any construction product or street furniture.

In terms of aesthetics, ‘timeless’ is often used in phrases such as ‘timeless style’, or ‘timeless beauty’.

I recommend leaving the question of aesthetics to the architects or landscape architects, to make their own minds up on.

Better ways to describe aesthetics

The best way to show the beauty or aesthetics of products, is to include good quality photography. Beyond this, go in to some technical detail about how they are manufactured and finished. If your company pays particular attention to detail, put this beyond reasonable doubt by saying what and how

If it is an expensive material, like bronze, go in to detail about how it is cast finished. What was the finishing process? What skills are used? How long does it take?

It it is a wood, is it FSC accredited? This term is often referenced but manufacturers don’t often give any more detail about where the wood comes from or why it is suitable for the application. Finishing wood carefully can make the difference to the aesthetics, so why not take the time to explain the sanding process or what waxes or oils are used. The selection process for grades of wood is also something architects, landscape architects and interior designers are interested in. They will see this if they visit a manufacturer’s premises, but why not offer the information up front on your website.

There may not be room to go into this detail on a product page, where the core information needs to be offered up first and foremost. However it’s worth considering doing some in-depth blog posts on these topics and linking to them from your product page.

If you take the time to invest in this content, it’s something that you will be able to use for years to come in the sales process.

You can email links to interested clients, repurpose the blog post as an email newsletter, include it as part of an email sequence or even use it as part of an ebook.

Construction marketing words to avoid: unique?

July 23, 2016 by Owen 6 Comments

I recommend that you avoid the word unique entirely when marketing construction products. Below I give you three reasons why. In brief: it is usually used incorrectly; it is overused; and it does not build trust.

1: Ask yourself: is it really unique?

The first reason to avoid the word unique is that you may be using it completely incorrectly. Is the thing you are describing really a one-off? Ask yourself again: Is it really? Most often, I see the word unique used to describe construction products that have similar competitor products available on the market.

The meaning of unique is something that is one of a kind or unlike anything else.

True examples of unique products are sculpture and public art, fully bespoke commissioned products, products with patents and products with innovations that are first to market. If your product isn’t one of these things, don’t use the word unique.

Even if it is one of the above, I’d strongly recommend describing in plain terms why it is a one-off product. This is much more helpful for a specifier who might be considering a similar commission, than trumpeting about the fact your product is unique.

It’s true that the meaning of language shifts over time and we may be seeing this with ‘unique’. The word is overused, and the strength of its meaning is being reduced. It is being used almost to mean ‘special’, and this is in evidence by the increasing use of the phrase ‘quite unique’. Technically, something cannot be ‘quite’ unique; it is either unique or it is not.

2: Do you want your writing to be cliched?

This word has been so overused as to have lost some of its weight. When a reader sees the word unique, my guess is that at best, they will think twice, and at worst, visibly wince. For these reasons it is best avoided, even if your product actually is unique.

In 2010 (1), Adam Sherk conducted research using PRWeb that showed ‘unique’ was the fifth most commonly used word in press releases. This built on a 2006 study (2) by David Meerman Scott.

Instead, find a way of describing what makes your product special in clear, helpful terms.

3: Do you want to build or erode trust?

Too often, a product’s features are described as “unique”. Even if you have designed your own locking mechanism, fixing system or slam-lock hinge, there is likely to be a similar feature available on some other product.

It is better to state clearly in plain terms what the features are, what their benefits are to the user, and let the reader make their own mind up as to whether they are special or not. They may or may not be special depending on the application a designer plans to use them for. The environment and usage play a big part in performance of a product.

Over-hyping a product or one of its features is to be avoided in itself. It is a bigger than the use of one single cliche or a series of marketing buzzwords. I have written about the importance being honest and objective before and will do so again. It’s a philosophy that helps the construction specifier. This approach will in turn benefit the manufacturer looking to promote their products.

Put yourself in an architect’s shoes – they may be trying to source ideas at the concept stage or they may be specifying product details. In either situation, is it a help or a hindrance to them to have to cut through exaggerated marketing language?

There are many more blog posts I can write on this.

Avoid the word unique to:

accept the fact that there may be other similar products out there and your readers need choice
steer clear of a stale, overused word that has lost its impact
build trust with your audience as an honest manufacturer that communicates the facts

(1)
Adam Sherk blogged in 2010 with a list of the 100 most overused buzzwords and marketing speak in press releases after using Google search on PRWeb’s website.

(2)
David Meerman Scott launched his ‘gobbledygook manifesto’ back in 2006 and explained that your buyers want your products to be explained in plain language. This post is still as valid today as it was 10 years ago.

“Not only but also” examples in construction marketing

July 13, 2016 by Owen 1 Comment

I see examples of the phrase “not only but also” frequently in construction marketing. Are you using this phrase appropriately in your copy? Read on to find out.

In grammatical terms, the phrase not only….but (also) is called a correlative conjunction. It is used to present two related pieces of information.

The ‘also’ is presented in brackets above because it is optional. As you’ll see from the examples that follow, it is not always used.

Not only… but also must include two related points

This definition brings me to my first point – the phrase is often employed where there is no close connection between the two pieces of information.

I see the ‘not only…but (also)’ part of speech misused frequently in construction marketing, where is used to increase the importance of two unrelated features of a product.

Here’s one example (edited from an actual piece of copy I worked on) that shows two unrelated features being incorrectly linked by ‘not only… but’.

With the high wear and rigorous cleaning regime of retail washrooms, durability is critical and System XYZ cubicles are not only robust in design, but are available in a wide range of colours and finishes to ensure corporate identity can be maintained.

In the example above, the two features, colours and durability, really bear no relation to one another. The wide range of colours is not conditional on the durability; nor are they a consequence of it.

To think of a better example, durability and an antibacterial surface finish, for example, would qualify as related information. In the context of cubicles, both of these features are relevant to maintenance in high-traffic public environments. You could argue that an antibacterial finish is an extra level of protection, so it makes sense that it follows in the second part of the sentence:

With the high wear and rigorous cleaning regime of healthcare washrooms, durability is critical and System XYZ cubicles are not only robust in design, but also have an antibacterial surface finish that prevents the spread of infection.

The second point should build on the first

The second part of your sentence, the ‘but also’ part, should really be something that builds upon the first, is an improvement to it or is something that is more difficult to achieve.

If the second part of the sentence is on the same footing as the first, using ‘not only… but also’ serves to artificially exaggerate the product features:

The products is not only available in a polished brass finish but also a nickel bronze finish.

Why is a nickel bronze finish more special than polished brass? You risk losing trust with your reader by over-exaggerating your marketing claims. In the example above, ‘nickel bronze’ is just another finish option, so there is no need to use ‘not only…but (also)’. It is more appropriate for a construction audience to simply list the available finishes, either in a sentence or as bullet points. Don’t think of this as dull copy. Think of it as factual, accurate copy that respects the specifier and their job, the decision-making process that ascertains whether one finish is more appropriate than another for their application.

Here’s an example where ‘not only… but (also)’ could be used legitimately:

Our bar was in a central location with direct access from the street, so we required a floor covering to not only withstand high traffic but also offer ease of maintenance, said manager James Willis.

Here, the ease of maintenance is related to the durability.

Don’t exaggerate with ‘not only… but also’

A backdrop to this article is the need for objectivity in construction marketing, particularly in writing style and tone of voice. I firmly believe that less exaggeration and more factual information is important for a construction audience.

One last example of good ‘not only’ usage:

The Lumixia street lighting range is designed to perform not only at night, when the light affects the streetscape, but also during the day, when the fittings need to blend well into the area.

I like this one because the lighting’s primary function (to provide illumination) is flagged up first, while the secondary point – the attractive design of the fittings themselves – builds upon it. I also like the way this piece of copy subtly references the benefits of attractive product design without over-egging it. Too often products are described as ‘stunning’ or referred to using bizarre abstract language that would be better off used for haute couture fashion.

So when using ‘not only… but also’, remember:

that the two points must be related
that one must build on the other
and you are not using it simply to exaggerate your marketing

Why puns in construction news headlines are a waste of time

July 8, 2016 by Owen Leave a Comment

Using puns in construction news headlines is a throwback to traditional media and marketing where a snappy, attention-grabbing was a key requirement. Sub-editors would spend 3 or 4 times as long crafting a headline as the journalists would have spent writing the piece itself.

Print magazines, journals and exhibition guides are still part of the marketing mix, but unless you are writing project news or case studies for the popular press, puns in the headlines are not doing you any favours.

At The Content Marketing Academy conference 2016, Kate McQuillan, of Pet Sitters Ireland gave a presentation on how she grew her small company to a national leader, mainly through blogging. Avoiding ‘catchy’ page titles in her blogs, and focusing on search, was one of her tips. Although she grew her consumer business to a national chain, I feel this tip is directly applicable to construction news.

Her next tip for page titles was to think about what people type into search engines.

Let’s think about fundamentals for a moment:

Most content is digital these days
Most people do research online these days
Many people type direct questions into search engines

Search engines don’t have a sense of humour, they care about what your content is about, and how likely it is to solve the searcher’s problem. Your title is the most important element of your page in terms of telling the search engines what it is about – using a play on words here is wasting your valuable space.

In construction, I find a lot of manufacturers simply use the name of the location or building. If you are a main contractor or a key participant in the project team, this is relevant, as your potential clients may be searching for specific buildings or projects. They may be interested in who delivered the build and how it was achieved.

If you are a product manufacturer, aiming for this search traffic isn’t going to help you. You’ll pick up people searching for the information about the building itself.

My recommendation is that headlines should be optimised more for search – but do you know what your audience are searching for?

To address this, we need to work back. Do you know what their needs are? Do you know what their pain points are – what causes ? If you aren’t sure, it’s time to go back to basics and put yourself in your ideal buyers/specifiers’ shoes. What questions are they asking at the point when they are considering your product for a design? It’s easier to know what questions they are asking – these will be the sorts of questions they ask you about your products, when they call, email or speak to you in person.

If you don’t have time to do keyword research, make your news and case study titles a little more generic, and tailored towards people searching for a requirement where they haven’t already selected your company or product.

What problem did the client or designer have – space restrictions, a need for high-end aesthetics, sensitivity at a historic site? What problem did the product solve? A design, installation or maintenance issue?

Don’t
>Don’t include the project location, as discussed above (at least not in all your project news titles).

Don’t include your company name – if they are searching for this, they’ll find your home page.

Don’t include your product name, – if they are searching for this, they’ll find your product page.

Use puns, e.g

Product X scores full marks at Y school
Product Y makes a splash at Z swimming pool

Do
Use a general, plain english description of the problem your product solves, e.g:

Reinforced rootzone improves grass pitch durability
Anti slip tiles reduce risks at swimming pool

One last tip:

Don’t go OTT on your marketing claims and benefit statements. Can you picture an architect typing ‘state-of-the-art‘ or ‘stunning’ as part of their Google search? I’ve written about the importance of an objective style of writing in construction marketing before.

Construction marketing on Twitter: finding conversations

July 1, 2016 by Owen Leave a Comment

Construction marketing on Twitter builds more trust and is more valuable if you get involved in conversations rather that broadcast one-way sales messages. But how do you find the best, most relevant conversations to get involved? This post was inspired by a question asked by Simon O’Hea at a CIMCIG ‘Engage your customers’ event in London earlier this year.

Construction is not a sector where new trends are adopted quickly. For me this signals an opportunity for the companies for whom social media interaction comes easily, or for those willing to put the legwork.

#cimcig Can anyone say where to look for meaningful thought leadership discussions on construction matters outside of LI to interact with?

— Simon O’Hea (@SimonoatColt) March 3, 2016

Simon asked the question during a presentation by Catherine Towns of CIB Communications, which was broadcast on Periscope by Nick Gill – I watched it live from our office in Stirling – a great way technology can help someone like me, away from the London scene – get involved.

Catherine commented that Twitter is viewed by an agency like CIB as part of the marketing mix in terms of pushing out useful, sharable content, but it’s a small part of their client’s budgets.

CIB will engage in pockets of interaction on behalf of their clients, where it’s valuable, but it’s not a core part of the strategy. It’s true that an engagement strategy takes consistency and effort and many companies can’t justify the time and cost.

Construction marketing on Twitter: quality over quantity

In my opinion the real value of Twitter is in depth not breath – making a smaller number of deep connections that know, like and trust you. These days, customers (and specifiers) make most of their buying decision online before getting in touch. Working on relationships and gaining trust has been more successful for me than aiming for volume. And it’s a principle advocated by social media and marketing and business superstar, Gary Vaynerchuk, who will be opening an office in London this summer for his agency VaynerMedia.

I’ve used Twitter in a construction industry context in several different ways and I always found that the best approach was one that sought to make real relationships by seeking out the quality conversations and interacting with them.

When I adopted Twitter for construction at ESI the accounts were most successful when we interacted with people. This attracted unsolicited blog post submissions from industry thought leaders. Manufacturers were contacting us to contribute opinion articles and a strong community was forming around our brand.

It was hard to attribute direct sales leads to the activity though, and the strategy was changed – the accounts were used to promote only client content (product manufacturers) to the well-segmented and reasonably high follower lists. This does please advertising clients, and with better use of logos and the branding is stronger, but the interaction reduced.

The interaction is where the value is, in my view; it builds trust and strong relationships that will last. So to address Simon’s question – how do you achieve this?

Who to follow on twitter – focus on a construction niche

Ensure that the people you follow are focused on construction. This mean keeping “work” and “personal” separate – not everyone wants to manage two accounts, or be able to draw clear lines in this way, but it is a strategy that has worked for me. In my personal list, I’m into cycling, music and film but I’ve kept that off my @EditorOwen account so that my home feed is not too cluttered. I follow around 650 people – it’s quite a lot and I will never see all the updates.

At ESI, my colleagues and I had most success by building up three accounts for three subsectors: ESIBuilding, ESIInteriors and ExternalWorks. Even then, these are broad areas, so we used lists to add the people we followed to a specific category.

Use Twitter search to find construction accounts

Twitter is a much busier and noisier place than it was five years ago. If you are starting out or building up, use search to find relevant people. Use the search bar, then narrow down your results by ‘accounts’. Are you looking for architects, construction marketers, consultants, engineers?
The twitter advanced search is an underused but powerful tool.

Use Twitter lists as a shortcut to your ‘best’ contacts

If you are a construction product manufacturer looking to get your products specified, you might want to build up a rapport with architects. You can save people in a list by clicking the ‘gear’ icon on someone’s profile and then ‘add to list’. You can make the list private, if you like. Avoid calling your list ‘Leads’ or ‘Architects to target!’ You can return to this list to check on what the people most important to you are talking about. When they ask their followers for specification advice or a product recommendation, you can jump in to make helpful, useful suggestions – even if the answer isn’t directly related to your product.

Tweet (or talk) to real people

The majority brands or “official” company accounts are broadcasting their own stuff and looking for a following. The best conversations are being had between real people who are experts in their field and passionate about something specific like BIM, passivhaus or building conservation. Look for these people and if you aren’t confident to put your own opinions out there, reply to their tweets and get involved in discussion. This is the way to build strong relationships. The way to put people off is to tweet at them and push your products – this is like doorstep sales, cold calling or leafleting – it’s annoying.

If you do the three things above, Twitter’s algorithms will have a better idea of what you are interested in and the following things will be more useful for you.

Find and use construction Hashtags on twitter

Twitter works well when conversations crystallise around a well chosen hashtag. Especially if the topic is new, controversial or in flux, you will get the chance to interact with people you don’t follow, and those who don’t follow you.
#ukbimcrew
#cimcig

Tweet about live construction events

In a general sense, Twitter’s strength compared with other social networks is how it enables users to react in real time to events like sport, elections, major news and entertainment, such as the Oscars. In the UK construction sphere, there is often a buzz around seminars, trade shows or industry awards. Government announcements, and changes, such as to legislation, are also the driver for discussion and opinion. Think about getting involved in these as they happen.
#ecobuild2016
#cma15

Twitter ‘While you were away’ feature

Although I recommend tweeting about live events, the Twitter feed is not as much of a “real time” stream as it used to be, sorted in time and date order. On mobile, it highlights important tweets that have been posted since you were last in the app. If you are following, and interact with, mostly construction people, ‘the good stuff’ is most likely to appear here. Reply to the ones that are of interest to you, or align with your business.

Twitter ‘Highlights’ feature

I’ve found Twitter’s Highlights feature to be useful in bringing good topics to my attention. It looks at the hashtags and keywords are being mentioned most. This week, it thought I’d be interested in #BIM, #CIMCIG and #Ecobuild – it was right! This is another way to find tweets to reply to, to strike up a conversation.

On Twitter mobile, this is found via the three dots at the top right.
On desktop it’s not available at the moment.

In summary, there are many little elements to construction marketing on Twitter that can make the difference. Let me know if you think I have missed any important ones. What is working for you? Have you tried any of the suggestions above? I’d love to hear your comments.

Compelling construction content “starts with why”

June 26, 2016 by Owen Leave a Comment

Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk, “Start With Why” is an inspiring concept that can be beneficial to businesses or individuals.

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. They aren’t inspired to connect with you as a business unless your ‘why’ is compelling. Sinek stresses that your reason for being should be communicated to your customers in this order:

1. Why do you do what you do – your core beliefs
2. How do you fulfil that
3. What you do to fulfil that

In consumer marketing, the ‘why’ can be very subtle, and many organisations position themselves by leading with the ‘what’, which is much less engaging. He uses Apple as an example of a company that has nailed its ‘why’ and is wildly successful even though its products cost more than the competition.

In the B2B sphere,this concept is equally relevant, even where buyers have a job to do and are far less likely to be motivated by aspirations. There’s always still a ‘why’.

I’ve also found Sinek’s concept of ‘finding your why’ to be applicable to good construction content. For many years, when writing about construction products, I worked to a standard that begins with what something is, and then moves on to how it can be used and then the reasons why it should be preferred over an alternative product.

Construction examples of Starting with Why

In the past year or two though, I’ve noticed a few striking examples that lead with the reasons why a broad, general concept is compelling or beneficial to an end user. The copy below (for print in External Works directory) exists to provide information about cycle parking products but the opening paragraph focuses solely on why cycling is of benfit to the population more generally.

This ‘why’ is a compelling hook for the target audience – landscape architects – who are often motivated and inspired by the benefits that their designs or projects will have on the end users – people.

Looking at an online example – this page about signs starts with why vitreous enamel is the ideal finish for park applications.

Do you have any examples of a construction product manufacturer that effectively communicates the ‘why’ of their business, or of a product in particular?

Links
Simon Sinek, Start With Why
Hubspot blog: 3 Key Marketing Takeaways from Simon Sinek’s Start With Why

Image credits
header image: e-magic on flickr
other images: ESI Ltd 2015

Use of the word ‘any’ in construction writing

June 22, 2016 by Owen Leave a Comment

When writing or editing text about construction products, an alarm bell will usually go off in my head when I see the use of the word ‘any’. This is a word I would recommend you avoid, or at least stop and ask carefully whether it really should be used.

As an editor trained in objective writing, I have spent a lot of time creating copy to promote construction manufacturers’ products on third-party directory websites. In this context, objective, non-promotional language has been the rule. However, it’s an approach that I believe should be adopted by marketing professionals working in-house.

Take this example that I quoted in a post about objective writing:

This seat is designed to complement any environment and can be supplied with armrests.

The product in question was a stainless steel bench of a similar design to the one below.

I don’t intend to criticise one specific company or product. The design of the seat above is pretty universal, and it would certainly fit in to most environments, but in general I would advise against this type of statement.

Can a single product genuinely be suitable for any application? When you think about it, this is a very bold claim. I see this sort of statement very frequently, so often, in fact, that its impact has been eroded and whenever it comes up I’ll instinctively consider editing it out.

A black paint finish often helps a product sit less obtrusively within a rural or historic context but satin or polished stainless steel is not always appropriate. In certain situations, timber is the best material for the job – the bespoke timber benches at Lewes Priory sprung immediately to my mind

Even as I write, I feel like I am getting ideas above my station. I would edit out the phrase ‘suitable for any environment’ and leave it up to the designer to decide based on the facts – material, finish options, colour options, and so on.