You may be wondering whether sales collateral and other marketing assets are actually valuable to companies in the construction industry. The answer is yes—sales collateral can make a noticeable difference in your sales strategy. But how? What’s the benefit of creating sales materials for construction companies?
The answer depends on how you want to position yourself to your leads. If you want to establish credibility, set your business apart from the competition, and close more deals, sales collateral should be an essential component of your lead generation program. With collateral, you can change your reputation as “just another construction company” and become the top contractor in your area.
Need more reasons to add sales collateral into the lead generation mix? Read on to learn why every construction business should take advantage of collateral.
Does Traditional Collateral Still Have a Place in the Marketing Mix?
Many of our clients don’t understand how collateral adds value to their construction B2B lead generation programs. They associate sales collateral with boring paper brochures that end in the trash can after a sales meeting. However, collateral today isn’t what it was a few decades ago—now, it’s often a digital document that uses striking design and powerful copy to engage potential customers.
It’s easy to think that traditional marketing collateral pieces, like sell sheets, brochures, white papers, and infographics, are outdated and have no place in a modern B2B lead generation strategy. However, marketing collateral is a multi-functional sales method that works in any scenario—whether you’re at the beginning of the outbound sales cycle or trying to attract inbound leads. If you want to make the most out of your construction lead generation strategy, you need collateral.
The Best Collateral for B2B Construction Companies
Many types of marketing collateral work well for construction companies. Because your work is highly visual, it’s important to have collateral that showcases images of your work alongside colorful design and supporting copy. Here are the best types of collateral for construction companies:
Company Brochure
If you want to give your leads a quick yet impactful introduction to your business, you need a company brochure. You can distribute brochures digitally through emails, social media messages, and landing pages or hand them out during trade shows or sales meetings.
Sell Sheet
Sell sheets are one-page documents that showcase a specific product or service. For example, if you specialize in construction for multi-use residential buildings, you can create a sell sheet that details the start-to-finish process of a typical commercial construction project.
Case Study
Your leads want to see that you’ve been successful working with a company like theirs. By showcasing a success story or testimonial from a past client, you can establish the trust and credibility you need to close deals.
Pitch Deck
When you deliver a sales presentation to potential customers, you want them to have a positive and personalized experience. Pitch decks allow you to take a presentation template and turn it into a unique experience for every B2B client.
Why Is Collateral Valuable?
Now that you know which pieces of collateral are most impactful for construction businesses, here are a few reasons why collateral adds value.
It Supports Lead Generation and Helps Close More Deals
The most significant benefit of developing various marketing assets is that they work together to generate more leads and, ultimately, close more deals. Not only do the collateral pieces themselves work together to paint a picture of your business, but they also help your inbound and outbound prospecting programs work together.
During the outbound prospecting process, you can weave marketing collateral into every sales conversation. Does the lead want to learn about your company history? Send them a brochure. Are they interested in commercial construction services and want more details about your process? Send them a sell sheet about commercial construction. If they ask why they should choose you over a competitor, send them a case study. The opportunities are endless.
When you’re trying to attract inbound leads, collateral sets you apart from other construction companies and gives leads detailed information about your process. You can attach marketing collateral to social media posts and website pages to get it in front of inbound leads and add value to your sales strategy.
It Demonstrates Success
Developing sales and marketing materials is a prime opportunity to demonstrate your brand’s capabilities and showcase your successes to ideal customers. When qualified leads see others who are satisfied with your work, they’re more likely to sign a contract themselves and see what the praise is all about.
If you want your case studies to land with leads, you need to paint a realistic picture of your partnership, include hard-hitting statistics, and give prospects a reason to identify with that particular success story.
It’s not enough for your marketing materials to say something like, “This company liked our services, and you will too. Trust us.” Instead, it’s more effective to use actual quotes from past customers, provide numbers detailing the cost savings they experienced, and include the pain points you helped solve.
It Improves Morale Among Your Sales and Marketing Team
B2B companies often have sales and marketing teams that are at odds, especially when their sales strategy has poor strategic alignment. However, sales and marketing are two sides of the same coin; success in one area depends on success in the other. By developing various types of construction marketing collateral, your B2B brand can make tangible improvements to employee morale and cohesion between teams.
When everyone is following the same strategy and using the same materials to assist them in their role, the natural outcome is a more efficient sales process. Plus, creating, referencing, and sending marketing collateral can be fun. There’s no rule that says marketing collateral needs to be bland and generic. Your collateral can be upbeat, colorful, and lighthearted, which can improve your company image in the eyes of your employees and leads.
Sales and marketing teams need to feel confident that they have everything they need to succeed. Marketing collateral offers a support system for both teams.
It Helps You Stand Out From Competitors
Not many construction companies take the time or make the effort to create collateral regularly. They often take the primary step of making the first batch and then repurpose the materials year after year until the information becomes outdated or irrelevant. Companies do this because they don’t want to invest in new collateral, or they don’t see any issues with recycled material. However, outdated collateral can negatively affect your credibility.
This common trend leaves a valuable opening for construction companies that actually care about developing quality marketing materials. If your marketing collateral is sleek, modern, and up to date, potential customers might choose you over a competitor with collateral that looks like it hasn’t been updated in 15 years.
B2B brands that invest in marketing collateral show target customers that they’re the right partner to choose. Collateral demonstrates that your company truly cares about its brand image, and it also helps you highlight the differentiators that make your products and services exceptional.
Need Construction Marketing Collateral? Think Abstrakt
Marketing collateral is an invaluable addition to any construction lead generation strategy. If you’re not using collateral to boost sales and add value throughout your pipeline, it’s time to start.
Not sure how to get marketing collateral for your business? Abstrakt can help. For over a decade, our creative team has taken our clients’ ideas and turned them into custom, professional sales materials. We find ways to mix your collateral into every stage of your sales process and establish credibility for your company.
Want to learn more? Get in touch with us today and discover how marketing collateral can make a difference for your construction business.
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