Since launching our first app 20 years ago, Bidtracer has been the industry leader in software solutions for the construction industry. Since there are millions of parts involved in construction projects each day across the U.S., our relationships with manufacturers and distributors has grown alongside their massive presence in the marketplace.
Managing the logistics and timely communication required for excellence as a distributor has unique challenges, and to market yourself effectively you have to stand out from the competition. These are the top 5 strategies to employ in this new fiscal year if you’re a distributor wanting to reach new sales goals, new client types, or new service areas:
- Commit to E-Commerce Integration
- Personalize the Customer Service Experience
- Highlight Ethical Behaviors
- Position as a Thought Leader
- Create an Omni-Channel Marketing Plan
All 5 of these are important strategies to take into the new year, but there is more than enough data to prove that integrating an e-commerce solution for your product is the number one most important.
Doctors are skilled consultants, who actually operate like distributors. They choose to align with multiple manufacturers based on their clients needs, but it’s very difficult if not impossible to meet all their client needs in person. Extensive operational burdens keep face time to an extreme minimum, and growth requires user-friendly automation.
According to Grand View Research – “The global telehealth market size was estimated at USD 101.15 billion in 2023, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 24.3% from 2024 to 2030. The market is primarily driven by the increasing adoption of digital health & smartphones, rising investments, improved internet connectivity, and growing technological advancements. For instance, in July 2022, the UK introduced annual digital maturity assessments across the NHS for social care and digital health. This plan raised funding of USD 2.37 billion to implement electronic patient records (EPRs) and enhance remote patient monitoring services.”
What does this have to do with construction? EVERYTHING.
Our industry is responsible for the buildings and roads that serve growth in every sector, and as others invest in rapid advancements, we have to keep up. You want to do more work and make more sales. Using excel spreadsheets for estimating and creating manual proposals is beyond antiquated, and it can actually be hazardous for critical errors to occur under contract.
That’s why Bidtracer created an all-in-one solution: a construction industry CRM that works like a telehealth app, allowing customers to access your services whenever they need to from wherever they are, in a fraction of a second, from any mobile device. They can place their own orders without ever contacting you directly, based on live price lists within the app. Distributors can manage a virtual warehouse, and never have to make a phone call to check parts stocked on trucks instead of on-site. Your target audience wants you to make their lives easier, and having a solution like Bidtracer has greater value than seeing branded truck fleets or bigger booths at the next show.
Before investing in external marketing such as advertising or trade shows, invest in creating a culture around these top 5 marketing strategies that will give manufacturers and distributors better visibility, positioning, customer service reputation, and long term ROI.
Commit to E-Commerce Integration
Why: Consumers and businesses are increasingly moving online, and having a robust digital presence is crucial no matter how complex your product is to distribute. Few distribution networks are more complex than pharmacy, and we can quickly pick up prescriptions same day. They operate with a truly integrated software to be able to provide the kind of speed we are accustomed to.
How: Invest in an e-commerce platform like Bidtracer, that offers a seamless purchasing experience for your customers. Utilize digital tools for estimating, engineering, inventory management, order processing, and customer relationship management (CRM). Implement advanced analytics to track consumer behavior and optimize marketing efforts, all while avoiding having to ever build your own CRM or custom sales app. Bidtracer does it all.
Personalize the Customer Service Experience
Why: Personalization enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty by providing relevant and tailored experiences.
How: Use data analytics found in Bidtracer to understand customer preferences and behaviors. Leverage AI and machine learning to deliver personalized content, product recommendations, and targeted marketing campaigns. Bidtracer shows detailed client behavior insights that help sales roles nurture relationships through informed, direct business development efforts instead of random blasts of promotional material.
Highlight Ethical Behaviors
Why: Consumers are increasingly valuing sustainability and ethical practices in the brands they support.
How: Highlight sustainable practices in your manufacturing processes and supply chain. Having a smart CRM made for construction automatically populates this information within proposals with a click of a button. Bidtracer allows for copy and paste from previous proposals, making it easy to populate important relevant information used in the past without having to ever search through multiple drives, documents, or spreadsheets. Communicate your commitment to social and environmental responsibility through transparent marketing, highlighting how much environmental impact is reduced with your commitment to digital documents. Obtain relevant certifications and partnerships with ethical organizations, and include those certificates as automatic attachments on proposals without having to search for them. All of these marketing strategies are best supported by the functions of a CRM made for our industry.
Position as a Thought Leader
Why: High-quality content establishes authority and builds trust with your audience.
How: Create valuable and informative content such as blog posts, whitepapers, webinars, and videos that address industry trends and challenges. It’s not just estimates and takeoffs that can be generated quickly within Bidtracer. Email campaigns promoting your blog, upcoming events, and custom content like podcasts and webinars can all go out to segmented lists within Bidtracer. With the time saved and exposure gained, your tech-focused team can engage in thought leadership by contributing to industry publications and speaking at conferences. Bidtracer reveals analytics on the most popular products and applications, giving additional insight to SEO strategies to ensure your content is easily discoverable.
Create an Omni-Channel Marketing Plan
Why: A consistent and integrated approach across multiple channels enhances brand visibility and customer engagement.
How: Develop a cohesive marketing strategy that spans various channels, including social media, email, and physical stores. Use data collected from Bidtracer about orders, project types, and to ensure messaging and branding are consistent and tailored to each platform. Implement marketing automation to streamline and synchronize campaigns across client types, all within the same app that sales and field teams are using to generate quotes.
With this kind of power behind an app, it’s easy to see why telehealth is a 101 billion dollar industry, and why you need to implement a construction industry CRM to keep up with the future of automation. Schedule a Bidtracer demo here.
