2019 Planning: Why Are You So Pushy?

Why are building products manufacturers insistent on pushing their products on us even when we have no interest in buying them?

I read social media posts from building products manufacturers every day. As a matter of fact, my iPhone tells me I am viewing social media sites an average of 3 hours and 54 minutes a day. And I cannot get over how pushy the posts of these companies are to their followers and potential followers. Morning, noon and night the same posts of kitchens, fireplaces and new homes and I am not even in the market for any of these things. Most do not tell me what model I was looking at and where to buy it if I am compelled to do so. Herein lies the problem. Building products manufacturers are stuck in their old ways of telling the customers what is best for them. They are selling when the customer is not buying.

It is well published that up to 70% of the buying journey for consumers (homeowners and trades) is completed before they see the products or talk with a sales person. So with this in mind, the thinking is apparently to bombard social media with brochure like posts. What is missing in this equation is the fact that the consumer is shopping for thousands of different products every day and all of these posts are clutter and noise until they are ready to consider your products. Pushing your products into the market is ineffective and annoying. Yet we insist on doing it anyway.

We are proponents and practitioners of aligning our content and social media strategies with the buying journey of our customers: learning and delivering the right information at the right time and place. We do this for two very good reasons. First, we are too frugal to waste time and money on spreading the word to those that don’t care and are not buying right now. Second, it is easier and more productive to go where the customers are buying than to everywhere else. Simply stated we are lazy (i.e., work smart, not hard). We work with our clients to identify their audiences, listen and learn what, when and where they are interested in learning about their products, and craft meaningful content that inspires and motivates the readers to seek more.

As an executive with a national omni channel retailer, we learned to “Max the Max” meaning it is easier to get the customers to spend an additional $10 when they are spending $100 than it is when they are spending zero.

Time has shown us when the masses move right (i.e. pushing their wares) there is opportunity going left… the road less traveled. Stop pushing and start pulling your customers into your business.

Let us know if you would like to learn more about how to make this transition from the road less traveled to results. We give companies an unfair advantage.