Hear from the “Official Photographer of the Home Building Industry” on the impact of AI on photography, the importance of copyright protection and how to create captivating visuals for builders and architects. Chad also shares his insights on working with builders and architects, understanding their target audiences and creating captivating visuals. 

 Discover an innovative strategy to differentiate your building materials in the marketplace and make your customers' lives easier. Find out how aligning your sales and marketing efforts can drive growth and create a strong partnership with your dealers. In this episode of the Smarter Building Materials Marketing Podcast, Zach interviews Mike Wolfe, the CEO of Delgado Stone Distributors. Delgado Stone is a quarry manufacturer and supplier of natural stone products, primarily selling to...

Manufacturer reps often play a vital role in expanding market reach and ensuring customer satisfaction. This week's guest reveals why effective reps are the lifeblood of design firms and how they are instrumental in preventing building products from being value-engineered. In this episode of the Smarter Building Materials Marketing podcast, hosts Zach Williams and Beth PopNikolov sit down with Mary Cook, President of Mary Cook Associates, a prominent commercial interior design firm based in...

Digital platforms and consumer behavior are constantly rewriting the rules of marketing, so how can businesses in the building materials industry adapt and thrive? This week, we are talking about the power of trust, personalized experiences and the crucial role of the customer journey in driving sales and revenue. Todd Miller is President of Isaiah Industries, a metal roofing company. He talks with Zach about why manufacturers need to take the effort to create a personal connection with...

Can you articulate the difference between a feature and a benefit? If not, you’re probably using them wrong in your sales copy. This week we talk about the difference between features and benefits and how to use them for the most impact. Deanna Murphy, Venveo’s Director of Strategy, is back this week to talk with Zach about features and benefits messaging, market fit, how to win your customer and more.

Grant Farnsworth is back to talk about the 2024 and 2025 outlook for new single-family residential construction. We also share insights for manufacturers who aren’t hitting sales numbers. Grant Farnsworth is the President of The Farnsworth Group. He talks with Beth and Zach about the 2024 to 2025 outlook on new single-family residential construction, as well as the upcoming Building Products Customer Workshop being held on October 11 and 12.

Building a social media presence is essential for everyone in the building materials industry. But with so many platforms, where do you start? This week’s guest explains why YouTube is the best platform to grow your audience and bring them value. Sean Collinsgru is Chief Vision Officer at Premier Outdoor Living and host of the Hardworking Happy Hour podcast. He talks with Zach about the importance of creating content to build a large and invested audience.

Have you ever thought that you don’t need marketing to be successful? If so, then this episode is for you. Beth and Zach talk about the importance of marketing, even for manufacturers who are “too big to fail” — because the truth is, you’re not. This week, Beth and Zach discuss the most common answer Beth gets from manufacturers when she asks them about marketing. 

It can be hard to find high-quality employees in today’s job environment. However, it’s not impossible. This week's guest talks about how they’ve managed to grow their team by 20 percent year over year while decreasing turnover through their culture of leadership. Josh Hendrickson is vice president of sales and marketing at Wilson Lumber, a third-generation owned lumber dealer operating outside of Huntsville, Alabama. He talks with Deanna Murphy, director of strategy at Venveo, and Zach about...

How confident are you that your headlines or CTAs are truly the best choices? This week, Zach and Beth are diving into the significance of A/B testing for manufacturers and reveal the five essential elements you should be testing to boost your conversion rates.

Innovative, high-performance building materials can be difficult to market and sell. This week’s guest not only has a brand new, innovative product, but one that’s high-performance and sustainable. He talks to Zach about how he’s been able to market and sell this innovation to builders. Josh Dorfman is the CEO and co-founder of Plantd, a company dedicated to making carbon-negative building materials.

When you compete on millimeters and price, it becomes a race to the bottom. This week’s guest shares how emphasizing value and building strategic partnerships with customers can help you move beyond price and cultivate lasting relationships. Cassie Milam, the Co-Owner and Director of Marketing for The Detering Company, talks with Beth about how to focus on value services in a commodity category.

We break down the three best ways marketing and sales teams can converge to see the greatest ROI, plus key insights from AIA 2023. This week, Steve Coffey, Venveo’s Director of Growth, is co-hosting with Zach.

Contractors are one of the most popularly targeted audiences by building material manufacturers. This week’s guest talks about how you can build better relationships with contractors in order to boost business. Kevin Forestell is the CEO and Co-Founder of DOZR. He talks with Beth and Zach about how to build better relationships with contractors.

Just because your product is custom designed and made doesn’t mean it has to have a long timeline. This week’s guests talk about how they’ve been able to increase efficiencies in the customization process in order to reduce lead times. Craig Jolly, Operations Manager, and Thomas Nelson, Marketing Manager, both work at 9Wood, a custom wood ceiling company. They talk with Beth about how 9Wood has brought speed into custom building product manufacturing.

Are you asleep at the online strategy wheel? This week’s guest thinks some building materials manufacturers are and explains how they can connect emotionally with niche audiences using different online platforms. Brent Ridley is an HVAC technician and owner of a plumbing, heating and air conditioning company outside of Georgia. He talks with Zach about his unique social media story.

Builders get the brunt of home buyer frustration, even when it’s not their fault. This week’s guest addresses the reasons behind this frustration and explains how building material manufacturers can help reduce that frustration on all sides.    Adam Steiner is the owner of Birnam Design Co., a full-service residential home design firm, as well as the host of the Builder vs. Buyer podcast. He talks with Beth about the widening gap between home buyers and builders, and how manufacturers can...

Social media platforms today can feel like the wild west with algorithms and strategies changing every few days. This week, Beth brings back Venveo’s very own social media expert, Ashley Stevenson, to talk about social media platform changes: what’s happening right now and what may be changing in the future.

Do you deprioritize homeowners as a target audience? Many manufacturers think that homeowners aren’t worth going after, but this guest disagrees. Hear why ignoring homeowners is a missed opportunity. Dennis Comstock is the founder of Builder Brigade. He talks with Beth about what homeowners need to know in their home-building process and why manufacturers should care.

Zach likes to say, “Where there’s pain, there’s margin.” This week’s guest agrees. He talks to Zach about the importance of innovating based on your audience's pain points and why you need to keep a feedback loop open. Tom Ragen is the CEO of Color Communications. He talks with Zach about how to market to architects and how his company leverages color in a very fragmented market.

Have you ever considered disrupting your own company? This week’s guest talks all about disruption — what technologies are going to disrupt the building materials industry, how manufacturers can prepare and how to attract new talent. Omar Fagundo is Vice President of RailCo, an aluminum railing company, and Founder of Object.io, an interactive 3D product experience. He talks with Beth and Steve (our Director of Growth) about technology and disruption in the building material space.

10-Minute Tactics is a new series that provides you with bite-size marketing and sales strategies that you can put into action and get results. This week, Zach and Beth talk about construction service solutions — specifically, how manufacturers can not only provide a product, but product services around that product in order to make them stickier, harder to replicate, harder to remove from your partners’ chain and, most importantly, more valuable.

Technology is becoming more and more essential in the building materials industry, but that’s not the only thing to look out for. In this episode, our guest talks about five macro trends that manufacturers need to consider over the next three to five years. Steve Yates is the Executive Vice President of Enterprise & Industry Partner Channels at Buildxact. He’s also the chairman of Cliftonvale, a wholesale building material brokerage house, putting him in the epicenter of technology and...

Once again, the volatility of lumber prices is a hot topic. But basic pricing isn’t all you need to know about lumber. This week’s guests discuss how futures and risk management play a big role in lumber pricing and those who buy it. Both our guests today are from Sherwood Lumber — Steve Loebner is VP of Commodities and Risk Management and Josh Goodman is SVP of Forest Products, Sales and Supply Chain. They talk with Beth about lumber prices, futures and risk management.

Pricing is arguably one of the biggest levers a manufacturer can pull to create or pull back demand. This week’s guest talks to Zach about how to develop a successful pricing strategy. Porter Thomsen is the Director of Innovation and Insight at American Woodmark. He talks with Zach about the importance of pricing and creating a pricing strategy and identity that works with your building materials business goals and objectives.