Hubs & Drivers: A Podcast for Building Product Marketers

The International Builders Show (IBS) 2023 drew 70,000 construction and building product professionals to Las Vegas this February. In part one of this two-part episode of Hubs & Drivers, join host Jeff Donaldson and a roundtable of BLDers who also attended for their takeaways and insight on emerging trends.

You can also view this episode on YouTube here.

Visit Hubs & Drivers podcast website here.

Hubs &...

Google is by far the most used search engine, and building product marketers rely on Google Analytics to quantify their digital marketing efforts. Now, with the introduction of Google Analytics 4, the rules of engagement are changing in big ways in terms of what is measured and what is considered to be critical intelligence.

Julia Saunders, digital strategist and senior account manager at BLD Marketing, joins host Jeff Donaldson on ...

The “R” word has been in the air supply for some time now when it comes to the economy. Is the U.S. economy headed for a recession? Are we already in one? There's plenty of debate out there. What’s the outlook for the building and construction industry? The American Institute of Architects recently published its Consensus Construction Forecast for 2022 and 2023, and the study has some keen insights on what we might expect as a...

Driving awareness for your building materials brand requires an integrated, multi-faceted strategy that consistently puts your company and its products at the top of the consideration set. How do you get there? There are many pathways, and no single tactic is a so-called silver bullet. Your strategy must at least consider paid advertising if you hope to achieve success, and that requires investment.

In this episode of Hubs & Dri...

Think about the last time you bought a car. Chances are you took it for a test drive before you signed on the dotted line. As a building products brand, put yourself in the mindset of your prospect. How can they “test drive” your product or innovation to see if it does what you say it does? A smartly written case study accomplishes this task, because it’s a testimonial about how your product performs in a real world situation. As a...

Instant messaging. Social media. Mobile apps. Your customers have many ways to instantaneously provide feedback to your building products brand. That means receiving a customer complaint by telephone has almost become a relic of the past. Customers will turn to the internet to engage your company and voice their grievances. And they’ll have an audience. Customer service in the digital era means being prepared to go where your custo...

BIM or Building Information Technology has been around for years, but it's finally reached a tipping point in terms of adoption. For building product manufacturers, this means you can no longer remain on the sidelines. You must have BIM objects for your product portfolio. Those without BIM objects, along with the right BIM strategy will lose to competitors who do.

BLD Marketing Creative Director, Garrett Andrae, joins...

Until recently, one of the best ways to measure an email marketing campaign's effectiveness was the open rate metric. Then, in late 2021, came Apple’s decision to introduce what it calls Mail Privacy Protection. It impacts anyone who opens their email on an Apple device. Given Apple’s prominence and the notion that many people open their email on their mobile device, this is a significant change that has made open rate a far l...

Despite rising interest rates, the residential housing market continues to boom and Millennials, by far, have established themselves as the dominant home buyer. The National Association of Realtors 2022 Homebuyers and Sellers Trend Report provides insight into this massive generation’s home buying habits, useful data to building product manufacturers.

Joining host Jeff Donaldson on this episode of Hubs & Drivers to sha...

What’s it mean to be a thought leader in the building and construction space? It means you have verifiable expertise to offer, through your innovations and the solutions you have developed. It also means your people are subject matter experts because of their background and experience. When you properly leverage these assets, you raise the credibility and visibility of your brand. How do you increase your thought leadership quotien...

A member of your senior leadership team does something to embarrass your company. There’s an accident at one of your facilities, and people are hurt. Your product fails to perform the way it should. Each  scenario represents a crisis for your company. How prepared are you and your team if such a problem arises? Bottom line: Planning for chaos must be done in the quiet times. 

Joining guest host, Dave Sladack, on this episode of Hubs...

As a building products manufacturer, there are many ways for you to share your expertise such that it benefits key target audiences, like architects. Many of these professionals are required to secure continuing education credits to maintain their certification. Creating a CEU for them – a continuing education unit – can also be an effective way to market.

On this episode of Hubs & Drivers, host Jeff Donaldson meets wi...

As a campaign hub to which prospects are sent via a variety of drivers, landing pages for your building materials brand can serve as a key component in your company’s digital marketing strategy.  A highly curated and directed experience, if designed and built strategically, a landing page converts anonymous visitors into marketing qualified leads.

Discussing best practices for landing pages with host Jeff Donaldson on thi...

Follow this metaphor...If your building materials brand is a top-performing automobile, the fuel that enables it to perform at high levels is the content you develop on behalf of that brand. You need to constantly fill the tank and ensure the fuel is mixed properly – blog posts, product features, thought leadership articles, infographics and more. That way, the engine of your brand continues to hum. But developing this quantity of ...

As a building products marketer, how well do you know your target audience? Do you understand their pain points, their greatest need, and how that intersects with your brand?  Questions like these become a complex equation when building a marketing program for your company, but there are an assortment of planning tools available that can make the process far more manageable and effective.

Joining Jeff Donaldson on this epi...

A global pandemic has disrupted the U.S. job market. Today's employers face fierce competition for workers and rising expectations from job candidates. It’s a tight labor market, which means rethinking recruitment marketing strategies. BLD Marketing is working with a variety of clients on their recruitment efforts.

On this episode of Hubs & Drivers, Rachel Cronin, account operations manager at BLD and Amy Meyers,...

There is one undeniable truth in today’s marketplace: Everything is digital. And digital forms of paid media are an increasingly important part of a strategic media plan for their target-ability, measure-ability, and report-ability.

On this episode of Hubs & Drivers, host Jeff Donaldson is joined by Amy Meyers, director of media at BLD Marketing, to discuss paid media strategies incorporating digital media that can pay off. 

Every building products manufacturer has a story to tell – about its contribution to the marketplace, its innovations, its products, and its insights.  An effective content marketing program empowers your company to tell that story, gain credibility, and raise awareness of your brand in the marketplace.

In this episode of Hubs & Drivers, Jeff Donaldson,  senior vice president of PR and content marketing for BLD Market...

Think about the amount of email you receive in a day. The volume is likely staggering. Email remains the preferred form of communication in the building design and construction industry. Hence, email marketing can represent a powerful tool in your arsenal as a building products manufacturer.

In this episode of Hubs & Drivers, Julia Saunders, account director and digital strategist for BLD Marketing, joins host Jeff Do...