Get Spec'd - CADdetails Blog for Building Product Manufacturers

5 Tips for Marketing Building Products to the AEC Community

Written by CADdetails | Jul 19, 2022 12:30:00 PM

The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) community comprise professionals committed to their craft. They want the right tools for their design process to create the best product possible.

Below are five ways to market your products to architects and designers to build awareness.

1. Use Your Marketing Budget in a Platform That Connects You With Your Audience

Marketing to architects is all about connecting with design professionals. You need to locate them and let them know who you are, where they can find your products, and what they're missing out on if they don't use your company.

Your marketing budget will be the essential piece of your product's success. The AEC industry has many moving parts, and it's easy to get lost in the noise if you aren't putting your time and money into the right places.

One way to use your marketing budget wisely is by connecting with architects through platforms that allow them to find the design files they need for their projects efficiently. 

2. Get Exposure to Media Outlets That Will Showcase Your Products

You should have a digital strategy to get exposure in media outlets. It's essential to ensure you get the most out of your content and websites to reach architects, designers, and builders.

A solid social media presence can help boost brand awareness but will not be enough. Platforms geared to architects and designers provide a more targeted approach to specifying your products.

You also want a unique look and feel across all touchpoints – from the website design, blog posts, and infographics to how those products appear on your website  or microsite or wherever else people may be looking.

Focus your digital marketing efforts on platforms that help building product manufacturers reach the AEC community. Ensure transparency regarding the traffic your information receives on these platforms to evaluate success.

Having an extension of your digital brand in a recognized platform by  design professionals  and  it index-ability with the search engines will boost your exposure, learn about how to get your Design Hub  up and running and schedule a call with our experts.

3. Provide Design Files That Matter to the AEC Community

Selling to architects involves more than offering your best products. If you're manufacturing a building product, you need to provide all of the files that matter to AEC professionals who will eventually use your design.

That means  CAD drawings, BIM models, SketchUp models, 3-Part Specifications, and anything else that may be useful. 

AEC professionals are always looking for ways to improve their workflow and make things easier for themselves and their teams. That's why it's essential to provide them with all the design files they need—and make it easy for them to find them!

Get the help you need by listing your professional design files, book a demo.

4. Ensure Your Digital Files Meet Industry Standards

There are a lot of different standards for digital file formats, so it's essential to be sure that your files are compatible with the industry-standard configurations. This will ensure that all of your files look great when uploaded and viewed by users.

CAD drawings are an essential part of the design process for many products. CAD drawings are a reference for manufacturing, prototyping, and creating prototypes.

CADdetails develops high-quality CAD drawings and design files. To make CAD drawings easy to use, CADdetails creates multiple formats including DWG, DWF, DXF, GIF, VWX and PDF. We've worked with different manufacturers with varying levels of information, from virtually no information to existing CAD content.

BIM is also a critical need for building product manufacturers. If you are not BIM-ready now, you need to be, and CADdetails helps companies become BIM-ready.

5. Get Data to Review the Performance of Your Investment

Analytics is an essential part of any building product marketing strategy. The data that you gather can help to identify trends and patterns, as well as determine how your marketing efforts are performing. You can also use it to decide how to allocate your marketing budget and optimize product features.

You'll also want to compare the relative performance of your products to understand which products perform better on which platforms.

What kinds of information should you be looking for? You'll want metrics that show how many people have downloaded your product information. Still, you should also ensure that you're tracking conversions—the percentage of designers who complete a specific action after interacting with your design files, and if your products have been included in a designer's project plans.

Conclusion

As you start digital marketing for designers and architects, use the right strategies and tools to reach your target audience and provide them with the necessary information. The most important thing is to have a well-defined plan to help you get the most value from your investment.

Do you want to promote your product design library? Talk to one of our experts about how we can get your products in front of specifying architects and design professionals.

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