Mikepconway Construction Marketing 2010

Mike ConwayDirectorCamargue

4th February 2010

Using PR effectively in your marketing strategy

20 years in construction PR

Seen a great deal of change

Supported large and small

Supported public and private sector

Delivered PR for the right reasons and the wrong reasons

Gems of wisdom:

Nothing stays the same

Adapt and survive

Opportunity always exists

Using PR Effectively

A little about me

Planning supportProgrammes

Bid and Tender Support

PR and Marketing Communications

A little about Camargue

Construction Planning Waste and Energy

The UK Construction Industry is…..:

It will take until 2013 to get back to pre-recession levels of construction activity

40% of their members think things will decline further in Q1 2010

One third plan to make redundancies in Q1 2010

Richard Diamond

Federation of Master BuildersRadio 4 – 26th Jan 2010


And the fight isn’t over…….


PR – winner or loser?

Marketing Trends SurveyAutumn 2009


Optimistic outlook


Breakdown on marketing spend


2010: Shift in Spending


2010: Best ROI

Huge pressures on budgets

Clients looking hard at value and ROI

Estimate: corporate marketing & PR spend down by 20%

Advertising hit harder than PR


What does this all mean


Advertising hit hard

PR considered to offer greater ROI

Apparent migration of spend from advertising to PR


Prognosis for PR in the built environment

So PR is important going forward, but if you are going to do more of it….

What exactly is it?


An isolated press release

A launch event

A trade show stand

Reactive delivery

“Let’s do some PR on this”

Colour seps or advertorial


What PR is not…..


PR by definition is confusing

Public information

Investor relations

Stakeholder relations

Public affairs

Corporate communication

Marketing

Public relations is about reputation - the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.

Public relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour.

It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.


PR is…

CIPR Definition

“It is about every interface where a client or potential client can and will make a judgement on you – your values, your service, your quality and your ethos

Public Relations is as much about the quality of your toilet paper, the way phones are answered and the behaviours of your people”


PR is…

An old mentor’s definition

Influence decisions – customer or talent

Create awareness

Generate interest

Create leadership

Change perceptions

Manage risk

Realign values to match ever changing client needs


PR can…


Where does PR fit?

Communities

Staff

Talent Pool

Potential CustomersCustomers

Competitors

Investors Partners

Bids/Tenders

Media

Online

Who makes decisions on

their relationship with you?


Where does PR fit?

Communities

Staff

Talent Pool


Competitors

Investors Partners

Bids/Tenders

Media

Marketing Communications

StrategyMedia

Relations

Exhibitions

Advertising

Collaterals

Newsletters

Receptions

Networking Online Online

Research

Direct Marketing

Sponsorship


Where does it fit?

PRCommunities

Staff

Talent Pool


Competitors

Investors Partners

Bids/Tenders

Media

What can you offer me

Who are youWhy listen to you

Why choose you

Marketing Communications

Strategy

PR defines the message – the values, attitudes that will influence decisions and behaviors you desire from your publics

A marketing communications strategy defines how you deliver your message

Sales marketing – how you create revenue


PR…..in summary…..

Have your customers been blown away – are they still there?

What are the issues that they now face?

What do customers want from a business like yours?

What are you offering them that they want?

How have their priorities changed?

Have relationships changed?

Do you need to change to meet their needs?

Where are the gaps?

Your Expectation

PR issues in the wake of the tornado

Trust?

Cost/Quality = Value?

Financial surety?

Integrity?

Innovation?

Quality of people?

Sustainable/Green creds?

Geographic coverage?

Health & Safety?

Customer Support?

Reputation?

Your Expectation

What is important to your customers?

?

Focus/Priorities

Understand the landscapeStakeholder Audit

Your stakeholders

Shareholders/City

Management

Staff

DirectorsCustomers: lapsed

Customers: One-off

Customers: Long-term relationships

Customers: targeted

Customers: tomorrow’s markets

Media

Industry influencers/commentators

Government

CompetitorsSupply Chain


Will identify ‘gaps’ in perception

Looks at business issues - +ve & -ve

Internal External Industry

• Attracting and retaining talent

• Leadership/direction

• Future prospects

• Investment in career

• Listening

• Innovation

• Why you win/lose

• Why things go wrong

• Quality

• Personal relationships

• Innovation

• Leadership

• Financial control

• Trends

• Future markets

• Leadership

• Innovation

• Industry development


Should drive Communications Strategy

Consistent messages will shift perceptions

Use results as a tool to shape future strategy

What are your customers’ issues?

Stakeholder Audit

Issues Matrix

FTSE 100 company in the built environment

Currently successful – good profits

Strong pipeline

Needed to understand how to sell itself in the wake of the tornado

What is important to customers now and in the future

Case study:

Customer Perception Audit

Major Customer Perception Study

360 degree review of business

305 stakeholders views obtained

Internal and external

Clients – existing, past, present

Supply chain partners

Employees

Case study:


4 months

95 face to face interviews

200 online questionnaires

Requirements for the future

SWOT

Competitors

Business opportunities

Strengthen relationships

Case study:


Results are now impacting short & long-term marketing strategy

Issues understood

Messages developed

Feeding into future PR positioning

Case study:



Research: at the heart of issues based PR campaigns

RESEARCH

UNDERSTANDING

ISSUES BASED PR CAMPAIGNS

Building Best Employer Times Top 100 Passionate about people

Case study: John Rowan & Partners

How can we help address the issue?


Graduate Talent Pool existed Skills requirement by 2013 Already providing internships Develop industry initiative Support internships Signpost Graduate Talent Pool


WRAP Resource efficiency Waste reduction Raised awareness of the issue Needed to encourage action And prove engagement

Case study: WRAP

How do we get the sector to take

action?

Case study: WRAP

Undertook industry consultation Launched Construction Commitments –

Halving Waste to Landfill by 2012

Case study: WRAP

Major Westminster launch event

Extensive media coverage Series of UK workshops

280 signatories

Pressure on budgets; movement towards PR

PR is about the message; to change behaviours with your publics/stakeholders

The landscape has changed; understand your customers needs in the wake of the tornado

Research and map out the issues they face

Develop messages that respond to them

Build into creative, issues driven campaigns

In Summary

Its not social media – it is powerful networking

Will be increasingly important

Content is key

Webs need to be dynamic and integrate social media feeds

Build it into planning

Understand it – even if you haven’tstarted using it

Finally – a word on social media

Website

Source of information

Links to partner webs/blogs

• Commentary

• Focused

• Informative

• Linking to other sites

Potential new business

• Looking for ideas

• Looking for leadership

Target Audience

• Stimulate interest

• Create dialogue

• Drives traffic to Blog and social media sites

Media relations and other channels

Blog feed social media sites

Proactively build networks

Feed back to Blog

Blog drives audience to microsite and source information

Define search terms and trigger words

Blog